The Chain Reaction of Making Life Better through Training
A while back when I was still an up and coming performing strongman, I get a call from a guy named Bud Jeffries. He’s someone who I’ve cited to my personal training clients as examples of different aspects of fitness. He’s a bit of a phenom, having dead squatted 900lbs, swinging a 53lb kettlebell for about an hour straight (losing 120lbs progressing up that), doing full splits, and nowadays a bunch of random crazy stuff like pulling a truck while throwing axes that are on fire at a moving target.
Bud Jeffries at the time was working as a full time performing strongman, living out of a suitcase, and traveling the country doing strongman shows. He knew I was an up and comer and called me up to invite me to go and see how he runs a strongman show, which helped me structure my shows that I do for colleges, schools and corporate entertainment/motivation before the pandemic occurred.
So awhile back, Bud Jeffries’ son Noah who by the time he was 16 had already done some amazing things in the strength world was killed in a motorcycle accident at 21 years old, prompting his parents to start a foundation called Noah’s army which raises funds for a variety of noble causes.
He set up a virtual fundraiser since live shows aren’t really going on right now, and asked a bunch of us to contribute something. I contributed my signature feat and thought it was mostly just strongmen. But over the weekend as I watched the telethon there was a rather eclectic group of performers, including a guy who’s personal fitness routine is set up building massive sandcastles. Like I said, eclectic.
And that guy’s topic was something I’ve been mulling about since I saw it because it reaffirmed something I often say to my personal training clients and the people who chat with me after my strongman performances.
The mind and the body are not separate things. They are all connected. The mind controls the body, but the also body influences the mind. The brain lives within the body. If you don’t take care of the body, you’re not really taking care of your brain either, and mental wellbeing is something we all need to take seriously.
One of the things that I also talk with my personal training clients is that our fitness is intended to make life better. You should be strong enough to live life on your own terms, not shackled by the locks and chains that come with weakness and poor health.
Life should be vibrant, and enjoyable and that is done when you are of sound mind and a healthy and strong body.
And the thing is, when you train correctly, you get a bit stronger and a bit healthier. That helps you feel better about yourself. There is a chemical cascade that comes from training that helps you feel better. When you feel better about yourself it builds your confidence. When you build your confidence and get more energy it spills out into other aspects of your life. It’s like a chain reaction of making life better.
I’ve seen it time and time again with many of the personal training clients I’ve trained over the years.
One of the reasons people train with me is not just for the strength aspect, but also for mental well being. That’s why I had added the life coaching aspect to my business as a way of adding value to my personal training services.
Because at the end of the day everything you do should be about creating a better life for yourself.
If you need my help with this, I have a free trial membership at my personal training studio in Boonton. Though I don’t have anymore availability in the mornings, I have some in the afternoons. Just text me at 973 476 5328 and introduce yourself to see what time slots I have available if you are interested.
2020 may have been a mess and hopefully I don’t get shutdown again, but we can get a head start at making 2021 healthy, strong and confident.
Eric Moss is a world-record-holding modern-day professional performing strongman, author, motivational speaker, and personal trainer. In the tradition of the strongmen more common 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 personal training studio is located on Main Street in Boonton New Jersey, and is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, Montville and Parsippany New Jersey.
Breaking Block on my Abs with a Sledgehammer
So if you are new here, thanks for popping on by. My name is Eric Moss, I’m a personal trainer with a personal training studio on Main Street in Boonton.
In addition to being a personal trainer, I’m also a modern day performing strongman. If you are unfamiliar with what that is I perform a classic feats of strength show with a modern day twist.
Live shows these days for the most part are put on hold what with the pandemic and all. And I don’t normally do birthday parties except for special occasions. One of my personal training clients finally gets his revenge 😛
Enjoy it!
To answer your questions, yes I told him to hit me as hard as he can, at least hard enough to break the concrete block.
No I don’t have you guys do this. Your safety is very important to me. My safety…well, that’s another story.
