The results are surprising, as is the path to get there
People often catch me by surprise. Just before writing this I had one of my personal training clients pop in and didn’t recognize her while she was dressed in regular clothes and wearing glasses. Not that surprising since Henry Cavill wore glasses and a Superman shirt while standing under a billboard promoting a Superman movie with him in the leading role and no one recognized him either.
apparently not even wearing glasses
And yesterday I was also taken by surprise…though I shouldn’t have been.
You see when she popped in, pretty much the first thing she said was “You may soon be training all the moms on our son’s baseball team.”
“Huh?”
It shouldn’t have taken me by surprise but it did. You see I’ve been training her for a while. She got her very first lifetime chin up with me and had gotten great results. Prior to me training her, I was training her sister in law which was how she found out about me. She knew she wanted to get stronger and develop muscle but was nervous about my methodology until she learned that all of it centers around progressing upon things you can do.
She referred one of her friends that she met at baseball to me.
Her friend had worked with another trainer and had….I’ll just say not a great experience. She wanted to improve the way she looked and wanted to make sure I’m not some kind of creep. That and she hadn’t gotten the results that she was looking for. With me she got results. The table below shows the difference that happened in her first 12 weeks of working with me.
Note, the calculated max is from the start of the program. The “training max” are 12 weeks later…and are calculated from her sub maximal training weights which means she’s actually stronger than what’s shown.
And if my calculations are correct, her hip thrusts will be around 540lbs for sub maximal volume before her beach vacation in August. She’s quit looking at the scale (major achievement btw) and is happy with the way she looks, and she’s just going to get better.
The two of them encouraged another one of the moms to give me a chance. She knew she wanted to do something but was initially very nervous that she wouldn’t be able to do it. She hears how big the weights are and that can be scary when you see the end result not realizing what the path entailed. But like I said, everything I do is progressing upon stuff you can do until you can do what you couldn’t do before.
And then the 3 of them together were talking about how thankful they are about choosing Eric Moss Fitness (conveniently located on Main Street in Boonton) for all their health and fitness needs. They were talking about their results, the path to get there…and the fact that it’s not that bad. Different than what they initially thought.
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s training sessions were brutal. His mind singularly focused and willing to go to hell and back and he would push himself past what he was capable of. He forced himself to push past the limits…and had “pharmaceutical help” to aid with recovery.
I’m not going to say it didn’t work…he’s considered the greatest of all time and a massive inspiration to me. I equated at a young age that if I was strong and muscular, I would be “the man”. Hopefully one day I will be.
It worked for him, and his biological son from his extra-marital affair seemed to do good with it too considering he just won his first natural tested bodybuilding competition.
But they also have 1 in a million genetics. What about the rest of us?
The rest of us need a more methodical approach than “no pain no gain”. My approach is very tightly restrained. Every time weight is added, it’s because it was calculated to be something you can do. I embraced and applied ideas I got from Paul McIllroy’s “Comfort Zone Expansion Method” to incredible success, particularly in the glutes.
I’m not good at fixing things, but I am good at building shelves, and it seems to be the success in building firm, perky, rounded glutes (ie the shelf) was the topic of conversation among the moms on that baseball team. Summer is here and they want to feel good about the way they look.
And the kicker is you don’t have to train like a terminator. Everything I ask my personal training clients to do is doable. If it’s not doable, I don’t look at it like it’s their fault. I view it as I didn’t configure the program as optimally as I should have…or just something that was outside of our control happened (such as life). It happens, and if/when it happens…I have protocols that work better than “just try harder”
If you want fast results and are nervous about what it takes to get there…good news is I have a free trial. During the trial you’ll see for yourself how I operate and that everything is both doable, produces quick results as well as sustainably moves you forward over the long term. All you have to do is send me a text at 973 476 5328 to get started.
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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 conveniently located on Main Street in Boonton New Jersey and is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, Montville, Kinnelon, Pine Brook, Butler, and Parsippany New Jersey.
It’s the little moments that make the difference
If you want to achieve something, one shortcut to the top is having the right coach. I’ve had coaches that helped me establish a world record in bending steel, I’ve had vocal coaches help me achieve a 5 octave range and I have a business coach to help make sure my business remains a float (I’ve seen too many business’ go under). A good coach will ask questions that can challenge your thinking and get you to see it from a new perspective.
Yesterday my business coach stumped me. He asked me “where would you be now if you hadn’t discovered a passion for strength training?”
Now it’s the day after yesterday and I still don’t really have an answer. I found a passion for this stuff early in my life. I was a kid with Attention Deficit Disorder at a time when Ritalin was the be all end all of all things ADD. Ritalin suppressed my appetite and my personality which made me an easy target for ridicule.
