Fat Loss – Body Transformation – Advanced Nutrition

Hey everyone,

On May 14, my client Chelsey Young competed in her first NPC Figure Show, the Optimum Fitness Classic in Shreveport, LA. When I first met Chelsey, I knew that she had the potential to do really well at absolutely any level. After a brief discussion, we decided on the show she was going to compete and the work began.

Then, twelve weeks later, she was on stage for the first time:

Due to luck of the draw, Chelsey ended up in the middle. During a Figure Competition, they do what is known as “Call outs” and bring the top competitors to the middle initially and compare them against the others. Chelsey stayed front and center, and they moved girls around her. As soon as I saw her against her competitors, I knew that we were going to place well, and it’d be a travesty if she didn’t win her class.

Here are pics of her next to the girl that would be the eventual class runner up:

At the end, I had little doubt – I actually posted “CHELSEY WINS OVERALL” on Twitter and Facebook before the official announcement (and showed her husband as I was doing it.

Chelsey’s next show is the Europa Pro/Am in Dallas on August 17/18 and is a national qualifier (which will enable her to compete for her IFBB Pro Card). I have a lot of confidence that she will do well and I feel like she will be very tough to beat. Actually, I’ll say it: I expect nothing less than victory.

Chelsey, I’m extremely proud of you – few people have the dedication and the work ethic that you do, and your focus is extremely evident. You are an inspiration and a role model for everyone you come in contact with!

I’m extremely honored to have the opportunity to work with you!

My client Brandy sent me this yesterday (Brandy is 9 weeks out from her first figure competition – GO BRANDY!)

High Protein, High Fiber, Clean Carb, Low Fat Pancakes

112 gms baked sweet potato
112 gms or 3 large egg whites
60 gms or 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 scoop vanilla whey/casein blend pp
Vanilla or almond extract
1/2 TA cinnamon
Few drops liquid stevia
1/2 t baking powder if desired
Mixed in magic bullet or blender, cooked on griddle
Made 5 small pancakes
Topped with 70 grams dark mixed berries

Whole recipe ( without berries)
Calories-234
Carbs-32
Fat-1
Pro-26

Everyone is a fitness expert. Whether it’s the people at the gym offering their unsolicited advice, the latest certified personal trainer that just completed their weekend certification course, a Twitter genius spouting off about their upcoming competition or what have you, you don’t have to look hard to get the “facts” on how you’re supposed to train.

So, I ask myself, why the hell do people still believe that long, slow boring cardio is the way to lose fat? Why are people still doing fasted cardio when research and actual proof has shown that it is catabolic (read: burns lean body mass) faster than AIDS?

Yesterday, one of my clients was doing her prescribed 25-30 minute HIIT cardio that I had given her. Of course, a random lady scrubbing along at 5.5mph told her that her workout was ineffective and that she was only running for a total of roughly 5 minutes.

So let’s break open the journal of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise and compare the two.

Ok, before we do that, let’s ask ourselves: which saves the most time? Obvious answer there. Of course, NOBODY has enough time, as this is the biggest excuse why people do not exercise (or at least exercise effectively) – always in a rush.

In the aforementioned journal study, the following was discovered:
-In 6 weeks doing sprints, you can run for an actual total of 45 minutes (at 60-75% all out) versus over 13 hours at a constant speed and lose more fat.

-The sprint group lost 12.4% body fat and 2-3kg of fat per individual.
The endurance group lost on average of .5kg of fat per individual over 6 weeks.

-Sprinting increases oxygen consumption, improves metabolic rate, and burns a ton of calories fast. Distance cardio actually has the opposite affect on metabolic rate, due to the body’s basic survival mechanism kicking in an effort to fend off intense catabolic breakdown (induces the starvation reflex).

