Author: Eric Moss
re: Cosmopolitan 11 women who prove wellness isn’t ‘one size fits all’
I was sorting through my articles and realized I never published this one. Whoops!
In addition to being a professional performing strongman, I make my living as a personal trainer in Boonton. Being a fitness professional for a living I try to see what’s relevant (i.e what are people talking about) and that’s apparent when I see some of the personal trainers and nutritionists I’m Facebook friends with talking about something.
The first time I saw it, it was as a youtube thumbnail from a fitness/health ranter that I occasionally will listen to as I load the dishwasher.
Here is a link to the actual article.
So here is what a lot of my fellow personal trainers are saying…it’s not healthy yada yada yada. Much of what the article is saying is focus on what you can do, not the way you look.
I think what we really have is a simple miscommunication.
So for one, we need to define a couple of terms. I subscribe to the Dan John school of thought where fitness is the ability to do a task, while health is the optimal interplay of the various internal organs. They can be related, but they are not the same.
Consequently, wellness and health are related but not necessarily one and the same.
Wellness, however, is much more than physical health. Wellness is a full integration of physical, mental and spiritual well-being. It is a complex interaction that leads to quality of life.
Grand Rapids Community College
Here’s where I got that from https://www.grcc.edu/humanresources/professionaldevelopment/wellness/sevendimensionsofwellness
So what are we talking about then? Are the people in question healthy? How do you define that? There are certain biomarkers that tell you that. Things like blood pressure, cholesterol etc.
From what I can gather they aren’t necessarily talking about physical health. They are talking about mental health which is a whole other talking point. That boils down to their self-confidence, sense of self-worth etc.
Are they fit? Some of them definitely. At least one of them is an olympian.
I think the main point of the article is that you don’t have to be a specific size. The body positivity movement can be a good thing but like many good things can get turned into something harmful. Love yourself…but love yourself enough to be healthy…both physically and mentally.
Eric Moss is a personal trainer in Boonton and doubles as a world-record-holding modern-day professional performing strongman, author, and motivational speaker. 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.
Personal Training Success Story Spotlight- Omkar
Here is Omkar’s personal training success story in a nutshell.
When Omkar first reached out to me, he had been training in another gym that promises to train like an athlete. However, no matter how hard he was working, it wasn’t helping him get more athletic nor did it get him closer to his goal of reducing belly fat and gaining muscle.
It’s not like he wasn’t putting in the work. Omkar works hard. In his previous gym, he had worked out so hard in fact that he was advised by his doctor to delay training with me for a full 10 days since his muscles hadn’t recovered from the training they put him through. Quite simply, no matter how hard he worked it just wasn’t the right training program for him.
Frustrated with a lack of progress and nagging injuries, he came to me for guidance in training and nutrition and decided to give the free trial membership in my personal training gym a go.
During the free trial, I had taught him some of the exercises that would be included in his program. He was convinced that the kettlebell swing would hurt his back since that was his previous experience, but once he learned proper technique he was fine.
At the end of the trial, even though he believed in the training program as well as me as a coach, he was unsure he could commit for the minimum 12 weeks it takes to get the results it promises.
I gave him some basic guidelines to work with on his own, wished him luck, and never expected to hear from him again.
Much to my surprise a couple of weeks or months later, I’ll admit I can’t remember (time can be a bit of a blur sometimes) he reached out again. I remembered working with him previously and was happy to have him come back in.
But now we had to retest his strength to see if he did any of his homework. He did and was already noticeably stronger…so now with me guiding him through each session it was time to take his strength and his physique to the next level.
The workouts were designed to be at a level he could handle without issue and he put in the work, bringing his a-game each and every session. The kettlebell swings which previously would hurt his back we used as part of the finisher and he rocked it each time, never giving up or slowing down. He struggled a bit trying to get his nutrition right but got close enough to get the results he wanted.
Around the last week or 2 of the program, he took a short vacation to Utah to visit some family and he had said for the first time, he was able to take off his shirt and feel confident in the way he looks as well as actively engage in the outdoor activity he was doing (hiking, whitewater rafting, other outdoor activities that is more common in Utah, etc.). Though I don’t think we should feel ashamed of ourselves, it is easier when we are in better shape.
