So you work too much?

Don’t know where to start?

Lena works way too much. To top it off, she works all night as a NICU nurse. She trains on her way home from work in the morning after a 12 hour shift, only to go home, help her family start their days before being able to finally sleep for a few hours and then get ready to do it again.

She also wasn’t sure where to start. She just knew that she wanted to change, and a few weeks ago, she called me and has been consistently working out and eating right since.

Yesterday, she hit a new height.

You see, Lena has lost over 5 inches off of her abdominal circumference in the last month of training. So, she’s obviously doing something right. Oh, she happens to be 45 years old.

More impressive? She’s getting stronger: MUCH STRONGER. While dropping body fat, her strength is increasing exponentially. Yesterday, she was able to leg press 600lbs for reps.

Some make excuses, others make a decision to change, and that decision has to come from within. Most life situations aren’t conducive to adding a few hours each week of a new activity, but it comes down to how bad you want to change your body and your life.

The body WILL respond to the right stimulus – make it 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

Hey everyone,

About an hour ago, I had a client who is a 54 year old grandmother leg press 410 pounds 6 times. She has been working out with me for just over a month…

She’s tracking her progress on her website here.

Ask her if she thought one month ago that she was capable of leg pressing over 400lbs. Hell, ask her if she thought 250lbs was possible.

But I don’t want to get big and bulky!!! I hear soooo many people say this. Not understanding that the first step in losing fat is putting the body into an anabolic state – lean body mass burns more calories at rest and the slight addition of lean body mass drastically increases the metabolism while decreasing body fat percentage!

An active body is a healthy one. I know that a lot of people are busy and have overwhelming jobs and family responsibilities, but remember this: an active mind cannot live in an inactive body.

Age? It REALLY is a number: you only have to slow down when your mind tells you to. Control your mind, control your body and vice versa.

Congrats, Cheryl! YOU did that – I might’ve pushed just a little bit, but I had no doubt that you could do it.

AND… I can’t wait to post your before and after pics in the testimonial section of this website!

Keep up the AMAZING work! I’m very proud of you!

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,

Received the following in an email from my client Lynette. I trained Lynette when she lived in San Antonio, until work moved her 300 miles north to the Dallas area.

“Hey … Just had a guy tell me i was the best woman in the gym b/c i was doing dead lifts and squats. Said most women were marshmallows b/c they didn’t do them-he even clapped for me Just had to share. :)”

Sounds silly, but I can totally tell who is serious in the gym by the exercises they are doing, and the two that I’m using for that criteria are dead lifts and squats. Not glamorous – hey, they’re had damn work, but you show me someone who is performing these exercises and I’ll show you who is serious about becoming leaner, stronger and more defined with a much higher resting metabolism.

And it blows the misconception of “I don’t want to get big and bulky I want to be lean and toned” away.

Change is not easy, and doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a lot of effort and WORK (hence, working out). Don’t waste your time: lift with a purpose!

To Lynette: my hat is off that you are doing those. Sure, I prescribe it and point you in the right direction, but going into the gym and actually doing them takes a lot of discipline. Too many people find way too many excuses to “skip” them on most workout days. You’re awesome!

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,

Happy Valentine’s Day all! For the entire week, I will be offering my Two For One Personal Training special where two individuals can train together at the one on one rate.

Whether your goals or fitness levels are similar or entirely different, my personal trainers and I are able to simultaneously to train both of you accordingly to help you reach your goals in as little time as possible – we have experience in simultaneously training individuals in completely different conditions with completely contrasting goals.

Not only is it motivating and fun, but it’s also less expensive per person/per session to do so. As always, all personal training packages include complete nutritional guidance, 24/7 access to your trainer and complete guidance on what to do when you’re not in the gym with your trainer. Whether your goal is fat loss, body transformation, or athletic performance, our training and nutrition programs will help you reach your goals in the shortest amount of time possible.

For more information, check out our webpage: Personal Fitness Revolution – San Antonio Personal Training

Client Shout-Out
I want to give a special shout-out to my client, Christina C – in just one month, she lowered her body fat from 28.9% to an amazing 20% – Again, that was in just 12 sessions, doing everything that I asked her to do and by doing her “homework”. Don’t use travel as an excuse – she has done this while living in a hotel.

If you want it, nothing can stop you!

Congrats Christina!

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

In my opinion, no matter your goal, the dead lift is the one exercise you should be performing, period.