-Do a search on the side for afterburn effect. I’ve discussed it hundreds of times over the years. Medium of energy (fat vs glucose for you heart rate monitor freaks) is misleading. Just because you are burning most of your calories from fat after a certain point at loser intensity doesn’t mean a damn thing. First, you’re burning more overall calories sprinting, and ACTUALLY, the number is just as high from fat. Also, post-long cardio, your body turns to glucose for energy in an attempt to preserve itself. It’s the opposite for sprinting: your body has already attacked stored muscle glycogen, so now, it’s burning fat for a longer period after training.

Simple comparison: who is leaner – a sprinter or a marathon runner? I said leaner, not “skinnier”. Unless you like the tapeworm look, the sprinter has a much more desireable physique.

Stop slogging through hours of cardio – it’s KILLING your progress!

And if you’re wondering, I have all of my competitors performing HIIT (and nothing slow-go). Is it working? Go check out my Facebook Training Page and look at Chelsey’s pics, who won overall in her first show this weekend.

Boyd Myers
San Antonio Fitness Expert
Owner, San Antonio’s Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

If you’re wondering why you aren’t losing fat and changing your body, it’s time to get drastic. Try this hardcore, yet seriously effective approach.

1. Stop the long, slow go cardio. High Intensity, Intervals, Sprinting. These things make you lean.

2. Limit fructose to sub 10 grams per day.

3. Make your two carbohydrate sources berries (cranberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries) and fiberous veggies.

4. Shoot for 10-15g of fish oil per day, and make sure you have a 1 to 1 ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 fatty acids.

5. If you’re training, you should be consuming BCAAs while you are doing so.

6. Have Vitamin D, Zinc, and Magnesium levels tested (it’s inexpensive) and fix any deficiencies immediately.

7. Lift heavy with multi-joint exercises. Intensity is key, progression (getting stronger, adding reps, weight, etc) is king. No, you’re not going to get big and bulky. Keep the rest periods short.

8. Get sleep. It only takes a slight sleep deficit to throw yourself out of whack hormonally. A 3 hour deficit has the same fat storage effect as overeating by 600 calories.

9. Don’t forget the protein. I’ve written about it numerous times, so search the blog.

10. Eat real food. Ditch the bars and supplement meals.

11. Cut the processed foods completely.

12. Cut all trans fats.

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 to do a software update, so hang with me for a few hours! Hoping to add a few new plug-ins to make the blog more user friendly and more interactive as well!

Of course, I’m doing this between clients so it may take a couple of hours. I’ll be right back with updates on upcoming events. Figure Competition season is in full effect and I will have clients competing regularly from now throughout the Fall, so that’s always a fun time!

Update: Ok, the latest version of WordPress went through painless. Now I’m checking out new PlugIns to install!

Be right back!

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,

For those of you that don’t follow my Facebook Fitness page or my Twitter feed, Chelsey dominated her first show, the 2012 Optimum Fitness Classic in Shreveport, LA this weekend, winning not only her Figure class, but the Overall title for the show.

As soon as I get a chance, I’ll post photos and a full recap, but wanted to give congrats to the competition world’s newest figure champion, Chelsey Young! If you’d like to see photos now, go check out my Facebook Fitness Page – Boyd Myers Personal Fitness Training and Advanced Nutrition (hey, and give us a LIKE!)

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,

It’s gametime! Well, kind of. My client Chelsea is competing in her first Figure show this weekend, the Optimum Fitness IFBB/NPC Pro/Am in Shreveport, LA. This is the toughest week – making sure that all of the hard work is in presentation form. She’s so competely ready, and I’m confident that she’ll do amazing and bring a nice trophy back to San Antonio! I always feel the jitters as my clients compete, probably moreso than they do when they’re on stage, but my track record has been amazing over the last few years, and I’m very confident in the work that Chelsea, her husband Troy and I have done.

I’m hoping to have some free time over the next few days to sit down and finish some writing. I’ve been living gluten and grain free for the last few weeks, so I’m looking forward to writing about that. I’ve been wanting to write a bit about the Meat and Nuts Breakfast as well. AND yes, I do have another CrossFit article in the works. Don’t worry CrossFitters, it really isn’t bad whatsoever.

Summer is HERE – there’s still time to look great at the pool, lake, beach, river, or wherever you may be heading!

