Fat Loss – Body Transformation – Advanced Nutrition

Wanted to start keeping track of my workouts here over the next bit as I get ready to begin prep for my bodybuilding show in August!

Right now, my focus is still primarily muscle gain. Well, net muscle gain is always the goal, even during dieting, but that’s a conversation for another post on protein synthesis, etc.

Oh, and while I still have time to toy around, I’m going to wear a device that detects my caloric expenditure from my movement. Adding that to my resting metabolic rate will give me a decent idea of where I want to start with my calories and macro breakdowns. I have numerous calculations I use, but I think this will give me a closer to exact idea.

Monday’s Bench Press Festival

bench press
roughly 4-5 sets of warming up and acclimating
315x8repsx4sets
405x8x3
545x2x2
315x10x2

No reason why I bounced around so much later on in the sets – my workout partner was running late so I stayed at 315 for a bit, and that’s not a terribly bad thing because it forced me to get some reps in, and I was doing those sets VERY controlled (3 seconds down). Still, 11 sets of moderately heavy weight worked well.

decline bench press
405x8x5sets

Just one of my favorite exercises, and overall, a good tricep builder as well :)

flat db bench press
150lb dbs ea x 10-12×5 sets

If the gym I typically lifted at had 160-200lb db, I’d do db bench a lot more often but more than anything, I just get bored.

Lateral DB raises
My shoulders are definitely a strong point for me, so I keep direct shoulder volume light. Seems to have worked well, as a) I have nice shoulders and b) I have been able to stay shoulder injury free for years.

40x15x5s

DB Skull Crushers on a Decline Bench
An exercise I highly recommend if you’ve never done them. At the top, keep your palms facing. At the bottom, turn your hands to where you are looking at your palms.

40×12-15×6 sets

Overhead cable tricep extension
200×10-15×5 sets

Just wanted to finish off strong here.

Hey San Antonio,

Want to look like someone that works out? I don’t mean someone who does Curves or Koko Fit Club nonsense either: I mean someone notices and asks you what the hell you’re doing and how can they have (arms, legs, butt, chest, shoulders, etc, etc, etc) like you?

These are the basics and the best. This isn’t some goofy ass set of exercises you’re going to see your local CrossFit clowns doing where they’re hanging from a bar swinging like a monkey in something that almost resembles a chin up (or a fish out of water). No, no ridiculous power ups here either. And absolutely, positively, no ball slams, wall ball, burpees, or other time wasters…

People who are serious about their bodies understand the importance of free weight exercises and using machines minimally. Stabilization is important and isolation exercises and machine work doesn’t recruit the muscles required to stabilize. I see personal trainers everywhere having clients do leg extensions, tricep kickbacks, endless ab work, leg curls, and other isolation lifts. Sure, they burn, but they don’t recruit enough muscle fibers to force the body to change.

And don’t think for one second that isolating “sculpts” or “tones” a muscle – it doesn’t work that way. There’s no such thing as sculpting and toning. Fibers either grow or don’t. Use isolation work to fix weaknesses, not to sculpt. Isolation lifts should be less than 25% of your overall lifting routine.

Women, don’t discount this article as a man’s article – it’s directed at you as well. Whether you’re looking to become “sculpted”, lose fat or gain muscle, these are the exercises you must be doing.

Also, concentrate on form. Exercises like this require focus and not just doing movements. You should feel these in the assigned groups. If not, consult a pro on how to do them correctly – someone that really knows what they’re doing. Just because the kid has a “STAFF” shirt on at Gold’s or Lifetime doesn’t mean they’re qualified. Sad, but true. These exercises don’t give you room for bad form – they must be mastered and taught correctly.

1. Free weight squats. If you want nice legs, squat. These force stability in the hips and recruit the glutes (the butt), hamstrings and quads. The lower back must also be strong to do the exercise properly. Oh, and a squat goes ALL the way down, not that 90 degree nonsense. THAT is bad on the knees. Variations: front squats, hack squats, and Zercher squats.

