PERSONAL TRAINING | QUEENS

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 »

When I first became a personal trainer, I was puzzled by a very strange pattern: I would come across many motivated, willing trainees – we would go through a few intense workouts together, and on their own my client would come in and do a lot of additional work. I was very happy to see them putting in effort at a level they never had before and at the same time being so committed to adhering to their new strict diets.

So what would happen?

In many cases great results; but more times than I can count, they would get sick; and I’m not talking just your minor cold – they would get full blown, bed-ridden flu. It would keep them out of the gym for at least a week and at a lower level of performance for at least 2, completely take away any progress they had worked so hard for, and kill their momentum and motivation.

In the beginning I thought it was just coincidence; or maybe I was pushing them too hard or it was the germs in the gyms themselves. It was a while until I found out the true medical correlation between exercise and immune function.

Intense exercise is a physiological insult, meaning it shocks and breaks down the body; the idea is that our muscles repair and our cardiovascular system adapts to handle even more stress in the future - that’s how progress comes about.

However, the damage from exercise require the bodies immune system, more specifically leukocytes or white-blood cells, to handle much of the job of repair. Yes, that’s the same immune system you use to fight off colds and infections. When the immune system is overloaded with too much exercise too soon, especially combined with a strict diet, many times it cannot compensate fast enough. The result? A cold, and because of your weak system, a really nasty one. Continue Reading »

I’m a member of two gyms, and they both couldn’t be more different. One is the Evolution Fitness Club in Astoria Queens, a brand new state-of-the-art gym that is spotlessly clean and the Powerhouse gym in Bayside, that looks like the equipment was bought at a yard sale. As you can imagine, the crowd and congestion in both gyms is different, but most of the machines are surprisingly the same.

However, I’ve found that I get a much better workout at the dirtier gym. At Evolution, because the place is nice and the most of the members are over 30 and not very advanced, you always feel like you can get away with a little less effort.

The Powerhouse on the other hand always seems to have an air of menace to it. On certain days it feels like most of the members are on steroids, and the others are the neighborhood kids that remind me of myself at their age - working all out every single workout.

While it’s not uncommon to see a dead water-bug on the floor, LL Cool J and Zab Judah pop-in every now and then to work with their trainer Scooter. In general, I’m always evaluating myself and my intensity differently in this gym. When you hear the guy next to you yelling and working at an ungodly intensity, it pushes you to keep up.

I think exposing myself to the intensity at Powerhouse also helps me bring something new to my clients as well. Sometimes, to push to a higher level, we need to get a little dirty.

I’m very upset I missed leg workout today. Yes Mr. Personal Trainer “don’t miss your workouts” missed his leg day. I could get into why but I’d prefer not making excuses. This now leaves me with the unpleasant task of doubling up tomorrow - I have to work-out twice.

Funny how legs, the hardest and longest workout of the week becomes the favorite for so many of my clients. Is it the cathartic feeling of all the pain from the sets, or the pleasure of knowing that the biggest muscles in their body are getting stronger and looking better? Whatever it is, everyones most hated workout becomes their addiction.

Want to see passion when it comes to leg training? You’ve got to see Personal Trainer Charles Glass during one of his sessions. Really with any body part and all his athletes, most of which are pro-bodybuilders, Charles is more artist than trainer in how he designs his training regimens. With all of his different exercises, angles, rep ranges, super-sets, and drop-sets, Charles has a vision of the different shape he wants to create with his clients. I’ve attached a video of him training top Figure Competitor Jennie Lynn.

Studying Charles techniques has helped me develop exercises and routines for my clients based on their specific body-types and goals. It’s the attention to the details that over time bring about big differences in results.

So while leg training is intense, it does become a passion over time - if you’re not at that stage yet, don’t worry, you’ll get there soon. I’ve got my work cut-out for me tomorrow, but in a strange way I’m looking forward to it!

So I was in boxing class this morning for an hour and half - my first time there in a week. Of course I was feeling winded, especially since Saturdays are primarily cardio days. It could have been worse, but Saturdays are usually soft so I wasn’t challenged to push that hard - a big difference from the MMA (mixed martial arts) classes on the weekdays.