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,

Was looking at comments and blog emails and had one from someone who wasn’t completely sold on Fish Oils, so I thought I’d share!

Boyd: I’m usually in step with most of the things you say, but I really am on the fence about fish oils. In a nutshell, why should I take them?

In a nutshell, eh? How’s this? There is plenty of research readily available on PubMed (where government studies are published) that state fish oil can:

-Increase insulin sensitivity

-Decrease post-partem depression

-Improve hormone and blood sugar levels

-Benefit sufferers of Crohn’s Disease, asthmatics, rheumatoid arthritis, prostate cancer

-FAT LOSS

-Improving protein synthesis (increase lean body mass)

I don’t know about you, but I can name a million nutritional supplements that, over the years, have made half of these “claims” without any scientific backing and they’ve been all the rage. But this stuff is actually backed by science.

If those aren’t desirable uses for fish oil, then I’ll definitely not beat you over the head with it (although I should). In short, EVERYONE should be supplementing with at least 6-12g of fish oil per day!

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

1. Slow, low intensity cardio makes you fat. By fat, I mean “NOT LEAN”. Ill looking. High intensity interval training is the only specific cardio you need unless you are training for an endurance event.

2. Working out is great, but being lazy in your daily life isn’t helping you get leaner. Get active and get lean.

3. A little bit of alcohol goes a long way toward making you fat. Give it up if you want to be lean.

4. Lifting with low intensity makes you fat. Get bang for your buck by performing multi-joint movements, and lift in the 70-85 1RM range for true hypertrophic response.

5. Lack of sleep makes you fat. Go home. Put work away. Turn off the television. Turn off the computer. Put down your phone. Go to sleep. A slight sleep deficit has the same hormonal effect on fat storage as overeating 600 calories each day.

6. Increase your resting metabolic rate makes you lean. Add lean body mass, period. It isn’t easy and there is a science behind it. You aren’t just going to get “big and bulky” unless you simply get fat.

7. Trans fats make you fat. Remove them.

8. Processed foods make you fat.

9. High quality sources of protein help you become lean.

10. Water, water, and more water keeps you lean, and keeps the body detoxified.

11. Vitamin D makes you lean.

12. Healthy fats make you lean.

13. Hard work makes you lean. If you aren’t getting there with the effort you are giving, give more.

14. High GI carbs make you fat.

15. Sugar, juices, sports drinks: Yes, they make you fat.

16. Probiotics help you become lean: healthy gut, healthy body.

17. Most people are zinc deficieint. Most people are fat. Zinc helps burn fat.

18. Dieting makes you fat. Yes, I did say that. It has to be a lifestyle.

19. If you are consuming high protein or BCAAs you are working on getting lean. Add B vitamins to the mix, as higher amino consumption robs the B Vitamin pool.

20. Fructose makes you fat. Fruit is fine, but shoot for lower fructose (dark colored berries) versus higher fructose (bananas, apples, oranges).

21. Excuses make you fat. Nobody has you chained up in a room forbidding exercise, and you control what you put into your mouth. You can make excuses, or you can make changes.

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

Welcome back, everyone!

This is the second article in my Keys to Summer Fat Loss series. In the previous article, I covered the keys to training for fat loss. In this edition, I’m going to focus more on the nutritional side of the house to get help get you lean and defined enough to where you’ll be excited the next time someone invites you to their pool party or lake house for the weekend (or wherever else you can wear as little clothing as possible).

I’m probably not telling you anything you don’t already know, but this blog post is infinitely more important than the previous one. Why? First, 80% of your body composition is determined by your nutrition. The biggest difference in a bodybuilder or a fitness competitor that is in off-season versus pre-contest preparation is their nutritional intake, period. The training does not drastically change – only their means of fuel and recovery.

Remember that I am writing this for the masses without a particular body type in mind. So for discussion’s sake, let’s say this is for anyone who needs to drop 10-50lbs. Obviously the amount of time you need to lose the fat is dependent on how much you need to lose. These are only tips – not the end all to fat loss.