Strength training enabled me to go from a kid that was picked on for being meek to getting a standing ovation as I show off my strength when keynoting conferences for physical education teachers. I didn’t excel at Phys ed until I reached high school and started training.
Standing ovation from my keynote at TAHPERD, You can see me on the far left.
When he asked that question, it was a way of getting me to see it from the perspective of those who don’t even consider strength training which unfortunately is the vast majority of people. I wasn’t able to answer it because I literally can’t see myself doing anything else. I wasn’t always strong and I still remember what it was like and I’ll never go back.
I do understand what other people go through though because I hear it all the time when I do the free trial at my personal training studio conveniently located on Main Street in Boonton. I hear about what life was like before strength training, and as people train and get stronger and start looking and feeling better, I hear about those little moments that being strong gifts them.
Over the weekend I got a text from one of my personal training clients.
One of those little moments that became the highlight of her vacation. She was the only one with the upper body strength and core stability to pull that off. One of my more life experienced personal training clients told me earlier today that people often under estimate her as she puts her luggage in the overhead bin without issue.
But it’s not just for the adventures, it also comes from every day living. From an appearance standpoint one of my girls I train gets complimented by the other moms all the time. One of them recently said “You look strong” to which she replied “Well I am”. She regularly posts her hip thrust weight in her facebook and instagram stories. Most recent one was 460lbs for a sub-maximal 3 sets of 10. If everything goes according to plan, she’ll be doing over 500lbs before her next beach vacation. One of my other clients gets compliments on her glutes from her teenage daughter and their friends. Pretty solid right?
One of my guys told me it’s incredibly motivating to see the numbers climb up in the gym which helps keep him consistent (progress is a phenomenal motivator which unfortunately not a lot of people know how to do).
From just an every day living standpoint, one of my clients who is in her 60’s carried a safety deposit box by herself. Another one of my girls carried those water jugs up the stairs without issue. One of my other girls needed to get strong for her job as a flight medic pretty nearly doubled her overhead press in the first 3 months and has to carry a tremendously awkward piece of equipment. Others view being strong gives them a sense of security and confidence. Being strong, is being free from the limits that affect regular people.
I don’t always love training, especially if it’s squats, but I do love the life I have because of it. Its made me a better father and husband. It’s made my life better, and I can’t imagine it any other way. I would love the same for you too.
If this is something you want for yourself, I can help you. I have a free trial so I can show you the path and you can decide for yourself if you want to walk it. Just text me at 973 476 5328 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.
Organize your training, improve your life
I like to listen to a lot of personal development stuff. It’s actually one of the things that in addition to becoming a personal trainer also led me to become a motivational speaker. It helps cut through the negativity that is all around us, and because people come to me to help improve their lives through getting in shape, I also like to help guide other aspects of their life so that everything improves, not just the way they look in before and after pics.
As I was setting my workout up, I was listening to a personal development podcast called “The Mindset Mentor”. I’ve pasted the episode below.
As I was listening to the episode, I was struck by a small handful of the nuggets and how it applies to training. The first one was about habit stacking. Basically if there is a habit you wish to have, pair it with something you are already doing. As an example, one of the ways I stay consistent with promoting my motivational modern day strength performer business is I pair it up with my workouts. Basically, I set up the equipment for my workout and update the programming so I know how much time my workout will take. Then once its all set up, I simply go across the street to the library and send out prospecting emails. Then I workout before my clients come in. It keeps me consistent, and because I don’t have the typical distractions, I minimizes decision fatigue which brings me to the next one.
The next one was about simplifying your life to minimize decision fatigue. Basically, you only have so much decision making ability in a day, and every decision you make taps it just a little bit. There is freedom in structure. A lot of people’s workouts (and even some personal trainers that don’t really know what they’re doing) are just made up as they go along. That’s actually harder to do from a decision fatigue standpoint. For me, I simply update the plan, and follow the plan. The hard part of the decision making process was at the beginning. And for my personal training clients its even easier. They just have to show up and do what their coach says. They’re pretty much all professionals in their given field and can probably figure out how to train, but there is value to “because coach said so.” It takes those decisions of their plate so they can focus on what they need to focus on. The main decision they made was choosing Eric Moss Fitness for all their health and fitness needs for which I’m thankful.
If you want to get in phenomenal shape fast, and want to minimize the decision making fatigue, then one choice you have is to take my free trial so you can decide if you think its for you. Then assuming you choose to continue, I’ll program your workouts and guide you so you never feel lost and you are on the effective road towards your goals. I take care of the complicated part for you. All you have to do is 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.