On Monday I got a phone call.  This particular person had mentioned my autobiography/memoir as one of the books that their scout had picked up and had planned on showcasing it at some book fair.

Now I knew it was likely a scam because of the telltale signs.  You may know them;

• Asking for the owner or manager even though I introduce myself by name and the name of my business’ have my name in the title.  (My personal training studio is called Eric Moss Fitness, and my entertainment/inspirational speaking business is called Eric Moss: The Strongman Experience) This wasn’t the case this time though.
• Heavy praise in an effort to stroke my ego and “build rapport”
• Saying my name way more often than anybody should in a normal conversation.
• And asking only questions that will generate a “yes” response.
• Telling me things that obviously come from a rehearsed script.

It works the same way in health, strength, and fitness as well.  It often comes in the form of;

“new discovery of the something or other from deep within the forests of the blah blah blah that will help you burn belly fat fast.”

but can also appear in many forms, usually promising big results without doing the work.  Something for nothing rarely works out.

Here’s the cold hard truth.  There aren’t really any shortcuts.  There are better strategies for sure, but nothing out there that will generate results without the requisite amount of effort.  The closest thing there is to a shortcut is a coach, and that is really only a shortcut because they simplify the process, prevent you from making common mistakes, like seeking shortcuts and falling for scams and give you a tried and true process.  It works if you work.

In my personal training studio, I have to give some uncomfortable truths and give a set of rules to follow, much like Moses gave the people of Israel according to legend. And even though I don’t consider myself a higher power, I do have about 15 years of experience doing this sort of thing so I’ll list here the “10 commandments of health, strength, and fitness” for you to follow for fitness success.

1. Though shalt get thine head on straight (you need to be committed to your own goals or else no strategy I can do will do anything)
2. Thou shalt keep it simple and stick to the basics most of the time.
3. Thou shalt address diet (for fat loss this is ABsolutely critical)
4. Thou shalt be honest with thine-self (don’t b.s. yourself, if you aren’t achieving your goals look at why and be honest)
5. Thou shalt be consistent in putting in the work. (consistency outperforms intensity)
6. Thou shalt seek to be stronger through progressive resistance.
7. Thou shalt understand that the fundamentals are fundamental.
8. Thou shalt understand that health, strength, and fitness are supposed to enrich your life, not take it over completely. (what we do in the studio is intended to make your life better not worse)
9. Thou shalt compare thine-self to previous self, not to others except to use as an inspiration of what can be achieved, not to measure thine self-worth.
10. Thou shalt understand that the answer to everything in health, strength, and fitness is “it depends” (every case is slightly different and for every hard and fast rule there is always an exception)

And yes there are more, but I’d like to stick to 10 for now. Regardless of your goal, you stick to these and you’ll do well.  The individual strategies for specific goals are different which goes outside the scope of this post.

Need more help?  Give my one-week personal training trial membership a go.

Eric Moss is a world record holding professional strongman, author, speaker and personal trainer. In the tradition of the strongmen 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 in Boonton Township New Jersey with Lewandowski Chiropractic and is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, and Parsippany New Jersey.