Fat Loss – Body Transformation – Advanced Nutrition

Hey San Antonio,

I had planned on a lot of blogging and a lot of intense working out this weekend, but nothing in the world will bring a halt to that quite like a bout with food poisoning. Wasn’t so bad that I had it, but my 6 year old joined his daddy in sickness, and there’s nothing worse than having a sick child. Luckily, he only felt bad for about a day, while it put me down for the better part of three days! Nonetheless, since we both ended up sick at almost the exact time and we had only shared one meal that day together (about 8-10 hours before we got sick, and had the same thing at that meal, it was obvious of where it came from. I’m tempted to list the restaurant in question and tell you to avoid their turkey sandwich!!!

Nonetheless, I’m feeling pretty close to my normal self. I was able to stay relatively hydrated and my appetite is slowly coming back (though still not 100%). I have a feeling that once I do legs tomorrow (if I don’t die from not having enough calories down) that it will be back up and running at full speed.

Anyway, life doesn’t slow down because of a little upset tummy. While I’m sure it will affect my workout tomorrow if I allow it to, I can’t use that as an excuse: it is a mere obstacle that I will overcome.

Busy evening for me on the personal training front – but I’d have it no other way.

Even when it’s a challenge, stay focused!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

I realize that a lot of readers haven’t seen this, but since they (they being the cult weirdos that are wasting their time with Crossfit) have found my blog and feel the need to email me regularly, I thought I’d post this up… With some bonus footage ;)

They aren’t doing this in CrossFit:

Or this:

Have you recently spoken to a CrossFitter? Probably went a little like this:

Ok, on with the post!

I have pissed off most of the P90X crew by simply telling them that their baby (P90X) is not a “pretty baby” by evaluating P90X as nothing more than a glorified calisthenic and cardio program that is extremely limited in it’s ability to help individuals make more than meager progress after their initial change. Simply put, the results diminish rapidly after the initial progress.

Most people aren’t looking at fitness programs and fat loss endeavors through scientific eyes, nor they do want to hear that their training program is supposed to be challenging (hence the term WORKING out), the nutrition requires sacrifice and discipline, and that change does not happen overnight. They look for hype and what everyone else is doing and what will require the least amount of agony: the least dedication (only 10 minutes per day!), the least sacrifice, the least muscle pain, the least effort. Not saying that some of these workout programs aren’t challenging, because most of them will cause you to breathe hard and break a sweat, and do provide some utility for many exercisers. However, drastically changing the body requires a unique program designed for the individual, not simply throwing “shit on the wall to see if it sticks”, which is what these one size fits all, designed for the masses programs do. Everyone has different needs and experiences – those needs must be considered when designing the program, and just following the rest of the sheep will just make you one of the crowd – and the crowd that I see when I walk the streets of most cities is a pretty average (at best) crowd. Don’t be a sheep.

Before I go on, I have to bring up the Basic Laws of Training and ask you to read that article. Right off, a simple understanding of those principles will let you see where most programs designed for the masses fall short (they don’t pay attention to Individual Differences, ignore Specific Adaption, Don’t Vary Intensity, etc).

With all of that being said, MOST programs have something to gain from them, and as I’ve stated numerous times, doing ANYTHING is better than DOING NOTHING. Everything works for a time. Some guys/gals train with Strongman Principles. Some with HIT. Some with P90X. All will WORK, at least for a period of time.

Of course, the latest rage in the fitness community is CrossFit. As I am writing this in my studio in North San Antonio, I know that I cannot walk outside and throw a dead cat without hitting a CrossFit studio, as there are several in the immediate area.

For those who aren’t familiar, what is CrossFit? CrossFit describes several affiliate gyms and their types of workouts that are typically high intensity forms of weightlifting, sprinting, kettlebells, ropes, strongman, gymnastics and many other types of training. Affiliates create a “Workout of the Day” and often use a scoring and ranking systems to transform workouts into sport.

Don’t get me wrong: I have an in-depth understanding of the CrossFit Principles and approach to training, and have been using many of the same core exercises, similar principles of cross training, and other similar aspects of CrossFit in training programs to simply provide variety and skill development in many of my clients’ training programs for many years. I am in no way saying that CrossFit cannot be challenging nor intense. It focuses on most every aspect of fitness (cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination, and accuracy) and many times, in the same workout.

I mentioned it above: doing anything is better than nothing. Is CrossFit the be all, end all workout program that it’s pundits would like you to believe?

No, I don’t think so… And I understand that the cultists are going to go absolutely berserk and litter me with tons of comments and messages: I know that many people have made great progress from CrossFit (and will write to tell me so), but that does not mean it is the perfect workout program: in my opinion, it is mediocre at best.

First and foremost, you have only one ass – that means you cannot sit on two horses. How is that relative? In changing the body, your results are quite limited when focusing on contrasting goals at one time – focusing on every aspect of fitness will lead to a lot of wasted progress in the long term (Ever known of anyone training for a marathon and a powerlifting meet at the same time? No, because it is IMPOSSIBLE). While CrossFit is very effective at laying a general base level of conditioning, once this is established, progress would be, like P90X, very limited. CrossFit’s promotional materials imply that this type of training addresses all the strength and conditioning needs of an athlete, but the principle of specificity teaches that if you try to excel at everything, you will not reach the highest levels at anything.

