Hey Gang! Well Happy 2009! The year is starting off on an inspirational note for sure. I’m psyched, I get to participate in this years ‘Half Their Size’ with People Magazine. I’ll be working with a female cab driver from NYC. I can’t wait to meet her. I’ll be working with her throughout 2009, and you’ll be able to follow her progress as People does their follow-ups throughout the year. Take a look at some of this inspirational video from some previous participants.

I heard this, of all places, on Celebrity Rehab one night when I couldn’t sleep. It made me think, this is a great idea for a blog post. I also, by complete coincidence had a discussion with a client that was career related, not so much fitness related, but this phrase REALLY hits home when it comes to getting what you say you want.

What you say you want, and what you’re willing to do to get it is the arbiter of whether or not you’ll succeed. Meaning your expectation of what YOU THINK getting in shape takes, can ruin the journey of actually getting in shape.

Give yourself the gift of letting go of your expectations.

Open your mind and let go of what you think it’s supposed to be, let go of what you think you ‘deserve’, and just work your ass off. Do it with a full heart. Do it with no ‘conditional preconceptions’.

Allow yourself to do what you’d never expect to do. In fact, stop thinking you know what to expect. Stop thinking you are entitled to anything, but the opportunity to challenge yourself to rise to your best version of yourself. Then be glad you get to go do that. Let go of entitled self-absorption and see the forest through the trees. Success in anything is hard for a reason.

You have to EARN IT.  Let yourself go and get out of your own way. If you’ve never been successful with weight loss, you never will be if you continually do the same thing, put forth or not put forth the smae effort and expect different results. Success requires a change in mindset. Decide that you’ll think differently. The do things differently. You can start by doing all the things you AVOID. If you want juicy results, and fascinating self-growth, that’s where it is. Expect the unexpected, and be comfortable in not knowing the outcome until you actually GET to the outcome. The road can be ugly but so what. The SAME ROAD is the SAME ROAD, and that is deadass boring. No wonder people fail over and over.

SAME=SAFE. Safe is fine if you want to just pass through, unnoticed. Safe won’t work if you want to succeed at something. Weight loss, career, love ….it doesn’t matter. Do what it takes, and if it’s not what you expect, you’re already on the right road.
Crazy, right?

Nope….not so much.

Are you happy with your income?
I get alot of email from personal trainers wanting information about how to design, develop, and deploy their businesses from the gym to the internet. I get tons of email from trainers asking how to become a celebrity trainer, how to brand themselves and how to make themselves stand out. I’ve been so busy building my own business, I just havent had the time…but, now I’m finally in a position to be able to devote the time to teaching other trainers to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight.

I’ve finally decided to design a course that takes my 25 years in the toughest market in the world and teaches you my secrets for building a cash generating EMPIRE with your personal training business. I’ll teach you how to do it with a traditional gym/studio practice, and, I’ll teach you how to do it ONLINE. Your responses to my survey will help me design the course you need and give you the information you want. Simply copy the questions into an email and send them to me at helpme (at) twtnyc.com
1. What is your greatest fear related to your success as a personal trainer?

2. What is keeping you from having the career you want?

3. Do you understand sales and marketing?

4. How is your client retention?

5. Are you working too many hours for not enough return on your effort?

6. If you could ask a Celebrity Personal Trainer 3 questions what would they be?

7. How can I help YOU make money? Tell me what you want to know!

My job as a personal trainer has set me on a MISSION to get people shape and help them stay in shape FOREVER. It would be great if you have a few minutes to answer a few questions in my Fitness Satisfaction Survey. This will help me design programming to help keep you focused, motivated and maintaining your fitness program. What are the things that are keeping you from living the life you’re dreaming about? Let’s make this next year THE BEST YEAR EVER!  Simply copy & paste the questions into an email and send it to me at helpme (at) twtnyc.com

Fitness Satisfaction Survey1. Are you happy with your body? Why, or why not?

