Month: January 2020
Losing weight the hard way
As you might already know, in addition to being a personal trainer with a studio on Main Street in Boonton I’m also a motivational speaker and modern-day performing strongman. Basically, I perform feats of strength as part of a live show similar in nature to what you might have seen a hundred years ago in Vaudeville. I couple this with a motivational speech to help illustrate my speaking points.
Well anyway, a couple of years ago one of the professors at Montclair State University had asked if I would be willing to present for her class. So I came to present and that is actually where these pictures were taken.
So the professor and I had gotten to talking and I had given her a copy of my book. She was either in the final stages of publishing her book or had already published it…I can’t remember which to be honest.
The book is called Diary of a Fat Girl, losing 140lbs the hard way and is a free kindle download.
I downloaded it, and read a bunch of it and found it valuable because it gives me insight into the struggles of the very same people I’m trying to help. Actually I would think all personal trainers who help people to lose weight would gain benefit from reading it.
In the book she basically shares her thoughts and experiences following weight loss surgery. The opening introduction she says she’s not recommending for or against it, just sharing her experience.
Having read it, I’d like to take a moment to recommend against it, unless it is your absolute last resort. Yes it will help but I think a lot of people think of weight loss surgery as being a magic pill.
It’s not. There are no magic pills.
As a general rule if you can avoid going under the knife you should. You can never be “uncut” after all, and having read her struggles, though she lost a lot of weight, it was no picnic.
And I don’t think doctors should recommend it as a first course, for one because they only have a 33% success rate. That’s not very high considering everything you have to go through.
Second, healthy nutrition and proper exercise have produced more success stories in terms of losing weight than any other way of doing it. And in addition to losing weight, you’ll feel stronger, you’ll be able to move better and all the things that come with doing it the good ole fashioned way.
So you go and type in “best workouts for weight loss” or something to that effect and a ton of results come up. You feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choices (the paradox of choice), and in doing so you end up possibly even more frustrated than when you started.
So what do you do? Something. Just pick one thing and try it out and see how you do.
But better than that would be to find a system that systematically produces the results you are looking for with people that are like you. Even better if you can find a coach that can guide you, provide feedback, and give you support along the way. A good coach/personal trainer should be able to prevent you from having that lost and alone feeling.
Losing weight isn’t easy. There are going to be times when you are like “ugh I don’t really want to do this.” Just hang in there because I promise it’ll be worth it when you look at the new you in the mirror.
It’s not the new you though, it’s the real you, unblocked, uncovered and ready to rock.
Eric Moss is a world-record-holding professional performing strongman, author, motivational speaker, and personal trainer. In the tradition of the strongmen during the turn of the century, he performs feats of strength such as bending steel and breaking chains as part of a show and speaks on goal achievement for corporations, nonprofits, government as well as for schools and universities. His exclusive personal training studio is located on Main Street in Boonton New Jersey, is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, and Parsippany New Jersey.
Is your training effective?
One of my personal training clients who just started the technique week of the Amazing 12 Body Transformation program sent this to me as a joke about a week ago.
No this isn’t him.
In fact, so he’s lost 50lbs training with me prior to starting the Amazing 12 program and has gained a bunch of all-purpose strength.
This is actually representative of the way most people are. You see gaining body fat doesn’t normally happen all at once, but more a bit and a bit over time. But when they gain a bit of weight, only sometimes do they actually make a clear and committed decision to do something about it.
Time goes by and nothing really changes except you get a little bit older.
Others actually decide to do something about it, they get themselves a membership to a local gym but don’t really know what to do in there so they either never come back…or they just go on a treadmill or something.
What would probably suit them best would be to follow a system of training that produces results or even better hire an effective personal trainer with a successful track record.
This way, the time you spend in the gym won’t be wasted because the time spent aligns with your goals. When searching out a system, you should find something that systematically produces results for people that are like you.
Even better if you can find a personal trainer certified in a system that produces results, this way you can make sure you do it the right way, the first time.
Currently, I won’t be accepting anyone else for the Amazing 12 Body Transformation program but I may open more slots in a few weeks.
However, I do have a standing one week trial membership of my regular programs (and yes they are effective). If you are interested in this, send me a text at 973 476 5328. You can call too but texting is generally easier (I have 2 young kids).
Eric Moss is a world-record-holding professional performing strongman, author, motivational speaker, and personal trainer. In the tradition of the strongmen during the turn of the century, he performs feats of strength such as bending steel and breaking chains as part of a show and speaks on goal achievement for corporations, nonprofits, government as well as for schools and universities. His exclusive personal training studio is located on Main Street in Boonton New Jersey, is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, and Parsippany New Jersey.
strength training for women…ugh, please stop the misinformation!!!
So earlier today I was perusing my Facebook feed. I really should cut down on it but in this case I was glad I did.
I came across a post from Girls Gone Strong that had this picture
in which case my reaction looked a bit like this
Is it any wonder that people are confused? The amount of misinformation out there is astounding and is especially annoying when it comes from “celebrity personal trainers”.
Most of the time the ones that train the stars simply got lucky by being in the right place at the right time. And I say lucky because having celebrity clients you can charge a premium, and they will pay even though many times the advice they give isn’t worth the paper it’s on.
So here’s the deal. Your grip width isn’t going to change the way your body looks. The only thing it’s going to really do is create more strength specific to the joint angle and some degrees outside that.
Your body’s shape, the way the muscles and stuff look isn’t really influenced by things like that. Muscles contract along the entire length of the muscle fiber. Wide grip pull-ups won’t make your back any wider than standard pull-ups assuming the tension placed on the lat is the same.
Also bulking up for women is A LOT more difficult than most people think. For a variety of reasons, it’s harder for women to put on muscle than it is for men. So don’t worry about it.
And even then, putting on a bit of muscle is a good thing. Women that come to me for personal training that want to avoid muscle sometimes show me an example of what they want to look like. Their ideal actually has more muscle than they originally realized.
And when they put on a bit of muscle and get stronger, they love it and all without transforming into a man because they held something a bit wider.
Anyway, if you are sick of the misinformation and want to get strong, lean, fit, healthy and awesome. Give me a holler.
I have a trial membership so you can see if you like it first.
Eric Moss is a world-record-holding professional performing strongman, author, motivational speaker, and personal trainer. In the tradition of the strongmen during the turn of the century, he performs feats of strength such as bending steel and breaking chains as part of a show and speaks on goal achievement for corporations, nonprofits, government as well as for schools and universities. His exclusive personal training studio is located on Main Street in Boonton New Jersey, is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, and Parsippany New Jersey.