2. Dead lifts. This is the simplest exercise in theory – the weight is on the ground, you pick it up. WHEN I see personal trainers allowing their clients to do this, they’re doing it wrong. Each rep is like it’s own set – the weight comes to a rest, and then it is lifted. Chest forward, back straight, but down, head up, weight as close to the legs as possible, LIFT. It’s that easy. Dead lifts recruit more than 70% of the muscle fibers in the body. Too important NOT to do, as they hit EVERYTHING.

3. Bench press. I like all variations of the bench press – dumbbells, inclines, declines, etc. Use them all, but really focus on the flat barbell bench press, as it is the king of upper body exercise and development. Range of motion is important – the weight MUST touch the chest.

4. Stiff-leg dead lifts. I see a lot of people doing this, but they’re doing it wrong. When you’re in the downward position, your back must be flat as a board. These lifts require concentration and not just simple movement. NOTHING will develop the hamstrings and glutes like SLDL.

5. Row, Row, Row. Pulldowns are easy and cables make us feel strong, but free weight rowing is where it is at for upper back development. Guys, nothing will make you look bigger than a broad back. Ladies, a woman with a developed back looks incredible in a back-revealing dress or a shirt, a tank top or a bikini. Again, like MOST exercises – keep the chest forward and shoulders back.

6. Glute-Ham Raises. This exercise is a beast, period. It takes a level of conditioning to do, but once it’s doable, then, well, DO IT. Another amazing posterior core exercise.

7. Dips. Another one that not every one can do, but something to work toward. Go ALL the way down, full ROM. When you can add weight to a weighted belt, add it.

8. Pull-ups. Few people do these right – body stabilized, chest forward, shoulders back. No swinging. An excellent overall developer of the upper back and biceps.

9. Overhead push press. All pressing movements have their place, and this one is no exception. Again, simple in concept, but if you have a weakness anywhere in your body, this lift will expose it.

10. Olympic lifts. These lifts (clean, jerk, snatch, etc) require more skill and experience than any of the other lifts, hence why they’re at number 10. If you’re looking for a change of pace, to bust through a plateau, a proven way to develop power and exercise that hit absolutely everything in the body, learn these lifts. Most personal trainers are simply not qualified, as these lifts are so technical that formal education is almost required to teach them. They are worth learning, but they do require a level of fitness to perform correctly.

There are other great exercises, as these aren’t the only 10 exercises that I would recommend (although if these were the only 10 you did, you’d be doing way better than 90% of people that are training today). Don’t forget exercises like pull-downs, lunges, leg press and there’s plenty of room for basics like sprinting and push-ups.

These are the ten exercises that your workout routine MUST be centered around regardless of your goal. If they aren’t the centerpiece of your workout, it may be time to reconsider why you aren’t making the progress you want to make.

I came across this article last night about calories during sex and other overly exaggerated fitness myths and I think it makes a great point: It’s all in the research.

You see, in the health, fitness, training, nutrition and fat loss arenas, there are a lot of so-called “truths” that people, especially bullshit artist personal trainers cling to like there is no tomorrow: their opinions on cardio (which I’ve debunked numerous times), protein intake, fasting, supplement use, training volumes and rep protocols, different nutritional strategies, etc. The crazy thing is that 99% of the things that these trainers and “experts” (sarcasm) are overwhelmingly disproved scientifically.

There are several top level training and nutritional journals that are available for anyone. Also, you can look up any study, it’s parameters, and results on the PubMed site.

I prefer to back my opinions and methods with science and experience. After almost 15 years in this business, I’m not too proud to say that research has forced me to change my mind on things that I deeply believed to be true. This field is one of learning and there is evidence available to support or disprove any theory that may come along if you’re willing to look for it (beyond doing a simple Google search).

Don’t go on your fat loss or body transformation journey in the dark: Education is the KEY!

I have to repost this because it seems that I find myself having this discussion way too often when, in fact, there’s NO debate on which type of cardio is most effective for fat loss and physique transformation!