Many beginners often complain that they find the programs overzealous, that they’re under-prepared to perform many of the exercises (trust me, cleans, snatches, jerks, dead lifts – these are all exercises of skill the require many hours of coaching to perfect) and that “everyone is different” is pretty much tossed out the window. “You’re a CF’er now, Dammit! Suck it up, cream puff…” I disagree with the “learn by the fire” mentality: without assessing muscular imbalances, there is a high risk of injury in performing any of these exercises. I perform a series of tests to ensure that any client is prepared to perform these exercises. While I’m certain that many people have performed CrossFit for years without injury, the risk is simply too high without proper assessment of beginners without performing corrective exercises to ensure that muscular imbalances have been eliminated before performing high these high skill movements. While I regularly utilize these movements in many of my training protocols, rest assured that I am closely monitoring every inch of the movement, no matter how experienced the trainee is – the slightest relaxation of form can and will lead to injury. And if the client already has an injury history? You’re damn right the program MUST be tailored with these considerations and must be prefaced by corrective exercises before performing these movements.

In many CrossFit WOD’s (workout of the day), it simply looks like someone chose exercises and rep schemes out of a hat and pieced them together with little regard to order of exercises or if some exercises. “Pre-exhaustion” with some exercises inhibits one ability to perform other exercises with optimal form and muscle activation, increasing injury risk and limiting the effectiveness of the exercise (for example, would it make sense for someone who was attempting to set their personal record on bench press to completely burn out on push ups prior to attempting the bench press?), as well as increasing the risk of injury. This is especially true when utilizing Olympic Lifts, which CrossFit uses as a staple.

Many exercises are simply used better for specific objectives. The dead lift is a strength/power exercise and doesn’t lend itself to high reps/muscular endurance – but is routinely performed at high reps in CrossFit workouts. Workouts Grace and Isabel feature 30 rep clean and jerks/snatches – I’m sorry, but I cannot recommend that protocol under any circumstance.

From the viewpoint of a competitive fitness athlete, no competitor who primarily does CrossFit as their training has ever won a major bodybuilding show or power lifting meet: while most people aren’t aspiring for these goals, it’s tough to consider their training as elite of that they prepare individuals to be exceptional at anything beyond CrossFit. Fortunately for CrossFitters, there are “CrossFit Games”, which they can compete in.

The workouts simply do not do enough to increase lean body mass at anything more than a snail’s pace beyond the initial adaption phase that ANY fitness program has (the overcoming of disuse phase). Normal people will read this and think that they don’t want to become huge muscle monsters, and that isn’t what I’m referring to – slight increases in lean body mass are necessary for metabolic increases. If muscle is not growing it is atrophying (or going away). Loss of lean body mass leads to a lower metabolism, higher risk of injury and worsened health.

I routinely have male clients drop their body fat percentages from the mid 20% into the single digits and drastically changing the way they look – along with females with three or more children seeing defined abs for the first time: I assure you that this requires a bit more than body weight work, super-setting with 400 meter sprints, and a random order of exercises.

CrossFit is designed to make a person average at the different aspects of fitness. But what happens when you’re ready to take your body to the next level? To drastically change your appearance or take your performance beyond that of average? You need a more specific solution that isn’t a program for the masses.

Don’t think for a second that nutritional issues can be solved with a one size fits all approach. Every client has different nutritional requirements, and nutrition isn’t going to provide you with a custom nutritional strategy based on your needs and condition.

If you want to belong to a cult that wears cute shirts about “Pukey the Clown” or “WOD KILLA”, and become better at Freeze Tag, Hide and Go Seek and the Monkey Bars? Then by all means, find a CrossFit Gym now. If you want to throw shit on the wall to see if it sticks, follow a workout with no progression, do technically challenging lifts in a state of exhaustion (that should be performed at peak energy levels with constant expert supervision), taught by novice coaches with one to two days of training in these lifts, no program (workout thrown together with no thought of periodization or progression), then CrossFit is just what you’ve been looking for. The workouts are designed with ONE purpose: to be challenging. However, understand a challenging workout doesn’t necessarily mean an effective one. There are many better alternatives for drastically changing your body and increasing your level of fitness.

If you want to obtain rapid results from someone who spent more than a weekend obtaining a Level 1 Certification for $1000, who has real life experience working with people from all walks of life and understand the differences in each person’s condition, injury and exercise history, then find a real fitness expert and stay out of the PE Class that is CrossFit… Yes, you’ll break a sweat. You may lose a little weight and make some friends. But in no way is it an optimal training program for body transformation or specific activity performance. As I did with the P90Xers, I’ll welcome all tactful responses and respond directly to each of them.

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

Hey San Antonio,

I’ve been slammed today with training and handling other fiscal business, but I have some incredible “Ask the Personal Trainer” posts that I want to post in the next few days, including a “throwdown challenge” from a CrossFit Nancy (for lack of a better term).

I hope everyone has a great weekend – be active! It’s never too late to start becoming the best you possible!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

Hey Everyone,

Received a question last night about studies and my opinion on them – great question!

