Fat Loss – Body Transformation – Advanced Nutrition

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

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

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

Hey San Antonio,

Late last week, I was invited to contribute to a soon to be released fitness and nutrition related book, and today, I received my first set of interview questions to fill out. Great timing, because they’ve definitely given me several worthy topics to discuss.

As far as the book goes, I’ll update everyone here as I learn more about future stages on the project. I have been involved in a few of these projects in the past, and this one looks to be a very high level project – I am definitely honored that they decided to include me as one of the contributing fitness experts.

How is 2012 treating you thus far? Remember, January turns to February quickly – be patient, stay focused and committed, and take one day, one step at a time!

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,

I want to take a few seconds and congratulate Rachel S. on her decision to compete in the NPC Texas State Natural Bodybuilding/Bikini Championships on November 19, 2011 in Austin, TX. She took the first step on her journey today and I cannot wait to post her progress pictures over the next 17+ weeks as she works her way into competition shape.

Competing is NOT easy: there is a reason why so few people do it. The amount of discipline, physical and psychological effort, and sacrifice that it requires is not for the weak-minded. On top of that, just reaching stage is not enough: WE fully intend on winning her division (I say “WE” because I will be with her every step of the way!).

I know, 113 days seems like an eternity, but in the blink of the eye, it will be half that, and then inside a month, and then prep week – and during the entire cycle, I fully intend on keeping the readers of this blog informed on her progress, all the way through comp night when she is holding her trophy on stage.

Get ready for Rachel, everyone!

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

Doing what I do for a living leads to a lot of fitness and nutrition related discussions no matter what I’m doing or where I am at. Anytime someone asks me “What do you do for a living?” the discussion ensues.

The irony is that while people do often asks me what they should do, they rarely are interested in taking my advice, hence, which is why I don’t put forth a lot of effort in answering that question.

You see, as quickly as the question is asked, 99.9% of the time that person is going to tell me what they’re already doing and see if I will validate what they say. Almost just as often, people tell me what I should try out and tell me how well it will work.

I’ve studied the body from absolutely every aspect from a fitness standpoint – I have a pretty good grasp on the body’s response to training and nutrition, and the main piece of advice that I can offer is that there is no one size fits all training and nutrition program for every goal (no matter what the CrossFit cult wants you to believe…)

The body will do EXACTLY what it is told to do based on how you exercise, what you eat and when you eat it, but the key is that you tell your body the right thing.

There is the problem: most people aren’t telling their body the right thing. They THINK they are, but the body will respond to what it is told – you just have to learn how to tell your body exactly what to do.

Every aspect of training has a purpose: every rep scheme, amount of rest (or lack there of) between sets, every exercise, number of exercises, etc. Same with nutrition. Every bite of food plays the same role, and the body’s response depends on many factors (condition, genetics).

The great thing is? If you tell someone something they like to hear (such as “this is the best way or the easiest way”), they’ll listen to you, period. Unfortunately, they’ll listen no matter where the advice comes from. I’ve seen many cases where some pretty out of shape people have written exercise programs for individuals and the person will swear by it.

Think logically: pay attention to where the advice you get comes from. You wouldn’t let a dentist with bad teeth work on your mouth! There are a lot of so-called experts out there, but make sure they’re able to prove their track record and back up what they’re saying (remember, more than 80% of personal trainers out there have done the job for less than one year).

Don’t be anyone’s “practice” – get the truth!

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 San Antonio and far beyond (especially those guys that write in serving in Afghanistan and Iraq – thanks!!!)

Sorry for reduced posting, but I am working on a huge project that I am putting the finishing touches on. I will share more later, just wanted to wish everyone an amazing day!

Whatever it takes!

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’ve been terribly busy over the last few days and haven’t really had the time to sit down and get online and type a blog (or for that matter, even assemble a thought), but today deserves to be recognized.

Last night, a group of 24 Navy SEALs hunted and killed the man that was responsible for more than 3000 deaths on September 11, 2001. While it has been almost 10 years since that terrible day, it still rings fresh in the minds and hearts of so many people.

