Where’s the success coming from for the client?
I think the success for the client is the convenience. They don’t have to go anywhere. They’re already in their comfort zone, whether that be their home, at work or on vacation! It’s comfortable. It’s familiar. It’s easy.
And what sort of results are you getting with your clients in the last year?
I would say the results that I’m after are the goals that the client declares from the first session. For example, one of my clients wants to be able to run around with his grandkids and to continue to be active as he ages. He is not an athlete. We’ve been working together for 8 months now, and he’s lost 15 lbs by adding exercise to his weekly routine. When he started working with me, he couldn’t do a pushup and now he can do 25 pushups and is moving around a lot easier. We are quickly approaching his initial goal to be able to run around with his grandkids even though he doesn’t have any yet! It’s never too early to start planning for your future health.
When grandkids arrive, he’ll be ready! What are other top line successes you’ve had based on your other clients’ goals?
Another one of my clients is 72 years young, is still working and is very active. She wants to have better blood chemistry. This would be her HDL, LDL, and glucose. These are the basics that determine your health and how well you’ll do going into the future. After six months of working with me, she had an appointment with her doctor. Her blood tests results yielded the comment “what the heck have you been doing?” from her doctor because her results changed in a way that wouldn’t have been expected from a 72 year old woman.
The results improved dramatically, and, on top of that, she’s lost 20 lbs, she’s gotten stronger and more agile! Her main goal was a health goal and she was overjoyed to report the change. Her mood and confidence changed in a positive way! She is truly living again. It was really a life changing experience for her.
That’s awesome. What are the three things that successful clients change? What do they do?
The first thing they do is develop a habit of exercising consistently. Secondly, they start paying attention to what they’re eating. Lastly, they start surprising themselves with things they can do now that they couldn’t do before working with me. Their health becomes fun and they learn a new way to take care of themselves.
The name of your program is 15 minutes in your garage. Are the workouts actually only 15 minutes long?
Well, they can be, but often times the client just wants to try one more set of an exercise or they just want to do a little bit more. If that’s the case, we continue, however, I really do not want them doing any more than 25 minutes. I’d rather see them do 25 minutes five times a week than an hour, three times a week.
Is that the commitment you’re looking for? A five day a week workout regimen?
Yes that would be ideal. Some weeks could be 3 or 4, but the typical week is 5 to 7 times a week for 15 minutes.
And then looking forward to the next twelve months. What changes in fitness are you seeing? Are there innovations happening?
I see people more committed to their body and their health because of all the challenges they’re experiencing. Due to the pandemic, it has been difficult for people to access good support for their lifestyle changes. They feel on their own and isolated. They want help. They want to be around other people. They want to have goals that they can commit to and make a change to their current habits. They want to be prepared with a body that’s going to take care of them through thick and thin; through a pandemic, through aging, through overeating, whatever their situation may be.
They want their bodies to work, and their commitment is to creating a healthy body. I see the trend going toward fortifying your body to take care of your health and your lifestyle.
And then how about workout styles? What’s coming up in the near term that people may be interested to know about for how to work out?
Group workouts online provide personalized guidance and social connection, two of the top priorities for a healthy future. . Another trend that I’m seeing is strength training combined with joint mobility and functional body strength. You have to be strong to be agile,and agile to be strong.
Another thing people are paying attention to is recovery. There are a lot of tools that can help you recover after your workout. As your circulation improves and your muscle tone improves, the time that you spend working out will be more effective. People are going to do shorter workouts, and add in mobility and recovery for better results.
Is that something that you train people how to manage?
Yes. It is counter intuitive to think that resting will make you stronger. People need to be encouraged to rest and recover until they start seeing their results improving. Then they will see the difference and will be willing to make it a habit.
What does that recovery program look like?
Typically people will take a rest day but the difference is now they can increase the effectiveness of their rest day by. I tell an active stretching program that combines static and active stretching. For example, you can move like a monkey or do the gorilla walk. These exercises are stretching and strengthening your joints without a lot of intensity. These are also good days to drink more water and use massage and heat to speed up recovery.
What are you seeing in terms of nutrition, meal plans, and diet trends?
We are all on a diet! Write down what you ate last week and that was your diet. You can control what you choose to eat and if it is not giving you the energy, health and ability to live your life it is time to make a change.
