Initially I wasn’t keen on having a personal trainer, but my wife was gung ho about it. I kept saying to myself “what can a trainer really do for me that I’m not doing already?” But we still signed up with someone (this person even came recommended by others). 3 months later and the only results I saw were some strength gain, but no real visual difference (despite a 5lbs loss). For my wife it was worse – after 4 months with this trainer and repeatedly asking for explanations regarding exercise and meal plan selections to no avail, we finally had it with him.

It was time for serious research. We realized we wanted someone who can work with us through e-mail, but that was close enough for 1-on-1 sessions, should we need them. We wanted someone who is certified and been around for a while (not just someone who “looks the part”). We also realized that there are many different certifications out there (among which, we found out that NASM CPT/PES/CES certifications are considered to be the holy grail in this field, all of which David holds). We wanted someone who is meticulous, detail oriented and can explain *why* certain choices are made regarding exercise routines and meal plans. We were looking for someone who can -no, someone who *will*, take the time to educate us on exercising correctly and efficiently, coupled with nutritional education.

There are so many fitness programs out there, each one claiming to be the best – and each one of them seems to be a “one solution fits all”. The same goes for nutrition plans… But people are different and have different needs. I used to have lower back problems. My wife used to have constant cravings. How does one know which program is best? And even when it comes to gyms – people have access to different equipment at different gyms. How do we sort out all of this stuff?

When we first reached out to David and Nikki we received a questionnaire – an extremely detailed one. It went into details such as our exercise history, eating habits, weight history, medical problems, at what pace we’re interested in working in order to get results, and even the simplest question which no trainer has ever asked us: what are our goals? Are we looking to just lose a few pounds, or tone up? Maybe become body builders or just overcome past injuries? This was already a great sign for things to come! None of the other trainers we spoke with have ever asked us any of these questions.

Sure enough, a workout routine and meal plan which was just as detailed was sent to us (along with answers to a plethora of questions we had regarding the program), and it was even customized to deal with each of our individual issues and concerns, not to mention tailored to our specific gym equipment.

Within 5 weeks I dropped from 21% body fat to 11%!!!! Every week that goes by, my wife sees me transform and become more defined in muscle tone. After a couple of months, I had already enough strength gain to support my lower back and never had to look back since – even despite doubling the weights I’m lifting.

It was finally time for a 1-on-1 session. If this is how much progress we could see just over e-mail, what more could we accomplish in person?? The answer was clear after our first session. Of course there’s the regular drive factor – and David knows how to drive his clients!

But, most importantly, we gained INSIGHT and KNOWLEDGE. Insight into the specifics of how certain exercises need to be performed, and why. Knowledge on how different muscle groups work and how each exercise ties into that. Once we started to gain that level of understanding we were able to gain a lot more out of each routine and become more efficient in our workouts, which in turn yielded even faster results.

We’re now on our 4th month into the program and even some of our friends who have seen our transformations and were in complete disbelief initially, have now signed up to work with David and Nikki (some even residing on the other side of the world!) Both my wife and I simply can’t recommend them enough!!!

I arrived at the gym hiding behind my baggiest sweats, unsure of what to expect. David patiently went through my history and it felt weird why this stranger wanted to know so much about me. I guess I had never met anyone before that cared about their client. I don’t have an athletic background and had never lifted serious weights before. The first training session I silently went through the motions and looked incredulously at David every time he moved the pin to a heavier weight. But he believed I could do it, and he was there to support me if I faltered.

His wife Nikki helped plan my diet and cardio, however it was not like she gave me a plan and forgot about it. She always followed through, was very responsive, motivated me when times were tough, listened patiently to my rants, and kicked my ass when I truly got lazy. I can sing her praises all day. To say that David and Nikki are personal trainers is an understatement. They will change your life and take you places you never thought you could go before. This ability to push and believe in yourself spreads to other aspects of your life. You will learn to have less tolerance for bullshit and want better things for yourself.

Once you meet them you will know that they are truly invested in their client’s journey, and that they love seeing them succeed. Yes I did cheat at times, and still fall off the wagon occasionally, but David and Nikki are always there to get me back on track. I am now more fit than I ever was and excited to continue to see my body transform.

Sarah H.

There is not much difference between the foam rollers and the exercise bands and stability balls since all of them are types of cross over equipment, which are obtained from the rehab training. Their utility lies in their versatility, inexpensiveness, and lower weight.

These qualities also make them good for home workouts and studio usage. They are also very simple pieces of equipment (being cylinders of high density foams) with immense uses. You can use them for various exercising purposes like self message stretching, body support, and stability exercises.

