Fat Loss for a Fee?
The Cost of Working Out

Some people wonder why they should pay a fee to hire a personal trainer when they could just workout themselves at a health club or in their home. Or, perhaps just follow the instructions from one of those fitness magazines.

Hearing this reminded me of a story/anecdote a plumber once told me.

He said, 'I can charge you $75 to come into your house for 10 minutes and bang on a few pipes. The reason you'll pay the money every time is because, unlike you, I know *WHERE* to bang the pipes.'

What a great point.

Whether you have access to a health club or countless fitness magazines, if you don’t know where or how to “bang the pipes” [on your body] it won’t get you the results you desire. However, a certified personal trainer can show you exactly where to bang your own pipes to get you in your best shape.

"It's not what you don't know that makes you ignorant;
it's what you do know that isn't so."

Here are a few things a personal trainer can do for you that you won’t know how to do – unless, you too, went through countless hours of exercise science education:

Fitness Assessment – this includes, but is not limited to, evaluating the following: fat percentage, muscular strength, cardiovascular heart rate recovery, joint/muscle range of motion, resisted range of motion, balance & coordination, and agility.

Program Design – after your fitness assessment a personal trainer can effectively design a routine for you that would take into consideration all the evaluation results. In addition, the program design also takes into account:
a. Your goals and whether they are realistic
b. Exercises with movement patterns that match your goals, i.e., training for a sport, daily life activity, or aesthetics.
c. The proper exercises to have you effectively reach those goals
d. The proper exercise sequence/order to do them
e. How often you’ll be working out (days per week)
f. Your recommended/suggested pre-post workout meal options
g. Lifestyle modifications necessary to achieve your goals

Workout session – now the trainer takes you through the actual workout to assure the following:
a. Proper warm-up specific to your goal (general or dynamic specific)
b. Correct form and body positioning for each exercise
c. Suggested speed of each repetition performed
d. Appropriate intensity for each exercise (weight for resistance exercises or speed/level if for cardio-conditioning)
e. Modification to an exercise if necessary
f. Keeping a steady workout pace (rest periods) specific to your goal
g. How many sets and repetitions specific to your goal
h. Motivation to continue with proper control and form when fatigued (mentally and/or physically)
i. Proper cool down methods

*You can also use this list to evaluate whether a trainer you are thinking of hiring cover these requirements - if not, look elsewhere.

So, you see there’s much to consider when working out effectively for muscle toning and fat loss. And, I didn’t even go into the psychological aspects of working out or what you should be doing outside of your workout sessions.

You can haphazardly go through the motions and hope that you’re “banging” the right pipes. Or, you can hire a certified personal trainer to assure you are doing things proper. The choice is yours.

Robert Garza, CPT, RTS

You Think Your Workouts are Tough?

When I was a boy whenever I was challenged with performing an athletic endeavor my older (and more athletic) brother would try and motivate me by relating it to somebody else who’s had a similar challenge and was able to overcome it.

Over the years you know what I found? No matter what the problem or issue in my life there’s always someone out there that’s had it as well; and often had it worse than me. Yet, they have dug down deep within themselves to overcome it. This, in turn, motivates me to overcome my challenges as well.

When I came across this video clip of a father and son triathlon team it touched me deeply. Talk about overcoming adversaries!

Dick and Rick Hoyt are a father-and-son team from Massachusetts who together compete just about continuously in marathon races. And if they're not in a marathon they are in a triathlon - that daunting, almost superhuman, combination of 26.2 miles of running, 112 miles of bicycling, and 2.4 miles of swimming. Together they have climbed mountains, and once trekked 3,735 miles across America.

It's a remarkable record of exertion - all the more so when you consider that Dick’s son, Rick, can't walk or talk.

