Needing Workout Motivation? As I’ve noted many times in my blogs as well as essays, I get asked a lot of questions in the gym, or even amongst friends and acquaintances outside of the gym. Naturally, some are better than others, such as do you think my particular case of Ankylosing Spondylitis is something that
The Best Cardio Machine For You As a gym owner for over 11 years now and having been an Austin personal trainer for well over 20, I get a lot of “what is the best..” then fill in the blank questions. People will often ask which is the best type of protein, the best cardio
Getting Rid Of Muscle Soreness Isn’t So Simple One of the most commonly asked questions of me as a longtime personal trainer in Austin, is regarding getting rid of muscle soreness. Muscle soreness following a workout is otherwise known as delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS, for short. When we use our muscles strenuously or
Will Yoga Make Me Stronger You Ask? Every time someone decides that they want to get in better shape, for whatever reason, be it for a sport, for weight loss, for strength, bone density, etc, the one thing about fitness that makes it unique, is that you have many options. Back many years ago, that
What Are The Best Tricep Exercises? As one can imagine, if you have owned a gym for 11 years, and been a personal trainer in Austin for over 20, you’re going to be asked about what the best exercise for this or that is many, many times. Another thing you can take to the bank,
Are You Asking Yourself How Do I Firm Up The Back Of My Arms? As a personal trainer in Austin for over 2 decades, as well as a gym owner for over one, I hear a lot from women that they want to lose weight, make the caboose a little on the smaller side, etc.
Isolating Muscles In A Workout: Can It Be Done? This morning a young man signed up at my gym and proceeded to do every one of his lifts incorrectly. He is the type of guy who spends a lot of time admiring himself in the gym’s mirrors and prides himself on the amount of weight
Which Is More Beneficial? Group Fitness Classes VS Personal Training? Any time we decide to step out of our comfort zone and embrace something, or at least give it a shot, we may be able to reference our friend’s recommendations, a magazine article, or whatever the almighty Google has decided is in our best interests.
Which Is Better For Pectoral Development? Flat Bench VS Incline Bench Press? Of all of the great debates in the health and fitness world, and there are many, few are easier to settle than flat bench vs incline bench press when it comes to which is more important for pectoral development. As a personal trainer
The Best Bicep Exercises One thing that shines through in all of the over 2 decades that I’ve been an Austin personal trainer and gym owner, is that men want bigger arms. You always ask potential clients in their free consultation what it is they are looking to do health and fitness wise. Without a
Should I Run? Should I run is a question I have fielded from any number of gym members and personal training clients over my many years as an Austin personal trainer and gym owner. It is widely held that running is the purest and most effective form of cardiovascular exercise as it pertains to weight
Plantar Fasciitis: How to treat it As a personal trainer in Austin, TX for over 2 decades, you can rest assured that I have seen a lot of different clients with many different ailments, imbalances, and conditions. One of the most common that I’ve dealt with over the years is a what’s known as plantar
Asking Yourself Why Am I Fat? I had a rather amusing email land in my inbox the other day. It was from a young lady whom I have never met and she simply asked, why am I fat? Granted, I make myself readily available on such websites as quora, etc, and it’s not too hard
10,000 Steps Is A Long Way To Walk Over my many years as an Austin personal trainer, I’ve written of the many fitness fads and trends that become the next great sensation. Everything from pole dancing classes, to CrossFit, and seemingly everything else in between that has ever been a blip on the fitness radar
The Best Way To Stretch Everyone, and I mean everyone, has some sort of imbalance or tightness in their body. It could be anything from a tight hip flexor, a knee that’s not tracking properly because of a tight quadricep muscle, a tight levator scapulae, and so on, but there’s going to be something. As
What Is The Difference Between Leg Press And Squats? As a 20 plus year veteran Austin personal trainer and gym owner, one question I hear asked of me a lot at the gym is, what is the difference between leg press and squats? There’s a lot of different machines in the gym. Some machines are
As A Parent, Are You Wondering Should Kids Lift Weights? An interesting question was sent to me this morning from a lady in California. She explained she has a son who is undersized, according to the growth charts in her doctor’s office, and she wanted to help him get bigger by sending him to the
Try Swimming For Weight Loss! A lot of people think they know the best exercise for weight loss, but I’m a little skeptical. The reason for my skepticism, is that I see an awful lot of heavy folks jogging in the hot sun in their attempt to lose weight. While jogging is certainly a reasonable
What Are Some Good Exercises For Low Back Pain? As a longtime Austin personal trainer and gym owner, I’m asked many fitness questions routinely, but I’m also asked a lot of physical therapy questions, as that is something that has become a niche for my training company over the years. One such question that is
Walking vs Running For Weight Loss: Which Is More Effective? As long as there have been gyms, there have been fitness debates. These debates have taken place in many social circles such as within the scientific community, the gym rat community, the “bro science” community, and of course, if the walls could talk, they’d echo
