Some Gym Questions Answered In a previous blog, I answered 5 very common fitness questions. In this blog, I’ll stick with that format, but with the added twist of tailoring the questions and answers to pertain to frequently asked gym questions. As a 21 year Austin personal trainer, and a gym owner for nearly a
Isolating the Abdominal Muscles? As I’ve written in many blogs and essays on my site, there is a lot of folklore and fitness mythology floating around the locker rooms of countless gyms, as well as shooting through cyberspace. Especially on the abdominal muscles. As a personal trainer in Austin, TX for over 20 years, I’ve
Never Underestimate the Importance of Strong Core Muscles As an Austin personal trainer for over 20 years, one thing I cannot stress enough to clients is the importance of strong core muscles. The core is essential for virtually everything we do, be it gardening, working out, moving from one place to another, getting out of
Tips for Avoiding Weight Gain on Vacation Many people seem to go on vacation and return with more than they left with. I’m not referring to material possessions, but rather body mass. As an Austin personal trainer for over 20 years, I have many times heard folks tell me about their upcoming vacation plans, including
What are Unspoken Gym Rules? I’ve been a gym owner for nearly a decade, and an Austin personal trainer for over 21 years. I’ve seen a lot of people come and go in the gym. It’s always great to see someone come in for the first time with a heartfelt determination to make some positive
Wondering Should You Be Changing Personal Trainers? Few things in this world can remain a constant, other than time, perhaps. It doesn’t stop for anyone, or anything. In the rest of the world, things evolve, dissolve, and fluctuate. The health and fitness world is no exception. We may change gyms because we move to a
The difference between fast and slow twitch muscle Fibers There’s an age old adage in gyms all across the globe that says lifting heavy weights will make you bigger and stronger, while lifting lighter weights will make you toned. In other words, if you lift lighter weights with more volume you won’t get bigger, and
Some Basic Gym Do’s and Don’ts In a recent blog, I took a different approach than usual, and wrote a factual personal training do’s and don’ts. It was done with humor, but all of the “ridiculous” scenarios were completely unstretched truths and experiences from my 21 years as an Austin personal trainer. As many of
Here’s A Few Humorous Personal Training Expectations From My 22 Years Of Experience As An Austin Personal Trainer As a personal trainer in Austin for over 21 years, I thought I’d use this particular blog entry as a rather humorous/common sense guide for what to expect when hiring a personal trainer. I’ll call this personal
Are Teens and Supplements a Bad Mix? With football season approaching, many teenage males are hitting the weight room with exceptional vigor in an effort to get bigger and stronger. Often times, in the month of August, high school football teams do what is known as 2 a days. That simply means that there are
So, How Does Personal Training Work? A gentleman stopped by my gym this morning and was inquiring about doing some training with either me, or a member of my staff. Having never worked with a trainer before, he naturally had a host of questions regarding scheduling, pricing, duration of sessions, as well as frequency. In
How Should You Go About Exercising in the Heat? As I write this blog entry on exercising in the heat, it’s 107 degrees and the sun is beating down relentlessly in Austin, TX. In fact, when I woke up at 6 this morning, it was already 82 degrees and extraordinarily humid. There’s a good chance
Exactly What Does a Personal Trainer Need to Know? When you’ve been an Austin personal trainer as long as I have, naturally, you get a lot of questions. I often field workout questions, nutrition questions, physical therapy related questions, etc. Occasionally though, you’ll meet someone who’s either new to the field of personal training in
4 Common Nutrition Myths Over the many years I’ve been a personal trainer in Austin, I’ve written many times about proper nutrition. There’s a never ending supply of misinformation and nutrition myths floating all over the internet, from YouTube, to message boards, etc. Naturally, everyone has different fitness goals, as well as different needs, but
Asking Yourself How Often Should I Workout With A Personal Trainer? When people contact me with an interest in doing some personal training with me, we always set up a free, no sales pitches, etc, in depth consultation. The purpose is to get a greater understanding of what the potential client is interested in achieving,
Looking for Fitness Tests? Over the many years that I’ve been an Austin personal trainer, I’ve had many people ask me if I thought they were in shape. My first response has always been to ask them, “in shape for what”? Are you going to run a marathon? Play football in the fall? Wrestle? Perhaps
What is Cupping? There’s a big to do about red spots, coupled with great curiosity at this year’s Olympics. Everyone across the globe is asking what the big red circles on Michael Phelp’s body are. Some people have speculated it must have something to do with the notoriously poor conditions at the athlete’s village. Others
5 Fitness Questions Answered In a recently written essay, I answered 10 commonly asked fitness questions. I’d like to continue where I left off with that in this blog by answering 5 fitness questions that I frequently get asked. When you’ve been an Austin personal trainer for as long as I have, you can imagine
What is Cardio? Cardiovascular exercise, or cardio, as it’s known by many, is a term used to describe aerobic workouts. While doing exercises aerobically, it means that we are using oxygen and our fat stores for fuel. Anaerobic workouts, such as heavy weights for a limited number of repetitions, is the exact opposite of cardio.