Hi Boyd: Love the blog. It’s obvious you do quite a bit of research. What do you think of “studies” that are published by different supplement companies and training magazines?

Thank you for taking the time to write. I make it a point to spend at least 30 minutes per day reading something fitness or nutrition related every day. I prefer writings that are based on science, so much of my reading is done in numerous Sports Medicine Journals, the Mayo Clinic, a few select authors that are considered elite coaches (hence, not found perpetuating bullshit in bodybuilding magazines), or PubMed.Gov (where all published studies can be found). T

Here are a few things important to understand about the studies you mention.

1. Who published the study: Are they selling something? Remember every theory can be proven wrong, but nothing can be proven to be 100% correct.

2. What they are trying to prove: How are they setting the study up? How controlled is it? Are there any other “x-factors”? If they’re selling a supplement, they may be ignoring some common sense information that would rebut their argument.

3. Is there another side to their argument: Yes, there always is. For every study that states ANYTHING, there are usually 5 more that refute what they are saying.

The key is to keep an open mind. I don’t allow myself to be influenced or convinced by everything I read. Of course, this is my background, my education and what most of my training is in. Fortunately, for someone to make drastic changes to their body doesn’t mean that they have to understand everything about the body and nutrition down to the most minute, scientific detail. That’s what people like me are for! Seriously, there’s SO MUCH to learn, and the more I discover, the more that I realize is out there for me to learn.

Also, compared to other fields, drastic body transformation has not been examined as in-depth as it could be. Remember, weight training and nutritional strategies for adding extra amounts of muscle or losing fat rapidly is a relatively NEW science (compared, to say, chemistry). In the past, scientists have only studied survival and disease avoidance.

This is exciting for me because I realize that I’m able to be on the cutting edge of something that is actually useful – I personally play with megadosing different nutrients, minerals and amino acids to see how they affect recovery, training, energy, etc – unfortunately, there’s not always a ton of research out there on many topics, but more is available everyday.

Thank you for the question, and please keep them coming!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

Hey San Antonio,

I like to keep an eye on the pulse of the fitness community. If you do a Google Search on Personal Trainers in San Antonio, you see a bit of everything: group exercise, CrossFit, $10 per hour personal trainers – pretty much, a little bit of everything.

And they all have a claim: they’re the toughest, the hardest, the easiest, the cheapest, the best, etc, etc, etc. Funny that none of them take the time to put forth their beliefs, their experiences, nor their opinions like I do, but hey, I’m the one that also has the background of a computer engineer, so it’s not exactly their fault ;). Those that do have a blog usually just repost fitness and health related articles from CNN Health and the San Antonio Express News. If a news agency is the place where you’re getting fitness advice, then we really need to talk!

I don’t like all of the hype – in fact, I prefer to let my track record speak for itself. “It’s easy” is the last thing you’ll ever hear me say; if it were easy, everyone would look great. My services are in great demand – my time is valuable and I evaluate every client on a basis of “do I think they’re serious enough to do what I ask?” One of the first things I say is “I do not train everyone that comes to me” – I only deal with those who are serious about changing their bodies and their lives. I’ve had potential clients tell me that it felt like a job interview. I ask them specific questions about their goals, their pasts, and their habits. It usually takes me about one second to tell how serious someone is – it’s visibly evident on their face and in their eyes.

I hate group training with a passion. I mention that there’s no “one size fits all” training program every other day here on the blog, and that what I do is user specific. Of course, there are hundreds of videos on YouTube about how “CrossFit is bad ass, and your workout is their warm up, and you’re a weakling if you don’t do CrossFit” blah blah blah. (Note to CrossFit minions – your workouts could be put together by a child pulling exercises out of a hat, I can 10-rep your maxes, I’m stronger than every single one of you in all major lifts – and gangs/cults show weakness). Now that that’s out of the way… ;)

There’s a LOT of confusion on what you should do. You have this fitness model in this magazine saying one thing, the so-called guru on this website saying the complete opposite. There are hundreds of diet books, drug companies, personal trainers, gyms, and support groups all competing for one thing: your dollars.

I’d rather put you in contact with real people – meaning if you’d like to chat with these people face to face, I’ll make it happen. Like Christina, who as of yesterday, was down more than 6% body fat in 2 weeks. Like Chade and Andy, who during their time with me lost well over a combined 100lbs and completely changed their outlooks on fitness, exercise and nutrition (all while working 80+ hours per week running their business, traveling, all while still having a personal life. Or Deron, a successful businessman, husband and father of 5 who in his own words “erased 15 years of pregnancy in 2 months” (I still laugh at that – he eventually lost roughly 50lbs of body fat in 4 months of training with me and has managed to keep it off and stay fit after his time with me). Or even 59 year old Ruth – who told me the first day that she hated everything about exercise and dreaded it, all to figure out that she can’t live without it and that you actually “learn to love it”. With her daughter getting married in a few months, she has no worries about not being the gorgeous mother of the bride!

Hell, check out the video testimonial just to the right: Courtney came to me less than 3 weeks after her third child and was able to lose more than 12 inches off of her abdominal circumference…

The testimonial pages on my different websites are loaded with normal people who made extraordinary changes. I’ve also been fortunate enough to work with figure competitors who went from “also ran” to winning their status as professionals, models who have appeared in and on the covers of Playboy and Oxygen, and numerous amatuer and professional athletes that have taken their games to the next level.