Wondering What is the Most Effective Way to Lose Weight? Most of the questions I field as a longtime personal trainer in Austin, TX, are well thought out questions from people who often times, have little experience in the weightlifting and/or exercise world. I’m always happy to answer their questions, provided I’m not in the
Which Stretches Are The Best Stretches? The other day my wife and I were at a friend’s dinner party relaxing and enjoying catching up with old friends, when a lady I’d just met asked me the generic question of what are the best stretches? One thing that I have accepted about my chosen profession is
Wondering How To Get Big? It goes without saying that men and women are very different. We have any number of differences universally, and that almost always includes how we approach the gym. As an Austin personal trainer for over 20 years, I can assure you that 99.9% of the time the reason men are
Wondering How To Get A Flat Stomach? When you’ve been an Austin personal trainer as long as I have, you certainly get to meet a wide variety of people from many different backgrounds and with an equally wide variety of goals. A lot of men want to become physically larger with big muscles, usually pectorals
What Are Some Exercises I Can Do At Home? As an Austin personal trainer for over 20 years, and a gym owner for almost a decade, I’ve learned a thing or 2 about what people are looking for when it comes to their workouts. I’m also rather well versed in what people expect from a
Workouts: There’s No 1 Size Fits All Workout One thing I’m frequently asked for as an Austin personal trainer by clients, as well as prospective clients, is for a workout plan. Workouts and workout plans can be found virtually any and everywhere. You don’t need to hire a personal trainer to hand you a random
In all of the many years I’ve been a personal trainer in South Austin, as well as a gym owner, one of the most persistent questions asked of me is how do I lose belly fat? People ask everything from how can I get a skinnier face, to how can I increase my bench press,
Wondering What The Best Shoulder Pain Exercises Are? As a longtime Austin personal trainer, one of the more common questions I tend to get is about shoulder pain. It’s a very common affliction in the health and fitness world, as well as in greater society as well. It doesn’t take much to injure the shoulder
Are You Asking Yourself How Often Should I Change Up My Workouts? One of the better questions that I have gotten in a long time came this morning for a middle aged man who has been working out at my gym for a few months now. He asked me how often should I change up
I’ve spent a lot of hours writing on this site, per request, answering to the best of my professional abilities about what the best whatever it was I was asked about. People are always wanting to know what the best form of cardio is, whether they have any real intentions of doing it, or not.
Are You Warming Up Before Working Out? Before you do any kind of physical exercise, be it cardiovascular, or the anaerobic variety, it is very important to warm up. Warming up is essential if you want to maximize the benefits of your workouts, as you’ll be loosened up, and ready to go, both physically, as
Which Activity Is The Best Cardio Workout? We’ve been trying to unearth the best of the best in some of the previous few blog entries. I have answered questions about the best leg exercises, best stretches, and so on. This time, I’ll attempt to answer the question of what is the best cardio workout. When
Do You Want To Know How To Get Rid Of Flabby Arms? As we get older, our body changes. Some things we don’t notice so much, such as higher blood sugar levels,for example, but other things we certainly do take notice of. They could be the graying of the hair, the formation of age spots
Searching For The Best Leg Exercises? What’s the best leg exercise I was asked the other day by a middle aged gentleman who was looking to pack a little more size onto his lower body. I could only reply, since we had just met, that the best leg exercises are the ones that are going
Are You Asking What Is The Best Exercise To Lose Weight? What is the best exercise to lose weight a young lady with PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) asked me this afternoon at my gym. She, like others with illness and/or hormonal issues, are in a different boat entirely from those without such afflictions, but the
Wondering How To Get Bigger Arms? As I’ve written many times before, most everything in the health and fitness world is individual. Very few puzzles are going to be solved, or theories held true with generalizations and sweeping statements. There is a conspicuous exception to this, however. I’ve been a personal trainer in Austin for
Setting Fitness Goals Common sense dictates that it’s far easier to establish a personal goal than to achieve one, unless of course, your goal is simply to set a goal. The realization and acceptance of the fact that you need to make a change, is perhaps the most vital and courageous step of the transformation
What Is The Difference Between Abs And Core Muscles? As I have mentioned several times in my blogs, over the course of 22 years as a personal trainer in Austin, I get asked a lot of questions related to fitness and health. Some of it is trivial stuff, some of it is simply asking how
What Are The Best Hip Stretches? What are the best hip stretches? It depends whom you ask. It also depends even more who is asking me that question. The best anything isn’t a popularity contest, but it should be what is the best for you and your situation. It’s like asking me what is the