I’ve argued this for years and for some reason, people still believe that steady state cardio is still “the answer”. No matter what evidence you put in front of them (something simple such as which group is leaner: sprinters vs distant athletes such as marathoners, other endurance based sports), everyone seems to think they are different and that for some odd reason slow cardio will work better for them. Unfortunately, personal trainers are the worst offenders, often prescribing hours of long duration cardio to their clients.

Here is a start: 4-6 30 second sprints produce greater fat oxidation than an hour of steady state cardio

This is one of literally hundreds of studies that show the same thing: High intensity style cardio is superior to slower, steady state cardio.

Want to read more related scientific studies that will get most of these “GURU” personal trainers all wound up? Here you go:

HIIT For Fat Loss in Overweight Women – Really? That’s the main group these so-called “gurus” are putting on treadmills for hours each week…

HIIT is Superior For Improving Body Composition in Males

HIIT’s Effects on V02, Muscular Force, and Endurance

HIIT and Hypertension – Yep, another myth debunker…

So when your trainer has you doing hours of constant state, long session cardio, feel free to send them to me so I can educate them. But I don’t want them to get all confused by the science – it happens to work in the real world. See Renae. Chelsey. Sarah… All products of HIIT/Sprinting in prep and none of that two a day cardio nonsense, nor hour long cardio sessions.

My clients do lower volume, higher intensity cardio and LOSE MORE FAT, period… If you’re a competitor and you find yourself doing excess low to modern intensity, long duration cardio, You are setting yourself WAY BACK and getting fooled by all of these guru coaches and personal trainers.

This post is to everyone: male, female, young, old, skinny, obese, competitor, or weekend warrior: in summary, if you want to get really lean, ditch the steady state, long duration cardio and start doing HIIT/Sprints. If you want a healthier heart, no mo slow go cardio and yes to Sprints/HIIT. If you want to increase lean body mass, damn sure stay away from long duration cardio and hit that HIIT!

Hey San Antonio,

If you’ve read my blog for any amount of time, you’ll know that women don’t simply get “big and bulky” by lifting weights. It does not happen, and there’s no such thing as lifting to “tone up” or to “turn fat into muscle”.

So, I’m going to keep this midweek post simple for all the ladies:

Train like a man, look like a Goddess…

Yep, it’s that simple. I’ve trained 100s of women from all walks of life and have never made one look like a man.

Attack the day!

Good morning everyone!

Maybe I spend too much reading – I try to read anything I can fitness related. Half of the time, it’s just to get through writer’s block (sometimes when someone else writes an article furthering fitness nonsense, it is able to piss me off so badly that I’m ready to sit down and write a 50000 word fitness dissertation.

I didn’t write my annual “New Year’s Resolution” article on December 31 because I figured I’d just let the hysteria die down, and let the other personal trainers spat off about the same old tired “fitness truths” and let them rehash the same article that has been written thousands of times over.

You see, most personal trainers, fitness writers, and Gurus/Experts are afraid to go against the grain: they cling to ineffective, disproven diet strategies, training programs that are as worthless as the Shake Weight, and decades old myths about the types of cardio one should to to maximize fat loss. I am the Anti-Guru – I call those types out on their myths and misinformation. Far too many personal trainers, if truthful, would list their education and experience as reading a few issues of Oxygen and/or Muscle and Fitness Magazines, and maybe a weekend seminar or two: they are learning their craft on your dime.

Enough of that, on with the tips:

-Intense Cardio is the only type of cardio you should be doing. No more of that marathon nonsense for an hour. Intervals are what I prefer (25-60 seconds all out, followed by a similar time for recovery and repeat for a total of 15-25 minutes).

-”I want to get toned/lean/look better naked, get in a bikini, etc, etc, etc”: Your training program should be centered around weight training. No, you will not gain muscle at an insane rate to where you cannot control it and become an NFL Linebacker (ladies), but even a slight increase in lean body mass will increase your resting metabolic rate (the number of calories you burn in a given day to maintain your bodyweight at rest). THIS is the biggest bang for your buck on caloric expenditure: slightly increasing your metabolic rate is much more efficient than either removing a few hundred calories from the diet or burning it via exercise – and when an increased metabolic rate is combined with exercise and efficient eating, the undesirable weight falls off.

