So recently one of my personal training clients had come back to training with me. The main reason she stopped in the first place was she had moved to another town, taking her farther away from my personal training studio in Boonton. Generally speaking, people won’t travel further than about 8 miles to work out with someone, but I guess I’m worth the trip.

When she asked if she could come back, I replied “Of course!” And that’s when I got the rundown of what brought her back.

First it was the fun and relaxed vibe I have in my personal training studio. You see, I think there is a misconception about my training methods, and it’s not a bad assumption. Inside the studio it looks like a dungeon, with steel bars I bent during shows decorating the crown, the main colors in the gym are shades of grey. In the window, alongside amazing body transformation pics there are rolled up frying pans, and chains made out of nails I had bent in my hands.

If I were a passerby, I might assume that the trainer there was super intense, but then once you meet me you realize, I’m laid back, like to joke around, am a dad of daughters and I love animals. The clients I have are all good people, professionals in their careers and all support each other (helping my daughter surpass her girl scout cookie goal) and everyone surpasses what they previously thought themselves capable of. That vibe is part of the reason she came back. But it’s more than that.

She remembered what she had achieved training with me and remembered what I taught her. But it’s different when you are doing it on your own vs having a place to go where that’s what you do when you’re there with someone guiding you to make sure you’re doing it right. So she started working out with a personal trainer that was closer to where she lived, but once you know what’s possible for yourself, it’s hard to go back.

Now with me, I start off with the understanding that each of us has the capacity to lift a car off of a human but it’s blocked with all sorts of internal mechanisms that are there to keep us safe, but at the same time are overly conservative. And what I do, is program in such a fashion that teaches your body that it’s in fact safe. I remove the rate limiting factor by optimal design which helps people get the body they want, faster and more sustainably.

Unfortunately, a lot of what limits people are often times self imposed, or from being misguided. As an example, the other personal trainer told her that women shouldn’t lift heavy (something I’ve talked about before but wait for it). She said not to lift heavy because it’s bad for the ovaries and could damage her chances of having children. Smh.

I’ll admit, that’s a new one for me, and I’ve been training people since 03. There have been all sorts of misconceptions of weight training over the years from things like it’s only for vain people or that it will make you slow/ muscle bound, or that weight training is dangerous or only for men or young people to even making you gay. For the record, all the gay people I train were gay before training with me.

Those limiting beliefs stop people from getting the healthy strong body they deserve. I don’t normally ask questions in these articles but “What have you heard that might stop you from weight training?”

The benefits are well known, but perhaps you just don’t really know what to do. If that’s the case, I offer a free trial at my personal training studio. Just text me at 973 476 5328 and introduce yourself to get started.

Eric Moss is a personal trainer in Boonton and moonlights as a world-record-holding modern-day professional performing strongman, author, and motivational speaker. In the tradition of the strength performers more common during the turn of the century, he performs feats of strength such as bending steel and breaking chains as part of a live show and travels across the country doing presentations on goal achievement for conferences, corporations, associations, nonprofits, and government entities as well as for schools and universities. His personal training studio is located on Main Street in Boonton New Jersey and is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, Montville, Kinnelon, Pine Brook, Butler, and Parsippany New Jersey.

Last night at my personal training studio, I was talking with one of my clients about new years resolutions. She had told me that she was reading an article that had mentioned that a lot of experts are recommending against having new years resolutions because they were ineffective and in doing so damages people’s confidence. This happens whenever you break a promise to yourself.

Consequently you can achieve the opposite by keeping promises to yourself.

It’s actually one of the reasons I call weight training “iron therapy”. Nothing builds confidence quite like a pile of concrete evidence proving you can do hard things. In punk rock legend Henry Rollins essays on weight training he mentioned that the weights are like your best friend. They won’t bs you and tell you you’re something your not, and it won’t belittle you into thinking you can’t. It’s honest, because 200lbs is always 200lbs.

So then whats the deal with resolutions not being effective? Well it’a probably from not having a solid plan in place with easily actionable steps and someone to hold you accountable to make sure you do what you said you were going to do.

As an example, one of the dog moms I talk to had remarked that she was surprised I wasn’t over run with new years resolutioners. I explained I won’t get a bump in that till around March, and even then it will likely only be a slight bump.

Why? Here’s the order of events that typically happen.

Person says they want to get in shape and thrive in 2025, they see that some big box gym is running a promotion so they sign up, they walk out onto the gym floor but don’t really know what to do, they try out some of the weight machines, but are unsure of the proper form or how much weight to start with, they look around to see what others are doing, but the gym is filled with people just as lost as they are, they get in a workout but think they could do better so they go home and research different programs. They find a whole lot of info, but even that overwhelming. How on earth do I figure this out?

This goes on till about March, then they either give up, keep doing the same thing or they think to themselves “Maybe I should hire a personal trainer”

And then out of those people, a certain percentage will choose Eric Moss Fitness for all their health and fitness needs (for which I’m thankful).

If they had come to me in the beginning they would already be well on their way to their goals. I already have the plan, I know where they should start (this happens during my free trial, is I assess where their current capabilities are within the exercises appropriate for their goals).

And the plan works and over and over again as is evident with my personal training success stories. Had they started with my plan they would much stronger, leaner, more confident and in better cardiovascular health. They’d be confident in themselves and they would have actually achieved their goals. And that easy actionable step that can bypass the planning and trying to make sense of it all can come in the form of taking my free trial by sending me a text and introducing yourself.

You don’t have to figure it all out. I already did that. And think of it like this…if you had a gym close by, and had a person there waiting for you (the accountability would keep you consistent) and that person had an effective and proven plan that was customized just for you and your goals, then the only thing you need to do is show up and put in the work. No need to figure it out for yourself.

Oh and that client I was talking about she’s more than doubled her strength on the tested lifts and will probably be hip thrusting (an amazing exercise for your glutes) 500lbs for 15 consecutive reps by the end of the month.

If you need help with this and actually want to achieve your resolutions, I offer a free trial at my personal training studio in Boonton. Just send me a text at 973 476 5328 and introduce yourself to get started.

Eric Moss is a personal trainer in Boonton and moonlights as a world-record-holding modern-day professional performing strongman, author, and motivational speaker. In the tradition of the strength performers more common during the turn of the century, he performs feats of strength such as bending steel and breaking chains as part of a live show and travels across the country doing presentations on goal achievement for conferences, corporations, associations, nonprofits, and government entities as well as for schools and universities. His personal training studio is located on Main Street in Boonton New Jersey and is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, Montville, Butler, and Parsippany New Jersey.