Just How Long Should I Workout? When you’ve been a personal trainer in Austin as long as I have, you can imagine, a lot of questions get thrown your way by beginners, as well as advanced lifters and athletes. There’s a myriad of mythology surrounding the health and fitness world concerning everything from nutrition, bogus
I Can’t Lose Weight You Say? Nothing is working they say. I’m doing everything I can they say. I’m eating right, I’m exercising, and I can’t lose weight. I have bad genetics they say. I’ve been a personal trainer in Austin for over 20 years now, as well as a gym owner for 9. I
Is It Possible? Will Exercise Make Me Live Longer? There are a lot of myths surrounding the health and fitness world. We hear all kinds of great new discoveries, as they are touted, only to realize that they are nothing more than wishful thinking. As a longtime personal trainer in Austin, I’m asked a lot
Does it Matter if it’s Fast or Slow Weight Loss? When we are trying to lose weight, there are many different approaches we can take. We can embark on a new fitness regimen. We can embrace a diet. Ideally, we would do both for the best possible results, but what about speed? Does it matter
Fitness Questions Answered This site has been a labor of love for me over the many years that I’ve been an Austin personal trainer. I update the blog every 4th day, usually, and write a lot of essays as well. In either format, I address one subject and support my views with facts, science, and
Want Some Weight Loss Tips? No matter the subject, there’s no shortage of advice from those who truly are educated in that specific field, and likewise, there is no shortage of advice from self proclaimed experts. Fitness is no exception, especially when it comes to weight loss tips. Turn on YouTube, and you’ll find a
What is Muscular Pre Exhaustion? When we find ourselves nursing or rehabilitating an injury, we obviously take care to not re injure the affected area. This is common sense and should go without saying. What about if we are in the gym, working on a body part that is close to the injured or imbalanced
More Workout Myths As a longtime personal trainer in Austin, I’ve pointed out repeatedly over the years on this blog, as well as in my gym to my clients, that there is an overabundance of misleading information, and simply out and out falsities circulating within the health and fitness world. Maximum heart rate calculation formulas,
What Are Alternative Exercises? There are a lot of ways to accomplish most anything that you seek to accomplish. You can build a house out of any number of materials such as wood, brick, etc, and you will have a house. You can make any number of food dishes by using a variety of ingredients.