What Are The Best Ab Exercises? Everybody is always asking what are the best exercises for this muscle, and what are the best ones for that muscle? I’ve been an Austin personal trainer for over 22 years now, and if someone posed the question of what are the best chest exercises, I could easily pull
Wondering How To Get A Tight Butt? When you’ve been a personal trainer in Austin, or virtually anywhere, as long as I have, you tend to get a lot of questions from gym goers, clients, and just people you meet. They usually want your advice on how they can improve one or more aspects of
How To Chose The Best Core Exercises In my previous blog entry, I made mention of how a lot of people ask me what the best exercises for this and that are and so last week I answered the question of what are the best chest exercises. This week, I want to make it a
The Best Chest Exercises Whenever we begin an undertaking, such as fitness for example, we categorically want to know what the best exercises are. What are the best exercises for a toned butt is one I hear a lot from the ladies. The men seem to be much more interested in arms and chest development,
CrossFit: Is It A Great Workout Or Potentially Dangerous? Curiously to some, I’ve never until now written an essay, or even a blog post about CrossFit. There really was no specific reason for that, other than as an Austin personal trainer for 22 years, as well as a being a gym owner for a long
Do Crunches Produce Flat Abs? To say that there are a plethora of myths and falsities strewn across the fitness landscape would certainly be an understatement. On this website, particularly in some of the blog entries, I’ve debunked several such myths. I always enjoy hearing them, as some are quite amusing, but simultaneously, I feel
What Are The Best Arm Exercises? When you’ve been a personal trainer in Austin for more than 20 years, and a gym owner for nearly a decade, you get a lot of questions. I always welcome them as I enjoy helping people get healthier and stronger. That’s why I chose this profession and enjoy it
Wondering What Are The Best Ab Exercises? It usually goes a little something like this. “Hey Andy, what is the fastest way for me to put on some muscle”? “Hey Andy, what are the best ab exercises”? The swiftly running stream of what are the best…insert your fitness goal here, never runs dry. One of
Another 10 Fitness Questions Answered! Every so often, I like to post a different type of blog here. One with 10 fitness questions answered, as opposed to a longer blog, or essay, which focuses solely on one topic. Fitness questions abound, as does bad information. Hopefully this can clarify some of the common, as well
What Are Functional Training Exercises? What are the best functional training exercises? It depends upon what your specific needs are. It also depends upon your physical condition, your medical history, how much time and/or money for a personal trainer, if applicable, you are willing to spend. Functional training could be anything from an NFL linebacker
Alleviating Knee Pain For A Better Quality Of Life One question I get on a fairly regular basis as a longtime Austin personal trainer and gym owner is how to go about alleviating knee pain. The truth is that it can be something as simple as performing a basic quadricep stretch, or it can be
Asking How Can I Lose Weight? Sometimes the questions I get from people at my gym, or via e mail, are very simple sounding and straight forward, but if you scratch the surface a little, you realize that there’s much more going on than one would initially summarize. Since I became a personal trainer in
Interested In Some Circuit Training Exercises? There are many ways one can approach a weight training regimen. You can work towards getting stronger, and bigger, or you can work towards getting leaner. You can work to become more stable, you can work to become more explosive, and so on. Within all of the possibilities also
Wondering Where To Find Workout Routines? A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an essay about workout routines here on my website. I explained how I don’t write them for people. Even those who have trained with me for years will not get a prescribed workout routine from me. Why? Because they are useless except
What Are The Best Glute Exercises? One question I asked all the time as a longtime gym owner and Austin personal trainer, is what are some of the best exercises a person can do. Guys usually want to know what the best arm or chest exercises are, and women tend to want to firm up
Are You Wondering How To Build Bigger Calves? One of the age old dilemmas of some people working out in the gyms across the world is how to build bigger calves. There are many machines from the donkey press, to both seated, and standing calf raise machines, all the way down to body weight exercises
Is spot reduction possible? In any given field, there will be facts, theories, misconceptions, as well as some long standing mythology. The health and fitness world is no exception to this. There are a plethora of fitness myths that are very commonly believed to be true. Some, naturally, are more pervasive than others. There is
Want to Know How to Lose Weight Fast? Everywhere you look, people want instant gratification. Not that it’s a bad thing necessarily, but our society has made a premium of focusing on how fast things are achieved, how quickly websites load, how fast our cars and motorcycles go, how fast our smartphones are, and so
Do You Know What to Look for in a Personal Trainer? When you have decided it is time to get in better shape, work past an old injury or imbalance, or train for a specific sporting event, you might consider hiring a qualified personal trainer. Gyms all over the world are filled with personal trainers,