Using the foam body rollers

You can easily spot the foam rollers. These are the white cylinders which are piled up in the corner areas of gymnasiums and pilate studios. The pilate instructors are also promoting the use of foam rollers in their classes which will further contribute to its wide spread use. You can also do a wide amount of experimentation on these foam rollers.

Exercise and stretch by using the foam rollers

Massage tool
Massages are good for the pressured and tensed areas which you are trying to release. This can be done easily by rolling the body area or muscle on the foam roller after putting the body weight on the roller and then gently rocking and rolling the body for releasing the accumulated stress.

Body part prop
You can do this form of exercise by lying in rest position on the back of the body and supporting the slightly bent knees by the foam roller. This position of the exercise will help in spine elongation and its relaxation. The foam rollers can also be used in prop forms. For example, you can use them as body prop by placing them under the hip area or for supporting a limb.

Stretch support
The Foam rollers can provide you ample support for the stretching exercises by giving you a curved surface to work your exercises on. Since your position is not far from the ground, there is very minute chance that you might tip off and cause some damage to your body. Hence you can fully relax when you do all your stretching exercises. Stretching can be done in different creative ways by using a foam roller. For example, you can sit with your legs placed in a straight position and then place the foam roller under the calf area. Do not lock the knees during the process. You can go for extra stretching by leaning your body in a forward direction towards the leg.

Stability exercises
You can use the pilates and take advantage of the core strengthening potential of the unstable surfaces as well. While maintaining the balance during working out on an unstable surface, every deep muscle of your back and abdomen area is worked toward maintaining the body’s balanced posture. Enhancement in mat exercises like push-ups and planks are being explored and invented by the Pilate instructors. These exercises should be done on the foam roller and not on the floor.

Buying a foam roller
The foam rollers are available in different sizes and shapes. You can get foam rollers in different varieties of length and diameters. The size of 36 inches long and 6 inches of diameter makes the most popular dimension being sold currently in the markets. They also contain high density packing foam which delays the crushing of the foam roller under the weight of the body. The surface of the roller is also very soft and therefore is very comfortable and convenient to roll the body parts on it.

Prolonged usage of the rollers bends it and they can also collapse from the middle while being used. Further, lumpiness is also found in foam rollers. Therefore one should invest in the more expensive rollers that are being manufactured. The closed cell foam or the super high density EVA foam is some examples of the more expensive rollers. The basic foam roller costs somewhere between $17 to $27.

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About the author: Kate is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on luxury and technology. Beside this she is a fitness freak and exercise regularly to stay in shape. In her free time she loves playing game on her cell phone. She recently shared an article on water borne diseases which was liked a lot by her readers.

After years of being extremely active – a 3-sport athlete in high school, college intramural sports, and running 10Ks and half marathons as a graduate student – it seemed I had hit a wall when I moved to Baltimore to start my career. I enjoyed going to the gym nearly every day, but I was lacking motivation to push myself and work extremely hard. In years past, I had always incorporated weight training with cardio, but I found myself lifting lighter weights and idly churning on the elliptical machine. I had always been a relatively healthy eater, but I didn’t put a great deal of effort into planning meals and ensuring I was getting the right balance of carbs, fats, and protein for me.

I felt that I was very knowledgeable about health, fitness, and training. I was skeptical about the real value I would get out of a trainer; in fact I thought that all I really needed was a spotter to help me get through the last few reps.

David convinced me otherwise! He first helped me determine my specific goals and the underlying reasons why I found myself simply going through the motions. He provided me with the customized training plan and diet that were required for me to reach my goals. He recognized that it was important for me to understand the rationale for each exercise in the program as well as the kinesiology and science behind his recommendations, and he provided that expertise.

I enjoyed his “tough love” style of motivation – he really challenged me. He made me realize how strong I already was and how strong I could be if I worked hard. His requirement to keep a journal was essential for my progress.

At 26 years old, I feel that my fitness level and appearance is better than when I was in college, probably even high school. My back, arms, and shoulders are much more defined. I’m continuing to increase weight in all my lifts. I gained weight (muscle) but went from a size 6 to a size 2/4. I listened to David and didn’t worry about doing crunches but focused on diet and cardio, and my abs were chiseled in plenty of time for my vacation to St. Martin. Training with David was a great investment.

