PERSONAL TRAINING | QUEENS

Being a trainer can be frustrating at times for one reason - that my job is only a small part of the total weight-loss, body composition, and energy equation.  The rest comes down to eating.

And you now how it goes - people take their eating habits very personally and a lot of times aren’t willing to or are very slow to change.

I’m happy to say that I’m pretty successful in winning this battle and turning my clients into very health eaters - my success record wouldn’t be possible if I wasn’t.

What it all comes down to is a better understanding of portion size, and a better overall strategy of macro-nutrient (protein, carbs, fat) balance.

Once you understand what proportion of each of your meals should be carbs, protein, and fat, and you have an idea of the approximate quantity of each is present in your meal, you’re set.  This of course is much easier if you’re cooking for yourself, so you know what you’re putting in to the food.

Here’s an example of a recent meal of mine which is pretty indicative of my average meals.  I have about 25 grams of chicken (Purdue ready-cooked chicken in a bag), and about 45 grams of a  special beans and fat-free cheese brown rice that my brother cooked. 

If the rice looks good, that’s because it is - besides being a trainer, he’s now becoming an aspiring chef (really just a food channel junkie).  He’s come a very long way from being an obese, 315 pound 15 year old.  I’ve got no problem with that because he cooks some healthy, unbelievable tasting stuff!

Yeah, so back to what I was saying, a portion of the rice was also protein, so that brought this meal to a near 50:50 ration of carbs to protein, slightly more on to the side of carbs and with about 30 grams of protein, which were all of my goals for this meal.  I didn’t measure any of the portions - this was all done by eye.

You’ll get a good eyeball for what’s in your food if you take the time to measure it a few times, or you buy a few low-fat TV dinners and pay attention to the portion sizes they have in there.

Their of course was fat in my meal, but none was added so I’d call it negligible.  I don’t look to add any additional fat to any of my meals except for some peanut butter and flax seeds thrown into my morning oatmeal, and fish which I have a couple of times a week.   

So eating healthy doesn’t have to be a pain in the butt - it becomes a habit and all of the people I work with can attest to this.  Now I can’t look at a plate and not start doing the calculations in my head of how much of what I’m eating.  This is especially useful when you eat at a restaurant - just assume there’s always a lot more fat in the meal.

Yeah, it was great - went to George and Martha’s in Morristown New Jersey - worth every bite - WHAT?!?!

For those of you that live in or visit Northern Queens, you know that the Taco Bell on Northern Boulevard is open again! Happy day!

I love Mexican Food – in fact, I hardly know anyone that doesn’t - although I’m not sure if this place qualifies as typical Mexican cuisine …

Beyond that Taco Bell does it’s part to maintain the body-fat percentage of the American population. Special thanks too to my buddy George, who recently sold his two Subway locations and instead opened to new Coldstone Creameries - I’ve noticed a slight increase in my client load as a result -

I don’t think man has yet invented a denser way to pack fat and calories into a smaller package than the Crunch Wrap Supreme -

BUT, there were a couple of things on their menu which are open to us as physique enthusiasts …. Continue Reading »

Here’s the breakdown of a recent article in New York Magazine about breakfast.  Since this is an issue with a lot of my clients, I thought it would be real useful to look at - the article can be viewed online HERE.

All the important information was contained in the last few paragraphs - I’ve cut and pasted them here - the important things that were discussed in these paragraphs are: Continue Reading »

I’VE GOT GOOD NEWS - THE BLOG IS BACK!!!

All my clients, friends, and some people I’ve never met have been asking me what happened to the blog - they used to enjoy how I used to answer their questions and address their fitness in-depth, while at the same time broadcasting the whole thing to the world -

I don’t really know why it went on hiatus - I guess I was too busy living it for the past few months instead of talking about it - all of my clients know I’ve been kick-boxing intensely over the past few months, and been involved with more training industry events -

But those aren’t excuses - there really aren’t any - this is a necessary part of what I do and will be keeping up with it for the future -

To kick things off, let me share this pic from my trip to Vegas over Memorial Day Weekend - there was a lot of partying and even a few times I broke out of my stoic shell if you’ll believe it!

But that’s enough vay-cay for now - back to kicking ass!

