America: Land of the Fat

The creation of better equipment, advanced technique or knowledge is not what will get America more fit. It is teaching the people how to tap into their own wealth of motivation, change their disabling perception, and develope the correct healthy habits.

The search for a fitter, healthier, skinnier, stronger, smarter,……..better you starts from within. Changing your inside will ultimately change your outside.

-Josh

The FAT Personal Trainer…what gives?

Oh no he didn’t!!!  Oh, yes I am. Let’s break this baby open and discuss. I know you’ve seen it and it crosses my mind too so let’s put it on the table for debate. A fat personal trainer. Fairly common, right? Seems like every gym has that one fat trainer, doesn’t it? Why, what gives you ask?

For those who are reading this with less than stellar genetics and are extremely active you know exactly why….or how a personal trainer can be fat. You know that sometimes no matter how much exercise or activity you perform your genetics have shaped you like a teddy bear for eternity. Personal Trainers are no exception. I personally know marathoners and ultra-marathoners who are “overweight”. That brings me to my next point.

These “fat” trainers are still in amazing shape. Incredibly strong and athletic. Don’t be dumb enough to challenge a fat trainer because after all there job revolves around exercising all day. Body composition can have very little to do with athletic performance or fitness. With that being said we are “fitness” professionals, not body composition professionals.

I have also said more than enough times on this site that your diet far outweighs exercise in regards to losing fat. 80% diet / 20% exercise, easily. So these chunky trainers may also be fighting the sweet tooth when they go home. So, be more concerned with an overweight nutritionist or dietitian.

Does being overweight make them less of a personal trainer? No, it actually makes them MORE of a personal trainer!……Get it…..see what I did there? Honestly a trainer should be hired for their education, experience and ability to put it into practice and teach you.

But, but Josh why would I want to hire a personal trainer if they’re fat? Hey, I get it. I understand. Lead by example, of course. I certainly put my winter warmth on come December. Hell, I’m a chicken wings and pizza type of guy too. Do you think I’m drinking soy milk tailgating during a Patriots playoff game? I’m a human being like you. Would you really want to listen to someone who’s never had to worry about their weight in their life though either? What can they teach you?

However……PT’s need to keep it together! Look like a Personal Trainer. I might not look like Mario Lopez 365 but once I hear the pools opening in Vegas and it’s almost time to make my annual pilgrimage to The Strip it’s all hands on deck. Time to use all our knowledge and practice it with admirable discipline. I’m going to be the best looking guy at the Hard Rock pool without a tribal tattoo and the douche bag entitlement that comes along with being “jacked”.

As inappropriate as it might seem I tell students and interns that their look will be a major factor in being hired and obtaining clients. I have to keep it real with them. Look like what people want to look like and you’ll do great in this business.

What do you think?

Should trainers put themselves out of business?

In many ways a good trainer or coach should be continually putting themselves out of business. If we do our job as trainers many clients should not need us as they create their own healthy lifestyle. I applaud all the trainers who are great motivators and drill sergeants, pushing their clients to work hard. BUT, as trainers and coaches we must be more than that. We should also educate our client and push them to adopt our training styles and methods so in the future they can develop programs of their own. Trainees should also understand WHY we preform the exercises. I tell my clients all the time that everything we do is for a reason and we never just do things to do them. I encourage them to ask questions and many do.

Over time we hope the client internalizes everything we have taught them. This would include a trainer’s energy, attitude, and enthusiasm for a healthy life style, basic bio-mechanics of the body, exercise safety, and baseline knowledge of muscle building and fat loss. Beyond internalizing that information we need to practice incorporating the workings of a healthy lifestyle. This would include forming habits, structuring workouts, and creating a healthy diet.

If we do so in an effective manner there may come a time that our client/student/trainee may no longer need us. Take it as a compliment. It is your time to take a back seat. You can still be part of their healthy life style as a liaison to fitness, the one they call on with questions and problems for the rest of their life.