Erin Morrisey

Back to Client Testimonials

Needless to say I soon feel victim to freshman weight gain. After a year of indulging in the college lifestyle I realized I had lost my once athletic physique and soon began training again. Once I had a steady routine going I heard about fitness competitions, and the urge to compete overcame me. I knew I wanted to be on that stage, and I thought I could do it all by myse

lf. I spent hours researching the perfect workout routines, and reading endless forums of how to drop weight fast to get that toned look. I thought I’d be on stage in no time. Boy was I wrong!

But luck have it after a year of what I like to call “backyard training” I met my current boyfriend, Yuri Kostovetskiy, who was training to compete in bodybuilding competitions. This is how I met Dave, and how he became my trainer.

After my first workout with Dave I realized that no amount of information I read online could have pushed me to my potential like he does. Dave pushed me past the limits I had set for myself and made me realize how much potential I had to transform my body. After several months of training I took my first step on stage, and finally got my chance to compete; and instead of filling that need and urge I had had to compete, I became thirstier than ever for success.

Competing in Philly was an eye opening experience into a whole new level of competition, and I learned many humbling lessons. As stated, I was raised training and I was used to working hard and winning. At my first competition I came in 7th place; to be honest, at first I was upset. I wasn’t used to working so hard and not placing. After I had some time to get over it, I finally realized, it’s not about where you place, or if I came home with a trophy: It was the fact that I had set a goal of stepping on that stage knowing that I had pushed myself as hard as I could and that there wasn’t anything else I could have done to be prepared. Once I made that realization I knew I had succeeded.

I could not have done this without Dave, because he not only pushes me in the gym, but he helps me see the big picture, and how success is really defined. That being said, I’m more fired up than ever to compete in six weeks at the 2010 NPC Maryland State, and plan to keep training hard and competing in the future!

The women’s side, by contrast, has undergone lots of change over the years. Originally, there was only women’s bodybuilding, which is the female analogue to men’s bodybuilding– women trying to build muscular, ripped physiques. Then the NPC introduced the Fitness division. For women competing in Fitness, there is both a physique component, as well as a performance component that involves gymnastic-style strength movements and a choreographed performance routine.

Then the NPC introduced Figure as the newest women’s division. The Figure division was introduced in large response as a contrast to women’s bodybuilding. In the early years, women’s bodybuilding was about building a muscular, lean, yet still feminine physique. Over the years, the standard changed, and the look arguably became increasingly less “feminine”, or at least less appealing to the mainstream.

Figure was the NPC’s answer. Basically, the Figure look is a far-toned-down bodybuilding physique, similar to what women’s bodybuilding began as– athletic, lean, muscular, yet still highly feminine. It is less extreme, less bulky, and less shredded.

In 2009, the NPC decided to add a fourth category to women’s physique competition– the Bikini division. The Bikini division is pretty much just what it sounds like– girls that look very good in bikinis hitting quarter-turns on the stage.

Most would think that the Bikini division would have been welcomed with open arms within the bodybuilding community. After all, who can realistically criticize beautiful, fit girls on a stage showing off incredibly sexy bodies? Yet it didn’t quite pan out like that. The Bikini division has received a LOT of flack on the various bodybuilding message boards. Because the division is so new, the verdict is still out on how successful Bikini will be within the NPC, and how serious we should take it. There are many supporters of the Bikini division amongst the bodybuilding fans. However, a cursory examination of most of the popular bodybuilding boards and websites will reveal that there is actually more backlash against bikini, than support for it.

The important question that needs to be answered is, Why? Why would various types of physique athletes band together and be almost hyper-critical of the Bikini division, even before it gets off the ground?

If you read the threads on the boards dealing with and discussing Bikini, you will notice a lot of names being called, and a lot of accusations being made. People are searching and scrambling for words and arguments to express their initial gut reactions and emotional instincts regarding Bikini. Most accuse it of being shallow at best, “cheap” at worst (to use a kind term).

Why is this division consisting of beautiful girls not being welcomed with open arms into the bodybuilding community?

The real reason is because the Bikini division flies in the face of the spirit of bodybuilding.

It is generally claimed that bodybuilding is not so much a sport as a lifestyle. It is a way of living, a way of thinking, and a way of dealing with the world. It is almost a “life path” of sorts, similar to a samurai’s life. It requires an incredibly heightened sense of discipline and a work ethic that would make most “normal people” (non-bodybuilders) cringe with pain.

There is no direct payoff to bodybuilding. Even in the pro ranks, there is not a ton of money to be made. Nobody begins bodybuilding as a means to earn a living. The vast majority of competitors are content to compete simply for the sake of competing. It is a personal challenge, similar to climbing a mountain or running a marathon. Only it is a challenge that takes literally years of hard work and dedication to master, and to maximize your natural genetic potential.