In the subsequent years, numerous military lives have been given in the aftermath of September 11.

Of course, I know that most of us realize that there is still a lot of danger to our country and to others in the world, but at least the man that was primarily responsible has been disposed of.

I know, this is a personal training and a fitness blog, and I try to keep it that way as much as possible, but I feel this is a big day in the world.

My life should be returning back to a state of normalcy quickly, but I wanted to make sure to acknowledge this occasion.

God Bless – Enjoy your lives, one day at a time!

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 San Antonio,

Just noticed that the email form on my website has been corrupted but I’m working to replace that RIGHT NOW!

Sorry for the inconvenience – I’ll be back to writing fitness, nutrition, training and related articles ASAP!

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 asked about supplementation nearly every day. Most aren’t worth the bottle their in. However, if you’re going to take anything at all, no matter what your goal is (fat loss, muscle gain, body transformation, performance, etc, it should be Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA). I’ve written about BCAA’s more over the last 10 years than anything else, so I’m simply going to take a little bit from my other writings, add some other information and combine it together here. I’m writing this quickly and these are all my own thoughts, so once I read over it a time or two, I may make some simple adjustments (spelling/grammar errors, etc). Enjoy!

This isn’t information just for people to gain muscle – for fat loss, it is essential to maintain lean body mass to keep an increased metabolic rate. This is one of the more technical writings I will write here on the blog, because I like to keep it simple for the fitness beginner and people just looking to make a change, but this information is too important not to thoroughly understand.

Quick rundown: Essential amino acids are the ones your body cannot make on it’s own and must be obtained from diet. These are the important ones and these are the absolute key to body transformation. Three of the most important are leucine, iso-leucine and valine (the branched chained amino acids, or BCAAs). Why are they so important? Simple – the key to body transformation (even before fat loss) is preserving the muscle we already have. Muscle = Higher Metabolic Rate. Higher metabolic rate = leaner you, because you’re burning more calories in everything you do. Ok, so how do the BCAAs have to do with this? When you exercise, your body will try to use these three aminos for energy, thus, breaking down muscle to obtain these. More importantly, the body CANNOT SYNTHESIZE PROTEIN WITHOUT EVERY AMINO ACID PRESENT!!! This is why it is important to consume whole proteins (and why protein from sources such as peanuts and bread aren’t very good sources because they are deficient in many essential aminos).

Many quality protein powders are enriched with extra BCAAs, but I prefer to take it a step further: muscle (for women and men, and this is for everyone that is serious about looking lean, toned, trim, or whatever you may call it) is extremely precious. So, I choose to supplement with additional amino acids. To add, the BCAAs are binded to other aminos in powders. In formulas like Xtend, they are free formed and are more readily absorbed into the bloodstream.

Amount depends on your size (of course), but timing is crucial. Consumption should be at times when muscle is vulnerable to metabolization: I drink them before and during cardio and also during and after weight training.

For optimum muscle growth, cellular growth, metabolism, and recovery to occur, the proper proportions of amino acids need to be eaten. However, eating amino acid sources, such as meat and eggs, does not ensure that the amino acids they supply will be available for muscle growth and formation of other proteins. For example, suppose you have a gross intake of 100 grams of protein with all the essential amino acids present in equal amounts. Now consider how these amino acids are used in the body. To start, a considerable amount of leucine will be used for energy in exercising muscle. This means that there may be only a small amount of leucine available for growth and repair. When leucine finally runs out, this will affect protein formation because leucine is an essential amino acid. That means your body cannot make it. In actuality, perhaps only 15 grams of the original 100 grams of protein will be available for growth and repair. This is one reason why athletes need more protein, not just to compensate for growth and recovery demands from exercise, but to compensate for the loss of essential amino acids like leucine when they are used for energy.

There’s so much more than just protein grams – you MUST be getting the right aminos!