For the past twenty five years or more Dick, who is 65, has pushed and pulled his son across the country and over hundreds of finish lines. When Dick runs, Rick is in a wheelchair that Dick is pushing. When Dick cycles, Rick is in the seat-pod from his wheelchair, attached to the front of the bike. When Dick swims, Rick is in a small but heavy, firmly stabilized boat being pulled by Dick.

So, the next time you find yourself complaining about having to complete one more mile in your run, or doing that 20 minutes left in your workout – remember this Dick and Rick Hoyt story and muster up your own inner strength to keep going the distance!

Robert Garza, CPT, RTS

Breaking the Barriers to Reach Your Goals
By Robert Garza, CPT, RTS

It’s a mathematical fact that, “The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.” This statement also holds true when moving toward your goals.

Anything that stands between You and Your Goal will create a bend in that line lengthening the distance to your goal.

Much of the time what separates you further from your goal are what I call self-induced barriers. These self-induced barriers can be in the form of any negative thoughts or doubts that enter you mind which hold you back. They turn into your story, excuses, or conversations of why you aren’t attaining your goals.

You → [your self-induced barriers] → Your Goal

Once you break through your self-induced barriers you can then move quicker to your goal. But first, you must recognize what those barriers are and then how to break past them. It’s all in your thought process that will slow you down from reaching your goal.

Here is a common self-induced barrier I hear: “But, I have no self- control.”

Are you kidding me! You have plenty of self-control. For example, if you eat junk food and not exercise you are demonstrating great self-control at eating junk and not exercising.

Therefore, you have successfully developed the habit of having self-control of not doing the things you’re supposed to do in order to get into great shape. Now, all you need to do is channel your self-control into working for you and not against you. Here’s a tip: consistency creates a habit.

Your body craves consistency! If you consistently lounge around, sit in front of the television, and stuff your face with unhealthy snacks or foods you will develop the habit of doing those things over time. Begin to workout and eat healthier foods and over time you will develop a fit & healthy habit.

Believe it or not, once you get past the first few weeks of exercising regularly you will actually miss working out if for some reason you were to skip it on a scheduled day! Your body will begin to crave the consistency of exercise which means you are now developing the habit of working out. Start working out three days per week at the same time of day and your body will develop consistency. Before you know it you’ll have self-control to continue exercising and also the self-control to not blow it off.

Here’s an action task to help identify some of your barriers.

Write down your name on the left side of a blank sheet of paper. On the other side of the paper write down the goal you wish to attain. Then, in between them is where you fill in any barriers that are preventing or delaying you from getting to that goal. This can be any negative thing that you feel slows you down or prevents you from reaching that goal quickly. It can be your fear, doubt, or simply questioning your ability.

[Name here] → [self-induced barriers here] → [Goal here]

Using this simple tool, you will be able to begin to understand your own personal barriers that are standing in your way. Now, you can take action towards subtracting out each of those barriers so you can reach your goals faster.

Remember that you are the CEO of the most incredible organization on this planet – your own human body.

For the complete and longer version of this article go to my website, www.mybeyondfitness.com and sign into the member’s section – it’s free!

The “Secret” is about Taking Action!

There is so much information out there about “how to” accomplish and get anything you want or desire in your life.

The increasingly popular system of The Secret (although, the secret is now out) that was featured on Oprah and Larry King, is about getting all that you seek; wealth, health, relationships, or whatever else you desire by first thinking and believing in it in a positive and consistently way. However, many people overlook the next important step. That step is in order to have it manifest in your life you have to follow it up with action.

Whether it is to take action, or act in a certain way that successful people do, you must follow your thoughts with ACTION.

Like with your health and fitness it doesn’t matter how many books you read, blogs you read, videos you watch, CD’s you listen to, or people you talk to – if you don’t take any physical action to follow it up you’ll remain out of shape!

I can give my clients all the information about how to lose fat, gain muscle, perform better, look better, be healthier, etc., but unless I am there with them (like in an actual training session) I cannot be sure they’ll do what needs to get done to reach those goals. I don’t know if they’ll take action.