With that being said, when I speak in general terms, I focus more on the “IIFYM” approach (IIFYM = If It Fits Your Macros). Obviously, this takes a few types of calculations. You need to have an idea of your resting metabolic rate (RMR or BMR), your approximate daily caloric requirements through activity and last, but certainly not least, your daily caloric intake. Obviously, the most educated estimates on these three things are just that: Estimates. With that being said, actually measuring food, activity, and doing a few simple calculations is going to be much closer to exact than Joe Gym Guy’s estimates that he spends about 35 seconds calculating in his head. Most people under-estimate their food intake and over-estimate their calorie expenditure (hint: calorie counts on most machines are WAY high).

This leads to another item to consider: which macronutrient breakdown do I use? We all respond differently to different combinations of protein, carbohydrates and fat, so for simplicity, the leaner you are, the higher the ratio of carbohydrates one can have.

Understand that your nutritional blue print is a living, breathing document! Different days require different caloric/carbohydrate demands – too many people try eating the same things in the same amounts day in and day out and can’t figure out why they can’t break through a certain plateau. If you do as I say, you will lose fat and your body composition will change. As it changes, you must continue to re-adjust your intake. I know, it sounds like a lot but it’s actually pretty simple. Besides, if you aren’t ready to put a little effort forth and think about this then you’re probably not very serious about it to begin with, and should just give up now. Go away and save yourself a few minutes by not reading this.

How do we determine “how much”?

First, do the appropriate calculations to determine your daily caloric requirements. There will be a period of adjustment here, so don’t be afraid to tinker around for a week or two. If you start eating clean, you’re going to be making progress. I call this period “baselining”, as we figure out exactly what the body needs.

Calculate your BMR:

Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) – ( 4.7 x age in years )

Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) – ( 6.8 x age in year )

Once you calculate your BMR, add your “activity calories”. There are thousands of charts available on the web that breakdown activity by hour for certain bodyweights. I prefer to use lower counts versus higher ones. We can always add calories later if needed.

For simplicity (and that’s what I’m working toward, staying simple), let’s use the Harris Benedict Equations:

To determine your total daily calorie needs, multiply your BMR by the appropriate activity factor, as follows:

If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2

If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375

If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55

If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725

If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

Be realistic – over-estimating will NOT help you reach your goals. Also, completely underestimating to artificially justify an insanely low caloric intake will not accelerate progress. Even if you lose more weight immediately, you’ll rapidly plateau and force the body to induce the starvation reflex. The body is a fighter and will attempt to preserve itself if it feels as if it is being depleted.

One final important note to remember: the Harris Benedict Equation does not consider lean body mass. The more muscle one has, the more calories one requires.

Macronutrient Breakdown:
Protein (4 calories per gram): Enough to ensure we are getting enough essential aminos for recovery and to ensure that the body is not breaking down muscle tissue for energy. I’ll start the calculation at 1g per lb of bodyweight. The lower your carbohydrate intake is, the more protein your body will require to support the added burden of reduced carbs. On extremely low carb days (.5g per lb of bodyweight or less), I prefer 1.2-1.5g of protein per lb of bodyweight.

Carbohydrates (4 calories per gram): Enough to supply glucose to the brain and to fuel our anaerobic activity for the day. Carbs are important pre-workout (fuel), during and post-workout (anti-catabolic and replenishment). Considering our amount of anaerobic activity changes day to day, this will be the most manipulated number. The key is to keep this number high enough (at the appropriate times) to support our needs, yet low enough to force the body to use stored and dietary fat for energy. Carbohydrate timing is crucial! If you are looking to lose a significant amount of fat, I prefer a starting base that is lower in carbohydrates (in the .5-.75g per lb of bodyweight range). If you are training intensely, I’ll typically add 100g per hour of intense training. Once you know your carbohydrate per day count, the other amounts will be easy to compute.

Fat (9 calories per gram): Enough to support organ function and the release of stored fat for energy while also having a feeling of satiety. Once the other two numbers are calculated, this one is easy.