There’s absolutely NOTHING wrong with a strong female, and most ladies that I train really enjoy the simultaneous gain in functional strength that coincides with becoming lean. This is my client Mary performing a dead lift with 200 pounds at a bodyweight of 125lbs.

So, why dead lift? It completely activates the core and posterior core. It requires more than 70% of the muscles in the body to correctly perform. More muscles worked mean more calories burned, more blood pumped by the heart, a higher metabolic rate, more strength gained, fat burning hormones increased – shall I name more? If you are not dead lifting, you are missing out no matter what your goal is. I see so many people spending so much time isolating the abs, glutes, lower back, etc – the dead lift maximally recruits nearly every muscle group in the body!

Had you asked Mary if she thought she could do this just 3 weeks ago, she would’ve never thought that it was possible, but she was able to do it. Also, this was probably the seventh time she had performed this lift before we were able to get a good video, so this is not her maximum attempt.

She is, however, becoming more and more lean, and stronger – and in no way becoming big, bulky and masculine. Unfortunately, most ladies have been mislead by fiction and myth that gaining strength means that they’re going to become overly large, while that simply is not the case.

I want to take this time to say “Great job” to Mary for all of her hard work! Very impressive, girl!

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 was reading a testimonial on a personal trainer’s website today and a lady had said that she had lost 3″ on her waist in three months. While I’m happy when individuals are happy, that is not the kind of progress I expect: I demand much more. While 3 inches may sound like a lot, it is – if it is lost in 2-3 weeks.

Again, it’s not rare, it is my expected rate of change when a client comes to visit me – and ironically, there are roughly 6 weeks left in 2010.

What can I do with a client in 6 weeks? Even with the holidays coming up, if a client follows my directions for the rest of the year (and I give a little holiday leeway), I’d expect most clients to lose 4-6 inches off of their abdominal circumference before January 1, 2011.

Others can talk about an inch a month. Or 5 pounds this week. That sounds great, but 4-6″ is a drastic change and in six weeks, will have you light years ahead of the New Year Resolution crowd. By the time 2011 comes, you’ll be thinking about how amazing you’ll look when bathing suit weather hits.

But it’s not easy – I push. I push very hard. I hold clients accountable. I give you directions on exactly what to do, when to eat what, what to do when you’re not with me – there’s no guesswork. Nothing of value comes free or easy.

When you’re ready, make the change. Do not settle for mediocrity. Not to diminish anyone’s progress, but losing an inch a month is glacier pace: initially, 3-5″ in the first month should be expected, and if you aren’t making that type of progress, you aren’t doing something right and are wasting precious effort and time.

Take control NOW – why wait until January?

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

It has been a very good week for me. Of course, I’ve mentioned Sarah winning her IFPA Pro Card in figure, and from a professional standpoint, helping a competitive client obtain professional status is extremely rewarding. However, that is a very small part of what I do, and I take as much pride in every single client as I do in my competitors. Here are a few clients I’d like to give a shout out to for a job well done!

-Jennifer has only been working out with me for two weeks, initially had a little bit of trouble with bodyweight squats, and now is leg pressing 400lbs for reps while losing weight! Intense weight training is the key to becoming lean and defined, and her strength is increasing exponentially with every single workout while the weight continues to fall off!

-After 3 weeks, Jose has dropped 3 1/2″ from his abdominal circumference and 20lbs of bodyweight, while dropping his body fat percentage by over 6 percentage points. THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is remarkable change. The crazy thing? I expect at least that much progress over the next three weeks – my goal is an eight inch decrease from Jose’s mid-section in his first 6 weeks. I know he will do it.

-”First time in a LONG TIME” were the words that Nathaniel spoke after bench pressing 315lbs on Wednesday of this week. While that sounds like someone who is trying to “bulk up”, this is another guy who the fat is melting off, and in just a few weeks, he looks like a different person.

-I’d like to know how many times Joel has heard “What on earth are you doing?” over the last few weeks… I see Joel three times per week, and every time he walks in, he looks a leaner and and more confident. Results motivate, and this guy is the poster child for what effort and discipline will do. Strength keeps going up, fat keeps coming off, and it’s obvious to everyone who sees him. The other personal trainers that work for me here in my studio keep commenting about how quickly he is transforming, and this is just the tip of the iceberg!

