Personal Trainer in Boonton NJ, Eric Moss Fitness

Assuming its not too hot or too cold, I like to leave the door to my personal training studio open.  I get fresh air, visits from dogs and is a bit more inviting to people who may be interested in my personal training program.  Occasionally it prompts conversation where I can drop knowledge bombs and gives me ideas for articles, just like this one you are reading.

Yesterday was just such a day.

Yesterday, someone who was unfamiliar with the unique way I do things started telling me about his training program that he does for himself.  Doesn’t go in with a plan and just kind of works the muscles in various ways.

I told him, I don’t do it that way at all.  My personal training program has structure, in fact that is my key to systematically producing similar results over a wide variety of people and I can keep people on the same exercises and continue to progress them year round without having to change them.

Change is not a bad thing, if its the right change that is.  Goals change and our bodies change, but exercises don’t unless they are no longer appropriate.   If the best exercises for the goal are an option, why change to second best if you don’t need to?

So what should change?  The primary programmatic variables.

There are 3 main things when it comes to progression and program design.  That would be…

• Volume
• Density
• Intensity (ie load/weight)

Volume refers to the total amount of reps.  As an example if you do 3 sets of 10 that would be a total volume of 30.  If you do 10 sets of 3, that’s also a total volume of 30.  If you do 3 sets of 8 that’s a total volume of 24.  If you do 11 sets of 3 that’s a total volume of 33.

Density is kind of the same thing but using a metric of time.  As an example you could do 30 total reps.  If it takes you all day to do it that’s a different story than if you had done it in a 10 minute period.  It would essentially be 30reps/10mins.  I like tracking the density because it lets me be more precise, and gives me an idea of how long something will take which helps make it systematic.

Intensity is the one that a lot of training programs mislabel.  They often use it as a measure of how hard a training session is, which rate of perceived exertion is the more appropriate term.  I like to use it to define the loads.  As an example 10 sets of 3 @ 50% 1rm.  In that example if a person can bench press 100lbs for 1 all out rep, barely getting it up.  100lbs would be 100% intensity.  50lbs would be 50% intensity.  Much more doable which is key.

There are others too like range of motion, changing the way a weight is held, rep cadence and rep speed etc. but those are the main ones.  Generally speaking I like progress volume before load, at least when it comes to the longer term more sustainable programs.  

With every increase in load, there is a calculated risk, but I know if you had gotten 3 sets of 10 with 60lbs, you’ll probably be ok with 3 sets of 5 with 65lbs (a little bit heavier, but half the volume).  And if you can do 3 sets of 5 with 65lbs you’ll probably be ok with 3 sets of 6 with the same load.  The goal is to get to heavy weights, but not without earning the right to lift them.  You earn the right by lifting light with volume before you get to heavy. 

One of my guys was doing 1 arm rows with 125lbs for a total volume of 16 sets of 5 (total volume of 80 reps with 125lbs per arm).  It was a Frankenstein looking thing that had my biggest kettlebell with another kettlebell chained to it as well as some barbell plates.

He could have kept climbing too, but we changed it.  Why?  Because as important as it is to stick to the basics, it’s also equally as important to have enthusiasm for training.

The only time I change an exercise is if its’ obviously not suited to the individual (not all exercises are appropriate for everybody) or if a persons goal changes as in they either achieve the goal or lose interest in it (train for the goal) or if a person is just so sick of doing the exercise that if they do it one more time they won’t be thankful they chose Eric Moss Fitness for all their health and fitness needs.  Just make sure you gave it time to get the benefit.  People who change exercises constantly never make progress.

At one time the pistol squat was a pet lift for me.  I had done it with 106 lbs of additional load and had done 50 consecutive unloaded reps.  After that I was sick of doing them.

If the goal is to get to the top of the mountain as fast as possible then you need to stick with the basics ie the best exercises.  But if you want to take the scenic route, you might not get to the top as fast or at all but maybe you’ll enjoy the journey a bit more.  They are both options.

You know what’s also an option?  Choosing Eric Moss Fitness for all your health and fitness needs for which I’ll be thankful.  But if you want to check it out first I offer a free trial so you can see if you like it first.  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, Kinnelon, Pine Brook, Butler, and Parsippany New Jersey.

Yesterday (May 31st 2026) I went to the local pond with my kids.  It’s actually quite a beautiful spot located in Rockaway where I live and hopefully the first of many beach trips.  Not quite the ocean, but hey as much as I love watching the waves crash onto the shoreline, I also love seeing the green of trees…and not having to drive an hour to get there which means we can usually squeeze something in.

Picture from yesterday, my kids are the ones shown

Now that the weather is getting warmer, people will wear less clothing and it seems bathing suits are starting to reveal more and more.  If you feel comfortable like that, more power to you.  If you feel like you want to look better…well keep reading.  I’ll explain how to do it.