-The scale is the most full of shit tool ever created by man. It is not a measure of progress. Simply put, weight loss helps you look better dressed, fat loss helps you look better naked.

-A healthy lifestyle is not about all you give up: I hear people upset about giving up eating a certain dish, drinking, partying, a tv show or whatever. A healthy lifestyle is, however, about all you will GAIN: confidence, energy, health, and a longer, more productive life.

-Just because someone “goes to the gym” does not make them an expert on health and fitness. In fact, most people that go to the gym are just burning time by moving around (which is better than nothing, so don’t get me wrong). When someone is going to the gym and lifting for an hour or two and doing “an hour of cardio”, I automatically think about how much time they are wasting and how inefficient they are. My competitors, who are maximizing fat loss and body transformation techniques, don’t spend near that amount of time in the gym. In fact, 99.999% of the people reading this can make dramatic changes to their bodies with less than 5 hours of training or less.

-There’s a difference between working out and training: working out is staying busy and moving just to break a sweat. Training is designed to get you to where you want to be, whether it is from an aesthetic or a functional point of view. Time is valuable, don’t waste it.

-Accountability is key: whether you hire a personal trainer, join an exercise group, keep a public log, join an online exercise forum, or train with a loved one, positive pressure helps! Tell people that you are close with about your goals and use their support as motivation!

-A diet is an unsustainable way of eating. I mean, come on: everyone is always coming on and off of their diet. My competitors DIET when they are getting ready for a show. The rest of the world? They have to make sustainable lifestyle changes and learn how to make the best choices to allow them to not only get into shape, but maintain what they have worked so hard for. It’s okay to DIET to get to a certain point, but at some point, you have to realize that the more radical an eating strategy is, the less likely you are to stick with it.

-Drink water. Your body is 70% water, I shouldn’t have to explain why this is important. You’re probably not drinking enough. Go for the gallon.

-”But the RDA says”: Reccommended Daily Allowance, designed to keep you alive if you lay on the couch 24/7. Written by the government. Have you been to the Driver’s License Office lately? Social Security Office to simply get a card? VA? Read the tax code? Oh, you want the government telling you how to eat? You think they’re actually qualified at anything but spending money? RDA is survival – you should be eating for optimal performance and physique transformation!

-The only way to force the body to change is to introduce it to a stimulus it is unfamiliar with. When you train, you should do every exercise with the thought “Body, you are going to change, dammit”. It is called WORKING out for a reason: do work!

-Get off of your ass!!! Thinking about starting at the first of next month is not good enough. If you aren’t busy living, you are simply dying! Even if it is getting up and taking short walks throughout the day during breaks, do it.

-A little sacrifice is worth the huge gain. Yes, you may have to go to bed later or get up earlier. You may have to give up those tv shows you like. You may have to skip a few happy hours. Shouldn’t matter, because none of those things holds a candle to a lean body that you are proud to show off at a pool party or at the lake/beach. Life is too short to be covered up by clothes.

-Looking for that magic pill? Keep looking. There is not one. You’d be better off looking for a pill that made you want to workout harder and be disciplined enough to skip the fried foods and dessert. That one would be worth 100 times its weight in gold.

-”But it’s not easy”. No kidding, it isn’t for anyone.

-”I don’t have time. You have the same 24 hours in a day that everyone else has. We all have kids, jobs, responsibilities, family issues, dying relatives, sick friends, car pool, travel, whatever. No matter how much you think you do, I’m betting I have a client that has the same schedule and does just as much. It’s the difference between wanting it and wanting to find an excuse.

-I don’t care if you hire a personal trainer or do a workout video or Zumba or whatever. Whatever you do, do it hard, and commit to it for a fair amount of time. When things get tough, your schedule gets hard, your work starts getting into your “bad time of year”, so what – don’t give up!