When we shifted from Bodybuilding to Figure, we introduced requirements that allowed a certain “lowering of work ethic”. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Figure girls don’t have to work hard. Quite the contrary. Most Figure competitors probably have to train just as hard, and be just as disciplined with diet and cardio, as most bodybuilders. But the major difference between Figure and Bodybuilding is the factor of time.

To be a successful bodybuilder, you need a lot of muscle mass. This holds true for both the men’s side of the sport, as well as the women’s. There is no question that “mass” is one of the prerequisites of bodybuilding.

With Figure, you still need a good amount of muscle mass, though it is far less than that required for Women’s Bodybuilding. And muscle mass takes time to build and develop. In this regard, on average, genetics being the same, it will take a woman far longer to build the necessary physique to compete in Bodybuilding, than it will for that same woman to build the necessary physique to compete in Figure.

In this regard, it takes more long-term discipline and dedication to be a Women’s Bodybuilding competitor than it does to be a Figure competitor.

Now again, I want to stress that I am NOT trying to disparage Figure competitors whatsoever. I have the utmost respect for most Figure competitors, and what they are trying to accomplish. I think the Figure physique, on average, is beautiful, sexy, and inspiring. But it is simply NOT as hard to build as a Bodybuilding physique.

Given that long-term dedication and discipline are some of the major factors that play into the Spirit and Lifestyle that is Bodybuilding, it should come as no surprise that male and female bodybuilders share more in common, psychologically and personality-wise, than male bodybuilders and figure girls do.

So where does Bikini fit into all of this?

When the Bikini standard was introduced, it became clear to most competitors on the boards that the bar was being lowered considerably. Again, many of the Bikini girls are very pretty and have beautiful bodies, but they share little in common with Bodybuilders, and even Figure girls for that matter. As soon as the description of Bikini was released by the NPC, the question started to arise, Why exactly are these girls sharing a stage with bodybuilders?

There are already numerous outlets for Bikini competition throughout the world and USA in particular. Bikini competitions tend to be a far greater draw, audience-wise and economically, than bodybuilding has been in a long time (and probably ever will be again). Thus, the leading theory on the boards is that the NPC is creating its own Bikini division mostly to generate money. It will “put more butts in seats”, so to speak. After all, the common argument went, sex sells, and Bikini is mostly T&A.

Not many of the supporters of Bikini have been able to shake this argument, or show where it is faulty. Some supporters have argued that Bikini girls have to train “just as hard” as figure/bodybuilding girls, they just lack the genetics to build the requisite muscle mass to compete in these other divisions. This argument is highly dubious, as the amount of muscle mass required to compete at the local level in Figure is attainable-enough that most women could accomplish it with a mere 2-3 years of hard, dedicated training and dieting.

“Well some of us don’t want to have to wait that long to compete”. This was an often-heard response attempting to justify Bikini’s inclusion in the NPC. And it reveals the true reason why Bikini has been philosophically and spiritually rejected by most within the Bodybuilding community, at least as far as a contest worthy of respect goes.

Even though Bodybuilding (men’s and women’s) and Figure differ in terms of the end product (the type of physique built) and the amount of time/effort required to build it, they share many commonalities. There is enough commensurability between the Bodybuilding and Figure physiques to justify having them on one stage. Both physique types are muscular and athletic, and both are lean, though the degree of each of those qualities differs from Bodybuilding to Figure. Furthermore, to achieve the proper “stage look”, both the Women’s Bodybuilder and the Figure athlete have to invest some serious time, effort, and discipline. Nobody will excel in Figure simply by getting on a stage without having suffered through a grueling diet, a ton of cardio sessions, and hours of difficult weight training.

Bodybuilding is a discipline in that it takes lots and lots of effort to achieve a physique far down the road. It is all about delayed gratification. It is about waking up daily and accomplishing small goals (one meal at a time, one cardio session at a time, one weight training session at a time) in order to achieve one large goal at the end– stepping on stage with the body of a Greek God, becoming a living statue, the physical Ideal representing humankind.

Figure competitors have to go through largely this same process. They have to suffer through diets that deprive them of all tasty food for months on end. They have to spend countless hours in the gym training and doing cardio to achieve a certain look.

In this sense, Bodybuilders and Figure athletes share a discipline and a common bond. There is a mutual respect. Even though the approach is slightly different– as is the end product– there is quite a bit of similarity. There is a feeling of, “You are my equal, because you worked incredibly hard, too.”

