From Fluff to Buff: Meet Scott

You haven't seen the before and after pictures yet, can start this article by scrolling down and checking them out if you want. OR you can see the change happening through the lines, even before you get to the bottom line of this story. Your call.

It was January 2010. Gym packed with New Year’s “resolutioners”. Tons of brand new people. It didn’t take me long to find Scott. He was there, punctual, ready to be found. As I always do, I asked Scott what made him make the move to sign up for training. The first few sessions were a gift from his father, who listened to Scott’s desire to change his life. “I want to lose weight and get in better shape”, Scott answered. I insisted: “Ok, fair enough, now tell me WHY are you really here? Why do you want to lose weight?”

His answer made the world stop and reset for a second: “I want to see my daughters grow up.”

Scott was on several medications, for high blood pressure, cholesterol, sleeping meds. In addition to other things, there was also the inseparable mask that he needed to let him breath through his sleep apnea.

Being 5’4” and almost 190lbs, we both knew that was a serious talk. There was no half way, and for Scott, there was no way back. The game was ON.

Scott told me he would follow all my recommendations to achieve his goals. “Whatever it takes”. I loved the enthusiasm, however I knew the challenge we were facing. Even basic bodyweight movements were hard. Scott couldn’t do a lunge or go up the stairs without huffing and puffing. Tough grounds to move from a sedentary lifestyle and get into a healthy lifestyle HABIT.

To my surprise and excitement, Scott literally followed every single advice offered, in training and nutrition, and kept renewing his training packages. He cleaned his eating to a high quality fat loss diet, and trained 3 times per week with me. We concentrated in high intensity workouts, focusing on the Metabolic Effect's Rest-Based Training technique. Scott also added swimming and bike rides to boost the workouts and stay active.

It didn’t take long for Scott to start seeing results. The first 2 weeks, 10 lbs down. Whoa! That was A LOT. I was doing my best to motivate him to stay away from low calorie diets, and he listened! Scott started eating more protein adn vegetables, eating more frequently, and controlling his carbohydrate intake. He was eating more, and losing fat.

It’s been always a motivation to me as a trainer to see Scott’s commitment. Flawless punctuality, keeping track of his progress, asking questions to make sure we were on the right path.

The first short term goal was hit in March 2010. A ski trip with his father and brother. I can’t express how happy I was to get a quick e-mail update from Scott, thrilled to be absolutely ROCKING the ski trip. His quads didn’t let him down, he felt great, strong, lighter! It was just the beginning…

Summer came and the wardrobe was changing to much smaller clothes. The fat percentage coming down, as well as the scale numbers.

But the best updates start to come from his blood work and doctor’s check up. The meds dosages were dropping like dead flies, and it wasn’t even a year after the start, Scott was off of all of them, including the sleep apnea machine. Cured? You can call it whatever you want. I call it FREE.

Scott was experiencing the most important freedom. Freedom from the fear of not being around to see his children grow up. Freedom from discomfort, low self-esteem, from meds, and machines, from the body that just didn’t match such light spirit.

Scott’s shoulders were no longer rounded forward to hide the “unhidable” belly. Scott was then all shoulders back, chest forward. His muscle definition several times susrprised him and made him stop in front of the gym mirrors so he could appreciate it. J

The self-confidence was matching other changes in Scott’s personal and professional life too. It was all coming along, just because that one day back in January, he decided that not a single day would go by without him empowering himself.

Along this journey I had the pleasure to meet Scott’s parents. I trained his mom (my sweetheart) for several months and also had a chance to hug his dad and chat about how proud we both were to see Scott turning a heavy sluggish body into a fierce machine.

To balance out the intensity training, Scott also started doing pilates once a week, and is now digging the Trigger Point Performance Therapy. He is getting more flexible, more functional. He can perform exercises he couldn't before. He is absolutely an unstoppable inspiration.

The challenges keep coming. We’ve had to pull the horse’s rein to stay focused and go through ups and downs.  It was NEVER easy. Busy life, tons of business traveling, vacations… life didn’t simply stop to wait for Scott, but Scott didn’t stop to get run over by life either. He even came up with his own title for his fitness story: "From Fluff to Buff".