-Damn Boyd, you’re expensive. Yeah, but I’m the best in the world at what I do. I’m 36, have been ONLY training for the last 7 years, have multiple degrees, and choose to do this. I’m not some kid that decided to do this because it’s a low barrier of entry and didn’t feel like going to school. I train multiple professional athletes, figure competitors, bodybuilders, bikini models, magazine cover models, and everyday people with real jobs and real responsibilities JUST LIKE YOU!!!

You can make the decision to change or you can simply keep making the same old tired excuses that may temporarily make you feel good, but are holding you in that rut that keeps becoming deeper and deeper.

The first step IS the hardest, but once you get moving, it’s a hell of a lot easier to KEEP moving.

Become unstoppable!

Hey everyone,

This was a video I took on Tuesday of this week, just me having a little bit of fun in the gym.

That’s 455lbs. Of course, I can do much more than that using two hands :)

The body will respond in amazing ways if you force it to. Anything you can imagine is doable if you’re willing to put in the work. Don’t listen to those who doubt you and tell you that you’re unable to reach any goal (strength, aesthetics or otherwise).

Some people say things like “It’s 80% diet and 20% training” or “50% training and 50% diet” and I think both of those are way off the mark: It is 100% dedication to the proper training and nutritional program for your goals!

Own this day – you are all champions!

Hey everyone, Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for the email telling me that my main Personal Training website, http://the-personal-trainer.com, was down. My webhosting provider performed server maintenance and, in short, changed the server that my site was on without notifying me. All is well in my cyber world now and a crisis has been averted. For those competing in this weekend’s NPC Lackland Classic, good luck! With our national shows, I don’t have anyone competing in the Lackland, but I’ve personally competed in it in years past and it’s always a fun show. I’m really excited to have my client Chelsey competing at the National Level in NPC Figure Saturday. She’ll be in a massive show, over 1000 competitors in Atlanta, GA on Saturday. Chelsey just competed in her first show earlier this year, where she took overall in the NPC Optimum Fitness Championships in Shreveport, LA. Of course, she started our year off with a bang, and since then, every one of my figure, bikini, and bodybuilding clients have, at the very least, won trophies this year (with several of those being class and overall champions). She definitely set the tone for a successful year. Of course, competition is not all I do. I like to brag on my more typical clients as well: after 3 weeks, my client Sarah dropped 6% of overall bodyfat. Actually, she’s not the only one, as my client Katherine also dropped just under 6% in the last 3 weeks. I’m proud of every client, but I also have very high expectations for anyone who uses my services. Another day closer to the end of the week and I hope everyone has had a great one. It is already November, and there is not a better time to get a jump on the New Year. With over 7 weeks left in 2012, you could make a drastic change BEFORE January 1, even with the holidays. Let me show you how! Boyd Myers
Personal Trainer San Antonio, Figure Contest Prep Coach
Owner, San Antonio's Top Personal Training Studio
16613 Huebner Rd (corner of Huebner and Bitters)
210.391.1454

I’ve received numerous questions about my personal favorite lift, the dead lift, and wanted to write a little about it this morning.

Should I be dead lifting if my goal is ____________?

Probably the most often asked question, with the blank being anything from strength, aesthetics, losing fat, gaining muscle, functionality, sports performance, etc. In short, my answer is usually a great big “YES”.

First and foremost, the dead lift simulates the most basic of movements: picking an object up from the ground, so it is the absolute base for all functional movements. While performing the dead lift, up to 70% of the muscles in the body are activated, including all of the largest muscle groups in the body. Large muscles worked equals more energy expended, a greater hormonal response, and more muscle fibers recruited forcing increases in strength and muscle size. More lean body mass means a higher metabolism (all things that I regularly discuss here on the blog).

Also, the dead lift is my favorite “core” exercise – the glutes, lower back, hips, psoas, and abs are all significantly recruited by the dead lift.

How much weight should I be able to lift?