These aren’t just fancy pictures and magazines hanging in my office and words on my websites – these are all real people who will happily tell you about their experience of working with me to change their bodies. They won’t say it was easy and they won’t tell you that I wasn’t demanding (it’s not easy and I can be a real asshole if I need to be :) but they’ll tell you that I’m very realistic and I will answer any question you may have along the way and give you all of the support you need to get to where you want to go.

So no, I’m not $10 an hour – you get what you pay for and those people are just taking your money. I think CrossFit sucks. I’ll not hesitate to say that Tony Horton is a scam artist and that P90X is nothing more than a glorified cardio program with serious limitations (in other words, P90X sucks as well. I’m not a fad chaser who simply jumps from one belief to another because I’m not educated enough to make my own decisions or come to my own conclusions (believe me, this describes about 80% of the personal trainers out there).

Hey, at least I’m able to back up everything I say!

Hype does not replace experience. If you’re looking for the cutting edge of training and nutrition, I’m the one that sharpens the blade. Do not settle!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

Hey everyone,

I took the time to put some of my own training videos in one spot, and the link is on the right side of the page: Walking The Walk: Boyd’s Training Videos.

This is just a collection of me “doing what I do”. I realize that many of my clients aren’t looking to become insanely strong or compete in a bodybuilding or figure competition. No worries – I train every client based on their goals and their capabilities – I’m not a one size fits all trainer, this is just me having a little fun while I workout!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the vids – I’ll be updating it regularly (that 605lb bench press will soon be replaced by a 635lb bench press!)

Enjoy!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

Hola San Antonio:

One of the big popular terms in fitness and nutrition right now is “Paleo” (short for Paleolithic). Paleo dieting is basically a strategy of eating all natural foods. Of course, the CrossFit crew has basically repackaged it as if they’ve created it.

Ironically, one of my nutritional principles has remained the same over the last 15 years: if it doesn’t grow from the ground or if it doesn’t eat things that grow from the ground, you don’t need to eat it. I’ve also been known to use the phrase “if a caveman didn’t have it to eat, you don’t need to eat it”.

Hell, a year ago, I created this website for the lifestyle as a whole: Caveman Lifestyle Program.

In my last post, I mentioned things being “repackaged” as “new and cutting edge”. This is done by trainers that are fad chasing and aren’t educated enough to take the best of any nutritional program (whether it’s GI Diet, Mediterranean, Zone, Atkins, etc) and use the principles that are beneficial and trash the rest. Everyone is different and there are many different facets of many different nutritional strategies that can be beneficial to many different types of people: there IS NO ONE SIZE FITS ALL!

Truth be told, the Paleo Diet is relatively new – I’m guessing it has only been around for the last 4,000,000 years.

Even this guy knows that:

Everyone has different nutrient, vitamin and mineral needs: I’m the master at diagnosing and fixing these deficiencies. There is no one size fits all – not if you’re serious.

Nutrient Timing, Proper Food Selection, and Maximizing Nutrient Intake based on your condition, training goals, personal schedule is what it is all about, and there is no way a one size fits all nutritional program addresses those factors. I’ll save that approach to the amateurs – monkey see, monkey do.

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

Hey San Antonio,

I have a lot of clients that ask me if it ever gets easier. Truth be told, training gets better, but it should never get easier. As you progress, you should focus on becoming better at things you aren’t good at. I have people tell me they hate bench pressing or hate push ups or hate squats or hate doing legs or whatever: it’s no coincidence that the muscles they hate to work are usually their least developed body part.

I really work on teaching my clients what, why and how: If they want to know the exact science behind it, I’ll teach it to them. If they want the reader’s digest version? That’s great too – but I want them to know HOW to do it without me. Of course, I will push them further than they would otherwise push themselves, but the bottom line is that I do so to teach them exactly what it takes to make the body change. It’s more than just “working out” or breaking a sweat – the body has to have a reason to be forced to adapt. Exercise selection, order of exercises, reps, sets, etc: those all play a role.

Too many personal trainers get enamored with the latest fad and they’re changing what they believe and what they think every other month. Why? Because they aren’t educated enough to take the best of a program or a strategy and throw out the fluff – they’re too easily influenced by the latest popular training strategy (for example, CrossFit – read why I say it sucks) or latest nutritional program. They don’t understand the importance of developing nutrition and training for scratch, developing both based on the client’s condition and goals. They’re bouncing around from one extreme to another – which, in turn, is wasting YOUR time as they learn their trade.

Today during my own workout, I did not feel 100%. To be honest, I feel that I was struggling with things that are typically easy for me. But I kept pushing, and I looked for a new highlight of the day like I always do: that one set or one exercise that I pushed just a bit further than I have ever pushed before, and I got it. That is what it takes to become better each time you workout: find that high point!