Branched Chained Amino Acids - the first used for energy, and typically the most limited supply in the body (these are the ones that your body WILL breakdown muscle to get if it runs out of glucose for energy):

Leucine
Iso-Leucine
Valine

Essential Amino Acids – these are the ones that your body cannot create on it’s own (the BCAAs are included)
Isoleucine
Arginine
Lysine
Methionine
Phenylalanine
Threonine
Trytophan
Valine
Histidine
Tyrosine
Pyrrolysine

Nonessential Amino Acids – the aminos that your body can synthesize and don’t necessarily need to be obtained in the diet.
Alanine
Aspartate
Cysteine
Glutamate
Glutamine
Glycine
Proline
Serine
Asparagine

Conditionally Essential Amino Acids – in some cases, the body cannot produce enough of some amino acids, to they are considered essential (meaning they must be obtained from the diet).
Arginine
Histidine
Tyrosine
Cysteine
Glutamine
Glycine
Proline
Serine
Asparagine

If every amino acid is present, the body is in a state in which it can synthesize protein, also called a “positive nitrogen balance”. If every amino is not present, then the body is in “negative nitrogen balance”.

Nitrogen balance is binary – there’s no “almost” or “partly” synthesizing. Before new muscle tissue can be built, the body must be in positive nitrogen balance!

Exercise basically “eats up” the BCAAs, so it is obvious that there is a need for increased BCAA intake for the physically active to not only gain muscle, but to also preserve it. Specifically replacing (or overcompensating loss of BCAAs) is best accomplished by supplementing with a product such as Scivation’s Xtend (the blue raspberry and lemonade are AMAZING).

One can also conclude that it makes sense to focus not only on total protein intake, but also obtaining a complete amino acid profile, specifically focusing on the essential and conditionally essential amino acids. This is most easily done by supplementation with a quality protein blend (note that I did not say WHEY protein – search for a blend) and eating a variety of different protein sources (chicken breast, fish, lean cuts of red meat, turkey, etc).

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 San Antonio,

For whatever reason, most personal trainers offer very little, if any, guidance as far as nutrition. Most have no formal education in performance nutrition and don’t have the experience to help set up feasible nutritional lifestyle that will compliment a quality training program, and that can be implemented in your current lifestyle. My programs aren’t conventional, but are highly successful. I cannot overstate that when you eat and what you eat are imperative when it comes to transforming the body, and simply following a “diet” that only focuses on “how much” and that doesn’t take these things into consideration is a huge waste of time and effort. Believe it or not, my nutritional programs are not about drastic restriction. Yes, it takes quite a bit of discipline, but it’s very doable and the results are simply mind boggling (feel free to check out some of the testimonials and progress pics).

In this video, I discuss some of these things and explain the steps I take to get my clients started on the custom nutritional program that I create for them to help them reach their goals. Don’t settle for a cookie cutter diet that is created for the masses. So many people focus on things that are going to have a marginal impact (supplements, etc) but timing proper intake plays a drastic role in the type of progress you can make.

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 San Antonio,

For some odd reason, most personal trainers are stuck in the stone age when it comes to fat loss and body transformation: they continue to perpetuate the myths that it’s important to do tons of cardio, eat just enough to survive, waste your workout time with isolation exercises and excessive core work, and do absolutely nothing to educate their clients on how to make progress long after their personal training sessions have ended.

Everyday, I put everything out there for people to see.

I talk about the importance of nutrient timing and controlling natural hormone production through exercise and nutrient timing. My clients are surprised at how much I let them eat, how I reduce their dependence on excessive cardio and how their bodies continue to change. Not just change, but change the way they want them to – they become leaner and more defined, not just a smaller version of their current shape.

I post videos of regular clients doing things they never thought they would ever be able to do: including women lifting heavy weights and becoming leaner and leaner week after week. Not becoming big and bulky.

I explain the importance of training for functionality, and educate individuals about the body’s response to exercise, how the body actually changes and debunk the common exercise myths. Core work is for functionality and has nothing to do with appearance. Re-read that. Doing all of the crunches and sit-ups in the world will do nothing to stimulate the loss of body fat.

How many times have I said “a calorie is not a calorie” and YOU have control over what you get rid of and what you keep (lean body mass or disgusting, excess body fat)?