2. Are you happy with your ability to participate in challenging activities?

3. What part of your body are you the least confident about?

4. Is excess weight keeping you from feeling confident and attractive?

5. If you could look like a celebrity, who would it be?

6. What things would you just LOVE to be able to do?

7. Does being overweight cause problems in your intimate relationships?

8. How many diets have you been on?

9. Has dieting worked for you on a long term basis?

10.What part of your body do you LOVE the most, and why?

Your name and responses to this survey will be kept entirely confidential, if you’d like to copy the questions and respond from another anonymous email, feel free.

Hey Gang, I got back from St. Maarten last Sunday night. We had an incredible time! You can check out just a few of the awesome pictures of the wedding and see for yourself the power of the Bridal BootCamp

Since excess weight puts you at risk for many health problems, you may need to set some weight loss plans to help avoid those risks and prevent disease.
But what should be your long-term goal? And what short-term goals should you set to help you get there? You have a better chance of attaining your goals if you make sure that the weight loss plans that you use is sensible and reasonable right at the beginning.

Here are some guidelines in creating weight loss plans and goals.

1. Be Realistic

Most peoples long-term weight loss plans are more ambitious than they have to be. For example, if you weigh 170 pounds and your long-term plan is to weigh 120, even if you have not weighed 120 since you were 16 and now you are 45, that is not a realistic weight loss goal. Your body mass index or BMI is a good indicator of whether or not you need to shed of pounds. The ideal BMI range, according to the national Institutes of Health, is between 19 and 24.9. If your BMI is between 25 and
29.9, you are considered overweight. Any number above 30 is in the obesity range. From this point of view, you will need a sensible weight loss plan that will correspond to the required BMI based on your height, because this is the primary factor that will affect your BMI.

2. Set Appropriate Objectives

Using a weight loss plan just for vanity’s sake is psychologically less helpful than losing weight to improve health. You have made a big step forward if you decide to undergo a weight loss plan that includes exercise and eating right so that you will feel better and have more energy to do something positive in your life.

3. Focus on doing, not losing

Rather than saying that you are going to lose a pound this week, say how much you are going to exercise this week. Keep in mind that your weight within a span
of a week is not completely in your control, but your behavior is.

4. Build Bit by Bit

Short-term weight loss plans should not be pie-in-the-sky. This means that when you have never exercised at all, your best weight loss plan for this week should be based on finding three different one-mile routes that you can walk next week.

5. Keep up the self-encouragement

An all-or-nothing attitude only sets you up to fail. Learn to evaluate your efforts fairly and objectively. If you fall short of some goals, just look ahead to next week. You do not need to have a perfect record. After all, self encouragement should definitely be a part of your goals. Happiness starts WITHIN.

6. Use measurable quantities

Saying that you are going to be more positive this week or that you are going to really get serious this week is not a goal that you can measure and should not be a part of your goal planning. This is another reason why you should incorporate exercise on your weight loss plan and focus on it. You should be able to count up the minutes of exercise, or reps of an exercise in order to be successful in your plan.

The bottom line is, you can make plans all day, but it means nothing without action. You have to put it into action by incorporating realistic goals that will motivate you to succeed. So choose benchmarks that matter to you, and be specific.

People who want to lose weight commonly, and first of all, think about reducing the amount of food they eat. This may be part of the solution but not exactly the best there is. In fact, depending on the amount you reduce in your food intake, it may even be dangerous to one’s health. So how does one lose weight effectively and safely? Here are some tips one should consider when trying to lose weight:

Beware of the Crash Diets

Most people think that trimming down calories can alone shed off their unwanted excess. Probably this is because of the fad there is in advertising about low-calorie food products and beverages. What people don’t know is that this could be dangerous because when they decrease their calorie intake way to below the required levels, the body begins to conserve bodyfat. Burning fat requires a lot of energy. Since there is not much energy in the body to facilitate metabolism of fat, it will run at a very slow pace resulting to fatigue, illness and weak immune system.

Low-calorie diet is also compensated for by the body by burning muscle. People on this type of diet who revert back to their old eating habits end up gaining back some, if not all the weight they have shed. This would consist mainly of fats. And since fats have more volume per mass than muscle, they end up having the same weight as before but end up being bulkier.