I work to spread knowledge on this blog. I share everything that I can think of that will help you change YOUR body. Many of my clients read this blog daily. I get emails regularly from people on every continent that tell me they’re avid readers and that they appreciate it. Nothing I write on here is influenced by fad or popular opinion: hell, it’s usually the opposite. Why? Because I have the courage to be questioned and to go against the grain. 99% of personal trainer websites and blog regurgitate the same old bullshit that is perpetuated in gyms and in magazines – the nonsense that people are following, getting frustrated with, and not reaching their goals. The same training mistakes and myths are constantly portrayed as truths and people aren’t learning from the same old mistakes that most everyone is making. That’s the reason there are so few people actually transform their bodies and make progress. Fads come and go – just because someone is raving about the latest fad doesn’t mean it’s the holy grail: progress is made by hard work, discipline, consistency and knowledge. That’s nothing new: ignore the repackaging of ideas and principles that many of the popular workout programs do today – trust science and experience, not hype!

To my regular readers, thank you. I promise to keep telling it like it is just like I do for my clients. I never hesitate to tell people it’s not easy (that’s why it’s called working out), but my willingness to be straight forward and no nonsense is what has helped me develop the business that I have today – it’s more than a job or a career: it’s my passion and my LIFE.

If you’re doing the same old same old and not making progress, it’s time to make a change. If you’re struggling and finding every workout a challenge – don’t stop – you will conquer that feeling. But you must keep challenging yourself and keep working toward a new highpoint, every single time you step foot into that gym.

Make every workout, every bite, and every step count: it’s an amazing journey, and failure to move forward is moving backwards!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

Hey SATX!

The more I read these “so-called” nutritional expert recommendations online the more disgusted I get. All too often, they’re making recommendations for low calorie snacks, and often, those recommendations include things such as those little “100 Calorie” cookies/cracker snacks, carrots, etc. They read books like “Eat This, Not That” and think because it says “EAT THIS” that those are acceptable, healthy meals. Those are alternatives to, well, shitty choices. However, if you make the changes that are in that book, you’re going to make a very small change – nothing seriously noticeable.

First and foremost, number of calories should not be the first thing you look at in a food choice. 100 calories from crackers may not seem like a big deal, but those are 100 empty calories that have the absolute worst effect on hormones that make you fat. Carrots as a snack? Those are nature’s little “sugar sticks” – maybe better than crackers, but not a decent snack choice. The key to proper snacking is to not have an impact on insulin (which is why a protein source is optimum). Also, carb snacks tend to turn the “hunger” light on – they aren’t filling and they’ll have you ready to eat more quickly. Test it – on an empty stomach, eat 25g worth of carbs from, let’s say, a baked potato. That’s roughly 1/2 of a potato (or a more common favorite, 1/2 of a banana). Then, again on an empty stomach (several hours, or a day later) eat 25g of protein from a chicken breast (roughly 4oz). See which is more filling and see which is more satisfying. Also, the potato, on an empty stomach (and by itself) will spike insulin, the hormone that tells the body to “STORE”. One of my basic nutritional principles is that every meal must be centered around protein (this is partially why).

When choosing food choices, whole, non-processed foods are always the best choice, but just because it’s a fruit or a vegetable, doesn’t make it optimal for fat loss. Body transformation relies greatly on nutrient timing – when you eat what is key; not calorie amount for the entire day. My clients rarely complain about eating too little – they’re actually surprised at how much I have them eating, and even more pleased when they realize how quickly the fat comes off once we set their metabolic rate to where we want it. Starvation and marathon cardio: the way to absolute disaster and disappointment!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

Hey everyone,

A true legend in the fitness world passed away yesterday, and I just wanted to pay tribute to a guy that has been preaching the gospel of health and fitness for the last 7 decades, at an age when most people have long forgotten about exercise.

He is credited with one of my favorite sayings: “The only way you can hurt the body is not use it…”

Here’s an article on his death found on FoxNews.com:

Jack LaLanne was prodding Americans to get off their couches and into the gym decades before it was cool. And he was still pumping iron and pushing fruits and vegetables decades past most Americans’ retirement age.

The fitness fanatic ate well and exercised — and made it his mission to make sure everyone did the same — right up to the end at age 96, friends and family said.
LaLanne died Sunday at his home in Morro Bay on California’s central coast, longtime agent Rick Hersh said. The cause was respiratory failure due to pneumonia.

“I have not only lost my husband and a great American icon, but the best friend and most loving partner anyone could ever hope for,” Elaine LaLanne, LaLanne’s wife of 51 years and a frequent partner in his television appearances, said in a written statement.

Lalanne, who had heart valve surgery two years ago, maintained a youthful physique and joked in 2006 that “I can’t afford to die. It would wreck my image.”

“He was amazing,” said 87-year-old former “Price is Right” host Bob Barker, who credited LaLanne’s encouragement with helping him to start exercising often.

“He never lost enthusiasm for life and physical fitness,” Barker told The Associated Press on Sunday. “I saw him in about 2007 and he still looked remarkably good. He still looked like the same enthusiastic guy that he always was.”

LaLanne credited a sudden interest in fitness with transforming his life as a teen, and he worked tirelessly over the next eight decades to transform others’ lives, too.

“The only way you can hurt the body is not use it,” LaLanne said. “Inactivity is the killer and, remember, it’s never too late.”

His workout show was a television staple from the 1950s to the ’70s. LaLanne and his dog Happy encouraged kids to wake their mothers and drag them in front of the television set. He developed exercises that used no special equipment, just a chair and a towel.