We are always working on his new goals, keeping his fat loss lifestyle in check. He never lets down the passion on his quest to keep the journey along his two beautiful daughters and his wife.  Specially now that he can enjoy more active time outdoors with them without losing his breath. Who knew.

Scott is now 46lbs down, no meds, no machines, and had a drop of ~9% in Body Fat.

	Jan-10	Apr-10
Body Fat	28.60%	19.90%
Arm	13 1/2	11 5/8
Chest	43 1/2	37 3/4
Waist	41 1/2	33 1/2
Hip	40	36
Thigh	22	19
Calf	16	14 1/4
Weight	190 lbs	144 lbs

To keep his privacy mainly for professional reasons, Scott’s face is cropped off the pictures. On the other hand, he’s proud to show his body. J Meet Scott’s body before, and recently at his best:

It's all about ME!

Today I spent the entire day attending the Metabolic Effect Nutrition Seminar, in Arlington, VA.

I was so excited that I bounced out of bed before my alarm went off at 4:45am (granted my usual wake up time is 4am). 



Yours truly :) and Dr. Jade Teta, one of the founders of Metabolic Effect

Wake Your Butt Up!

Do you know how strong or weak your butt muscles are?

This is a part of the body that always shows up in the fitness talk, not just for esthetics, but also for functionality. These two components have to meet to not only get you a good looking back side, but also to help you prevent injury, stay fit, have better movement control and become a stronger athlete. As one of the largest muscle groups in the human body, the glutes are involved in running, jumping, changing directions, golf swinging, throwing, etc.

Who actually stops to think about the real role of those muscles? Just stop and think, that’s smack in the middle of your body.  And then tell me, when you are sitting on your butt hours and hours a day, do you realize you are smashing one of the most important structural support segments of your body?

A Freebie to Get You Moving at High Intensity and To Ramp Up Your Metabolism

Almost the end of the week. I've been having a very busy one, between entertaining my daughter on Spring Break, accommodating all the clients eager to catch up coming back from THEIR Spring Break. I love their commitment and effort to schedule around their traveling plans, so they won't miss sessions. They feel, and I agree, that it keeps them focused!
You may be running out of ideas for your workout, or possible running out of steam. And specially, if you are running out of time, this video is a great option. If you missed it when I posted it on my fan page on Facebook, here is a chance to catch up!
I had a great feedback from clients and friends, specially the ones who took advantage of it when travelling during Spring Break.
All you need is a pair of dumbbells, and a mat. One of my clients who will be going away for two weeks even suggested the use of water bottles if you don't have access to dumbbells. Filled, of course. :)
Be creative! You can fill them with water, sand - just leave the cotton balls for other purposes, please ;)
The workout is simple: 5 exercises that you can repeat 4 or 5 rounds. Or as many as you can handle.
A friend coming back from an injury, got 3 rounds in. That's totally fine! Keep in mind. You do what you can. The idea is to follow the Metabolic Effect training style. Push until you can't, rest until you can. You can rest anytime during the workout, and jump right back in from where you left off, just catching up with whatever you are seeing on the video at that time. You don't need to stop the video. Do a light warm up for 5 minutes, and limit that sequence to 20-25 minutes. Very important to do a cool down, some stretching and even better, add some trigger point or foam rolling if you have access to these equipments.
Get ready! And hit it as hard as you can! Enjoy the ride!

There are also options with more variety that you can purchase for immediate download here at my website FitnessByTY . I currently offer two different training videos. They are both high intensity, with my instructions personal training style in the background. One is bodyweight, so even without equipment, you can do it anywhere. The other one is with dumbbells. You can download and sync it to your portable device (phone, IPod, ITouch, etc) and take it with you anywhere. To the gym, to the park, playground, outside in your backyard, wherever you feel like training.

Jump back into the game - YES, ME TOO!!

For the past month or so, this subject came up in training sessions with at least 10 of my 20+ clients. Fantastic people that often put me in awe for their commitment with their lives, work, family and also, fitness life. People who have reached strong goals with fat loss, impressed the heck out of their families and friends. They look better, sleep better, feel better, stopped meds they had been taking for years, bought new clothes, celebrated, and now smile more often.

But something came across their new lifestyle