When my arms were feeling like jello and my swings had the power and speed of a feather, I got the idea to post a little bit on the different classes of muscle fibers we all possess. I weight train hard with weights at least 5 days a week - why would my muscles be giving out from the boxing?

It’s because not all types of training work the same types of muscle. We actually possess different muscles for different classes of activity.

Fast, explosive movements require Type II Muscle Fibers - they’re used for short, explosive movements such as sprinting and weight-lifting. The Type II class is further sub-divided into two other categories, IIa and IIb. Type IIb are the fastest firing, but also tire the fastest. They are the ones worked most during high-intensity weight training; they also possess the greatest potential for growth. Continue Reading »

My client Ivonne has been raving about this show “Fight Girls” on Oxygen Network. I haven’t caught an episode yet but from her descriptions it’s right up the alley of my recent posts - let’s all watch it next Tuesday night at 10:30 on Oxygen Network (am I allowed to watch Oxygen network without being ridiculed?)

Here’s a clip of one of the instructors from the show, Gina Carano:

My client Ivonne has been raving about this show “Fight Girls” on Oxygen Network. I haven’t caught an episode yet but from her descriptions it’s right up the alley of my recent posts - let’s all watch it next Tuesday night at 10:30 on Oxygen Network (am I allowed to watch Oxygen network without being ridiculed?)

Here’s a clip of one of the instructors from the show, Gina Carano:

For all of you that don’t know, your favorite personal trainer turned 30 last week.

With this major life milestone have come some conflicting feelings -

• On the one hand I feel wiser and more mature, on the other I want to have more fun and enjoy what’s left of my youth.

• I have to accept that life doesn’t have the same endless possibilities, and on the other hand I’m full of energy and focus to try new things.

And the most interesting paradox on turning 30 comes physically -

• I want to push as hard as I can physically to get the most of my body while it’s ability level is still high. On the other hand, I have to come to grips with the fact that an athlete’s body declines as it ages …

Or does it?

I’d have to say it’s a choice - we all like to blame aging for drops in our performance, but just like everything else, it might just be another excuse.

It’s true that team and competitive sports athletes decline once they pass thirty - competitive sports like tennis or basketball test so many areas of fitness, including power, flexibility, endurance, and recovery time, that effects of age do seem to show in the performance of these athletes. Continue Reading »

If you read my last post you know about the importance of healthy fat by now -

I’ve brought you a couple of easy ways to put that knowledge to use.

Here are two quick 5 minute recipes using Power PB by SnacLite - these are real convenient, tasty meals for people on the go, not some fancy food channel crap that you’ll never make in your life.

These meals are both perfect as a a pre-workout meal, ideally 1 1/2 hours before your workout, or as a post workout meal, approximately 1 hour after your post-workout drink. Continue Reading »

All fats are not the same! This fact has been beaten to death in the media and I’m sure everyone knows it by now. But are you practicing it - are you really making a conscious effort to include healthy, essential fats as part of your diet every single day? If you’re not, you’re overlooking a key aspect of your health and energy.

In mankind’s early days, the healthy omega-3’s,6’s, and 9’s found in seeds, fish-oil, and nuts where an abundant part of their diet. Today, its the unnatural saturated fat that has become a major part of our diets, with essential fats almost absent from most people’s plates.

In keeping track of my eating in a journal recently, I’ve been able to notice relationships between what I eat and how I feel and perform in the gym. After noticing a huge drop in strength last week, where I found myself squatting nearly 50 pounds less than the previous week’s numbers, I went to the journal to find out what could be the cause. After taking a close look, it was right there: I had inadvertently cut out all the healthy fats from my diet. I had been eating fried egg-whites in olive-oil and including power-peanut butter in all my oatmeal in previous weeks, giving me about 40 grams of healthy fat a day. However, I suddenly stopped both habits for an entire week. It didn’t take long for the absence of this healthy source of energy and important biological cofactor to show it’s effects. The sudden drop in calories from this source must also have played a role in the loss of strength. Continue Reading »