Fat Loss – Body Transformation – Advanced Nutrition

Hey San Antonio,

I often receive phone calls and emails asking me about the different types of training services that I offer, my approach and other related questions. Here is a quick list of the different types of training and clients that I work with:

Clients seeking:
Fat Loss
Body Transformation
Muscle Gain
Sports/Athletic Conditioning
Competition Preparation
Performance Nutrition Guidance
Supplement Regimen Design

Types of training:
HIT (High Intensity Training)
Circuit Training
Core Based Training
Power Lifting
Olympic Lifting
Cross Training
Sprint Training
Flexibility
Kettle Bells
TRX Suspension Training
Martial Arts Training

And probably anything else you can imagine!

Now is the time to get a head start on the holidays – the new year is still 2 months away – you can use those 2 months to make the change or to make excuses!

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
Text FITNESSTRAINER to 90210 for my fat loss and body transformation tips!

Hey San Antonio,

Just a quick snippet we took about 40 minutes into my client Joey’s workout. Joey is a martial artist and while we often train for strength, this workout was totally circuit and cross training, where we worked with the TRX Suspension System, Kettle Bells, and the ab wheel of torture.

There is no one way to skin a cat, you just have to work hard and have the proper plan of attack (like Joey) – here is about 5% of his entire workout:

All tools are on the table in my personal training studio, whether it is power lifting, Olympic weight lifting, cross training, Russian Kettle Bells or whatever it takes. No training studio has a more complete view of training than mine, I assure you.

KICK BUTT!

Boyd Myers
210.391.1454
16613 Huebner Road

THE Personal Trainer – San Antonio!

Hey San Antonio,

I think the biggest downfall of most personal trainers is that most have tunnel vision. They know of one way to obtain a certain result and rarely deviate from their method.

Of course, that works great IF that is what the client needs. They fail to diagnose each client, their condition and needs and figure out the optimal way to get them from point A to point B. They fail to understand that one size doesn’t fit all. The only difference in their workouts from client to client is the difference in resistance.

I have many different clients with many different needs. I train normal people for typical fat loss. I train marathon runners. I train fitness competitors and bodybuilders. I train professional athletes at different times of the year where their needs are completely different. I have a client training for 21,000 feet climbs in Ecuador. I have clients doing Olympic lifts and sprints, others training circuit style, some powerlifting, others doing TRX bands, boxing training and kettle bells and many that do every bit of that or absolutely none of it.

The approaches to training I use are as different as my various clients are.

I don’t change things up just for the hell of it. While keeping the workouts interesting and challenging are both keys to keeping a client not only engaged, but providing overload, I’m not a fad chaser that sees something new and starts training every client in my new “passion” (note: if you are around personal trainers for any amount of time you will realize that most of them do this, find a new “style” and change as often as the weather).

Training should be based off of science. There is and never will be a one size fits all approach to training, and “scalable” means more by having someone perform a workout at a slower rate or using lighter resistance (re-read that, CrossFit cult members).

As long as the barrier to entry to becoming a personal trainer is extremely low, there will be these types of trainers that throw the proverbial crap on the wall to see what sticks, so be careful who and what training system you waste your time and money on.

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
Text FITNESSTRAINER to 90210 for my fat loss and body transformation tips!

Hey everyone,

No time.

Busy with kids.

Have to work, cook, clean.

Exercise is a luxury that I just don’t have time for right now.

Eating healthy is too expensive.

All common things I hear, and no matter how legitimate they may be, they are simply EXCUSES.

The way I see it is simple:

LIFE IS TOUGH, BUT I AM TOUGHER.

If you want something bad enough, you will find a way to make it happen, and that goes for getting into incredible shape.

While it may seem like “poor, poor, pitiful me” right now, I challenge you to read the Jimmy Graham story:

Overcoming True Adversity: Saints TE Jimmy Graham

This story has grown since the above post, and he is dominating the NFL now. As a child, he was basically dropped off at an orphanage by his mother, and beaten daily by the older children in foster care… So, your life is tough?