Before worrying about how much you can lift, I’d worry about how much you can lift properly. Remember, each rep is a “set”, so you must focus on resetting everything each rep.

The setup:

-Don’t move the bar to get into proper position. Walk over to it and position your feet correctly.

-Your foot stance should be shoulder-width stance with toes slightly pointing out.

-The bar position should be about 2-4″ from your shins when standing, with your laces under the bar.

-Now make a big chest & lift it up, pulling the shoulders back. By keeping this position at all times, your back will never be able to round.

-Look forward during the entire lift, NOT down, to avoid rounding your back.

-Your grip width should be neither too small, as then your hands will touch your legs on the way up, nor too wide, or you have to pull the bar higher. Use roughly a 20″ grip width.

-When you grip the bar, put it close to your fingers, not in the palm of your hand to minimize callouses and torn skin.

-Pulling the bar with bent arms can tear your biceps muscles, so keep them straight and tighten your triceps.

Now, begin the lift:

-Pull the bar by pushing from the heels and bringing your hips forward. Never pull back with your lower back or raise your hips too high. If you deadlift correctly, you’ll feel the most stress in your upper-back, glutes & hams.

-Shoulders should be directly over the bar, with hips low.

-Make sure the bar is against the shins and pull up in a straight line.

-The closer the barbell to your shins, the better.

-As you push, dig in from the heels and keep the bar in contact with your body during the entire lift, rolling it over your shins and thighs. The closeness of the bar to the body minimizes stress on the lower back and allows more weight to be moved.

-Bring your hips forward and squeeze the glutes hard, continuing to the end of the lift.

-When you bring the weight down, do it controlled but not slow. The rule: hips unlock first, then knees. Keep the chest up and continue looking forward as the bar travels down wards, keeping it in close contact with the thigs until it reaches knee level. Now flex at the hips first to return the bar below knee level, and then bend at the knees until the bar is on the floor.

Now, how much should I be able to lift?

If you are a novice dead lifter, mastering the mechanics are paramount. Any exercise can lead to injury, so the more technical the exercise, the more opportunity for injury. Again, LEARN THE MECHANICS. Fortunately, exercises that recruit the most amount of muscle fibers improve rapidly. At first, 1/2 of your bodyweight may seem challenging, but you’ll realize that you’ll get to your bodyweight, to 1.5 to 2 times the amount of your bodyweight in a relatively short amount of time. Elite lifters will often get into the 2.5 to 3 times their bodyweight with proper training and progression (I can actually dead lift more than three times my bodyweight for one rep).

No matter your exercise goals, there is a place for the dead lift in your regimen. Any exericse that strengthens the entire back, glutes, legs, forearms and biceps is a must for any exercise goal, and I feel that the dead lift transfers well to most other lifts, meaning adding it to your regimen should improve other staple lifts that you may already perform.

Hey San Antonio,

People who are serious about their bodies understand the importance of free weight exercises and using machines minimally. Stabilization is important and isolation exercises and machine work doesn’t recruit the muscles required to stabilize. I see personal trainers everywhere having clients do leg extensions, tricep kickbacks, endless ab work, leg curls, and other isolation lifts. Sure, they burn, but they don’t recruit enough muscle fibers to force the body to change.

And don’t think for one second that isolating “sculpts” or “tones” a muscle – it doesn’t work that way. There’s no such thing as sculpting and toning. Fibers either grow or don’t. Use isolation work to fix weaknesses, not to sculpt. Isolation lifts should be less than 25% of your overall lifting routine.

Women, don’t discount this article as a man’s article – it’s directed at you as well. Whether you’re looking to become “sculpted”, lose fat or gain muscle, these are the exercises you must be doing.

Concentrate on form. Exercises like this require focus and not just doing movements. You should feel these in the assigned groups. If not, consult a pro on how to do them correctly – someone that really knows what they’re doing. Just because the kid has a “STAFF” of “FITNESS EXPERT” shirt on at Gold’s or Lifetime doesn’t mean they’re qualified. Sad, but true. These exercises don’t give you room for bad form – they must be mastered and taught/learned correctly.