Putting It All Together
Once you’ve used the calculations above to figure out your daily caloric expenditure, subtract 500 calories per day from that. If you are a little heavier, subtract 700 calories from that. This number will be your target caloric intake. Again, you are not doing the same things everyday, so these numbers should be appropriately adjusted. Using the calculations for carbs and protein, multiply total grams of each by 4. This is the number of calories you will consume from protein and carbohydrates.

For example, my caloric expenditure (Resting Metabolic Rate plus Activity) for a typical Monday is approximately 3200. Caloric deficit depends on the individual but I’d advise against reducing caloric intake by more than 20% at one time. In this case, I’m going to subtract 500 from that and now I have 2700 calories as my daily intake goal.

I weigh 220lbs and am relatively lean and very active. On a day where I consume 170g carbs (680 calories), I consume roughly 320g of protein (1280). 680 + 1280 = 1960. 2700 (goal) – 1960 = 740 calories from dietary fat. 1 gram of fat has 9 calories. 740/9 = 82g fat (I’ll discuss food sources later).

What I Meant Earlier By IIFYM
I put a lot of stock into nutritional timing. I believing fueling activity and eating the proper nutrients at the right time is key to optimizie recovery. With this being said, I tend to focus on more carbohydrate intake pre and post-workout. I typically provide a client with a range of nutrients to be in (for example, one meal may be 35-42g carbs, 25-30g protein and 8-12g fat). If you’re routinely on the low end of the range, I have no problem with using your residual nutrients for a snack, meal, etc later on. The key is to at least hit the minimum at the appropriate times – missing meals altogether will slow the metabolism.

Now, the rules…
1. You cannot make serious fat loss progress and regularly consume alcohol. Nothing, and I mean absolutely NOTHING will hinder your fat loss goals more than alcohol. I’ve said it a thousand times here on this blog: it has nothing to do with the type of alcohol, the mixers or anything else: it is the hormonal effect that alcohol itself has on the body. If you are not at a level of bodyfat that you are happy with, then you need to stay away from the booze (even the nightly glass of wine) until you are where you need to be.

2. Fuel your workouts and don’t forget the during/post-workout carbs. I know a lot of people believe that when they are dieting, they don’t need post-workout carbs – this is false. The primary goal for fat loss is maintaining the lean body mass you already have. Working out, in itself, is catabolic (meaning it breaks the muscles down) and post-workout carbs are anti-catabolic. I prefer 25-35% of daily carbohydrate intake 60-90 min pre workout, 10-15% during workout and 20-30% post-workout. The remainder of carbohydrate intake can be consumed at breakfast and throughout the rest of the day.

3. Dietary fat is your friend: learn to love it. Want a great way to stop the body from burning fat? Not provide it with dietary fat.

4. Get off of your ass. No, seriously. This is a nutritional article, but damn if humans aren’t lazy creatures.

5. Consistency is king. This isn’t an overnight thing. Look closely at your nutritional habits. Have you ever gone 10 days without one cheat meal? Challenge yourself – if you’re serious about changing, sticking to it shouldn’t be a problem. No one has ever accidentally eaten anything: YOU control what you put into your mouth.

6. Limit fructose (this means fruit). Fruit is terrible for fat loss – fructose wreaks metabolic hell and will keep you fat.

7. A majority of your carb intake should be fibrous vegies (greens, mushrooms, peppers, zucchini, cauliflower, etc).

8. Bracket your workouts with a majority of your carbohydrate intake. In many instances, I recommend that up to 80% of the carb intake for the day be consumed pre/during/and immediately post-workout.

9. Limit grains, eliminate flour. Gluten allergies are very real, and much more common than most people realize. Just because you don’t choke up and die when you eat gluten doesn’t mean you’re not allergic to it – keeping a constant “belly bloat”, having trouble with stubborn fat – these are all possible signs of a gluten intolerance.

10. Eliminate all processed foods. Refined, processed, enriched, flour – these are words that you need to look for on the ingredients list and avoid.