-Josh

I saw my favorite thing today…

I saw one of my favorite things today while driving on Storrow Drive. A long the Esplanade, a park that runs along the Charles River here in Boston, runners, bikers, and walkers all come to enjoy the paths with the Boston skyline across the street. This area is what helps rank Boston as one of the healthiest cities in the U.S..

This time it wasn’t the scenery that I enjoyed seeing. It was a woman running. She wasn’t one of those flawless runners that makes it seem as though the pavement is a cushion, bouncing along effortlessly. I’m so jealous of those people. This woman was in fact obese. Moving at perhaps 3mph, she ran like hell. Chubby arms pumping up and down, thighs rubbing, headband looking for an escape.  BUT, she was RUNNING. She could’ve walked, she probably wanted to walk but she didn’t. There were women with strollers walking faster than her. I was so proud. She was doing something she didn’t want to but refused to quit. Who cares how she looked. It always makes me want to pull over, catch up to them, put my arm around them and tell her, “don’t quit…this gets easier…day after day you will reach your goal…just don’t quit”. She might be the slowest person on the trail but she’s the hardest working and that’s all that matters.  I applaud anyone who chooses to run even when they think they can’t. Those are the people I know will reach their goals.

-Josh

National Bench Press Day!

Today is Monday and you know what that means!…..Chest Day!!! It’s the first day of the week so we must place our energy and attention on building pec’s so massive regular t-shits will become V-necks. Wait in line for the barbell press benches tonight or the “Jersey Shore Thing” one of my clients affectionately calls them. The bench press area is the land of loud grunts, poor form and half reps. Where the only math you need is counting the number of plates you have on each side of the bar. And it will be crowded tonight.

Today, I dare you to be bold and train something other than chest. Back, shoulders, hell maybe even…….legs!    I know, I know legs are hard and who wants that? Plus they don’t get you a pump in your arms and then you have no reason to wear a “cut-off” or a shirt that looks like it was sold at The Limited Too.

Be brave men and say, “today I will NOT train chest!” I’m going to squat, but I forget where the squat racks are.

-Josh

Dear Office Food Pimp

Dear Office Food Pimp,

Damn you. Stop pimping your cookies, brownies and sweets on us at the office. Your desk- so conveniently placed for my passing at every entrance and exit of my office. “Try these”, “Look what I brought today”, “….left over from the weekend” – you say….amazingly on a daily bases it seems.    Holiday season? Forget about it. We should just wear sweatpants with elastic waists to the office between October and January. How do you always have 30 extra cookies. You only have two grand kids, how many did you think they’d eat?       Hell yeah your oatmeal cookies are good….and yes…. oatmeal cookies are better than the regular ones….3% better.

I know deep down in your heart you are trying to pass on the joy and everyone will put on their face and grab a rice krispy but later in the day they are going to resent your thoughtfulness. Later when they step on the scale or when their personal trainer and diet coach bitches at them. Be a role model instead. Try bringing in some fruit salad with greek yogurt to dip the fruit in. You will never hear, “my pants are getting a little loose what ever happened to those iced snowman cookies you used to make by the dozen for your nephew?”. I applaud the generosity but stopping pushing your drugs on us.

Sincerely,

Everyone

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How to become a successful Personal Trainer

Being out of school for only 3 years I have just taken all the steps to set a foundation in the fitness industry. I am also an expert on the topic because I have traveled around New England presenting to college students on entrepreneurship in the fitness industry and how to become a respected certified personal trainer. For two years I was also the New England Regional Intern Director for Plus One Health Management where I picked and trained interns daily to become fitness professionals.

Being a personal trainer can mean many things and the title includes a broad variety of people. At one end of the spectrum is the self proclaimed CPT to the other end  and the Strength and Conditioning Specialists with master degrees in exercise physiology or advanced biomechanics.