The problem with Bikini is that, by and large, it does not require this discipline. The amount of effort required to build a proper Bikini body is minimal at best when compared with Bodybuilding and Figure. A Bikini competition is more about one’s “natural assets”, or those that have been purchased from a doctor, than about one’s discipline over time. A Bikini competitor does not have to spend countless hours in the gym moving bone-crushing weights and sweating like a pig. A Bikini competitor does not have to get so lean that they are required to thrive off of tasteless food, lower energy levels, and hour after hour on the Stair Mill. The amount of suffering required to build the Bikini body pales in comparison to the amount of suffering required to build a Bodybuilding or Figure/Fitness physique.

In this regard, bodybuilders will be prone to not hold Bikini competitors in as high a light. Their accomplishments do not seem nearly as important or great. Insofar as there is a Spirit of Bodybuilding, a feeling of heroism that we are attracted to as spectators, it is the worship of work ethic, discipline, and to a very real degree, suffering. We want to see what can be accomplished with a single-line vision, 100% consistency and dedication. We want to see what the human body is capable of accomplishing.

Bikini does not uphold this ideal. Bikini, by contrast, is a bunch of “good-looking girls”. They do NOT know what it feels like to suffer as a Figure or Women’s Bodybuilding competitor does. Chances are good that many of these Bikini competitors can roll in off the street after having dieted at 50% effort for 6 weeks, and place well, versus the bodybuilder who must be 100% strict for 12-20 weeks.

I’m sure I will receive certain objections about the role of genetics. Yes, it is true that some competitors can compete in Bodybuilding or Figure without 100% effort. It is assuredly true that some have better genetics for building muscle and getting ripped than others. I’m sure it’s also true that a certain percentage of Bikini competitors will have to work VERY hard in order to build proper Bikini bodies, including starting to work out harder, eating better, etc.

But that is not really the point. When we are looking at broad movements, we have to exclude the cases on the extreme ends and look at averages. ON AVERAGE, most Bikini competitors will not have to work all that hard. ON AVERAGE, they will not share the suffering and discipline that Bodybuilding and Figure competitors will go through. ON AVERAGE, most individuals that compete in Bodybuilding and Figure will have train for YEARS, and suffer for numerous months, in order to present the best possible physique on stage. ON AVERAGE, most Bodybuilders and Figure athletes will have to put forth 100% effort to be successful in this sport, while the same cannot be said of most Bikini athletes.

Given the above, it should come as no surprise that the bodybuilding community has largely scoffed at Bikini. Most have identified it to be little more than a money-making ploy trying to sell even more sex to the American public. Most have realized that the Bikini competitors, as nice as they might be, do not deserve to share a stage with REAL physique athletes.

By 2009, it is obvious that this planet is heavily populated with advertising by beautiful people. The Internet, television, movies, commercials, and most stages are already dedicated to “girls who look good”. We get it, beautiful girls are beautiful.

There is very little space left for the worship of perfection and the ideal physique. Bodybuilding is already a very small niche sport, and occupies a very little corner of the world. It is a shame we are willing to give that corner away, and lower the overall standard of what it takes to be a “physique athlete”, to sell a few more tickets.

I applaud anybody who wants to share their beauty with the world, be that Bodybuilders, Figure athletes, or Bikini girls. But there are different types of beauty. I would not want to attend a classical symphony and end of hearing jazz or heavy metal, even though I might appreciate all three types of music. No more do I want to see Bikini girls on a bodybuilding stage. It just doesn’t make sense, and is a slap in the face to all of us who have trained so hard for so long.

In previous parts of this series we talked about weight training and diet.  What about cardio and diet?

The rules for cardio and diet are the same as weight training– do everything you can to put the body into a caloric deficit, while simultaneously doing everything possible to keep the metabolism high. If you achieve this, you’ll achieve your health and fitness goals.

The body has two basic fuel sources, fat and carbohydrate (or sugars). Sugars come from the foods that we eat, and act as a short-term energy source in the body. If you do not use up your sugars within a certain amount of time, or you take in more than you can use, they will store as fat.

Whenever you are doing any activity, you are burning from a combination of your fat energy source and your sugar energy source. As a general rule, higher exertion levels are going to burn a higher percentage of sugar, while lower exertion levels are going to burn a higher percentage of fat. While doing your cardio, we want to find the rate where you are burning the highest possible amount of fat, so that you spend your time in the gym and on the treadmill being efficient at pursuing your weight-loss goals, rather than just spinning your wheels. Burn the fat, not the time.

