Jan 10, 2013

When I was in college I knew a girl who was a “binge-worker-outer”.  Now that’s not the scientific title but the behavior is very real.  Some days she would go about her normal 60-90 minutes of various exercises.  But more often than not she would eat terribly all day, and then hit up the gym for (no joke here) 3-4 hours of training.  It’d be normal to see her do an hour on a cardio machine, hit up a spin class, do weights for another hour, then maybe another total-body conditioning class.

This behavior didn’t  justify the way she ate, in her mind.  Instead there was a feeling of self-loathing and the marathon-exercise session was a way to repent her sins I guess you could say.

I’m sharing this story with you because obviously there was no enjoyment in the time she exercised.  Exercise was actually punishment for her.

Dec 31, 2012

I don’t know about you but this was a pretty interesting year.  I like to, at the end of each year, gauge the previous 12 months.  I do put some weight on the things I saw or new, tangible, things I acquired.  But I have to be honest, I care more about things I learned, accomplished, didn’t accomplish..more intangible things than anything else…

But this was a very weird year for me… I’ve never been happier in my life.  I don’t know what happened to make it though.  I didn’t get a pay raise.  I didn’t get more clients.  I didn’t get a new car (I actually traded in a pretty rad Jeep for more practicality).

Oct 9, 2012

Hi again-
I’m going to assume that at some point in your life, you’ve attempted to lose weight.  Be it, starting a diet or going to the gym for the first time…or hell signing up for a gym membership and not even using the darn thing!

At some point, somehow the intent to lose weight was there for you.  If I’m correct, then you’ll know first-hand what I’m talking about.  And if, by chance, you’ve never made an attempt to lose weight…no worries.  This will hopefully be an enlightening experience for you today.

Whether you have or you haven’t, regardless, I’ll tell you one thing:  IT’S HARD FRIGGIN’ WORK!

Think about the process.  When you work out, you’re beating your body up.  You’re tearing up muscle tissue, causing stress on joints and muscle as it’s lifting more weight than it needs to, all meanwhile your heart and lungs are freaking out and are working like mad to supply oxygen to those working muscles.

After repeating the process a bunch of times over, your muscles become sore, joints ache, there’s a good chance at some point you injure a shoulder joint or develop knee and back stiffness.

And that’s just working out!  On top of all that you have to eat differently (because obviously what you were eating before wasn’t working!) so you start trying new healthy foods, some of which require some time to develop a liking…others you wouldn’t eat if you were stranded on an island and it was the only food available.

Now you’re going to have to keep this routine up for a while because results don’t come instantly.  OH(!) I forgot to mention…none of what I just went through is even guaranteed to get you any results in the first place!

You can eat like a bird and workout like Rocky Balboa and your shift in weight/fat might not come for a while.  So you also have to withstand the frustration and the desire to say f*** it and go back to eating stuffed-crust pizzas!

When you look at it like this, it starts to make sense as to why sooo many people try to lose weight yet sooo few actually do.

……………….

Now this may be pretty depressing to read and I get it, but I’ve never been accused of buttering anyone up.  The fact, once again is:  GETTING IN SHAPE IS HARD FRIGGIN’ WORK!

What I want to do for you is to provide a gut-check if you’re riding the wave of mediocre results or frustrated over lack of results, meanwhile providing reasons (legitimate or not) as to why you can’t/won’t get said results.

Today, I’m going to dismiss some of the lies you may be telling yourself that holding you back from seeing exceptional fat loss results:

LIE:  You Have To Like Exercising To Get In Great Shape.

Now I’m not saying that most people who are in-shape don’t enjoy exercise.  What I am saying, however, is that you don’t have to love working out in order to get in great shape.  I can tell you the life of a personal trainer usually involves working with clients early am, sometimes as early as 4am until about 11am or noon.  After a break in the middle of the day you’re back to working with clients from 3 or 4pm until 8,9, or 10pm.

That leaves those trainers about 4 hours in the middle of the day, which most use to catch up on sleep.  Do you think in the 1 or 2 hours of free-time that trainer (who is in-shape) is dying to go workout? Mmmm, I can tell you first-hand the answer is “hell no!”

LIE: You Have To Have Time To Workout.

There are 168 hours in a week.  I’m asking you to workout for an hour, 4 days per week.  That’s 2.3% of your week dedicated to exercise.  In your home using resistance bands or your baby as a weight…at the gym…heck at work with one of those cool treadmill/desk thingys.