Selection of exercise is just a piece of the puzzle. For a complete training program, read my “Pathways of Energy: How Many Reps?”. Varying rep range, rest period between sets, total number of sets, rep tempo and progressively increasing the resistance are the basics of creating a solid program that will force your body into rapid change. One or more of these things are typically forgotten/ignored when one is training against time or focusing greatly on bodyweight exercises.

1. Free weight squats. If you want nice legs, squat. These force stability in the hips and recruit the glutes (the butt), hamstrings and quads. The lower back must also be strong to do the exercise properly. Oh, and a squat goes ALL the way down, not that 90 degree nonsense. THAT is bad on the knees. Variations: front squats, hack squats, and Zercher squats.

2. Dead lifts. This is the simplest exercise in theory – the weight is on the ground, you pick it up. WHEN I see personal trainers allowing their clients to do this, they’re doing it wrong. Each rep is like it’s own set – the weight comes to a rest, and then it is lifted. Chest forward, back straight, but down, head up, weight as close to the legs as possible, LIFT. It’s that easy. Dead lifts recruit more than 70% of the muscle fibers in the body. Too important NOT to do, as they hit EVERYTHING.

3. Bench press. I like all variations of the bench press – dumbbells, inclines, declines, etc. Use them all, but really focus on the flat barbell bench press, as it is the king of upper body exercise and development. Range of motion is important – the weight MUST touch the chest.

4. Stiff-leg dead lifts. I see a lot of people doing this, but they’re doing it wrong. When you’re in the downward position, your back must be flat as a board. These lifts require concentration and not just simple movement. NOTHING will develop the hamstrings and glutes like SLDL.

5. Row, Row, Row. Pulldowns are easy and cables make us feel strong, but free weight rowing is where it is at for upper back development. Guys, nothing will make you look bigger than a broad back. Ladies, a woman with a developed back looks incredible in a back-revealing dress or a shirt, a tank top or a bikini. Again, like MOST exercises – keep the chest forward and shoulders back.

6. Glute-Ham Raises. This exercise is a beast, period. It takes a level of conditioning to do, but once it’s doable, then, well, DO IT. Another amazing posterior core exercise.

7. Dips. Another one that not every one can do, but something to work toward. Go ALL the way down, full ROM. When you can add weight to a weighted belt, add it.

8. Pull-ups. Few people do these right – body stabilized, chest forward, shoulders back. No swinging. An excellent overall developer of the upper back and biceps.

9. Overhead push press. All pressing movements have their place, and this one is no exception. Again, simple in concept, but if you have a weakness anywhere in your body, you will feel it.

10. Olympic lifts. These lifts (clean, jerk, snatch, etc) require more skill and experience than any of the other lifts, hence why they’re at number 10. If you’re looking for a change of pace, to bust through a plateau, a proven way to develop power and exercise that hit absolutely everything in the body, learn these lifts. Most personal trainers are simply not qualified, as these lifts are so technical that formal education is almost required to teach them.

There are other great exercises, as these aren’t the only 10 exercises that I would recommend (although if these were the only 10 you did, you’d be doing way better than 90% of people that are training today). Don’t forget exercises like pull-downs, lunges, leg press and there’s plenty of room for basics like sprinting and push-ups.

These are the ten exercises that your workout routine MUST be centered around regardless of your goal. If they aren’t the centerpiece of your workout, it may be time to reconsider why you aren’t making the progress you want to make.

I’ve argued this for years and for some reason, people still believe that steady state cardio is still “the answer”. No matter what evidence you put in front of them (something simple such as which group is leaner: sprinters vs distant athletes such as marathoners, other endurance based sports), everyone seems to think they are different and that for some odd reason slow cardio will work better for them. Unfortunately, personal trainers are the worst offenders, often prescribing hours of long duration cardio to their clients.