Being leaner is a serious commitment. Most people don’t give it anywhere near the effort that they believe they have. It takes serious nutritional discipline and consistency – YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT!

I have a few more articles in this series, including carbohydrate tips, nutrient timing and a few other ideas I’m working on, so check back soon!

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 all,

Part 2 to my Summer Fat Loss series is coming quickly. It started off being a quick nutritional “tips” post and then has turned into quite the diatribe! And of course, the more I write, the more I want to write, so I’ve already thought of making it a several part series and will probably add a Summer Fat Loss series category on the side.

Just be patient! No more than one more day!

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,

NOW is the season for fat loss. If you’re in San Antonio, there’s a good chance you’ve already been outside in the warm weather, quite possibly in a bathing suit, and realized that there are some changes to be made if you are going to properly enjoy the warm Texas Summer.

This article is number 1 in the Summer Fat Loss series. I’ll follow this one up with a nutrition based article to hit the total fat loss spectrum. IF there’s some demand, I’ll write a third (and maybe a forth one) with example nutrition and exercise routines.

Contrary to belief, fat loss is not about damn near starving yourself and doing hours of endless cardio. In fact, the only time I have any of my clients perform constant level cardio is when they are getting ready for an endurance event: constant level cardio is actually TERRIBLE for overall fat loss!!!

Here are the keys to fat loss and what you need to know to get your body ready for Summer as quickly as possible.

1. Increase your metabolic rate by gaining lean body mass – I know I just lost half of my female readership. They think this means gain huge amounts of size and get “big and bulky”. That is not the case whatsoever. First and foremost, there are hundreds of thousands of guys that WANT to get big and bulky and very few are. If they can’t, ladies, you damn sure can’t, so forget that right now. No, you aren’t going to turn into a man. Understand that at rest and during activity, a little extra lean body mass will go a long way to how efficient the body is able to metabolize fat. Think about it… How nice would it be if your body was in a high gear for fat burning all the time? Resistance (anaerobically) training affects the body in a much different manner than aerobic training regardless of what intensity is performed at, so plan your training program accordingly; train to gain muscle —-> accelerate fat burning —-> become leaner.

2. Your primary goal must be maintaining the lean body mass you have, this must be your focus when your goal fat loss. Muscle is a premium. It’s easier to lose 10lbs of fat than to gain 1lb of lean body mass. You start losing muscle, your resting metabolic rate crashes. Keep the muscle, keep the fat loss going. Most people don’t understand how easy it is to lose muscle mass. It if weren’t an issue, people could get as huge as possible, starve themselves and be champion figure competitors or bodybuilders. The scale is not indicative of progress, and most people become so obsessed with losing weight that they burn muscle at an unacceptable rate.

3. Train heavy, yet focus on shorter rest periods. I’m talking about fat loss here, not powerlifting. If I’m getting ready for a powerlifting meet, I may take up to 5 minutes between sets. Of course, I’m training for an all out, single rep effort. While increasing strength is relative (the increased load is the response to which the body changes), I’m more concerned with your strength in a 4-10 rep range versus what you can do for an all out repetition. The shorter rest with heavier weight is optimal for increasing the muscle building (testosterone) and fat burning (growth hormone) hormones naturally. Obviously, this rep range is much heavier than what you’re going to do on any exercise video, calisthenic workout or body pump class – hit the damn weight room!!!

Duration and volume may vary depending on experience and condition, but exercise selection is much more universal: compound exercises (and variations) such as the squat, dead lift, pull up, rows, bench press, leg press, hack squat, pull downs, cleans, etc. Do not waste your time on isolation machines trying to get that burn.

4. Strength train more often; reduce your total number of cardio sessions. I’ve always said that if you’re going to do cardio, it needs to be of the High Intensity Interval Training style. I wrote my first HIIT article in 1998, when I still had hair. While science has led to changes in many training paradigms, this one is tried and true: train the same way all the time – with intensity. Your cardio sessions should very closely resemble your weight training – all out effort for short bursts, recover, and go again.