When people come to me for training, I will ask them about their goals and what they’d like to achieve.  Most of the time outside of specific performance based things the people who come to me don’t know exactly how to explain it.  They have a vague idea in their head of what they’d like to achieve (like being in shape) and I have to help them unpack it.  Round is a shape too, but I don’t think that’s what they want.

They’ll say they don’t want to look like a drugged to the gills bodybuilder, they just want to be toned. For many the visual of being in shape is probably something along the lines of a fitness model.  I’m including a general stock photo of fitness models below so you see what I’m talking about.

generic picture of fitness models

Great!  Now we have something to aim at.  Now that we have something to aim at, I like to use the ideas I picked up from Marty Gallagher,  a highly respected strength coach.

Create a realistic goal.

Establish a realistic timeframe.

Reverse engineer: work backwards with a calendar or computer.

Place realistic goals within a specified timeframe.

Work backwards to establish weekly poundage benchmarks.

Start off well below capacity, build momentum, and end well above capacity.

Copied and pasted from Harnessing Pure Strength: The Power of Knowing Your Strengths and Limitations by Marty Gallagher on IronCompany.com

Over the years I’ve come to question what’s actually a realistic goal and a realistic time frame.  I mean, would you have looked at a guy like me and expected me to be able to hold back a high performance motorcycle?

Then I pick exercises appropriate for the person and appropriate for the goal and reverse engineer what it would take to get there.  As an example, many of the fitness models are also bikini competitors.  Kind of like bodybuilding but more of an aim towards a lean, toned and balanced hour glass figure (lean and toned comes up a lot in the goal assessment interview).

Now to get there, I used ideas I learned from reverse engineering some of the bikini competitors out there.  Through the studies of a competition team called “The Glute Squad” I discovered that the average bikini competitor in that group weighed 142lbs and totaled 1,480lbs across 6 lifts which gives an approximate strength to body weight ratio of 10 to 1.  (The total means if you add up the 1 rep max of all 6 lifts and this was with powerlifting style rules)

Those lifts would be:

• Bench press
• Squat
• Deadlift
• Pull up
• Military press
• Hip Thrust

Their coach claims that as long as you are getting stronger in all of those lifts or their equivalents (maybe even their superior), your physique will always improve.  So I adapted and improved upon some of the ideas I got from that.

First, is I don’t want my clients to go for a 1 rep max, since you don’t actually improve strength by maxing out and I don’t want to waste my clients time with a peaking cycle that doesn’t actually improve anything.  Instead I like to improve the “proposed max” from their training numbers.  As long as that’s improving its easy to see we are making progress.  You can either use this equation (weight x reps x .0333 + weight = 1rep max) or just download an app that calculates it for you…that what I use.

So we have those exercises or safe and effective equivalents, now we have a goal.  Get as close to a 10 to 1 as we can as quick as we can while remaining safe and without compromising the long term sustainability of it.  I’m including some case studies below.  First is a woman in her 50’s who wanted to look better in a bikini for a beach vacation she had coming up 12 weeks from when she signed up with me.

client results from first 12 weeks before vacation

The second was a woman in her 40’s who essentially wanted the same thing but didn’t have that vacation coming up.

first 12 weeks from one of my personal training clients

Notice that their body weight didn’t change, but their strength to body weight ratio improved dramatically.  Long story short both loved the changes they saw in their physique and both were happy they chose Eric Moss Fitness for all their health and fitness needs.

For guys that want a similar thing, the same principles apply.  One of my influences is Dan John, a highly respected strength coach who’s students range from high school athletes, to people with Super Bowl rings to some members of the SEAL team that got Osama Bin Ladin.

His game changer strength standards for adult males is

• Bench Press: Bodyweight for 15 reps
• Pull Ups: 15 reps
• Squat: Body weight for 15 reps
• Deadlift: Double bodyweight for 1
• Loaded Carry: ie farmer walks bodyweight each hand
• Turkish getup with half filled glass of water balanced on the fist

If you can reach those numbers or just get close, if you aren’t happy with the way you look or how you perform, your problem isn’t a lack of strength.  And if you can do that, you’ll have a decent amount of muscle and a significant strength to body weight ratio.

Greg Plitt, regarded as the top fitness model, the standards come close to what the calculated max off of his lifts

No I don’t use those exact things, but I do use most of them just as something to aim at and something to keep you focused on the most effective exercises.

Of course if you don’t now how or where to get started, well if you’ve read my stuff before you probably already know I offer a free trial so you can see whether or not its for you.  Just send me a text at 973 476 5328 and introduce yourself to get started.  Don’t wait too long though because even though we can get fast results, the sooner you start the sooner you can enjoy the fruits of your labor.  Peaches for the beaches.

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.

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.