Because of this, Lifetime Fitness promotes Heart Rate Zone Training. Everything we do in terms of our cardio programming is based on doing your cardio within the proper heart rate zone. Work too hard, and your burn nothing but sugars, or worse yet, muscle tissue. Work not hard enough, you waste your time and don’t burn enough fat. Work out just right, and see success.

Finally, there is the nutrition component. I already covered that you have to be in a caloric deficit in order to see your weight loss results. However, there are more rules than that. First of all, you want to do everything in your power to keep your metabolism high while in this caloric deficit. The first thing to mention here is switching from eating 1-2 large meals per day, to eating several small meals and snacks throughout the day. This alone will help to keep your metabolism high.

However, the main thing you’re going to find with the nutrition component is the same thing as the cardio component. If you overeat, you obviously won’t be in the caloric deficit that is needed to lose body fat. However, if you <em>undereat</em>, you will put your body into starvation mode. Again, remember, the body is efficient and will adapt to the circumstances you find it in. If you try to drop your calories too low and starve yourself to success, you will ultimately fail– you will slow your metabolism, you will lose muscle tissue in addition to the body fat you had hoped to lose, you will probably get sick, and the minute you start eating somewhat normal again, you will regain every pound you lost (because of the slowed metabolism), plus interest. Fun, right? So again, the thing to look for is the <em>proper</em> caloric level in order to achieve your goals.

If you missed Part 1 you can find it here…

Let’s look specifically at an individual trying to lose weight, or better yet, looking to lose body fat. How do the three aspects mentioned above– nutrition, cardio and weights– tie together in order to help the individual lose body fat?

Well, the only way to truly lose any kind of weight and/or body tissue is by being in a caloric deficit. This is a fancy way of saying that you are burning more calories throughout the day than you’re eating, or conversely, you’re eating less calories throughout the day than you are burning.

If you do this for an extended period of time– put yourself into a caloric deficit– you will notice that you start to lose weight. Clothes will start to fit more loosely. However, how you go about losing that weight will dictate the end product of what you look like, what you feel like, and whether you are successful in keeping the weight off.

There’s a very fancy buzz word that you hear all of the time nowadays– metabolism. Everybody talks about how important it is to have a high metabolism, but nobody seems to really know exactly what the metabolism is.

What Is Metabolism

Structure of the coenzyme adenosine triphosphate, a central intermediate in energy metabolism

Your metabolism is basically the total rate at which your body burns calories throughout the day, simply due to your body composition, your eating and exercise habits, and your genetics. Your resting metabolism accounts for anywhere from 60-75% of your total daily caloric needs (excluding exercise).

Think about that number for a minute. All the stuff that you do throughout the day– waking up, taking a shower, walking to the car, walking around throughout the day, picking up the kids at school, preparing and eating your food, etc., etc., etc.– really only accounts for about 25-40% of your caloric needs. The vast majority of your caloric needs are represented by your resting metabolism, which, again, is going to be a reflection of your eating and training habits, along with your body composition. Looking at it this way, it should be obvious why it is so important to have a high metabolism.

If you have a sluggish metabolism, that hour of cardio per day– where you might burn 500 calories if you are lucky– is not going to make up for that extra slice of pizza here and there. When it comes to successfully managing body composition, metabolism is everything!!!

How To Slow Down Your Metabolism

So let’s go back for a moment to the individual looking to lose weight. They are going to have to be in a caloric deficit. However, the human body is very efficient and will find a way to adjust to almost any circumstances. The human body has built-in mechanisms that strive to keep everything on an even keel. Think about it– if you are in a caloric deficit for an extended period of time, what you are literally doing is not giving your body the calories it needs to sustain its current state. In other words, if you are in a caloric deficit over an extended period of time, you are literally starving yourself, just at a very slow pace. As such, your body will find a way to preserve itself and survive. How? Well, the main way it’s going to achieve this– it will slow down its metabolism!

Stay Tuned For Part 3 in the Series tomorrow…

I have a second personal training client who has Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease, or PD, is a central nervous system disorder that affects the patient’s motor skills, speech skills, and other functions of the body. The symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are expected to worsen the longer you have it. There is no known cure, simply different methods of trying to manage and deal with the lifestyle associated with the disease. In this sense, it is very similar to MS.

