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
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,
What is Frozen Shoulder Syndrome? As an Austin personal trainer for over 20 years, I’ve worked with many conditions ranging from simple orthopedics, to gastrointestinal issues such as IBS, Crohns, and so on. I also have worked extensively with lesser prevalent conditions such as Ankylosing Spondylitis, which most people outside of the field have never
Suffering From Postural Imbalances? Whenever I have a potential client contact me about personal training, we will always meet for a consultation first. As long as I’ve been an Austin personal trainer, this has been my protocol, and that’s been for over 20 years now. The reason for the consultation is multi fold. It allows
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
Are You Performing Workout Cliches? There are things, no matter how long you work in a field, or study incessantly, that you will never be able to make sense of. One thing I have never understood during my 20 years as a personal trainer in Austin, with the exception of nutrition and supplementation, is why
Is Exercise Fun For You? A question I often field from potential clients or those just beginning their fitness journey has long been is exercise fun? This is the same as any other question in regards to personal training, or just plain working out on any level. It’s very individual. There’s no way for anyone
Shunning Negativity and Embracing the Power of Positive Thinking Within the realm of the fitness world, there is no shortage of advice. There are many hundreds, or even thousands of techniques which trump all the rest, according to their proponents anyway. There are many supplements that will turn you into a Greek God for only
Exercise Order: Know Which Exercises To Do First? One question I often get, is what exercise order should one do their exercises. That’s a very good question, but one that has an infinite number of answers. This matter, like any other fitness matter, exercise is a very personal thing and must be thought through and
Proper Gym Techniques For YOUR Body The other day, a young man came into my gym for his usual work out. He is not a man of enormous physical stature, or strength, but rather one with a slight build and a shy personality. In fact, he will barely make eye contact when you greet him as he
Do Trainers Need To Be Ripped Trainers? There’s a great many misconceptions and fitness myths circulating through the gym world. There’s a seemingly endless supply of misinformation regarding nutrition, techniques, body imaging, etc. A long time personal training client of mine, who is a physician, as well as a top level, nationally ranked, swimmer, told
Listening to Your Body Instead of Using Quotas As long as I’ve been an Austin personal trainer, I still scratch my head when I see how some people approach their workouts. I’m not talking about novices to fitness, but rather experienced lifters, and often times even professional athletes, including, of all things, bodybuilders! I’m not
How Does One Go About Getting Stronger? A very common goal amongst trainees is getting stronger. The client may want to become stronger at a certain lift, such as the bench press, for example, or perhaps they want to strengthen a certain region that has atrophied, or perhaps we need to strengthen an area that
Are You Wondering How Often Should I Workout? Lately, per request, I’ve been writing a lot of my blog entries in an effort to debunk a few of the widespread, and long lasting fitness myths. In one of my latest essays, I did the same with the myth of crunches will produce flat abs. One
Ready To Get Started? I’ve been an Austin personal trainer for 20 years now and I’ve had a lot of people come to my gym, the Austin Fitness Center, and tell me they were ready to make a life change and get started at finally lose the weight. They said that now was the time
Elementary School Wellness Day Was Awesome! Today was a fun day for me. My kid’s elementary school had what they called Wellness Day today and they had asked me to be a presenter as I’m a local gym owner and have been an Austin personal trainer for nearly 20 years. I’m a rather known quantity
There’s many reasons why one would hire a personal trainer. Expertise in nutrition, exercise, physical therapy, physiology, accountability, but motivation? Unfortunately, that’s one thing that will always fall short. That’s something that has to come from inside of you, the client. As a personal trainer in Austin for 19 years, I’ve worked with a vast
Stick With It and Don’t Give Up On Your Workout! As an Austin personal trainer for almost 20 years and as a longtime gym owner, I’ve certainly seen my share of people come and go. Most folks start off with the greatest of ambitions and a reinvigorated sense of purpose. All too often, however, these
Are You Wondering Exactly What Is Personal Training? What is personal training? To me, it’s just that. A personal trainer is not a hired friend, a therapist, etc. My job is to help you achieve your goals using a multifaceted approach that includes nutrition, exercise, and identifying and repairing weaknesses and imbalances, otherwise known as
Are You Lacking Motivation For The Gym? I’ve been an Austin personal trainer for 20 years now, and there are plenty of misconceptions and myths surrounding my profession. I’ve hear a great many of them over the years, in fact. Some stand out as ludicrous, such as the one time when I was asked to
Is Over Training Possible? As a 20 year veteran Austin personal trainer, you can be sure that I have seen my share of different people as well as different needs, in different scenarios, etc. I also have been asked a multitude of questions regarding nutrition, weight lifting, physical therapy, weight loss, and so on. Women
Ready To learn How To Squat Properly? There are many leg exercises one can do in order to strengthen, stretch, and add muscle to the legs. There’s an equally great number of machines and contraptions available to aid you in your mission of leg improvement. The squat, is not only a great movement, for those
Over the many years I’ve been a personal trainer in Austin, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked how do I get bigger arms? There are several ways to go about getting bigger biceps, but you have to remember a few things. Firstly, if your arm is to grow an inch, your
The Bench Press If you go to virtually any gym in the world, it’s almost an absolute guarantee that you will find a bench press. The bench press has been a staple of the fitness world since it’s inception, as well as a barometer of how accomplished a gym rat you truly are. After all,
The Many Benefits of the Bench Press As a longtime Austin personal trainer and gym owner, I can assure you, that in the fitness world, there are a handful of exercises that are considered benchmarks for strength, as well as essential to perform if you stand any chance at all of becoming bigger and stronger.