LIE: I’m Self-Conscious & Don’t Want To Join A Gym

Can’t blame ya there.  Gyms suck, not going to lie.  They’re intimidating for a lot of regular folks like you and me who don’t have aspirations to lift a Hummer over their heads. 

But you’re still wasting a ton of time worrying about what others think, not to mention there are a zillion ways around working out at a gym like working finding friends to exercise with outdoors, working out at home, or calling a really awesome personal trainer at 561-376-2201 who has an unbelievably supportive group of clients who can help you overcome that feeling (shameless plug for myself, I’m sorry I had to!)

LIE:  I Need Someone To Motivate Me

When I sit down with a prospective client I ask how I can be of help to them.  When I hear “I need someone to push me” or “I need someone to motivate me”, immediately red flags go up.  These people have given up responsibility and command to make it someone else’s job.  It doesn’t mean they’re bad people, don’t get me wrong.  It doesn’t mean that they don’t genuinely want to lose weight.  It just says this person doesn’t yet have the right reasons for wanting to start working out, at least with a professional.

I’ve had clients ask me to call them in the morning so they’ll wake up to come to a session.  Others have asked for text messages reminding them to eat.  While it’s cute to see Jillian Michaels barge into her client’s room to drag them out of bed, the reality is that person obviously doesn’t have a strong enough reason to jump out of bed and go workout.

So let me be clear: it’s very powerful to have a friend or a fitness professional to look out for your best interest and guide you to your fitness goals.  But make sure you have your reasons and goals clearly defined before you seek help!

————-

There are a ton more lies and excuses we love to give ourselves that prevent us from achieving the greatness that really does lie with us.  I hope you give yourself permission to let your inhibitions go and start right now, to getting your fitness goals!

Talk soon-

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sep 17, 2012

Hi again!

I hope you’re doing great!

I’ve gotten a bunch of emails asking for specific details on what our 6-Week Slimdown is all about.  So I’m going to make today’s post a feature on how so many of our clients were able to drop a quick 8-10 lbs of fat without starving themselves. 

First, a bit of a warning.  You see, although this is kinda promotional, I want you to see specifically why 

When you analyze a meal plan, there are a few questions you need to ask yourself:

1.  Does this plan fit into my lifestyle? (ie. Do I have 2 hours a day to prepare a leg of lamb, or the recipes that are given in this plan?)

2.  Is this a quick fix or something I can do longterm? (I’m not saying quick fixes are bad…just understand the quick-fixes are on the extreme side of weight loss plans…meaning you’re bound to gain the weight back)

3.  Can I get the rest of my family to eat the foods on this plan? (not a make or break, but will make your life a TON easier)

4.  Can I afford this plan?  Plans like The Paleo Diet or other high protein meal plans that require a ton of meat can get costly..especially if you’re choosing all organic or cooking for a whole family.

So that being said, Jen and I sat down and diligently put together a step-by-step, plug-n-chug, super easy to follow plan that would be:

1.  Easy to incorporate into peoples’ lives.

2.  Loaded with healthy, tasty options that didn’t taste like “diet food”.

The result was our 1st ever:

 Each week for 6 weeks, we distributed a new meal plan for the entire week.  Each week would have to be different than the previous, with a different theme, different foods insuring nobody would get bored.  

We only distribute one week at a time so nobody gets ahead of themselves and would focus solely on the week ahead.

When Jen and I were done putting the program together (ok, Jen pretty much did all the work), I was so confident that anyone could see great success off of it, that I declared a challenge to everyone, instructing them to put the responsibility of their success on ME! 

You see, since I was telling them to the TEE, what to eat…what time to eat it…and to ONLY eat what we tell them + continue to work their butts off in our fitness bootcamp, then they had no choice but to see successful fat loss results…and BOY DID THEY!

 

 

 

The Formula For Success

Like I said before, our members had the luxury of having a step-by-step meal plan that didn’t restrict calories, or nutrients, or even flavor…which without a doubt set the tone for fat loss success.

But on top of that, we made sure that we saw our clients a minimum of 3 days a week for intense physical training.

Together with the nutrition and training schedule, we weighed in and did measurements every week to monitor progress.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

 

A proven, step-by-step meal plan +

Effective exercise strategies +

Week to week monitoring/accountability

= FAT LOSS SUCCESS

HOW TO TRY THE PROGRAM FOR $1.76/DAY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sep 5, 2012

Hey again-

Hope you’re doing great!

I just got back from an unbelievable time visiting friends and family in NY and a conversation I had with a good friend sparked what would be today’s blog post.