My client with MS is a bit younger, and definitely more “functional” overall than my Parkinson’s client. Upon meeting her, most people would never suspect there was anything at all “wrong” with her. In fact, before I trained her, she trained for a long time with another trainer, and I distinctly remember walking over and making fun of her form as being “terrible” and “imbalanced”, only to later on find out that she did, in fact, have certain physical imbalances due to the MS! I felt a little guilty for a while afterwards. However, we ended up becoming great friends, and when she would no longer fit into the other trainer’s schedule, I took her on as my own client. The client with Parkinson’s, by contrast, is a bit older, and has been battling her disease a bit longer. Upon observing her movement and walking patterns, it becomes readily apparent that she has certain difficulties walking and moving in a “normal” manner. She does not have noticeable tremors, but she definitely shuffles.

In the year and a half I have trained my client with Parkinson’s, I have rarely seen the effects of the disease affect her personality or workouts very much. To put it bluntly, I don’t see the disease beating her, I see her beating the disease. She doesn’t wallow in misery, or get bitter, or blame the world for her condition. I think maybe once, maybe twice total, have I seen her focus specifically on the issue of her own mortality. Rather, this client– and friend– of mine comes in twice a week, and works her butt off. There are many exercises we cannot do that I would do with a “normal” client. She lacks certain types of coordination, balance, proprioception, strength, flexibility, and range of motion. But she still comes in and battles for every rep, and does so, generally, with a smile on her face.

The Parkinson’s client leads what I would call a “big life”. She takes numerous trips and vacations to locales she is intrigued with, and loves. She pursues ridiculous clothes and shopping binges, indulging in outfits others might think odd. She does things in a manner that makes one think, “This woman loves life, and is living it to its fullest”.

Somewhere down deep, I’m sure her awareness of her Parkinson’s disease colors nearly every moment of every waking day. I imagine she is rarely unaware of the fact that she is “different”, both from others, and from how she used to be. But she doesn’t show it. She doesn’t dwell on it. She accepts it, states it, and moves on. She has no control over having Parkinson’s disease. It’s the “given”, that which is out of her control. So instead, she focuses on what she knows she can control, and makes the most of it. In this sense, she is inspiring.

It’s important to differentiate here between two things: my client with PD is in no way evading the fact that she has Parkinson’s, or suppressing, or being a Pollyanna. Rather, she doesn’t use it as a central, defining factor of her day-to-day existence. It’s merely an unfortunate aspect of life, and she accepts it for what it is, and she moves on.

Now, this is not to set up my client with MS as being miserable. She’s not. She’s a wonderful woman, and an incredibly hard worker. She is a proud mother, and sports a great physique. When she comes to the gym, she busts her ass on every rep of every set. She makes constant strides to improve her diet and her behavior patterns to achieve her health and fitness goals.

HOWEVER, that being said, there is definitely a different approach to life, or mindset, between my client with Parkinson’s and my client with MS. My client with MS definitely lets it affect her quite a bit. At least once every few weeks, it becomes apparent that she is upset about her inability to do “normal” stuff, and she lets it positively depress her to the point of affecting her performance.

At first, I wasn’t quite sure how to deal with this. I have a tendency to be a bit callous and tell the individual to “Suck it up”. But how do you look at somebody with a chronic disease– somebody who has physical problems the likes of which you will probably never know– and tell them, “Too bad, suck it up”? Even for the non-empathetic individual such as myself, such a statement would be a bit harsh.

But then I started thinking: in a broader sense, realistically, we all have a “chronic disease”. It’s called life, and it happens to the best of us.

I first noticed the phenomenon with my wife, Nikki. Nikki played collegiate volleyball, and was a monster on the court. From the ages of 10 until the age of 21, being awesome at volleyball was the singular defining criterion of Nikki’s life. Insofar as she received gratification and joy from this world, it was from being great at volleyball. And obviously, this involved a huge physical component. After college, Nikki would still (and does still) play with a league of other girls that grew up playing. When she plays, you can see she still loves it and enjoys it, yet is torn– she knows she is past her prime, and can’t hit like she used to hit. As she gets older, this will probably run in one of two directions: she will either become bitter at her inability to play like she used to, or she will become somewhat accepting of her limitations and continue to enjoy the sport she always loved, in whatever capacity she is able to play.

This same phenomenon occurs frequently with athletes. Many will describe watching an older athlete as somewhat “pathetic”, seeing them trying to recapture glory past their prime. This leads to endless debate– did it make sense for George Foreman to keep coming back after the title? How about Michael Jordan– wasn’t he going to tarnish his legacy by coming out of retirement and playing for the Wizards after leaving the Bulls?