He also founded a chain of fitness studios that bore his name and in recent years touted the value of raw fruit and vegetables as he helped market a machine called Jack LaLanne’s Power Juicer.

When he turned 43 in 1957, he performed more than 1,000 push-ups in 23 minutes on the “You Asked For It” television show. At 60, he swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco — handcuffed, shackled and towing a boat. Ten years later, he performed a similar feat in Long Beach harbor.

“I never think of my age, never,” LaLanne said in 1990. “I could be 20 or 100. I never think about it, I’m just me. Look at Bob Hope, George Burns. They’re more productive than they’ve ever been in their whole lives right now.”

Fellow bodybuilder and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger credited LaLanne with taking exercise out of the gymnasium and into living rooms.

“He laid the groundwork for others to have exercise programs, and now it has bloomed from that black and white program into a very colorful enterprise,” Schwarzenegger said in 1990.

In 1936 in his native Oakland, LaLanne opened a health studio that included weight-training for women and athletes. Those were revolutionary notions at the time, because of the theory that weight training made an athlete slow and “muscle bound” and made a woman look masculine.

“You have to understand that it was absolutely forbidden in those days for athletes to use weights,” he once said. “It just wasn’t done. We had athletes who used to sneak into the studio to work out.

“It was the same with women. Back then, women weren’t supposed to use weights. I guess I was a pioneer,” LaLanne said.

The son of poor French immigrants, he was born in 1914 and grew up to become a sugar addict, he said.

The turning point occurred one night when he heard a lecture by pioneering nutritionist Paul Bragg, who advocated the benefits of brown rice, whole wheat and a vegetarian diet.

“He got me so enthused,” LaLanne said. “After the lecture I went to his dressing room and spent an hour and a half with him. He said, ‘Jack, you’re a walking garbage can.”‘

Soon after, LaLanne constructed a makeshift gym in his back yard. “I had all these firemen and police working out there and I kind of used them as guinea pigs,” he said.
He said his own daily routine usually consisted of two hours of weightlifting and an hour in the swimming pool.

“It’s a lifestyle, it’s something you do the rest of your life,” LaLanne said. “How long are you going to keep breathing? How long do you keep eating? You just do it.”

In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, Dan and Jon, and a daughter, Yvonne.

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

Hey San Antonio,

I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend. The weather here in San Antonio was actually quite moderate, unlike the sub-freezing temperatures that we were getting on Thursday and Friday. I know, I know, I have a lot of readers from all over the US and the rest of the world, and I realize that 90% of this country is dealing with ice and snow right now, but I’ve been spoiled after living in South Texas for more than a decade!

Last week, I wrote an article about how “Having a baby is no excuse not to get into amazing shape“. I used two examples of mothers who did not use “I had a baby” as an excuse to give up on a high level of fitness: Olympic Swimmer Dara Torres won a silver medal IN HER 40s after having a daughter 2 years before the Olympics, and Kim Clijsters won two US Opens after having a child – both sports are known for being dominated by youth, and these ladies were able to reach the highest levels later in their career after child birth.

I know it’s hard for most individuals to relate to elite athletes. Regardless of how good an example those ladies may be, I completely realize that many people are going to say “Yeah, but I’m not a world class athlete, I just want to be fit.” Of course, it IS relative – they’re competing against other world class athletes, and even if they’re already at an amazing level, what it actually takes to lose fat and get “back into shape” is the same for you as it is them.

So, here’s one that most of you can relate to. These amazing abs belong to my friend and occasional workout partner Renae:

Renae is not a famous athlete, an Olympian or a fitness competitor. Renae is a 38 year old mother of three that absolutely works her ass off in the gym, eats with a purpose and does all of the little things required to look amazing. Settling for the excuse of “I’ve had 3 kids” has never crossed her mind. Oh, and for the record, she follows my principles: train heavy using compound exercises such as the squat, dead lift and bench press, eat like a caveman using nutrition to control fat loss and keep cardio at a minimum – it is for lung and heart health and is not nearly as effective for fat loss and many would have you believe.

Renae is the definition of LEAN. That’s a big difference between looking sickly and skinny.

Want more proof? Over the last year and a half, my mother has lost nearly 100lbs. I asked her to tell about the difference in her life, and after reading her story, I felt like she was being way too modest and not doing herself justice. When I saw her a few weeks ago, it was hard to believe that she was the same person that I had known my entire life. For most of my life, she had been over 200lbs (at only 5 foot tall). But now, she is a completely different person. Nothing drastic, no starvation: she admittedly eats when she’s hungry, but makes the proper food choices at the right time (like what I preach here day in and day out). She doesn’t measure calories, doesn’t do marathon cardio, and doesn’t starve herself – plus, she NEVER uses the term “DIET”. Now, she looks amazing, is still making regular progress, and absolutely blows the socks off of everyone she runs into that hasn’t seen her in a while (I’m speaking from experience, I was at a loss for words). I’m proud of you, Momma.