In general the trainer’s employer will decide what qualifications the trainers need. To be a respected personal trainer will require a national training certification from the better known organizations and associations such as the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), or National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). Receiving a personal training certification from one of these distinguished organizations will require the student to purchase study materials, take optional classes or seminars (recommended), study and of course pass the certification exam. Beyond the national certification having a related degree will put you in a superior position for better paid training jobs.

Beyond the fancy resume fillers I find that a trainer’s success hinges on their personality. In most cases trainers work for commission. Trainers need to sell themselves as much as the training sessions. A successful trainer will be personable, easy to talk to, have an ability to comfort the client, explain things with clarity and overall be generally likeable. It helps to be outgoing, energetic, and positive. I tell my interns that they need to be the most energetic person in the gym and people will feed off of them and find the energy to workout. In addition to the education it takes to train, self marketing is of equal importance.

Personal Training can be competitive as it is very easy to enter the field. With a health related degree and national certification you can separate yourself from the pack. In the public gym setting you will be out there with other trainers all sharing the same population of members who could be future clients. I find the more likeable and outgoing trainers will always be more successful with sales. Your business can build from there as many new clients come from referrals. Take care of your clients and they will take care of you. I have always given my clients gift certificates on their birthdays and holidays. Those little things go a long was as you build a relationship with the person.

Sell yourself, comfort the client, then deliver results. People don’t mind paying for what works.

-Josh

Top 5 Changes I’d Make in the Gym

I’m actually speaking about equipment here. These are the changes that I would make in all fitness centers in America to improve them for the better.

5. Throw out most of the machines! We need room. Machines are expensive, take up the most room, and are less effective than free weight exercises. So, give me my room to make things safer when performing squats, deadlifts, kettlebell swings and all other free weight or bodyweight movements.

4. Add a Certified Personal Trainer as a “Training Consultant”. CPT’s would be hired to work shifts on the floor or at a training station. Just like signing up for a group fitness class you would sign-up for appointment time (30 min max) to ask the trainer questions and practice exercises. The gym would pay for the trainer and there would be no cost to the gym member. Lack of exercise education would be lessened and the result would be more effective and safer workouts for more members. This would also raise utilization of the more technical, yet effective, equipment and techniques.

3. Destroy the “inny” and “outy” machines. The seated abductor and adductor machines are the most requested machines in the gym. Unfortunately they are the most dangerous. Abducting the thighs in the seated, hip flexed, position is harmful to the hips, pelvis and tailbone. Women like to use them because they figure it will make their thighs slimmer and that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

2. Soda machines, why do all gyms have soda machines? Maybe they are trying to keep themselves in business? If that’s the case I applaud them for their business savvy. Coke brands also own Gatorade and Muscle Milk, let’s hope some gyms make some changes with their distributors.

1. Two Elliptical machines. I’d allow 2 and only 2 Elliptical machines and they would be there for the people who NEED them, those protecting knees from impact (seniors) and those rehabbing lower body injuries. I’d replace the rest with Stepmill. If  members put the same amount of time on the Stepmill as they did on Ellipticals I would have the leanest gym in America. You came to do cardio right? Well do cardio then.

My dream gym. Less machines, more room, more educated staff helping people, smaller thighs, and more sweat, perfecto!

The Resolutionary War

I call it the Resolutionary War. It is the flooding of gyms with new and returning members. It will last from the first Monday after New Year’s Eve until mid-February, give or take a couple weeks. I could set my clock by it. The Resolutionary War is a guarantee like the sun’s rise or the next tide rolling in.

For a fitness professional it brings a bitter sweet feeling. It’s nice to see so many motivated to improve their health and join in on the exercising. The fitness industry also relies on these “resolutionists” to survive. Increased memberships are needed to supply the income for the very high costs of running a fitness center. They also rely on members who stop utilizing the gym after a few months. If every paying member actually used their gym the gym would fall to pieces. Treadmills, machines, ellipticals could never withstand the use.