He was mentioning that his chiropractor has this machine you lie down on, and after 10 minutes of just sitting there you’re supposed to have received the equivalent of 30 minutes of cardio.  I’m still waiting on the name of this dohickey so please pardon my lack of details.  True or not, you reeeaally have to hate exercising to try this thing out!

All I could think of when he was explaining this contraption was a modern day version of this machine:

Anyway that was my “wtf?!” moment of my trip..

……..

So in thinking about dumb training concepts (ie. fat jiggling machine, shown above), I wanted to share with you 5 really smart training techniques you can use right away to see better fat loss results in a short order.

These first two items you’re going to find out are like acquiring road maps.  Let’s say you’re about to go on a trip.  You know where you want to go (ie. fat loss goal).  You can get to your destination a number of ways (ie. dieting on your own, exercising), but to get there in the shortest time, exhausting the least amount of headaches…you invest in a gps system that tells you specifically how to get to your destination (ie. hiring a personal trainer)

1.  Get A Metabolic Test

Whether you hire a nutritionist who writes up a customized meal plan, or you follow a popular diet or you just eat what you think is healthy, don’t you think knowing how much fuel your body uses in a day would be some killer insider information?

For about $100 and 15 minutes of your time, you can get a test done that will gauge how many calories your body burns at rest.

Why’s that significant?

Well, by knowing how many calories your body burns at rest, you can calculate how many calories you should be eating daily if you wanted to gain or lose weight.  It’s a lot more accurate than plugging numbers into a formula and spitting out a one-size-fits-all calorie count.

Some health clubs have this technology or medi-spa’s even.  Just google “metabolic test + [your town]”

2.  Get A Conditioning Test

This one is even cooler than the metabolic test in that you get to find out exactly how your body uses up energy (calories).

For $150-$250 you hop on a treadmill wearing a mask like the guy in the picture below (cut-off, mesh tank-top is optional however) where for about 15 minutes you walk or run in each of your 5 heart rate zones.  The results, then, will show you how your body in each of the zones uses up energy.  Your body can utilize energy as all fat, all sugar, or combination.

I’ve had so many clients, in great shape mind-you, frustrated over the lack of results despite killing their bodies working out like crazy, only to find out that their body burns fat most optimally in lower heart rates!

Again, this is the 2nd part to acquiring insider information that 99% of people don’t do.  No you don’t have this done, but for a small investment you can save yourself a ton of time and headache!

* There are a zillion different tests out there that can detect low nutrient levels, hormone deficiencies, etc but no need to go crazy getting them all done.  These two will solve 95% of individuals out there!

3.  Stop Working Out For 1 Week Every 12 Weeks

I hear more objections from clients and even other personal trainers about this strategy more than anything else I preach.

“I’ll lose all my progress!”

“I’ll get fat!”

“I’ll be so behind when I start up again!”

to which I respond..

“No you won’t”

“No you won’t”

“No you won’t”

Here’s the thing…

Your muscle composition and strength can hold it’s stature through a few months of inactivity before it starts to lose its grip, so you can throw that argument out..

In fact, the extra time off does the opposite in that a full recovery allows for better muscle performance when you start working out again.  Most people are surprised to hear how strong they feel when they start back up!

 

4.  The Way You LIKE To Train Might Not Be The BEST Way To Exercise

This one’s really important!  We all have the same 600+ muscles in our body.  How they’re constructed is in nobody’s control.  However, you are in control of how you train them.

I wish I could tell you to do 5 sets of X exercise followed by 3 sets of Y exercise and (POOF!) you’re all set.  Unfortunately that isn’t the case.  If you’re going to trainer SMART you have to take into account 2 major factors.

1.  How your body reacts to exercise

2.  What you want your body to look like.

The first is the easier of the two because once you know how your body reacts towards exercise, you can adjust accordingly.  For example, let’s say you’re very reactive towards resistance exercise and you put on muscle mass very easily…

If you’re somebody who favors easily put on muscle mass, congratulations your job is easy.  But, in the example above, if you’d like to limit the muscle mass your body puts on easily…well, your job is a little tricky and you have to be savvy about which exercises or styles to do.

If you’ve ever worked out with me or in my fitness bootcamp, you know first hand that I don’t have a one-size-fits-all training style.  Despite working with 4 to 14 people at a time, I’m aware of what specifically Jane’s goal is vs Joan’s goal so they might be doing two different things to accommodate their wishes.

The biggest misconception out there, that most girls unfortunately find out the hard way, is that additional squats, lunges, and deadlifts will help slim down their already muscular legs.  When in reality, less is more for these girls…I’d recommend lower impact stuff like yoga and pilates.