-“Teach a woman to fish” – my goal is to teach every client how to keep making progress on their own. Recently, Michelle has started tackling the occasional workout on her own, and I was very proud when she texted me last week (I was in St Louis) to tell me how sore she had made herself following the workout I had sent her. The key to continuing progress is intensity, and no matter what workout you are doing, it means nothing if you aren’t pushing it every single rep of every exercise.

-”I was the hottest one there, thanks to you!” – the text I received from Lisa after her 25 year high school reunion.

-”I must be sick…” – The first thing Ruth told me was that she hated every second of exercise. Now, she can’t live without it. She even finds herself doing lunges at home, and telling people how she loves to workout. I can see how you can hate something if you feel like you are wasting time. But when people regularly comment on how lean you are looking and want to know your secret? It kind of becomes addicting.

What kind of amazing progress are YOU making?

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 just received this amazing write up from my client, Sarah, who obtained professional status as an IFPA Figure Competitor by sweeping all three of her classes last weekend at the Gateway Naturals in O’Fallon, Missouri. This is an amazing write up about her decision to hire me as her personal trainer and her experiences over the last six months as she prepared for her show.
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Being an athlete is part of who I am, it always has been. I find solace in competing in intense sports – from ultra-running to mountain biking to figure competing, I have always been amazed by what the human body will do, if we just ask it and don’t question whether or not it can.

To compete in extreme sports, it takes dedication and intense focus. The more serious you become about achieving your best (no matter what that may be), the more you begin to prioritize and detail out every facet of your training, nutrition, time and training support.

After taking a year plus off from competition and serious training due to a new job and relocating, I decided it was time to refocus my efforts, make a plan, and set a goal of competing in a natural figure competition. New to San Antonio, I knew very few people outside of my professional circle, but was determined to find the right trainer who could take me to a new level. If I knew more then they did, there would be no deal!

And so it began – I researched online, made phone call interviews and scheduled in person interviews in search of the right trainer. After 2-3 weeks, I kept coming back to the same name – Boyd Myers. We met and in the first consultation, I found myself selling HIM that I was a worthy client! (What an unexpected turn of events!)

I began training with Boyd in April 2010. Although I wasn’t overweight, I had a lot of work to do to gain strength and build back my basic fitness. Boyd knew that I had quite the road ahead, and understood that as an athlete who was making a comeback, it can be very challenging; you know what you USED to be capable of, but now have to fight your way back – it’s very humbling.

But then began our true partnership. Boyd encouraged me and was there to answer every question along the way with detailed explanations for all of my “why’s?”. He helped refine my lifting technique and offered constructive feedback that got the message across but left me feeling solid. I was learning and growing as an athlete – this was and continues to be exciting for me!

I was making progress. The nutrition guidelines that Boyd provided were broad and flexible but based on strong nutritional principles – the main movement was from relying on protein bars and shakes to mostly whole foods. This was new to me – former trainers had requirements of measured and scheduled meals 4-5 months out, while Boyd’s strategy is based primarily on timing nutrient intake. I wondered how this was going to work, but placed my trust in him.

In July I picked a show and told my closest friends and family. This was nerve-racking. It meant I was committed to a hard and fast goal; I am not one to take commitments lightly. As we progressed, the training became more intense and Boyd constantly challenged me to push. While I often worked out on my own, he made it priority to be there for my hardcore workouts where I needed the extra support. I broke new ground with my leg press (pressing 800lbs at a bodyweight of under 110lbs) as we worked to build my muscle mass that had been decimated from my ultra racing.

My body was responding – this was no workout designed for a man. This was no pre-designed workout used for the masses who wanted to prep for a show – Boyd had a customized plan to get me there and this plan he constantly changed in complete response to my condition and nutritional needs.

Two months out from my competition and I was getting nervous. The good news – while Boyd’s approach was different than every other trainer I had ever worked with, I knew my body was improving. A battle I fought was for energy and sleep (have I said that I have an upper management position in a large corporation?:). Many times I was working long days – I would get up to workout at 4:30, shower and work and be free go to workout again at 9:00. He helped me balance my supplements to ensure that my body had the fuel and vitamins it needed to best sustain. This was NOT a litany of random supplements – Boyd zeroed in on specific needs and kept them manageable.