Remember, I’m trying to make you lean, not skinny or just a smaller version of youself. I want you to be proud to hit that pool party.

5. Get off the FiretUCKing couch. Be active day to day, not lazy. If your hobby is PS3, xBox and ESPN, get some new hobbies.

6. Put down the booze. This isn’t directly related to training, but I had to include it because it’s an Achille’s Heel for way too many. I don’t give a damn if it’s one drink per night, you aren’t going to “out-train” that. Can you “maintain” a certain level of fitness and drink, possibly (debatable). I can assure you that you cannot IMPROVE your physique if you are hitting the bottle regularly, no matter how little that may be. Is it more important to unwind and be social, or look bad ass when you take your shirt off???

Training down! Keys to Nutrition For Summer Fat Loss coming soon!!!

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

Saw an awesome “Pearls Before Swine” comic strip today from the paper that was fitness related. Not sure of the little pig’s name in the stip, but he approaches a guy in cycle gear and starts this conversation:

Pig: Hey, Jeff the Cyclist, what are you having for breakfast today?

Jeff The Cyclist: 50 Grams of oatmeal, one cup of berries, and a quarter cup of almonds. It’s a part of my “Fitness Regimen”.

Pig: That’s great. Having a fitness regimen is important.

Jeff: Essential. And what is yours?

Pig: I’ve stopped frying my twinkies…

Silly, funny, but all too common. Like having a Diet Coke with your Big Mac Extra Value meal.

My fitness advice for today? You cannot out-train a bad diet. Real fitness and body transformation takes a complete approach: Nutrition, Training, and Recovery. A “part-way” approach will lead to very disappointing results!

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

Happy Easter, everyone!

I have nothing specific to write about today. Want to write on some specific vitamins (especially Vitamin D) and amino acids (Leucine) but am pretty crazy packed in today so I’ll save those for next week. If you have a topic you’d be interested in reading my point-of-view on, leave me a comment and I may write on it.

My Nike Fuelband arrived last night and I’m wearing it today, and thus far, I love it. Nike came up with their own formula to measure simple activity (called FUEL) and it simply takes into consideration movement (without height/weight). So, it’s a way to “keep score” on how much you move in a day. It also keeps up with calories burned (which DOES take size into consideration) and steps, and is a watch as well. It’s light weight and doesn’t look terrible either!

Racquetball is my newest obsession. As many readers of this blog know, I was in the US Air Force for 10 years. Of course, there are racquetball courts on every AF base (as well as golf courses, but I’m allergic to grass). So racquetball was always an option for intense cardio and getting out of work :). I recently started playing frequently (I’ve logged over ten hours this week) and I’m loving it. It’s a lot of fun, but most importantly, it’s intense (to the tune of burning 1200-1500 kcal per hour). Want to burn some fat quickly for summer? Give it a try!

Last but not least, I’d like to welcome our newest trainer, Andy Travis to Personal Fitness Revolution. I’ll be adding his bio over the next couple of days, but his knowledge and training style meshes really well with our staff, and we are very glad to have him!

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’m sure this will ruffle feathers)))

A reader sent me this pic and asked me what I thought about it:

I whole-heartedly agree. Of course, there are a few people out there with debilitating injuries or conditions that cannot be medically controlled. So don’t blow my comments up – as this does not pertain to those with serious injuries and conditions not induced by lack of activity and poor decisions. However, those situations are diagnosed far too often, and in honesty, most doctors would be better serving their patients by giving them this message:

“Sir/Ma’am, it is time to push yourself away from the table, get off of your ass and move…”

Direct and a message with little compassion? Maybe. But there’s a “cure” to the obesity “epidemic”, and that is it – not allowing individuals to reduce their walk from their car to the pie store (I see it everyday, as my personal training studio is next door to a pie shop).

Coarse, harsh, and real. I understand obesity is difficult and that most people truly do not want to be overweight: but they have control over the decision, and society should not be made to conform to those situations. There are people that actually need those parking spots (the elderly and truly extraordinary circumstances) – not the lazy.

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