"Waist-ing" time?

I can't tell you how many clients have come in over the years talking about the latest magazine they had a chance to stare at while waiting in the checkout line.

If they aren’t looking at a picture of a celebrity going through some life-altering train wreck, their eyes are glued to some body shot of the newest hunk or the current hottie.

Over this past quarter century, I have been privileged and have enjoyed working with celebrities and high-profile clients from all walks of life. I have worked with them one-on-one, where they only come to me for training. And I have also discussed philosophies and collaborated with some of the best trainers across the globe as well as the "celebrity trainers" based out of New York and L.A. to find what works best.

No matter what the style of teaching or method was, the programs all had the following things in common:

1. They focused mostly on big movements: Pushing, pulling, squatting, and walking lunges.
2. They used explosive, full body exercises: kettle bell swings, mountain climbers, etc.
3. They utilized core involvement in every movement.
4. They involved a circuit training workout style.
5. They included some form of interval training.

And the most important factor is the use of intensity as the main ingredient. Over the years I have found that intense workouts always burn the most fat. Let's define intense here....what is intense for one, is a walk in the park for another. The workout has to be specifically intense for you on that given day.

Long gone are the days of low intensity workouts, where one spends hours in the gym and follows a meticulous diet. Today's workouts are efficient, precise, power-oriented and fun.

It does NOT matter if I am working with a mother of three, a celeb, or a top athlete, my training is all about smarter workouts that are time-efficient and highly intense. This means that clients see fast results.


If your goal is to change your body composition, then your workouts should be short, hard, and full body. If you're spending hour after hour in the gym because you use a low intensity workout, there is a good chance that not going to get the changes in your body composition that you had hoped. Actually, you'll be pretty frustrated.

Before you get angered at my words let me explain. If you are doing those type of workouts I'd bet that more than likely you are in the gym for something else, maybe there is a social component or place to blow off steam, or you are training specifically for a long endurance event.... OK, did you raise an eyebrow yet? Some of my colleagues might even say that if your workout takes more than an hour then all you are doing is wasting time. I'm not that harsh, but I understand their point of view.

For example, think of those people you see who go over and do a set of straight bar chest presses (I hate this move by the way) then spend 8 minutes talking to the person next to them before they do the second set.

Have you ever noticed that those people never look any different, even though they have been coming to the gym for years and years?

I know that you are smarter than that! So get out of the gym in 45 minutes or less. Never rest longer than 40 - 45 seconds between sets. Better yet, don’t rest at all. Just keep changing between core, upper and lower body.

This way, two body parts rest while the other one works.

BOTTOM LINE for your waistline - Get rid of low intensity workouts and start getting rid of fat.

Til next time....