I faced a similar situation a few years back. My left shoulder was injured, and severely limiting how well I could pursue my bodybuilding goals. Most of the time my workouts were pretty good, but for two years straight, about a third of the time, my left shoulder would act up badly and make it so that I had a terrible workout. I would get pissed off. Pissed off at who? Well, at the world, I guess. There was no direct object for my anger to attach to. I was simply mad. It felt unfair, like I shouldn’t have to experience this pain for no reason at all.

Yet I persisted in trying to find new exercises and new angles to stimulate muscular growth until I had my surgery. Sometimes I was successful, and sometimes I just grew even more frustrated by the lack of progress. Overall, however, I tried to retain a positive outlook and figure it out like a problem to be solved. I knew my shoulder was injured, and no amount of bitching about it or being upset was going to fix it– or, was going to allow me to win a bodybuilding competition, even if I gained the empathy of others.

Watching the differences between my MS client and my client with Parkinson’s is telling and educational. It lets me know how I want to face my life as I get older and my body breaks down. I know it is inevitable that my body will begin to rebel against me. With the intensity with which I train, it is only a matter of time before I have significant chronic injuries and overuse patterns. I will train intelligently to fight them as long as possible, but realistically, it’s still part-and-parcel of being a bodybuilder. It’s a price I’m willing to pay right now in pursuit of my goals.

But how about afterwards? Once I’m older, and I have, say, chronic back pain, or knee problems, or shoulder pain, or whatever, will I look back disgruntled at what I did? Will I be angry about my lot in life? Or will I smile and accept it, relegating it to the backburner of the unimportant, and instead try to focus my efforts and attention on that which I can now control?

Life is a constant process of oscillating back and forth between looking at the past, looking at the future, and assessing the present. You can’t dwell exclusively on any one of the three to the exclusion of the others. Your past experiences define your present situation, and hopefully, inform how you will make decisions in the future.

But in the future, when my body is beat up and I am older and can no longer perform like I currently do, I hope a few things hold true. I hope I look back on this time period and, rather than regret it, I embrace it– I embrace it as defining who I am, and what got me to my end goal. I hope I smile at all the times I did stupid stuff, even if it lead to disaster and injury. I also hope that I think back to my Parkinson’s client, and how she faced the world. She might have been slightly afraid, or in pain, but she never showed it. She always smiled and looked at all the awesome things she was accomplishing, and talked about the future things she would accomplish.

We come to find, in this world, that there are very few things we have full control over. Most aspects of the universe are out of our hands, from our genetics, to the chronic diseases we encounter, to certain natural catastrophes. But we can control a few things.

First of all, we can control what we focus on. We can focus on the negative aspects that are out of our control, and dwell on the bullshit that is ultimately a part of everybody’s life, or we can turn our attention to the triumphant and heroic aspects that define our days. I would rather spend my time laughing ridiculously, and training like a ferocious beast, than worrying about injuries or pain or remorse or future-regret My time on this planet is too limited to define it according to negatives. I want to be wheeled to the grave knowing I couldn’t have given any more than I gave. Knowing you left something in the tank– that, to me, is the definition of “regret”.

Second of all, we can control how we face our adversities, which is a slightly different issue. Cliché, yes, but there is a great line from the movie Gladiator, spoken by Proximo: “Ultimately, we’re all dead men. Sadly, we cannot choose how but, what we can decide is how we meet that end, in order that we are remembered, as men”. When life deals you something less than ideal, how do you face it? Are you afraid, or bitter, or upset, or angry? Or, by contrast, do you find a way to overcome it, to rise over it, to smash it and conquer it? And even then, when all is said and done– given that nobody will overcome and rise and smash and conquer indefinitely– are you able to proudly stare death in the eye and say you fought as hard as possible? Are you able to find acceptance deep down within?

It’s a delicate balance between the two. “Acceptance” of something less-than-ideal is often the consequence of quitting prematurely– “Well, I’m never going to get there anyways, so why bother? I’ll just stop now and save myself the pain”.

The balance is achieved by fighting your struggle on a daily basis– to achieve your physique goals, your health goals, your career goals, your spiritual and emotional goals, your intellectual goals– and then, once the evidence becomes overwhelming that you can no longer achieve your goal realistically in this world, wiping the sweat from your brow and smiling. The accomplishment of your goal is more in the satisfaction of knowing you fought as hard as you possibly could, than it is in having the tangible end by itself. Learning to take the least ideal situation, and make the most of it, is what defines success in this world.