***UPDATE FOR THE FALL – For those of you who have been following John’s progress(and yes we have a bunch!!), he has unfortunately been out on “injured reserve” for the better part of the last couple months. John had an accident while at work, and injured has back somewhat severely. He has been rehabbing for the last month or two, and is forced to have surgery just as of this week. Look for new updates on John when he’s healed and I start fresh with him again in 2010!!***

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***UPDATE FOR 7/20/09 – John is now just 2 pounds shy of hitting the half century mark!! As of last weigh-in, John has now got himself down to 255, from a starting weight of 303 – a FULL 48 POUNDS LIGHTER!!. He has done this in under 3 months, and has completed 26 1 on 1 Sessions into his Training with me. An important aspect to note is that John is not just a “heavy guy melting away on a 700 calorie diet doing a 1 mile walk three times per week”…..John is eating well balanced 5 meals per day diet, working out HARD with me 2-3 times per week, and hitting his Off-Day Programs another 2 times per week. He’s also continuously improving his cardio and overall strength each and every week. Check out a couple of pics of him “in action” today below, and feel free to message me privately for a full detail of what John has been doing since we started less than 3 months ago…

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John Finishing his Warm-Up Circuit

John Getting Ready for a Cardio-Based MITT Round

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***UPDATE FOR 6/29/09 – Progress, progress, and MORE Progress!! Even after a sickness that kept him out for a week, rain pushing some of our outdoor Sessions inside, and getting literally attacked by a couple of his patients at work in the last week….John has dropped more weight down to 271 as of today, and completed (for the very 1st time fully front to back) one of my pushup strengthening circuits during our Session today. Go John!!***

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***UPDATE FOR 6/5/09 – John is still chugging along and hitting his Workouts HARD!! General strength and cardio are up with each Training Session, and his reported weigh-in for today was down to 280!!***

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CHECK BACK HERE WEEKLY FOR PROGRESS ON THIS CLIENT AND OTHERS AS THEIR SUCCESSES PROGRESS!!!

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John is a EMT that works for the City. He’s 27 years old, and had a starting Weight of 303 lbs at a height of 5’7’’.  John bought into a 3 month Package with me focusing on my Conditioning Programs that are run off Boxing/MMA/Circuit Training based principles.  He’s committing 3x per week doing 1 on 1 Sessions with me, and another 2x per week on his own following my guidelines for “off-day” workouts.

Our first Session together was NOT a SUCCESS! John’s current weight and cardio level was barely allowing him make it through a couple warm-up laps and a jump rope “Round” at the beginning of our Workout. His strength level was also at a point where I was lucky to get 1-2 full range pushups from him when we started our Strength Circuit. A typical Session for this type of Workout runs 45-55 minutes. I’m fairly certain we made it through only 25-35 of actual working minutes.

TODAY is a different story! We’ve JUST hit the 1-month mark, 10 sessions in, and John has progressed extremely well. His last weigh-in reporting was a full 10 lbs off, down to 293, and he has already been receiving unsolicited “you look good/better” and “you been hitting the gym!?!?” type compliments. (As an FYI this is the BEST way to gauge your progress…don’t JUST rely on the scale and mirror because you do that each and every day). Regarding his Workouts….John now motors through his laps, sprints, and is progressing very well on his jump rope “Rounds.” His squat/lunge work is much better, and his overall upper body strength is improving weekly to a point where I can now modify the Workouts on the fly to accommodate his strength gains. (Pushups have gone up from 1-2 full range pushups up to 7-8 on the Nike Pushup Bars!!).

Also, John had a “real world” experience the other day he’d mentioned to me as a result of his increased endurance and strength. Months ago, John had an emergency call at work where he had to run up 5 flights of stairs to an ailing patient. He admitted to needing “a ton” of time to catch his breath and re-group before he could fully focus and tend to the patient. Just last week, John did the EXACT SAME flight of stairs at the EXACT SAME HOUSE/PATIENT and when he got to the top, he was able to catch his breath and re-group in a fraction of the time. He admitted that both he AND his partner IMMEDIATELY noticed the difference and were amazed at how fast his cardio was progressing. Needless to say, John was pumped!

One thing to remember is that these gains/successes DO NOT happen overnight or come easily. John “BRINGS IT” each and every day we work together, is extremely motivated to get back his “old self,” and diligently finds time to make each Session with me, and stick to his Off-Day Workouts.  John is not only an example of an “actual” success(IE- my programs are “working” for  him), but also an example of someone who wasn’t happy with physical state/appearance, and has decided to diligently DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

Follow his motivational example and get yourself in top shape TODAY!

The “3×3 Minute Round AB-Rip” is a Core Circuit that I use with a large number of my Clients.  It blends a full Ab routine, cardio, strength, toning, and muscle confusion principles into each round. It works for nearly all Clients and I tailor it to each individual’s fitness level. Beginner’s may need to start off with a 3×2 minute circuit.

The Circuit works as such…..

Clock starts(utilize a stop watch)….I call out random Ab exercises in a different sequence/pattern each time. Example: “Crunches, Leg Raises, Bicycle Kicks, Static Holds, V-Ups, Oblique Slides, etc. etc.” Each exercise will have a different time length each and every time. I may do Crunches for 15 seconds or maybe 25. I follow that by doing Leg Raises for 30 seconds or maybe 12. Bicycles for 15 seconds or maybe 22….I keep this up for the entire 3 minute round. The goal here is to NEVER have the Client know what’s coming next, or the duration of each round. That way, internally they never know the start/end points of each exercise. This is a variation of the popular Muscle Confusion principle. We do this for a full 3 minute round(trust me this is a VERY exhausting 3 minutes). Client then rests for 45 seconds, and I complete 2 more full rounds. The full Circuit will include 9 working minutes, and 1 1/2 minutes worth of rest.

This is a Circuit that can be included during EVERY Session with a Trainer. It’s VERY hard to “do this to yourself” as you’ll need to both keep your own clock, and it’s nearly impossible to use the Confusion principle if you know where you’ll start and end each exercise. You can do something similar such as take 5-6 exercises and do say 20 reps of each back-to-back. BUT, you’ll know the start/end points of each transitional exercise and thus would defeat the goal of using the variation of the Muscle Confusion principle.

My Clients RAVE about this Circuit, and even some of my gym-only Clients that do the shorter 30 minute Sessions with me will ask to have this Circuit done to them and use a full 1/3 of their paid Session!

NOTE: My absolute BEST Client that MOTORS through this Circuit is 52 year old Betty “Abs of Steel” Sparks! SO, as hard as this Circuit may seem it can be done, and done WELL, by anyone!!