And his results speak for themselves. The belly fat reduction is the most obvious change, as well as the muscle development in his arms and chest.
And not only that but in a 12 week time period, we took his strength to levels beyond what we expected. Before the program, he previously had struggled to do 2 chin-ups but by the end of the program, he was laughing as he got 8 reps, defying even my expectations. He did his previous bench press 1 rep max for a set of 9 and did a staggering 25 reps with his previous 1 rep max in the squat. He explained what he thought about the program with one word…”Amazing!”
And the transformation, in his physique and his confidence, wasn’t just rewarding for him, it was rewarding for me as well. It’s people like him that make me enjoy what I do and why I seek to be the best at it.
Now even though he’s equipped with the skills to train on his own, I sincerely hope to train him again. Either way, I believe he’ll continue to get stronger, more muscular, and achieve more of his ambitions.
Eric Moss is a personal trainer in Boonton and doubles as a world-record-holding modern-day professional performing strongman, author, and motivational speaker. 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.
Personal Training in Boonton Success Story Spotlight – Siddy
When Siddy first came to me, it was shortly after I was allowed to reopen. She had recently moved close by from Jersey City. She wanted to lose weight and transform her body.
She had tried multiple things in her life before. She’d done kickboxing classes, small group personal training with other personal trainers many of whom let her down from just being rude (no need for that), and one trainer whose name won’t be mentioned and I’ll only say that he didn’t know how to train her so the only thing he had her do was squats (which I later had to fix her technique so he didn’t even do that correctly).
Then tragedy struck. Her mom was diagnosed with cancer. The stress from the diagnosis triggered her to develop Hashimoto’s and hypothyroidism (each of which makes weight loss extremely difficult). Then as if it wasn’t hard enough the pandemic hit, the world shut down and her mom passed away.
Siddy was devastated and as she tried to put the pieces of herself back together again, with limited options, she found an online trainer named Serena. Serena was good, but online training as a medium is extremely limited.
What she decided to do was find a personal trainer near Parsippany (where she lives) that she could see in person, that sanitized the place appropriately, and would know how to work with her. She needed a personal trainer to both be a guide in body transformation and a friend that would be patient and walk hand in hand with her through both the good days and the bad that someone in her position faces. Grief is something you just have to walk with for a bit and take one day at a time.
She found me and the first thing I did was try to assess what I was working with so I knew how to progress her both safely and effectively. When I taught her the kettlebell swing (a wonderful exercise for burning fat and building real-world work capacity), she was wobbling all over the place. Somehow I knew that picking up a weight plate with her feet would fix it and like magic it worked.
I put her on a progressive resistance training plan that I designed that would develop her all-around strength while burning fat that would help her do things she previously wouldn’t be able to do. It’s not about building bigger numbers in the gym, unless those bigger numbers help you get better at whatever it is that makes you happy (hence my tagline strength for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness).
One day she sends me a before and after pic that she took in her kitchen.
The time span between the two pictures was 3 months. So I took that moment to ask her a couple of questions.
It’s immediately apparent from the before and after pics that she’s lost weight and is looking much leaner. However what I found interesting is that as far as what she enjoys most about her achievements, is that she’s strong. That discovery of strength has led to increased confidence, positivity, and a new outlook on life.
Now with that confidence, positivity and energy, she’s living life better. It seems every time I see her she’s hanging out with llama’s, going on hikes and even recently took a trip to Disney World. She’s even in the process of starting a business helping others with Hashimoto’s and Hypothyroidism by becoming a certified AIP coach. Stay tuned for that.
Life isn’t about living beneath your potential, life is about discovery and growth. And life is better when you have the strength, the health, the confidence, and the outlook to live it to its fullest.
And I can’t think of a better way to honor the memory of her mom than by making the most of the first gift her mom gave her…life.
Eric Moss is a personal trainer in Boonton and doubles as a world-record-holding modern-day professional performing strongman, author, and motivational speaker. 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.