If you want to build more strength than you thought you could, look and feel great and need a bit of help doing so, I have a one week free trial membership of my personal training services in Boonton. Just text me at 973 476 5328 and let me know when you’d like to get started.
Eric Moss is a world-record-holding modern-day professional performing strongman, author, motivational speaker, and personal trainer. In the tradition of the strongmen more common 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, Montville and Parsippany New Jersey.
Strength is about more than you realize
Over the weekend I had a couple people reach out. One I’m 90% sure is a scammer, though I guess I’ll know for sure after today. The other had called me up on the phone.
For the record, though I still accept phone calls, I much prefer you reach out about my 1 week personal training free trial membership by text.
It was a bit hard to understand this guy over the phone. Being in the car with 2 young kids makes phone calls tough. So over the phone, we scheduled an early morning session that would have occurred this morning.
Now before I do the first session, I send a reminder text that has my personal training studio’s address, letting them know I’ll assess their movement etc.
He asks “This is for aikido right?”
If you’re familiar with my story, you might know I have a background in martial arts. Purple belt in Tae Kwon Do, a brown belt in Isshinryu Karate and a green belt in Judo. I originally started strength training as a complement to my martial arts training before heading completely in that direction, eventually having to stop martial arts in order to do personal training.
Aikido for those unfamiliar is the martial art that Steven Seagal uses. And though I sort of teach a martial art, no I don’t teach Aikido.
I don’t teach any of the martial arts listed above. The “martial art” I teach is strength. All-purpose functional strength.
Strength in itself can be viewed as a method of self defense. As strength coach famously quipped, “strong people are harder to kill”.
For the record, I love martial arts and hope to enroll my daughters in them when they’re a little older. Though in some cases their application to self-defense is questionable, I highly believe in the personal development and self-discipline aspect of them.
I remember when I was deep into my martial arts training I was having a conversation with one of my friends who was a blackbelt. He had made the observation “Just knowing, makes it all worth it.”
Strength works much the same way. When you’ve achieved a certain level of strength, you get an “I got this” level of confidence.
I remember a couple years ago, my sister had called me up because she was at a UPS store and the guy working there didn’t want her husband lifting the package he was sending. My brother in law has a back injury sustained from racing and taking turns faster than a roller coaster. He was likely sending some kind of motor out.
So my sister and her husband collectively roll their eyes, and call me up to help out. I get there, and they tell me the situation.
So I reach down to pick it up and the UPS guy stearnly says “lift with your legs!”
I looked at him, laughed, said “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine” and picked it up with one hand. I’ve picked up heavier weights with my pinky finger and wrote on a piece of paper with that same hand when I was performing at the Strongman Spectacular.
In other words, I got this.
When you’re strong you start asking different questions. You start wondering what other things are you capable of.
And it opens doors. For me it allowed me to go down the road of the performing strongman, something I never would have dreamed of.
And I’ve seen the transformational effect it has on my personal training clients. Though many times people hire me to help them lose weight and tone muscle, strength is a foundational part of their programming. And even though they lose the weight, they are actually more excited about the strength they’ve gained, then the fat they’ve lost.
One of my more recent sign-ups for personal training had sent me some before and after pictures, she took on her own.
As you can see, she burned a significant amount of body fat. That’s noticeable even with full-length clothing on so I decided to showcase it, and asked her which results she was most proud of.
Notice, not even a mention of losing weight. She’s excited about the strength and it’s carry over to life.
And that’s really what’s it’s about. It’s about life improvement because life is for living and you should have the strength and health to live it to its fullest. That’s why my tagline is “Strength for Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
If you need help with this and are interested in the trial, you can call me but I prefer text. Either way the number is 973 476 5328. But don’t come looking for Aikido.
Eric Moss is a world-record-holding modern-day professional performing strongman, author, motivational speaker, and personal trainer. In the tradition of the strongmen more common 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, Montville and Parsippany New Jersey.