You don’t have to be Dara or Kim to look amazing at any age, no matter how many children you may have had, injuries, aches and pains you may be dealing with or no matter what your condition may be. I’ve worked with so many individuals that are post cardiac surgery, thyroid conditions, diabetics, asthmatics: and when they are willing to put forth the effort and do the work, they’re able to make unlimited progress. Those conditions are OBSTACLES, not EXCUSES. Age? No excuse – it’s never too late, you’re not too busy, you do have time, you CAN do it.

But don’t be fooled: it takes the proper approach, and quite frankly, what I’m seeing in gyms and health clubs in San Antonio is not what is needed to help you change. I realize that the requirements to become a personal trainer have been greatly lessened, and that most trainers haven’t a clue about advanced training and nutrition – they know how to sell you a bundle of sessions in a package and have you do things to make you look ridiculous: not how to train you to improve you physically and to be able to design a nutritional strategy for you to help you optimize your entire experience.

If you keep doing what everyone else is doing, you’ll get the results everyone else gets. Based on what I’m seeing, most people rarely ever make significant changes. My clients, however, are the exception to this rule. I don’t give them a choice in the matter (not that I have to – they bring the motivation and the discipline, so all I have to do is guide them).

The Super Bowl is now set – who are YOU taking? I think the neutral site and fast track of Dallas favors the Packers and I’m fine with that. Aaron Rodgers is a 100% class act and is doing whatever it takes to win. I can’t help but like him, and with the charity work that Clay Matthews is doing, those two have become two of my favorite professional athletes.

It IS Monday: no better time to start than today. Take that first step – once you go in motion, you’ll be difficult to stop!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

Here’s some advice that 99.9% of the people trying to “make that change” do not want to hear: cardio is pathetic as a tool for fat loss. Period. I know, I know. “But my personal trainer told me I needed to do more and more cardio”. He was telling you that to alleviate his responsibility of actually educating you or training you. Or he simply does not know better. Or he thinks that if you lose a lot of weight initially you’ll be hooked. He isn’t looking two or three months down the road. He doesn’t care if you’re doing it the “right way”. All he cares about is this week. Well, I care about continuing progress. Body transformation is a lifestyle – a marathon. Not a sprint for the first few days. Those are the individuals that crash, burn and fail to reach their goals.

“But the charts tell me where my heart rate needs to be to burn fat”.

The body may use a little bit of fat for fuel DURING cardio, but there is absolutely NO afterburn effect (meaning your body does not burn fat at an accelerated rate post-cardio). Actually, it’s the opposite: in an attempt to preserve itself, the body switches it’s focus on preserving body fat and burning glucose.

Fat loss is a product of nutrition. Period. Abs are made in the kitchen. Want to increase your metabolism? Increase your lean body mass. That doesn’t mean gain slabs of muscle and get huge. Don’t worry – you aren’t capable of doing that. I put hours upon hours into getting massive and I’ll make you a promise: after your initial adaption period of the first 6 months of training, your body will fight you tooth and nail to put more muscle mass on. In fact, the body starts breaking itself down as we age, giving us another battle to fight – gaining muscle is by far the hardest thing to do from a training standpoint. I bench press over 600 pounds. I eat over 7000 calories per day. I gain weight at the pace that a glacier moves and that is my FOCUS! My metabolic rate is so accelerated that becoming any larger is becoming insanely difficult. So “I don’t want to get big and bulky” is a ridiculous concept.

Weight training has the opposite effect that cardio has: there is an afterburn effect – your body begins to preserve glucose and switches it’s focus to burning fat after training. Weight training stimulates an increase in lean body mass, which, in turn, increases the resting metabolic rate. Become leaner, burn more FAT calories at everything you do.

Cardio is completely overdone by 99.9% of people looking to change their bodies. If endurance is your goal, then cardio is great for you. Same can be achieved by training at a higher intensity from a standpoint of resting between sets and increasing the training volume in a given time period.

While training my last figure competitor, she was shocked at how little cardio I had her doing. She was under the impression that she needed to be doing two hours per day in the last several weeks of prep as she had done in the past. In the past, she was always an “Also ran” – in her last show, however, all she did was win every class she was in and obtain professional status as a figure competitor.

I know a lot of people, especially females, are reading this thinking that this does not apply to them, that I’m speaking about competitors and athletes – but I’m talking to everyone – those who need to lose 5lbs, 25lbs, post-natal, etc.

There’s a difference in dropping body fat (becoming lean) and “losing weight” (becoming SKINNY). Disease and sickness will make you skinny. Starvation will make you skinny. Skinny is NOT the desired result. Lean is what is desirable, and should be the focus.

Calories in versus calories out is ancient science: I use up to date science to make sure the body partitions the nutrients you intake to do what you want them to do, that it preserves what you want it to preserve (lean body mass) and that it burns what you want to get rid of (body fat). Again, I understand that a lot of people just “want to be smaller” but from a practical standpoint, that is a terrible approach. Just “losing weight” will lead to a reduction of lean body mass, bringing the metabolism to a screeching halt and causing the body to rebound in a horrible way and cause any future attempts to get rid of extra weight to become increasingly difficult.

So few people actually ever reach their fitness goals. Yet everyone seems to think they know how to get it done, and the first thing that anyone thinks of when it comes to losing weight is that they need to spend hours upon hours doing cardio.