Wondering What To Eat Before Working Out? As I’ve pointed out numerous times, there are a lot of myths and downright falsities surrounding the health and fitness world. Everything from how to measure one’s maximum heart rate, to cleanses, to supplements, and so on. One of the biggest gray areas people muddle through on their
Have You Lost Your Workout Motivation? In all of my years as a personal trainer in Austin, and a gym owner as well, I’ve noticed that there are several pitfalls that people succumb to when falling off the workout wagon. It’s as if they all of a sudden lose their workout motivation, but there’s nothing
Is Vegan Bodybuilding Possible? The health and fitness world is rife with advice on how many chicken breasts, steaks, and supplements we need to pursue bodybuilding, but we if we wanted to do something different? What if you are a vegan? Traditional bodybuilding with all the carnivorous delectables, has been well documented so coming across
Are Energy Drinks Safe? There is no shortage of products available that were designed to not only help you get through your workouts, but to enhance them as well. There’s creatine, nitric oxide supplements, ephedra, this powder, that pill, etc. One group of products that has taken the world by storm, however, are energy drinks.
There’s No Reason To Have Trouble Finding Time To Workout As a personal trainer in Austin, TX for 21 years, as well as a gym owner for close to a decade, I can assure you wholeheartedly, that I have heard every excuse in the book as to why people couldn’t work out, couldn’t make their
Smoking Doesn’t Mix With Health and Fitness People have been using tobacco for centuries. There are many artistic depictions of the Columbus era Indians smoking tobacco in pipes, but it’s use has been documented to go back as far as 1500 BC in Mexico. Tobacco use is widespread throughout the world, even in this day
Do Alcohol and Fitness Mix Well? Everyone is entitled to a little fun, and an indulgence can be a healthy thing, especially psychologically. Even hardcore weight lifters such as bodybuilders opt for a cheat meal on occasion. Alcohol and fitness has been been a subject of debate for everyone to the occasional sippers, to the
Are You Wondering How Long Does it Take to get in Shape? As a personal trainer in Austin for over 20 years, I get asked a lot of fitness, nutrition, as well as, of course, exercise questions, and rather frequently. People ask me how much protein they should be consuming, how many reps or sets,
Why Would You Consume Distilled Water? There’s a lot of specialization when it comes to nutrition in the health and fitness world. As a personal trainer in Austin for 21 years, and a gym owner for nearly a decade, I have definitely seen my fair share of it. For example, there’s a lot of different
Don’t Hire an Impersonal Trainer! Austin personal training is a big business. So too, unfortunately, is impersonal training. There’s schools popping up all over the country that will teach you how to be an entry level trainer, sometimes in a very short amount of time. The other day, in fact, a longtime client of mine
What is Proper Hydration? As I’ve written before many times, there is no shortage of mythology surrounding everything related to health and fitness. Everything from how to lift weights, to how much protein you need to ingest in order to build bigger muscles. Caloric requirements are spelled out all across the internet, and Youtube is
How Old Should You be to Workout? I’ve been an Austin personal trainer for a good long while, and a gym owner for almost a decade. I get a lot of typical questions during the course of my days. Some interesting, such as when someone inquires if a certain approach towards an exercise will benefit
Chocolate Milk? Over my many years as an Austin personal trainer, I’ve written many blog posts and essays covering nutrition, supplements, workout theories, etc. There have been any number of the latest, and greatest products as well as, of course, “revolutionary” fitness ideas and methodologies that have come down the pike, that ultimately fall by
What Is A Celebrity Trainer? There are many types of personal trainers available purporting to have any number of different specialties. Likewise, there are many different coaches in all sports, which are available for hire as well. One area of specialization that I find rather unusual, however, is the celebrity trainer. I was working with
What is Proper Gym Attire? Different occasions require different dress codes. Different situations, as well. Gyms are no different than any other place in those regards. We should dress appropriately for comfort, maximum range of motion, as well as to consider the comfort of others. So what is proper gym attire? Proper gym attire will
Stuck On The Road? Do A Hotel Room Workout! They say that you can’t predict where life will take you, and to a great extent, that holds very true. Obviously, certain behaviors and lifestyles can offer more predictable results than others, but generally speaking, we assume we know what we’ll be doing and where we’ll
