Workshop Time Change

This Saturday's workshop times have changed due to Dr. McGuff's inability to make it. He is filming a show in Fiji with Tony Robbins and the producers of the biggest loser called Breaking through. It will air this fall.

I will be combining his workshop with mine and speaking at 11:00. This moves the 1:00 seminar up to 11:00.

Contact geri@theexercisecoach to register. Seating is limited

The workshops will be held at 197 S. Rand in Lake Zurich at The Holiday Inn Express.

To Recap....

9:00 Body By Science/The Exercise Coach Approach their impact on weight loss and osteoporosis

11:00 Bladder Bladder, What's the matter?

Body By Science - Especially For Women

Saturday, July 25th, The Exercise Coach is sponsoring a day of educational workshops called Body By Science - Especially for Women. BBS - Especially for women features Doug McGuff, M.D., author of my favorite book on exercise - Body By Science. Doug will help attendees understand and apply what the most recent research says about exercise and weight loss as it relates to women. Doug will also be offering a general Body By Science workshop at 2:30. If you want to understand how you can maximize your fitness in just minutes per week, this is the workshop for you.

I'll be talking about how you can be confident about your future even if you have been diagnosed with osteopenia or osteoporosis.

And, Valerie Boeldt-Umbright of WomanCare P.C. will present valuable info for women who struggle with issues of incontinence.

Registration is required. Click on the flyer below to see for location and details.

Body By Science Seminar

I am thrilled to announce that Dr. Doug McGuff is coming to visit us at The Exercise Coach.

Doug is the author of, in my opinion, the best book ever written on exercise - Body By Science.

I'll post the details on seminars that are open to the public in a bit.

For now here is recent interview with Dr. McGuff as a preview...

The Best approach for fat loss

I’ve attached a case study I completed recently with a new client who committed to proper nutrition and training at The Exercise Coach®.

The client is 34 years old and began training with me on December 11, 2008. He completed eight workouts over five weeks. His average workout time was only fifteen minutes. He performed seven or eight closely supervised strength exercise to the point of momentary muscular fatigue.

On January 27th I performed a follow up body-composition using the InBody 230 (see pre and post tests above). After years of trying every body-composition device on the market we have finally found one that we like. The InBody is amzingly accurate anbd reliable.

His results were outstanding. Now, if he just looked at the scale it would have told him that his body-weight did not change. And, he would have been tempted to doubt what he was seeing in the mirror and feeling in his workouts. Thanks to the InBody though we know the whole story.

In just six weeks he built nearly ten pounds of skeletal muscle mass and lost over fourteen pounds of body fat! That's a net shift in body composition of twenty-four pounds in six weeks.

This is a testament to the synergistic effect of combining challenging strength training and good nutrition.

Some of the highlights of the strategies he used include eating adequate amounts of protein and the right kinds of carbohydrates, supplementing with the highest quality fish oil available, using a polyphenol (ie., berry/sea vegetable concentrate) supplement and training hard for just a few minutes each week. Oh ya... I should emphasize that he did no conventional cardio.

One more thing. This client has several previous injuries. He has had ACL re-constrction, has shattered the head of his humerus, and has crushed several bones in his hand and wrist. These past 6 weeks he has trained without a glitch and in fact after 6 weeks says his shoulder feels great.

Not bad, huh?

Change or Die

Wow! That's an attention grabber huh? It's actually the title of a book written by Alan Deutschman. "Deutschman concludes that although we all have the ability to change our behavior, we rarely do. In fact, the odds are nine to one that, when faced with the dire need to change, we won't. From patients suffering from heart disease to repeat offenders in the criminal justice system to companies trapped in the mold of unsuccessful business practices, many of us could prevent ominous outcomes by simply changing our mindset (from the inside cover)."

Is there hope then? YES! Deutschman explain that there are three keys to succeeding at change. They are relate, repeat, and reframe.

Relate - You from a new relationship with a person or community that inspires and sustains hope. People trying to change need to connect with people that can infuse confidence into the situation. We need someone who's confidence fly's in the face of our own rational assessment of our own ability to change. You need to be "sold" on the idea that you can change.

Repeat - The new relationship needs to help you learn and master new habits and skills that you will need to succeed. You need to be "trained" in techniques and patterns of behavior until they become natural to you.

Reframe - The new relationship need to provide you with a new way of thinking about your situation. On this point Deutschman says, "Ultimately, you look at the world in a way that would have been so foreign to you that it wouldn't have made any sense before you changed."

These keys match up perfectly with what a cutting-person trainer should provide for you. It's exactly what we provide at The Exercise Coach. I can't tell you how many people I've met with that thought I was crazy when I told them they needed to cut out the conventional cardio, start lifting weights, and only workout once or twice per week for 20-minutes or less. These same people end up as Exercise Coach evangelists after they have been sufficiently "sold", "trained", and taught to "see" fitness and fat-loss through a new lens.

I hope these categories help you as you contemplate change in any area of your life. I know they help me personally.

And, for you cutting edge-personal trainers (you know who you are). My advice is this - "sell, sell,sell." Sell to prospective clients and never stop "selling" to existing clients. Realize that the more "sold" a person is on your proposed solution, the better their chance of success is. Don't worry buyers know the difference between passion and greed. You don't have to try to convince them of your motives if they are indeed noble. They will sense it. They need to literally feel passion and confidence exuding from you. They need to be led, and nobody wants to follow someone who isn't confident that they know the best path. Instill confidence in your clients.

The Slow-Motion Secret

The secret to making strength training safe is slow movement. Voices from the realm of athletics will cry that you need to "train fast to be fast." This is not true. Check out my blog entry "Explosive Weight Training Exploded." The only thing lifting weights fast will do is increase your risk for injury.

So how slow is slow enough? Well, it depends on the movement and the equipment that you are using. But, in general about 8-10 seconds each direction works quite well. That's pretty slow compared to what you have probably seen or tried. So, I've uploaded a visual for you.


This is what safe, controlled speed of movement looks like on a leg press machine.

His Best Shape Ever

When we shot this video Ward had gone from 28% to 14% body fat. Now he hovers right around 7%. Not bad for 53 years old and about 20-40 minutes of exercise per week!