So make sure the means (exercise style) lead you to your desired result(s).

5.  ALWAYS Plan Ahead

Don’t ever get caught winging it!  Very few of us have such a regimented schedule with no impromptu work meetings or anything to throw off our days.  Lack of preparation is the single best way to guarantee you’ll never get the results you’re capable of…life will always get in the way.

The good news?

A lot of the stuff that “comes up” is seen well in advance.  Enough advance that you can prepare your eating and workout schedule around that event.  For some people, it’s as easy as making a day’s worth of meals every morning.  I’ve had some clients go as extreme as preparing for the entire week ahead!

Now I’m not saying go cook a week’s worth of quinoa right now, but storing single servings of dry snacks like trail mix and bars in your car or office will go a long way in preventing long droughts of starvation where you’re so hungry you’ll eat at the first place you drive by…which inconveniently happens to be Taco Bell.

So there you have 5 really useful (I hope) strategies you can implement to shorten your trip to fat loss glory!

Here’s to seeing those results-

 

Aug 29, 2012

Hey again-

Hope you’re doing great!

Our 6-Week Summer Slimdown has concluded for a lot of clients and the results have been outstanding (results and pictures to come soon)..to the members who’ve completed it, congrats on your results!

After my last post where I highlighted briefly what the Slimdown was, I got some emails asking about details so I promise to showcase it in another post and how you can get in on the next 6-Week Slimdown.

But today, I want to go over a funny story and how it pertains to your and your fat loss journey.

“A Boy & His Lawn”

One of my favorite things in the world is golf.  Aside from the great game itself, I appreciate the course…the meticulous detail that goes into perfect sand traps, trees, water hazards….and grass!  I can go on forever about the different cuts of grass and strands but I’ll just sum it all up by saying I’m infatuated with good looking grass and this includes great looking lawns! (I know what you’re thinking…”How did this guy stay single for so long?!”)

So after saving up for a few months, my time for my own perfect lawn had come.  We hired the landscapers to install the new sod on a Saturday when we were busy training our personal training clients, just so we could come home surprised to see our new lawn! Driving home, I had the vision of this:

Needless to say I would be in for a whirlwind of a surprise when I got out of the car to see this:

I’ll spare you with the obscenities that came out of my mouth and fast forward to me accepting the challenge of turning whatever this yellow stuff was on the ground, into a masterpiece.

Day 1:  I watered it just as directed…1 hour per zone, twice per day.

Day 2: No change…still watered (1 hour per zone, twice).

Day 3:  Nothin…still watered.

Day 4:  Hmm..I’m not sure if it’s getting greener or if my eyes are playing tricks on me….still watered.

Day 5:  Ugh! It still looks like a hay field.  Watered…

Day 6:  Ok, wtf?!?!

I can tell you with no exaggeration, I woke out of bed and ran to the window like a kid on Christmas morning hoping to see Santa brought me a freaking lawn!

I can also tell you that by day 8 or 9 I was so pissed and frustrated with the lack of results, that I was starting to question my sanity….over…..grass!!

…………………

 So What’s The Takeaway?

Other than the fact that I might have serious anger issues…

The main takeaway from this story is:

Knowing what what is and is not in your control

After initially weighing in a client for the first time I explain that as we start working to shift this body fat and/or weight down, there is a short list of items that are in their immediate control:

• The food you eat
• The exercise you do
• The sleep/rest you get
• The essential supplements and nutrients you take
• The stress you limit

But here’s the thing.  You can eat great, exercise rigorously, sleep 8 hours a day, fulfill your body’s nutrient requirements, and limit your stress…but STILL have no control over losing an ounce!

By doing everything I’ve listed above, you’ve taken all the necessary steps to indeed lose weight and body fat, but you, nor I, can dictate your body to lose when and where.

Once you ingrain the concept of worrying about the things you are in control of vs. the things you are not in control of, the stress over not seeing results when you want to seems kind of comical, no? Almost as comical as an idiot crying and screaming over his lawn not turning green!

So as you are on your path to getting in the shape you want, make a pact that you will only focus on that in which you are in direct control of…every.single.day

The good news?

Day by day concentration on eating responsibly, getting in your workout, giving your body the rest in requires, limiting stress (meditation, reading, writing, whatever…), every.single.day will eventually reap what you sow.  It has now choice but to!

So if you’re stressing over the scale or pant size not budging, take a step back…assess what is in your control, and focus solely on those things!

 

To your success,