We all face adversity: some much more than others. But waiting for things to simply get better is insanity – same process doesn’t yield different results.

If there is something you want, it is up to you to go after it, whether it is a better body, better life, better job, more money, nicer home, etc.

You are in control of you. The difference between winners and losers? Losers wait for things to happen, winners make things happen.

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
Text FITNESSTRAINER to 90210 for my fat loss and body transformation tips!

That was the phrase my client Anna uttered as she walked to my the leg press machine in my studio a few hours ago. Of course, it was the leg press machine she has used a few times over the last month, but this time, it happened to already be loaded with more than 400lbs from the previous client. When I told her that it was actually the lady before her that was doing it, her reaction made it obvious that she was more than impressed. I took a few plates off of each side to allow her to acclimate and get ready to work hard.

A few sets later, she was under the same weight that she was “WOWED” by just a few minutes prior, and she was able to do it for 6 reps. Yes, all 110lbs of her.

A month ago, she told me that she “didn’t want to get big and manly.” And I bet she didn’t think that it was possible to leg press nearly 4 times her bodyweight. Neither did Lena (the client before her) when she started.

Cool thing? Both ladies are stronger and “amazingly”, neither of them have become “big and manly”, neither have sprouted an Adam’s Apple, have deeper voices, nor are ripping their clothes with their muscles.

Ladies, it does not work that way. How DOES it work? Regular people, just like each of you reading this, are able to do amazing things that they didn’t think would ever be possible in a very short amount of time, and drop inches, become leaner and stronger while having fun doing it.

No magic pills nor fads. I must warn you, it isn’t easy – but most definitely WORTH the effort.

So, when is the last time you really impressed yourself?

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
Text FITNESSTRAINER to 90210 for my fat loss and body transformation tips!

Hey San Antonio,

I have a few habits: I shower a couple of times per day. I shave regularly. I brush my teeth 3 times per day. Floss daily. Go to bed at night. Come to work every morning.

I have a 7 year old little boy and a 3 1/2 month old Juliana Piglet. Enforcing habits is a huge part of my day. Between the regular encouragement to make beds, pick up after yourself, “SIT”, and everything else, I can say that making some things a habit is not often easy.

Exercise and proper nutrition are no different. Most people want to look amazing, yet they don’t want to take the first step and make a commitment to consistently eating healthy and training intensely. “Working out” is what I do. Most people can say “Well, that is your job” but it has been something that has been a huge part of my life for far longer than my profession has been that as a personal trainer (and to clarify, I do not workout with my clients – as a matter of fact, always being around a gym as much as I am can lead to burnout, so I have to work extra hard to keep it interesting). I have a habit of selecting the healthiest choices when I eat. My habits include foregoing staying out late and eating terribly to rest up for the next day and the work/workout it has in store.

“Whatever it takes” is a phrase I hear often, and people mean it, right up until I start telling them exactly WHAT IT TAKES.

“It must be nice” is the other phrase I hear – I am a world class powerlifter and a competitive bodybuilder. I have no problem with the beach, pool parties or spending the day in very little clothes at the lake. Yes, it is NICE, but it isn’t just a gift that I am lucky to have – I, along with my clients that have decided to live this lifestyle, absolutely bust our asses to obtain a certain level of conditioning or appearance. I can assure you that my physical shape is not from genetics!

Simply put, fitness is obtained by creating the proper habits. What exactly does it takes? A series of the right choices becoming habits: Hard work, consistency, knowledge, intensity, commitment. I know, most people hate those words, but there are no shortcuts!

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
Text FITNESSTRAINER to 90210 for my fat loss and body transformation tips!

Hey everyone,

I try to spend a little time each day reading other health and fitness related material. Much of my free time is spent in medical journals and reading about government studies – but recently, my quest led me to a blog written by a lady named Victoria: Anorexic to Athletic. In one of her recent blogs (read it here), Victoria discusses the role of gym owners, their staffs and personal trainers in identifying individuals in their gyms that may be at risk to chronic exercise, anorexia, etc and their role in handling/assisting individuals in these situations.