However, what I can do is to think (thought) and then create (take action) a system that can help my clients to take action by way of accountability.

This is how I run my personal training business FPC/Beyond Fitness. For example, when you set an appointment to be trained by me or one of my trainers you’re held accountable to show up for that session. Then, in your workout session you take action as we guide you through the exercises that need to be done to reach your health and fitness goals.

So, how do I help you to continue doing what needs to get done on your hours and days you are not with a trainer? Again, the secret is in our Plan of Action process that holds you accountable in which to follow through with consistent action.

When you hire one of our professional trainers at FPC/Beyond Fitness your trainer/coach will design a “plan of action” program for you to follow for which you will be held accountable to follow.

This program doesn’t just cover what you’ll be doing in your workout session, but also includes your best action approach when you are outside of your workout sessions. This may include nutritional information, supplementation, in-home workouts, recommendations on where to eat outside of the home, and/or strategies on attaining the correct mindset. You are then held accountable to follow this program for maximum results.

What if you fail to do your part, or God-forbid, embellish on what you say you actually did outside the sessions? Well, then you are subject to the laws of Cause and Effect (the effect you receive is a direct result of the cause you did - or did not do). This is also known as the law of Action & Reaction where there is an equal and opposite reaction to your action (Remember, Newton’s 3^rd Law of Motion?).

This falls into the category of Laws of Attraction where what comes to you is a direct result of what you think or do. Or, in this case, don’t do because of your negative thoughts or inactions.

Besides, I don’t believe many of you would lie about what you are or are not doing. I believe you would all “Honor Your Self Promises” as it would only give you negative effects when you really desire for the positive effect.

Here is how the Plan of Action program works.

1. You hire a FPC/Beyond Fitness professional personal trainer and commit to at least 10 training sessions.
2. You meet with your trainer/coach to assess and evaluate your current workouts and lifestyle outside of the training sessions (one-hour).
3. Your coach designs your workout program and you sign a self-honoring contract to hold yourself accountable for following our recommendations.
4. We take you through 10 sessions of workouts that progress your intensity each time. These workouts will burn calories, strengthen muscles and joints, improve you balance, and develop a strong core that will have you peforming better in life and/or sport.
5. Feedback or program modifications are provided via email, phone and/or meetings during pre-set days and times as necessary. For example, a once-weekly contact via email, or a face-to-face meeting.

*Your initial consultation covers an evaluation of your current workout program, lifestyle assessment, and program design that may include recommendations on nutritional information or supplementation, workouts you do at home, recommendations on where to eat outside of the home, strategies on attaining the correct mindset, or based on our completed evaluation, affiliate resources such as a MAT session to correct muscular imbalances or weakness.

People pay for cures much more readily than they will pay for prevention.

Have you noticed that people don’t like to pay for prevention? However, those same people will pay just about anything for a cure.

As a personal trainer I hear this when it comes to people’s fitness and wellness. I don’t get a prospective client come to me stating, “I’m here because I want to keep from getting fat.” They come to me after the fact and are now willing to pay anything for the cure to being overfat – and for the host of other ailments that come along with being overfat.

My advice to you is to develop a fitness prevention plan. Meeting with a professional personal trainer is a good start. A qualified personal trainer will help you develop that game plan for prevention (or for fitness as a cure if you’re already overfat or have physical weakness or imbalances).

The trainer will start out with a consultation which may include a health history questionnaire and a physical evaluation to see what your current fitness level is. Your trainer then can help you with a plan of action to either prevent physical ailments or overcome the ones you may have accrued now.

Remember, a failure to plan is a plan for failure.

For more great fitness advice visit my website at www.mybeyondfitness.com.

300 - Spartan Workout

See how a Spartan Warrior trains!

Want your own personalized 300 workout routine?