Cardio definitely has a place, but the amount that most people need is much less than most people are trying to do. I’m not anti-cardio by any means – I simply know how to help people most efficiently transform their bodies.

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

Look, I’m a man. So I’m not going to pretend I can imagine the burden put on the body by having a baby.

But I do completely understand it from a training standpoint – the hormone fluctuations, the atrophy, muscular imbalances, etc.

Check out professional tennis player Kim Clijsters.

Tennis is a sport of youth, where females players peak in their late teens and early 20s, and begin the twilight of their careers before their mid-20s. They have to take advantage of every day they can play, stay at the top of their game, and delay childbirth until their career is over.

Except Kim Clijsters. In the midst of her career, she gave birth to her daughter. I know many women that use childbirth as an excuse to hold onto extra weight, become complacent and not return to pre-baby condition. However, Clijsters did come back and was able to play at the professional level again.

That in itself is a big deal – being able to compete with other women that were much younger and that hadn’t had a child yet. But she did more than compete.

She won the 2009 US Open. Then the 2010 US Open. Now, she’s heading toward the finals of the 2011 Australian Open. “But I’ve had a baby” or “Yeah, wait until you have a baby” aren’t things that’ll come out of her mouth.

And don’t forget about Dara Torres.

Mom, Olympic Swimmer (Like 5 different Olympiads?), Silver Medalist in the 2008 games… Yeah, that was the last Olympics. She looks like this:

Think she hides behind having a child? She’s considering an attempt at the 2012 Olympic Games.

You can do what YOU want to do. Having a baby is NOT the end of your physical peak. Celebrate your NEW life – I’ve personally witnessed it and assisted so many new mothers – if you want your best body ever post-baby, you can have it!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

Hey San Antonio,

Today is the end of the first week of my newest phase of training, as I focus on an 800lb dead lift (currently at 765) and adding 5-8% to my bench press one rep max (currently at 605) over the next 6-8 weeks.

I’m training with a pulled groin right now, so I decided to throw myself a curve ball – you see, I believe that dead lifts are meant to be done at a very low rep scheme for maximum gain from the exercise. Nonetheless, any exercise that recruits 3/4 of the body’s muscle fibers will do an absolute number on the cardiovascular system when performed in a high rep scheme with moderately heavy weight.

Here’s me with 405lbs for 19 reps. Yes, 19, I thought I was at 20, my workout partner told me 20, and then when I uploaded and recounted, it was only 19. Oh well, guess I slacked a little ;) Oh, and the music is an attempt at humor (haha):

As I mentioned, the pulled groin is excruciating on the eccentric and is limiting my stance as to how wide I can stand and how far I can drop, but it’s much better than it was a couple of weeks ago.

Step out of your comfort zone and test yourself at something different!

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

Near the end of 2010, did you say that 2011 was going to be the year you ate better?

Did you decide that you were going to focus on an exercise program?

Did you look at the end of 2010 as the “end of days” because come January 1 you were going to be serious?

Did January 1 falling on a weekend make you decide to wait until January 3?

Did you let that long weekend of debauchery throw everything off?

Did you notice how January 1 turned into January 19, and then did you realize that you hadn’t taken your first step toward a better you yet?

Did you make realistic goals and give yourself a timeline to accomplish those goals?

Did you fall back on the same excuses that had kept you from finding success in the past?

Did you walk into the gym and feel overwhelmed? Did you get really sore and realize that it’s not easy?

Did you get discouraged after just a few workouts and decided it was easier to just be apart of the crowd and settle for being obese, unhealthy and not near your full potential?

Did you make it a point to stop by HEB, Costco or Sam’s after work to stock up on lean meats, grains, and other healthy foods (my tip: you can eat it if it grows from the ground or eats stuff that grows from the ground)?

Did you set aside a couple of hours to cook your food tonight so that you’d have plenty of food to last the rest of the week?

Did you set your alarm for an hour earlier tomorrow to get up so that you could at least do cardio to get it out of the way?

Did you put on your calendar that you had a 90 minute meeting at the gym this evening that is a cannot miss appointment?

Did you take the time to read every post and learn that change is a lifelong process that must be taken one hour at a time?

Did you do whatever it is that motivates you? Did you look through some fitness magazines? Did you buy new workout clothes? Did you see an outfit that you wanted to buy yourself?

Did you look at a figure competition or a bodybuilding show 6 months down the road that you’d like to be ready for?

Did you know that those 5 extra minute, those 2 more reps, that one more set, those extra little plates for the last set will make all the difference in the world if you always make it a point to go further?

Did you realize that it doesn’t have to be a “MONDAY” or a “FIRST” to start doing what you need to do?

Did you realize that when you do take your first step, you’ll inspire someone else to be their best?

Did you realize that the compliments you’ll receive will inspire you to keep working harder and harder?

Did you realize that lean people earn over $250,000 more in a lifetime than obese individuals?

That you realize there’s no price that can be put on not hiding behind a towel when you get out of the shower? That you don’t have to get dressed before the mirror defogs because you don’t want to see how you really look?

Procrastination is the enemy and is the biggest training/body transformation mistake. It’s time to stop planning, analyzing and making excuses and do it.

Hell, at my personal training studio? We do work weekends. TAKE that first step now.

Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer in San Antonio
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454