Do you want to improve your physique? Aim for these…
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, 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 (Jim Wendler equation) 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.
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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 located on Main Street in Boonton New Jersey and is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, Montville, Kinnelon, Pine Brook, Butler, and Parsippany New Jersey.
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.