I started this post, stopped, thought about it, re-wrote it a few times, walked away, and re-started several times. It is a delicate situation and I had to step back a few times and give it serious thought. Normally, I have no shortage of words and am able to respond immediately and definitely. In this situation, that simply was not the case.

I feel that I must clarify that my personal training studio is private – it is not a typical gym where people are coming and going throughout the day. It is by appointment only, and is purely one on one. I mention this because our relationship with our clients is quite different than the type the typical gym personal trainer may have with a random gym member. In my trainer-client relationship, the client’s condition, situation, health, etc are the primary reason they are here, and any discussion about said condition would be “fair game” to bring up, so to speak. I have worked with several different individuals who have struggled with eating disorders, image problems and such and I understand the uniquity of each situation.

I am not going to get into how balance is the essence of success, why people fall into these situations, how it happens, or any of that. I do believe that anorexia, body dysmorphia, chronic exercising and other similar conditions are more common than most would believe. With that being said, these situations may or may not be mutually exclusive. One could be a chronic exerciser, body dysmorphic, and anorexic or may simply be one or any combo of the three.

From the standpoint of being a health and fitness professional, if I happened to be a MEMBER of another gym and noticed someone who fit the bill as Anorexic or as someone who is a chronic exerciser, I would not feel comfortable approaching that individual and suggesting that they may have a problem. I am the type of person that tries to keep to myself, and when I am in a gym outside of my personal training studio, I tend to mind my own business and do my own thing when I’m at a gym.

Given these factors, my answers are based on both those as a gym owner and a gym patron.

In my opinion, there is a fine line between being perceived as trying to help and being invasive. Before I am a personal trainer, I am a compassionate human being, period. With that being said, the last thing I want to do is to put someone on the defensive and make them feel any more insecure or concerned than they may be. Too many personal trainers confuse their profession as that of a psychiatrist and that is unfortunate.

I have been a personal trainer for most of my adult life, and there is one thing that comes along with the territory of being a fitness professional: you cannot help someone who is not ready to be helped – and the best way to determine if that individual wants to be helped is for them to come to you and ask for it. I know, easier said than done, and as humans, asking for help is simply something that is very hard for many people to do – and I also realize that individuals in these situations may be internally screaming for help.

While I would love to be able to assist every individual doing things detrimental to their health, stopping each smoker, heavy drinker, sweets binger, chronic exerciser, overly stressed office worker, insomniac, pain killer addict, and manically depressed individual to offer my services is far outside the capacity of my profession. While I am an expert at what I do and can train individuals in a variety of manners, and feel that I have an eye to pick out individuals that may be apart of these special populations, my specialties still lie within the realm of performance nutrition, strength training, and the similar – unlike most personal trainers, I feel that diagnosing and attempting to treat any disorder (physical or emotional) is outside the scope of my professional duties.

In closing, I have worked with many individuals that have struggled with anorexia, and I feel comfortable being a part of a team and helping them get their lives back to a seemingly normal existence. I understand the precautions, the symptoms and some of the extremes in great detail. However, offering a diagnosis unsolicited is beyond that of an in-gym personal trainer.

If a certain fitness center felt that any patron was at risk to themselves, they obviously reserve the right to terminate their memberships on a case by case basis (which may be after offering to refer a certain individual to the appropriate professional for assistance).

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
Text FITNESSTRAINER to 90210 for my fat loss and body transformation tips!

Hey San Antonio,

I must say that 2011 and has been one hell of a year for me! From numerous injuries, aches and pains that, at times, have seemed like they would completely derail any personal fitness goals I have to the loss of close friends (that were much too young to pass on) and family members that will be greatly missed, I have had numerous challenges to my personal resolve.