Here is a start: 4-6 30 second sprints produce greater fat oxidation than an hour of steady state cardio

This is one of literally hundreds of studies that show the same thing: High intensity style cardio is superior to slower, steady state cardio.

Want to read more related scientific studies that will get most of these “GURU” personal trainers all wound up? Here you go:

HIIT For Fat Loss in Overweight Women – Really? That’s the main group these so-called “gurus” are putting on treadmills for hours each week…

HIIT is Superior For Improving Body Composition in Males

HIIT’s Effects on V02, Muscular Force, and Endurance

HIIT and Hypertension – Yep, another myth debunker…

So when your trainer has you doing hours of constant state, long session cardio, feel free to send them to me so I can educate them. But I don’t want them to get all confused by the science – it happens to work in the real world. See Renae. Chelsey. Sarah… All products of HIIT/Sprinting in prep and none of that two a day cardio nonsense, nor hour long cardio sessions.

My clients do lower volume, higher intensity cardio and LOSE MORE FAT, period… If you’re a competitor and you find yourself doing excess low to modern intensity, long duration cardio, You are setting yourself WAY BACK and getting fooled by all of these guru coaches and personal trainers.

This post is to everyone: male, female, young, old, skinny, obese, competitor, or weekend warrior: in summary, if you want to get really lean, ditch the steady state, long duration cardio and start doing HIIT/Sprints. If you want a healthier heart, no mo slow go cardio and yes to Sprints/HIIT. If you want to increase lean body mass, damn sure stay away from long duration cardio and hit that HIIT!

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

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

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

What works? Want the HONEST truth? You can make gains on absolutely any training program if you stick with it and are consistent. There is no single “correct” program – but there are ways to train optimally for specific goals. If you are reading this blog, I’d guess it is safe to assume that body transformation, fat loss and physique enhancement is what your goals are based upon.

The purpose of ANY exercise program is simply to coax your body into adapting to a new stress. The stress must be severe enough to stimulate adaption, but not so severe that you get injured or end up over-trained. You improve fitness by making a series of small adaptions (more weight, high volume, more intensity, etc).

Planning an effective exercise training program is as much art as science. Before you go any further, simply LEARN THE TRUTH. Don’t buy into old nonsense such as “tone with higher reps and grow with lower reps”, “lose fat by doing more cardio and eating less” and other similar bullshit.

When designing your program, apply these principles:

-Train Specfically. For fat loss, this applies to nutrition and the appropriate training. It isn’t simply doing more calisthenics and cardio. Don’t fall into that trap.

-Establish Realistic Goals. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, goals. If they aren’t all of the above, they aren’t going to be reached.

-Have a PLAN. Gyms are often packed, yet, few people are actually in shape or make drastic changes over time. If you have a plan and goals, then you will regularly make progress.

-Condtion Your Body Gradually. While most people do too much too fast, there are people that start out reading a magazine on a bike, and if they went any slower, they’d be doing backwards. Find that happy medium, but increase the stimulus regularly (and quickly).

-Train consistently. 2 times per week isn’t consistent enough. If you miss 2-3 workouts per month, you’re missing 24-36 workouts each year. I guarantee you’d look better if you did not miss those workouts!

-Train first for volume and then for intensity. Get the body ready and then train to kick ass!

-Do not over-train. MORE is not better. I know people that brag about going to the gym 15-20 times per week. IF you can go that many times, you aren’t training hard enough. More is less.

-Do not UNDER-train. Yep, this is as much as a problem. It IS called WORK-out. IT has to be WORK.

-Listen to your body. If it is your mind telling you to be lazy, ignore it. But pain and fatigue are very real. Pay attention to what your body is saying and rest when needed.

-Cycle the volume and intensity of your workouts. No two workouts should ever be the same. The body responds to variety!

-Work on your weaknesses. This is how you become great at ANYTHING. Don’t only do the things that you are good at or that come easy.

-Nutrition is home plate and everything else revolves around it. You cannot out-train a bad diet.

-Train your mind. Learn what you are doing and why you are doing it and apply your knowledge to your gym time!

-Have fun!

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