Trendy diets are coming to a close. Shaping your current diet to get the results you are after will be the new diet. Pay close attention to how much you eat, as most people eat more than they need to. If you are eating for fun, change your thought to tasting for fun. Most of us know what we need to do, but change is tough. To change your diet you need a strong WHY!
And your why needs to be something that REALLY matters to you. Is it your health?, your ability to get around?, or a desire to look good when you are out and about? Whatever your reason, know what it is and remember it with every successful day you have. What is a successful day? When you eat real food, proteins, healthy carbohydrate and fruits and vegetables in moderate amounts throughout the day. As you adjust and get used to it, you will have developed a new diet that works for you.
Last thing about changing your diet. Don;t do it alone. Get good help and tell the people you care about so that you get good support. With that you will be able to make a lasting change to your health and your lifestyle.
Interesting. Do you have any favorite meals that you want to share with us?
Favorite meals? I would say my favorite meal is breakfast. What I like about that is that it’s fresh, easy to prepare and you can put any kind of vegetables in with eggs for a well balanced meal to start the day. Sometimes I add fresh fruit on the side! I can also have some fruit. A typical breakfast for me includes an omelet with mushrooms and an apple.
How do people target the body weight they should be?
When people can’t get around comfortably and find their health and their esteem is suffering, its time to look at the facts. How much do you weigh? Once you know that, you know that you need to be less than that to feel good. Next step is to learn how to lose weight by eating real food but not too much of it. Start with ten pound weight loss increments and then ask: how do I look and feel?, how do my clothes fit?, and can I get around with ease?. If the answer to any of those questions is not what you are after, set another 10 pound goal and reassess. Another good reason to get help on this is that it is hard to assess yourself. Don’t do this alone! Get good help and it will be a fun challenge rather than one you can’t win and you soon will quit.
An example:, when I started with one client, she wanted to lose 25 lbs so she could look good and fit into a size six. So I asked her, “Well, what if you lost 10 lbs and you looked good and fit into a size six?” And she said, “I still want to lose 25 lbs.” So that was our goal! She lost the 25 lbs and looks and feels great! She also realized that she wanted more than looking good and being a size 6. Her health measurements improved as did her posture and her strength. Its much easier to hold up a 125 pound body than it is a 150 pound body, right!
What’s your philosophy on nutritional supplements?
My philosophy on nutritional supplements is that it should start by getting your nutritional supplements from the food you’re eating. A healthy diet is a well rounded diet. If you have fruit, vegetables, protein and some fat that’s a great source of vitamins, minerals and protein. If you travel, and you can’t be as consistent as you’d like to be you may want to add a multivitamin for extra support. Or as you age if you find that you need a little bit more than just a well balanced diet you could start taking a multivitamin all the time. Another good add is NAD, which promotes brain and nervous system health.
So yes, if you’re eating all the healthy things and you still need a little boost, supplements are great! I look at supplements as extras to a healthy diet. Some of the extras are very important because the quality of life will improve as you’re taking them. But I always start with the baseline and make sure you’re eating well. There’s no substitute for a good diet.
What sort of equipment do I need in my home gym to be able to do the 15 minutes in your garage program with you?
You need your body. Your body weight is mostly what we use to start. Moving your body effectively without additional weight will build up your nervous system, coordination and endurance. Once that becomes easy we will add new movement patterns to challenge you and we will add more weight.. At that point, I would recommend purchasing a kettlebell, some bands of various resistance and one pair of light dumbbells. After six to 9 months, we’ll add in some medicine balls and balancing tools.
How about if I have some injuries from past events? What do you do to help me with that? When I’m doing the 15 minutes?
Well, first is we learn about the injury by going through a series of basic day to day movements without weight to find your limits. If it’s a tight muscle, we work to stretch it. If it is a painful current injury, we will rest it or work to strengthen the muscles around it while it’s healing.
Is there anything else that you want to share about the 15 minutes in your garage program?
15 minutes in the garage is one of the most effective things you can do for your health. 15 minutes in the garage programming is a year long program to effectively change your body and your habits so you can perform the life that matters to you. The reason that I offer the program for a year is because I know that to change habits takes commitment and repetition. It takes time to produce lasting results.