I am in a business where people look to me for strength and I take great pride in being able to keep my head high and in a positive mood even when something else may be on my mind. I have written about “It must be nice” before: we see people doing well and making huge strides and life and think about how great it must be to have things fall in place so easily. The truth is, when you work hard, good things just “seem to happen”.

While, like most people, I enjoy the ups, the cheers, the smiles, the celebrations and the laughs; however, pain, loss and sadness are just as much a part of living as the positive. The key is to allow those things to make us stronger and more complete as people. When things are going great, it is easy to push forward and make progress in all we do. The real mettle of a person is determined by not how hard are how far they fall, but how quickly they get up or how high they bounce when they hit the bottom.

I get to see “life” each and every day. My clients are real people with real lives, real jobs, real families and real struggles. They have the same day to day challenges that everyone has, and yet, they still understand one simple concept: if you take more steps forward than back, you will make progress, and even if I have to push them forward or even pick them up and carry them to make sure that they are moving toward their goals, I understand that is what I am here for!

Fitness and health MUST be a priority and must be “what you do” each and everyday: just like brushing your teeth, drinking water, going to work, breathing, and sleeping. Of course, there may be times when it becomes secondary to some things, but as long as it is a priority, your goals will stay within reach!

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
Text FITNESSTRAINER to 90210 for my fat loss and body transformation tips!

Working out in a way that is required to actually changes the body takes a certain intensity that, if you have something weighing on your mind or otherwise occupying you, is very difficult to do. While I am personally disciplined enough to understand when I need to take an extra day of recovery to make sure that I get the most out of my own training, there are times when we have to determine what is needing an extra day of rest versus looking for an excuse to workout. Most of the time, we need to look deep inside ourselves and say “Enough of this BS – I HAVE to do it!!!”

The key to keeping the proper mindset is keeping your “eyes” on the proverbial” prize, or, as I like to put it, “Finding your WHY”. Once the WHY is determined, the how and when tend to fall into order.

There are days when fat loss and discipline are NOT easy, but taking each step a day at a time and focusing on WHY you want to look and feel a certain way will go a long way toward getting you to where you want to be.

We are a society of NOW – what we want, we want immediately. However, there are some things that impatience, money and insistence cannot bring to us.

When you decide you are ready to change, find that spark that lead you to the decision, and look for little reminders and motivating ideas daily versus the path of least resistance.

Whatever is worth obtaining is worth working for!!!

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
Text FITNESSTRAINER to 90210 for my fat loss and body transformation tips!

Hey everyone,

I read an article the other day entitled “Ten Traits That Can Make You Rich”. While the article referred to FISCAL health, I am always looking at parallels with PHYSICAL health, and these ten traits go hand-in-hand with what it takes to get into great physical shape.

1. Work hard, work smart. The most obvious – Being “busy” and doing “something” is not enough. You have to work TOWARD your goals.

2. Be goal oriented. Setting measurable goals is essential for progress.

3. Take risks. This one is a bit more toward the financial target audience, but I do believe in thinking outside the box – most people follow the flock, and if you take a look at the flock, the flock isn’t looking very good. Extreme results call for extreme measures.

4. Have curiousity. Don’t just take one person’s word for it – understand the whys and the hows.

5. Be creative. Boredom will kill progress – change things up and find new ways to challenge yourself.

6. Be reflective. Take time to look back at where you were and how far you have come!

7. Have discipline. This one should be at or near the top. It is easy to say “I can get away with this or that” or skip a workout here and there, but consistency and discipline will define your progress.

8. Organize yourself. I see a lot of people just bouncing around doing whatever. Have a well-developed plan and execute it.

9. Be satisfied with your life. Most people are never where they want to be. The fruits of your labor are satisfying – enjoy them. Compare yourself to where you WERE, not to anyone else.

10. Be patient. Changes do not happen overnight, and there is a reason it is called “WORKING” out.

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
Text FITNESSTRAINER to 90210 for my fat loss and body transformation tips!

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