I have had the pleasure of working with a young mother of two in her late 20's who came to me looking to lose her baby weight from her last pregnancy. Out of respect for her privacy, rather than use her real name I will refer to her as Jennifer. Jennifer is a relatively short, endomorphic young lady; she has [...]

Personal Trainers like myself who go through a formal certification process are educated during their coursework on a model of training that virtually eliminates any chance of a plateau occurring. Each nationally accredited fitness council has their own name for it, but one is the Optimum Performance Training Model™, as trademarked by the National Council of Strength and Fitness. They [...]

Most people desperately need to eat more plant-based foods (myself included), but just like any diet that completely excludes certain food sources, diets that completely exclude animal products put those dieters at risk from receiving many of the vital nutrients our bodies evolved to expect from animal meat consumption over time. It's a bit ironic that vegetarians, particularly vegans, are [...]

Ever wondered how your fitness is paying off in the long run? Well more than any other aspect of your physical ability, VO2 Max has been shown to be the primary indicator of one's life expectancy. Waist circumference, blood pressure, insulin sensitivity, and body-fat percentage are all well and good, but a body that can absorb and use high volumes [...]

I recently became a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), otherwise called a Strength Coach or Strength and Conditioning Coach. Perhaps you've wondered what the difference between a personal trainer and a strength coach is, or maybe you're a personal trainer (CPT) wondering how the education for the CSCS differs. We will discuss those differences here. CPT The CPT program [...]

"Alone" is a reality TV show where 10 or so survival experts are dropped off in remote locations across Vancouver Island, British Columbia and Patagonia, each completely secluded from human contact. Their only task is to survive as long as possible. Isolated from any human contact other than random medical checks, contestants struggle to stay dry, sheltered, healthy, injury-free, away [...]

I hope to make time to do a full assessment of various quotes from "Doctors" in this film, but for now I just want everyone to be aware of this agenda of this documentary. All you have to do is a Google search for a review of this documentary to see what it's trying to promote: veganism. By all means, [...]

"Lots of good exercises look like they can easily be done from home...so why would I need a gym membership to do things I know I can do from home?" Just yesterday at my gym I saw a woman I had not seen for a couple months. She had switched memberships to a smaller gym where she had originally felt [...]

Ok so it's unlikely you will be putting your Powerlifting numbers or body-fat percentage on your resume´ anytime soon, even if you are applying to an actual fitness company. But Corporate Wellness is becoming increasingly important to both employers and employees, and you should be advised about how the two tie in together. Businesses both large and small are getting bogged [...]

There is no end to the amount of nails that can be put in this fitness myth's coffin, so why not add another? No, there is NOTHING you can do to make your body lose fat in a specific place outside of surgery. You may stop reading now. ...But Why? Well if you wish to know, your body doesn't store [...]

In a perfect world, there would only be one beginning and end to each person's fitness journey. No one would ever even think about eating for more than a few days the food most Americans eat every meal. We would rarely be inactive, we wouldn't need calorie menus at restaurants, and the majority of the population would no longer be overweight. [...]

If you're an adult, it's time to stop exercising like your teenage, high school self. Several people have recently shared that the only exercise they know how to do is what they were taught in high school. That's pretty sad, considering most grade schools don't really "teach" us anything about exercise. Gym class is often taught by someone with no [...]

After having successfully completed the 12-week Shortcut to Size program, I have decided that I will never do another Bodybuilding.com program again. This decision is based less on the fact I absolutely hated this one, and more because I now know and understand the value in doing a program that is tailored not just to your specific needs, but your [...]

If you have yet to hear someone argue why dumbells are better than barbells for one or more exercises...you haven't been in the gym enough. For some it may seem obvious how dumbells and barbells are different, but what is not always obvious is why one may be better than the other for different exercises. The Basic Difference Barbells are [...]

President John F. Kennedy's fitness initiative of the 1960's began what has become the modern fitness phenomenon. Joe Gold started Gold's Gym which pioneered the fitness center industry, and soon after came Nautilus exercise equipment which arguably took off faster than the fitness craze itself. This rather unfortunate event has led to widespread misuses of machine-based training, sometimes causing more [...]

I've spent half my life mindlessly attempting to get bigger and stronger. Knowing I would never look like Arnold, I still believed that if I copied his workouts I could achieve the bigger and better me I invisioned, even if it was less than half his size (after all, it was better than what I had going on at 6' 1" [...]

Love your body.  Easier said than done, right? Sure, it's easier for some than others, but in a world flooded with both ripped magazine models and their polar opposite, the average Western Adult, it's rarely easy for people to love what they see in the mirror. But this article is NOT about loving what's in the mirror, it's about loving your [...]

New Year, a new you. For some of you that may be the millionth time you've heard that and by now it's no more meaningful than when someone asks "How's it going?". For others, 2017 rings with excitement. You have big plans, bigger goals, and hopefully a gameplan. For those with fitness related goals, especially those trying to make lifestyle [...]

Surely when almost 70% of American adults are overweight, it can't be our own fault, right? Genetics, busy schedules, limited food options...something has to be causing the weight to pile on. And it can't be my fault. Can it? Before I go any further, I would just like to share that one year ago I weighed about 213lbs. By the [...]

Most people would agree that more muscle equates to more strength, but if it were that simple then why do bodybuilders so often post significantly weaker strength levels compared to powerlifters of similar or even smaller size? Are All Muscles Created Equal? Most of us have seen someone visibly smaller or weaker display greater strength abilities than someone of larger or seemingly stronger [...]

Ever wondered how to tell which carbs are good and which are bad? Which cooking oils are healthy and which turn you tubby? Foods seem to be both healthy and unhealthy depending on whom you ask, so here is an easy way to tell which carbs and which fats are best for you. Carbohydrates: Dip Them in Water If you can submerge [...]

A personal trainer's professional pre-program assessment of Jim Stoppani's Shortcut to Size program. I've been a Bodybuilding.com fan and customer for years now, but not until recently did I start trying their recommended training programs. A friend of mine recommended I try the Shortcut to Shred earlier this summer, and I enjoyed my modified version's results so much I decided [...]

We all know we're supposed to eat fruits and vegetables, but we also need more satiating foods with protein, fats and complex carbohydrates. So how do we make sure we're not setting ourselves up for disaster by choosing the wrong foods each trip? Here are 7 tried-and-true tips for making sure every grocery shopping trip is a successful one. 1. [...]

It's the primary fitness goal of 99.9% of females new to total body conditioning, but that's not to say it isn't desired by males either, or that it's not a fantastic goal. What's funny about getting toned is that it means something different to everyone, but in this article we'll explore how almost everyone can achieve what toned means to them! What [...]