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
Alleviating Shoulder Pain Alleviating shoulder pain is a potentially very simple process, or the reality may be in your particular case, a very complex ordeal. Like everything else, it’s not just a matter of what is ailing you, but also factors such as your physical condition and medical history come into play as well. The
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
Adapting and Improvising Your Workouts The ability to improvise and adapt is one of the strongest traits associated with humans. It doesn’t come intuitively to all, but generally speaking, we as humans, seem to have this ability down to a science, so to speak. Improvising your workouts can be a way to get a breath
Asking Can I Lose Weight Without Dieting? Every day, people decide they want to get in better shape. Maybe they have an aesthetic goal. Perhaps it’s just a matter of dropping a set number of pounds they are interested in doing. Other times in rehabilitative. There’s plenty of reasons and motivations, and as an Austin
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
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
Want to Know How to Gain Weight? When you’ve been an Austin personal trainer for over 20 years and a gym owner for nearly a decade, you tend to get a lot of fitness questions thrown your way. The most common is how to lose weight. People see all of the fad diets and approaches.
Want to Know How to Build Muscle Fast? How to build muscle fast is a question I’ve heard from many men, and a handful of women, during my 20 plus years as an Austin personal trainer, and gym owner. There’s ways you can expedite the process, just like any process, but nothing comes overnight. Even
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
Are You Wondering What is the Best Way to Lose Weight? When you’ve been a personal trainer in Austin for over 20 years, it goes without saying that you get asked a lot of health and fitness questions. People want to know what the quickest way to accomplish their health and fitness goals are. They
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
Don’t be that Stereotypical Personal Trainer. This is How to Become a REAL Personal Trainer As promised last week, this week’s blog is about how to become a personal trainer. One of the best things about my job as a personal trainer in Austin, is when I work with truly motivated people. These are the
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,
Is Obesity Really Genetic? Is obesity the result of a lack of will power? Most people in America seem to think so despite the studies showing genetic predispositions may play a bigger role than one’s choices. Obesity and genetics is something that has a multidimensional effect on not just those who suffer from it, but
Question of the Week: Rich Piana: What is my Opinion of him? As a personal trainer in Austin for over 21 years, I have had a lot of people ask me over the years if I know certain people. Sometimes they are inquiring if I work with a celebrity they are especially fond of. Other
When Losing Fat, Where Does it Go? I’ve always not only welcomed questions on this blog, but encouraged them as well. As long as I’ve been a personal trainer in Austin, I’ve been asked an incredible variety of fitness questions over the years, but the one I got yesterday from my 7 year old daughter
How to go About Finding a Gym Recently, a long standing Austin personal training client of mine, whom I also call a good friend, moved out of town to Arizona so he and his wife could be closer to their kids. Good for them, bad for me, as I truly enjoyed his company both professionally,
Does Weight Lifting Produce Bulky Women? One of the main objectives of this blog, has been to educate people about health and fitness by drawing upon my experience of 21 years as a personal trainer in Austin, as well as a gym owner here for nearly a decade. I have written many posts and essays
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