Of course, I regularly post up progress pics and testimonials from clients who continue to rapidly change, who looked better in their day to day clothing and in swimming suits. What good is it to lose a ton of weight if you still can’t show your progress?

Unfortunately, too many personal trainers still obsess over your caloric intake vs how much cardio you do, etc. They have you on the ground doing hours of abs every month. They insist that it’s important that you do several hours of cardio per week.

My approach is NOT easy. It’s tough as hell. It’s extreme. It goes against everything that everyone else is doing. But it’s completely science based and exponentially more effective than what most people are doing. There’s a reason that so few people obtain results, and why my track record of helping people completely transform the way they look is second to none. I design everything I do from scratch to ensure that you are going to reach your goals as quickly as possible and that your body will be forced to progress because I’ll never let it adapt.

The journey is great, but results breed motivation. Education allows results to persist. There are way too many personal trainers that have next to no grasp of the science behind body transformation, and have very little idea if what they’re doing with you is going to help you reach your goals. Hell, watch them train multiple clients – if every client is completely different, how are their approaches different? Most rarely change anything from session to session.

The choice is yours and is simple: do what everyone else is doing and continue to get the nonexistent results, or follow a program designed specifically for you, your current condition and your short and long term goals and have everyone asking you “How did you do that?”

Break the mold!
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 San Antonio

The amount of misinformation that is perpetuated in the fitness industry never ceases to amaze me, and many companies are willing to capitalize on any fear or myth in order to make a buck.

In the last few weeks, I have regularly written about how lifting weights will not make women big and bulky (check out this post). Of course, fat loss is completely evasive for most people, and usually, misconceptions about what needs to be done and fear of the unknown routinely leave people searching for answers or an easier way to change their bodies.

Now, there have been some ridiculous gadgets that have come and gone over the last decade or so. Since so many people believe that they can reduce abdominal fat by doing crunches (you cannot spot reduce fat whatsoever, and doing crunches will do absolutely nothing toward reducing body fat), garbage exercise machines/gadgets such as the Ab Lounge, the Bender Ball and the Abdominator have all made attempts at capitalizing on a common misconception. Everyday, a new fat loss pill comes out, and often, they simply contain a few commonly known products that have a slight fat burning effect, recommend a starvation diet and initially, people lose a little bit of weight, buy more and more of the product (even though they hit an abrupt wall and typically rebound) and the creators laugh all the way to the bank.

Of course, many people really don’t know what’s useful and what is not. But no matter your fitness experience or knowledge about fat loss or changing the body, I think you can see that this is absolute bullshit:

Now, I’ve seen some nonsense in my life, but this takes the cake and is a first class case of false advertising. Muscle fibers do not “tone” or define, they either grow or dissolve. This thing has as much capability to activate fiber recruitment as riding in a wagon down a gravel road. Definition is obtained by reducing body fat, not by repetitive motion.

While I realize I’m giving this nonsensical product a bit of free advertising, I couldn’t resist pointing out how ridiculous it is. And, of course, the product itself is so ridiculous that it is kind of funny.

While I can pray, I guess it’s safe to assume that people will waste their money on this thing. Of course, they’ll be sorely disappointed.

Body transformation can only be achieved by a disciplined approach to following a well-designed program that is dedicated to progression. To achieve health, condition and a physical appearance like you’ve never had requires going further than you’ve ever been. Over 80% of people fail to reach fitness goals that they set for themselves. Do not allow yourself to be a number…

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 San Antonio,

Here’s my client Julie deadlifting 185lbs, which is 50 more pounds than she weighs. I say it time and time again – lifting weights is essential to becoming lean, and is also very empowering for women. Julie works extremely hard and her fat loss progress is completely inspiring!

She keeps getting leaner and leaner, while getting stronger and stronger. Ladies, stop believing the myth that weightlifting will make you big and bulky!

Great work, Julie!

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 San Antonio,

Here’s a video blog of five tips to help you get started in your fat loss and body transformation progress. Simple and straight to the point (the way I like it)!

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