To take full advantage of this membership consultants need new members to pay sign-up fees and start an automatic payment program where a credit card is charged every month with membership dues.  Out of sight, out of mind. Not to mention difficult cancellation processes. In fact, for most public and private gyms, the majority of members are “non-users”. Bad news for them, good news for avid gym-goers (they keep membership costs down).

On days like today I love to see everyone so amped for exercise and the increase in digits to my checking account soon to follow, but I do feel bad for the everyday gym warrior. Now they might see their favorite Stepmill taken at their usual time and their workout take twice as long .

-Josh

I’m reading a book of my own thoughts

I’m confused, annoyed, happy, shocked, bewildered…..I’m….well, I don’t know what I am  right now. I’m discouraged a bit. I’m 30 pages into a book called The 4-Hour Body by author Timothy Ferriss. Ferriss is known for his very outside-the-box thinking from his book The 4-Hour Workweek. He takes all popular beliefs and throws them out the fucking window and not only shows you how to do things differently but goes out and does them with remarkable success. Pessimists get annoyed and believers change their lives from his words.

The 4-Hour Body is a “uncommon guide” to health and fitness. Weight loss, muscle building, cholesterol, sex, it’s got everything. Again, it has that “throw all popular beliefs out the fucking window” attitude to it.

My eyes grow wider as I read. I am reading my own thoughts about all things regarding exercise and diet. A feeling of comfort comes over me because a well known author has now sided with me in some sense. At the same time I’m annoyed that I didn’t write the book! I am discouraged because I always felt that explaining things was a strength of mine and he has taken the same ideas but has put them in words that I could never. I always knew that my methods were different than others in the field. I have confidence in all my methods. And here I am reading my thoughts. “All calories aren’t the same”, holy shit I try to tell people that. He even used my example of eating a cooking in regards to how long it would take to burn it off. Boom, talks about macro-nutrient ratios….that is the base of my diet plans! My eyes get wider and wider. I think to myself, “what the F is going on here”. Again I am happy we agree on the same principles but annoyed no one listens to me (ok, not everyone, the ones that do get every result they wanted)! I’m totally discouraged by his superior ways of explaining things.

I read on. “Minimum Effective Dose”, he explains as doing just enough to ilicit a response by the body. My mind zooms back to a memory of myselfexplaining to  a client I put on a cutting diet that he should only do the amount of cardio I prescribed and no more. I said to Sean, “We want to do the minimum amount of cardio that keeps us losing weight, if we do more it will be harder to lose weight down the line.”  The author then goes over “cheat meals” and cycling calories, again to principles of my diet plans. He even discusses his hatred for fictional words like “toning” and I’m like “shit, didn’t I write an article on the same subject?” Women and men should be trained the same……weird I feel the same way. Is anyone listening to me?

Then it all comes to the climax. Ferriss writes about his annoyance of those in the field that discard bodybuilder’s expertise. He explains that scientists, professors, doctors view them as amateurs or renegades of the industry.  Ferris and I both agree very strongly that we should put aside the common judgements of a bodybuilder: tanning, oil, speedos, steroids, etc,  and take them for what they are, masters of two things that we all want to do, build muscle and lose fat. “Masters” might be an understatement because many, after all, are professionals. They have more practice at those two things than anyone on the planet but because they may not have formal education on the subject their advice means nothing.

But….

Tonight I’ll be training in the gym with a female who wants to get “toned”. I’ll explain to her exactly what we are going to do and why (because I explain EVERYTHING that I do). I’ll say, “we are going to use many bodybuilding techniques” and right on que she will grimace and say, “well I don’t want to bulk up”. I will smirk, to hide that small part of me that dies in realization that everyone believes in these fictional myths and that they are turned off by the very techniques that I shape all my clients with unparalleled success…..sigh.

Right now I’ll go back to the comfort of the words on the page. I’m sure I’ll be venting again.

-Josh