As we closed in on 5 weeks out, Boyd planned out a run-through of my depletion. This seemed a bit risky to me, to take my body through this when it was already stressed…this ended up being invaluable as we saw exactly how my body would respond to the varying levels of sodium, water intake, nutrition etc. Boyd proved himself through results to be a bio-chemistry expert – I have never seen my body respond like this.

Boyd had agreed to travel with me to St. Louis – I wanted him there to ensure that every detail had his guidance. What a great decision – I could have never asked for a better helper. Round two of depletion went well – we flew to St. Louis and finished the last two days of prep there. The lessons learned from the run-through depletion allowed for tweaking to optimize our results; on show day we were confident that we were in the right spot.

Competition Day was finally here. While I was carb depleted and dehydrated, Boyd kept me focused and calm. He was a rock throughout the day and constantly coaching and advising on my nutritional intake. Mind you, the last few hours can make or break you as you may be competing in finals (and I ended up doing just this!). He pumped me up and encouraged me – entering two categories meant a T-walk and two pose downs in the morning judging and then a T-walk and pose downs in the evening… if I made it that far. This is gruelingly tiring – Boyd was there through it all.

In the end, we won – and we won big. This was a complete surprise to me – I never imagined this happening. I simply wanted to compete and do my best and left the rest up to God… I was able to go above and beyond and sweep the Open Figure Short Class and the Open IFPA Pro Card, in addition to the 35+ Pro Card. Surreal and very humbling as the ladies I was on stage with looked AMAZING.

Issac Newton once said, “If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Boyd Myers was/is definitely my giant and has been key to my unexpected accomplishment of becoming an IFPA Professional Figure Athlete. Boyd, you deserve this win just as much as I – thanks for sharing your gift with me and all of your clients! I look forward to our continued partnership – get ready… time to take on the Pro ranks!

Sarah L
IFPA Professional Figure Athlete
San Antonio, TX

Sarah,

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work with you, and I look forward to working with you as we get ready to win your first competition as a professional! You are unstoppable!

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

Today marked my client Missy’s 3 month anniversary with me, and her results have been outstanding: her abdominal circumference was initially 34 inches, and today, was 24 7/8″. Her body fat has dropped from 31.3% to 14.9% – and an nice bonus: for the first time in her life, she can see her abs. At 38, she had felt that from a physical standpoint, her best years were in the past, and definitely not in the future.

Here is what she had to say:
“Although I had consistently worked out for years, I really didn’t look like I had spent that much time in a gym. And while I considered myself a “healthy eater”, my nutrition program was not in tune with my goals and training objectives.

Initially, my goals were to just “get leaner, look better, feel better”, but after a month into my training and nutrition program, I could see that the skies were the limit, so I started increasing my expectations rapidly. Boyd would help me modify my goals with things that were, while challenging, obtainable.

About midway through my first workout with Boyd, I realized that what I thought was hard work didn’t compare to what I was about to go through. Don’t get me wrong, he warned me that he was going to push me. I know that in the past, I had been guilty of not giving absolutely everything I had every time I walked into the gym. Maybe I’d strain a little on a few reps out of a whole workout, but I quickly realized that those days were over. While he never asks the impossible of me, he is well aware of just “how far” he is able to push me, and I’ve never walked out of his personal training studio not feeling like I was sufficiently worked out.

Everyone says that the nutrition is everything, and while I agree, most people completely over-think it. Boyd has an in-depth understanding of how the body is designed to work, and his nutritional programs are easy to grasp. He’s also able to explain the complex science in a way that a normal person can understand it. If there’s a certain food you may be wondering about, he can tell you exactly why you do or don’t need it from a scientific standpoint and exactly how every meal plays a role in the transformation of the body.

If you’re looking for support, experience and knowledge, please don’t hesitate to contact Boyd. Mine is but one of several testimonials that say the same thing: I far exceeded what I believed was possible. He provides constant support (he answers all calls, emails, and texts whenever they may come in) and is a walking fitness and nutrition encyclopedia.

Boyd, you are my fitness mentor and you have completely changed the way I look at every aspect of life. Each time a new client is in your studio before or after I train, I want to tell them “just do what he says” because I know you’ll get them to where they want to go”.

If you’d like to speak to me, Boyd knows where to find me – the next 3 months starts tomorrow, and I never thought I’d say this, but my next goal is a figure competition in the Spring!

Missy J
San Antonio, TX

Thanks Missy – you’re a joy to work with and you’ve done a great job of making me as good as I’ve helped you look!

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