Having been featured in Men's Health and on ESPN everyone's been looking for the 300 workout on the Internet. Many fitness specialists are even getting in on the hype by using modified versions with their clients workouts. The reason trainers are using modified versions is that most of us mere mortals wouldn’t be able to handle this type of workout without a few weeks (or months) of physical preparation first.

I made a modified or mini-version of the workout for the average Joe and Jane - see further below.

But first, here's how the original 300 Workout goes...but don't try this at home...you’ll need to work up to this type of intensity.

a) Pull-ups - 25 reps
b) Deadlifts with 135lbs - 50 reps
c) Push-ups - 50 reps
d) 24-inch Box jumps - 50 reps
e) Floor wipers - 50 reps
f) 1-arm Clean & Press with a 36lbs Kettlebell - 50 reps
g) Pull-ups - 25 reps

And remember, there is NO scheduled rest between exercises.

The Truth about the 300 Workout

Now, the premise of the workout is to complete 300 repetitions split up over 7 or so different exercises. But, after actually watching the 300 Spartan workout clip and related interview with Mark Twight, the trainer responsible for the 300 workout, the training program it not what most people think. The first misconception is that the actors had to train like bodybuilders to attain their muscle.

According to Mark, their goal was to mold these actors into looking and performing like a Spartan warrior. That is, "A functional physique that can perform and fight, is devoid of fat, and a metabolism that strips fat from your body." To do this you develop a workout routine that is more functional and athletic, as opposed to a bodybuilding type workout that just builds looks.

From Mark Twight:
"The second misconception surrounds the idea of the Spartan workout, aka “300” [or the 300 workout], how frequently it was done or who actually finished it. “300” is a one-time test, an invitation-only challenge undertaken by those deemed ready for it. By the end of our four-month project 17 people had done the workout (Logan and I were two of them). This constitutes about 50% of the cast and stunt crew. We supervised every test, evaluated each rep for quality and only counted those that achieved our standards for form and range of motion. Like many workouts “300” is not hard once you’ve done it but the apprehension built up ahead of it – something we encouraged – was enough to make some guys fear it to the degree that performance was compromised. This workout was a crucible that some passed through and others still have hanging over them."


So, the 300 repetition workout was really a post-program test and wasn’t the actual training regimen that the actors went through to get into such incredible shape. Nor did they do specifically 300 reps in any given workout. The actual workouts progressed the actors over four -months time to be able to do the 300 post-program test.

So, what about a 300 workout for you?

Fortunately, a 300 repetition workout can easily be modified to adjust for various levels of ability. Appropriate exercises can be subbed in, and we can drop the number of reps down to 100, 150, or 200 - still making for a total body challenge.

For example, you might do this 200-repetition workout - this is great for a man with moderate fitness (note that a qualified personal trainer can design one specific to your abilities):

5 Chin-ups
20 Bodyweight squats
20 Push-ups
100 Jumping Jacks
30 Stability ball crunches
10 Triceps push-ups
15 Bodyweight rows

Optionally, you could do 100 reps of rope jumping or shadow boxing punches to finish off 300 total reps.

An intermediate woman could do a 150 rep workout:

5 Bodyweight Rows
10 Bodyweight wide stance squats
15 Bodyweight squats
15 Pushups (doing as many regular pushups, followed by kneeling)
50 Jumping jacks
10 Triceps bench dips

20 Reverse lunges
25 Bicycle crunches

Add in 50 rope skips for 200 total repetitions - or 150 skips for a full 300.

You can create your own version of the 300 workout and build your own Greek God or Greek Goddess body. However, I highly recommend you work with a trainer to come up with a safe and effective routine specific to your abilities. You also need a program that will help progress you to handling such a workout.

For your various fat burning and functional workouts call us at FPC/Beyond Fitness studio (847-562-4386, ext. 25) and we’ll give you a free consultation and workout session. Our workouts are strategically designed to boost your metabolism, burn fat, and maximize your fitness so that you'll be ready for your very own "300" test day.

Robert Garza, ACE, CPT, RTS