More clients than I can count over the years have told me that the body position during squats looks and feels funny, and I’ve tried to make them understand that’s normal -

My buddy Phil has captured this self-consciousness in a humorous and sarcastic video - that’s him in the video by the way -

I’ve got no comment -

My brother Shahed’s told me about his new gym, and it’s a story too strange to believe. He’s talking about the Planet Fitness in Binghamton New York, which has over 100 locations across the country.

The motto of the gym is the “Judgement Free Zone”, and I think what they mean is they’ve used no good judgment in creating their rules. For one thing, they don’t allow any noise or grunting of any kind. I’m like most people and find most moaning and grunting during exercise very annoying, but every now and then, we all do make some noise on the last rep of our hardest set.

But if you do that here, the most unbelievable thing happens; they have a huge alarm on the front wall of the gym, called the lunk alarm. Under it is the definition of lunk, which they’ve defined as “anyone who grunts, drops weights or judges (whatever that means)” - if you do any of that, the alarm immediately goes off for the whole gym to hear and a staff member comes over and gives you a warning.

Here’s a news story about a Planet Fitness in our area: Continue Reading »

Just finished watching Roger Federrer dismantle Andy Roddick in the US Open quarterfinals …

Roddick threw everything he had at Roger, and got wiped out in three sets. The first two went to a tie breaker, but Roger didn’t seem to have been challenged at all during them. The last set was business as usual for this amazing athlete.

Not since Michael Jordan have I seen an athlete so far head and shoulders above his competition. Even the legends Andre Agassi and John Macenroe, who were commentating the match, were gushing. You could have put two teenage fans in there for a similar call of the game, but those guy obviously know great tennis and had to give credit where it was due.

Funny enough, Federer’s training regimen was brought up in the post-match interview. Roger credited lots of running, hitting the weights, and luckily staying injury free as the keys to his success. However, all elite level athletes train very hard; Roger seems to have discovered a secret regimen that’s giving him an edge. It was mentioned several times in the match that he doesn’t seem to sweat, nor does he ever seem out of breath. Continue Reading »

This post is especially for Jig, Kosh, Tanyette, and any of my other clients that have had to run to the bathroom during a good training session.

Today, on Labor Day, I’ve had the same experience so not only can I relate, but I can tell you the reasons why. I push to the limit every training session, and with my clients I accept nothing less - with that type of training, there are certain precautions we need to take or we’ll be messing up our gym clothes every single time we go to the gym.

First off, you need to eat at least an hour before going to the gym for you food to digest. As you all already know, the pre-workout meal is a relatively large, well-balanced meal. It needs to be consumed with ample time for digestion or your body will feel the need to purge it during a hard workout. I’ve gotten away with eating right before a workout many times before, but if you’re engaging in a very intense session that’s pushing your limits, you’ll inevitably have to go! In my case, I woke up late and the gym was closing early; combine that with a big leg workout for me today, and the causes are obvious.

What is it about the training that may cause nausea and how can we prevent it? When we’re training at our highest level of ability, the exercise tests not only our muscle strength, but the work capacity of our entire central nervous system. It’s this type of training that creates the best results, but also requires the most recovery time between workouts. For my clients, I don’t want them to have to work out endlessly when they’re not with me, so I go for the most “bang for your buck” so to speak, with an intensity level that will produce the most adaptation and will also allow them to spend their own free time for recovery rather than more training. Continue Reading »

From what I’ve been told, my training sessions are difficult – my clients have told me they have to mentally prepare for their sessions like a sporting event. I take that as a compliment, because it’s that type of effort that’s necessary to achieve an exceptional body.

And just like any sport, proper sports nutrition is also vital – I know, the workout was hard enough, now I have to strategize my eating? Well once you start to understand the general concepts they become easy, and through practice they become internalized and a way of life. Knowing what to eat and when will be that edge that will make your results seem “effortless” to others.

What I want to focus on today is the post-workout shake (PWS). The proper supplementation after your workout is absolutely vital to recovery. This information is applicable to both my male and female trainees. Get it right and you’ll see improvements nearly every time you hit the gym.

Despite the progress we’re looking for in the gym, it’s important to realize that high-intensity exercise is largely catabolic (break-down of body tissue). Even though your muscles get pumped and you feel a lot of energy, you’re breaking down muscle tissue and putting a lot of stress on your nervous system. Without the proper nutrition after the workout, this period of breakdown will just continue and may lead to halted progress or even backtracking! Continue Reading »