Eat Properly

Variety must always be considered so that the necessary nutrients are received. It is also healthier to eat foods which are roasted, steamed or broiled rather than fried. It is also important to include a lot of fiber in the diet. Frequent rehydration is also necessary. Eat more protein than carbs, and eat more unsaturated fat than saturated fat.

Pump Up lean Muscle Mass

Muscles burn calories when they work; they even do so at rest. Unlike fats which just lie around, bulge the pants and dangle beneath the sleeves, muscles burn calories all-day long. Start weight loss by increasing muscle mass. The more muscles you have, the more fat you burn.

Do Cardio!
Aerobics are not only good for the heart by increasing cardiovascular endurance. Aerobics also help in increasing lean muscle mass while simultaneously decreasing excess body fat. Aside from these, aerobics make the metabolic process more efficient and its rate high, even after a long while. Imagine burning fat efficiently while driving along the freeway or even while watching television.

Extra “Push”

Some people believe that smoking and caffeine can actually help in losing weight. This can perhaps be true; however, they do the body more harm than good because of their side-effects. So, if something promises something that seems to good to be true….look for the physiological ‘cost’ …sometimes too good to be true means it shouldnt be done to start with.

Well, I’m sending a Bride off to St. Maarten to get married minus

13 inches,

12 lbs and

smokin’ hot at 15% bodyfat.

AND I GET TO GO!!!!! Yup, it’s going to be so much fun. I can’t wait.  Three days in St. Maarten. WEEEEEEE!

This is making me CRAZY!!!! Sometimes, I’m miss nice trainer, and sometimes I’m ‘miss you’ve got to be kidding me you’re not telling me that with a straight face’ trainer. Every day I realize I’m fighting a bazillion dollar industry designed to keep you DIETING. That’s why there’s all sorts of products designed to keep you thinking you can have your cake and eat it too, and not gain weight because of it.

In other words, the dieting industry wants to keep you making the choices you’re making, because it makes them rich and you fat. No calorie alcohol, drinks and ‘food’ with NO CALORIES is designed to say ‘Here, you don’t need to change the way you think, eat more of THIS. You can do what you want, and suffer no consequences, you can eat with abandon and never have to deny yourself anything. Ever’.  Wooohooo! Right?
Here’s my answer to all the emails I get asking me about what about NO CALORIE insert weirdthing here?’Here’s my answer: NO NO NO NO NO. And add no nO, No, nono. N freaking O. NO.
Calories are a measure of HEAT, no? Yes, yes they are. Anything that’s biologically and metabolically FOOD has calories, except water. If you consume something that USED TO have calories, like soda, and now doesn’t have calories…hmmm, where did they go? Where did the calories go? And why are people overjoyed at this development, like it’s a good thing?

Something without calories, (other than water) imo, IS NOT FOOD OR DRINK and imo, should not be consumed under any circumstances.  I don’t care what research someone can pull out of their butt, supporting it. This is a no-brainer. Food has calories. PERIOD. Our bodies are designed to consume food for energy. No calories=no energy!

The worst offender is diet soda. If you want to lose 5″ off your waist on a month, JUST STOP ALL DIET SODA. ALL OF IT. Instantly, right now. Walk three times per week on the treadmill for 20 minutes. Srsly. DO IT.

I guarantee you - you will get results that are worth the ‘deprivation’ ….I know I sound pretty snarky, but sometimes someone has to get up, get down, and get freakin’ REAL…and just spout some real ‘give me a break please, you’re not fooling me’ advice.

No calorie food is NOT FOOD. Now go give me 20 pushups before I get rrrrreally snarky…lolololol

There are  a BUNCH of people getting an email from me, and wondering WHY?  I actually sent out an email to notify some of the members of exercise-world.com that I was moving to a new server, and needed them to re-confirm their memberships. BUT….the wrong confirmation email was sent by mistake.  If you’re a member of exercise-world.com, you received the email because I’m moving the member list to a service that can actually handle the communication needs of the site. Although the email said you requested information…which you clearly didn’t….

At the very least please accept my apologies for interrupting your day and/or confusing you!