Do you experience knee pain? As we age, it’s common for us to experience aches and pains that we didn’t feel as often as when we were in our youth. Knees can ache, shoulders can feel tight, etc. Anyone who has pursued any fitness related activity, at any level, has certainly experienced some kind of
We All Want Instant Gratification No matter what project we set our sights on, we want to see results, and fast. Instant gratification is what we want no matter what we’re doing, seemingly. It could be anything from mowing the lawn, to building a dog house, to assembling something from a box. We all seek
Full Disclosure Knowledge is power they say, but it’s a lot more than that. It’s also a potential life saver. Imagine being with someone, in virtually any scenario, and all of a sudden they were to collapse. What would you do? What should you do? The answer depends upon a whole lot of variables, but
Don’t Let Gym Intimidation Hold You Back Anytime we start something new, it’s perfectly natural to have some sense of trepidation. When we undertake something that we’re even somewhat familiar with, in a different setting, we naturally have a propensity to feel a little ill at ease, regardless of how excited we are to start
Are Muscle Magazines Realistic? We’ve all seen the muscle magazines in the checkout line at the grocery store. Some quasi porn star looking, barely clad female standing in apparent awe at the tanned, ultra muscular, young buck who is every man’s envy, and the apparent desire of every female. There’s a bunch of these muscle
The Importance Of Visualization Great journeys may begin with a single step, but the very first step, in any journey, great or small, is to come up with the idea. The second part of the process is visualization. No matter what undertaking you decide to tackle, you must first have a visualization of the plan,
Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness One of the longest standing myths in the health and fitness world, is about delayed onset muscle soreness. As an Austin personal trainer of 20 years, I’ve seen and heard my fair share of misconceptions and misnomers surrounding the issue. For starters, most people have no idea what actually causes your
Going To The Gym Today? As an Austin personal trainer for over 20 years, I can assure you that starting a fitness regimen, and going to the gym can be a lot of things to a lot of people. Some will look to reclaim lost glory from a bygone era when their biceps swelled so
How To Go About Measuring Success In The Gym Anytime you set out to accomplish something, you need to know how you are progressing. Are you lagging behind or are you making strides nicely and in a timely fashion? If I was taking a cooking class and wanted to make a lovely dinner for my
Will New Year’s Resolutions Take The Weight Off? A lot of people will be flooding the gyms across the world in the next month or so as part of their new year’s resolutions. This is a documented, undeniable, and very predictable occurrence, and as an Austin personal trainer for around 20 years, I’ve seen it
No More Workout Excuses Everyone tries to get out of things from time to time. Even if it’s an activity which they were at one time enthusiastic beyond belief about. There’s simply times when we don’t feel like doing something and it’s perfectly ok, for the most part, not to. Fitness and health is no
Gym Competition Some people, by nature, are competitive. These people often compete even when there are no competitions. How much money they earn compared to their peers, how nice of a car they drive compared to other people at the office, etc. This type of personality trait oftentimes transcends it’s way into the fitness world.
Are You Really Ready To Workout? The other day, a long time personal training client of mine said to me that his wife, whom I have known for many years, was interested in returning to the gym at some point. She was ready to workout he said, but had to get ready first. Naturally, I
Should You Be Considering Personal Training? As a longtime Austin personal trainer, I can surely tell you that there’s a lot of ways one can approach exercise. There’s a myriad of theories abounding in magazines and cyberspace from the educational and factually correct, to the misinformed and possibly injurious. Fads and theories come and go.
Free Weights VS Machines? Often times people have preconceived notions of the best way to do something, simply because they may have read it somewhere, or perhaps they heard it said at some point. With health, fitness, and all that encompasses that world, it’s absolutely no different. There are plenty of “trainers” in big box
Should I Do Weights Or Cardio First? I’ve been an Austin personal trainer for 20 years and a gym owner for just over 8. As a gym owner, I’ve seen an enormous amount of heart and effort from members, success stories, and exuberance. Unfortunately, I also have seen my fair share of fitness mistakes, fitness
