Body and Mind Transformation

"How much should I weigh according to my height?" This is one of the most common questions I get when I assess our members. And I'm going to give you an answer that I think is much more useful than simply looking at a height-and-weight chart. Let's start by telling you that back in the past insurance did not want to insure people who were overweight because of their health risk. So a clever insura...

How to Change Your Habits for Permanent Weight Loss: One Habit at a Time One of the services we provide at Custom Body Fitness is follow-up coaching . During these follow-ups, I don't just ask our members how their workouts are going. We talk about their nutrition, their habits, their challenges, their progress, and what is happening in their everyday lives. After doing this with many members,...

How can I grow my glutes and legs? This is one of the most common questions I hear from women who have been exercising for years. The answer is not simply doing more squats, more lunges, or more leg exercises. If you want to build your glutes and legs, you need to give your muscles a reason to adapt. One of the most important principles for doing that is progressive overload . Let me give you a re...

Weight Loss Case Study: Osiel Mariano — The Keys to Toning Your Body Sometimes a body transformation is about much more than losing weight or gaining muscle. Sometimes, exercise can become the beginning of a completely different chapter in someone's life. That is what happened with Osiel Mariano . Osiel started exercising because he was struggling emotionally after being diagnosed with an eye...

Low Carb vs High Protein for Fat Loss: What Really Matters? Last week, I needed a Before and After image , so I went to a local printer. While I was there, I met a lady who told me that she had started losing weight and was going on a diet. We didn't get too deep into the conversation before I heard the phrase that bothers me: “I gave up carbohydrates.” And I know why this phrase gets me. I think...

Exercise Helps You Build a Sustainable Lifestyle Dr. Tom believes exercise is important for living a long life. But he also emphasized something I really liked. It is not only about living longer. It is about living better. You don't want to simply survive for many years. You want to enjoy those years. You want to be able to move, travel, play with your children or grandchildren, participate in ac...

How to Get Fit with Only 3 Workouts Per Week When I started to be a trainer, I only knew two program designs to tone, grow, and strengthen muscles and the body. I was stuck in the box and could not think differently. I started training people one-on-one, teaching my clients to train all their upper body one day and lower body another day, or divide the muscle groups into two big muscle groups per...

Why Most People Quit Their Fitness Goals This is a question I have been asking myself for many years. As a fitness professional, I like to ask members who stop coming to their programs why they quit. I get many different answers, but some of the most common ones are: "I can't afford it anymore." "I am under too much stress." "I have family problems." "I am to...

How to Build Discipline in Fitness Not too long ago, I interviewed Dr. Michael Rubenstein. We talked about pain and different treatments, but toward the end of the interview, I asked him how he stayed disciplined to stay in shape. He replied that it was all about discipline. Then he thought about it for a moment and corrected himself. He said it was discipline in the beginning, but now it is a hab...

How to Stay Motivated to Work OutThe Secret Isn't More Motivation—It's Finding a Stronger Reason People ask me all the time, "How do I stay motivated to work out?" To be honest, I'm not sure anyone stays motivated all the time. Life gets busy. Problems show up. Work becomes stressful. The family needs your attention. Even after more than 25 years of exercising, there are days...

Why Lifting Weights Won't Make Women Bulky? The Truth About Strength Training for Women One of the biggest fears I hear from women who are thinking about starting a strength training program is this: "I don't want to get bulky." Every time I hear that, I smile because I know exactly where that belief comes from. Let me explain it this way. Imagine you wanted a Chihuahua to become...

Progressive Overload Explained for BeginnersWhy Getting Stronger Is the Secret to Building Muscle and Transforming Your Body Have you ever heard the legend of Milo and the Bull ? The story says that when Milo was a young man, he began carrying a small calf on his shoulders every day. As the calf grew bigger and heavier, Milo continued carrying it. Little by little, his body adapted to the increasi...

Beginner's Guide to Strength Training If you are reading this article, I am assuming you are ready to transform your body. You have already gone through the first two stages of behavior change— precontemplation and contemplation —and now you have reached the third stage: preparation . Preparation is a great place to be. You are learning. You are open to new ideas. You are gathering information...

If you have been following my articles, you already know that I love interviewing professionals who dedicate their lives to helping people improve their health. Every interview teaches me something new that I can use to better serve our members at Custom Body Fitness. Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Michael Rubenstein , and I learned several valuable lessons about pain, movement,...

How to Build Lean Muscle with a Personal Trainer I still remember when I started exercising. I was a skinny 19-year-old who weighed only 130 pounds at 5'7". At that point, I wasn't really motivated to transform my body when I met my mentor, Dave. Dave was a bodybuilder, and to me he stood apart from everyone else. He had the physique I wanted, the confidence I admired, and the discipl...

Can a Personal Trainer Help After 40? Most of our regular members are over 40 years of age. Every member had a different reason to join us. For example, one of our members joined us at 42 years old because her cousin died of cancer. That tragedy made her realize how important a healthy lifestyle is. We have another member who joined us at 67 years old because he was tired of trying to tone his bod...

Seed Oils, Cleanses, and How to Lose Weight Easier and Faster with Cherie Calbom I already knew how important food is for weight loss and overall health. However, I was not fully aware of how much the type of fats and oils we consume can influence our health and well-being. Of course, I knew that olive oil is one of the healthiest oils you can consume. But I did not know there are many other oils...

Strength Training for Beginners Over 50 So, you've never lifted weights in your life, and now you're over 50 and wondering if it's too late to start. The good news is that you're not alone. Here at Custom Body Fitness, we have helped many people over 50 start strength training for the very first time. In fact, some of our most successful members never touched a weight until later i...

What I Learned About Weight Loss and Health From Zuzu Karen Ziemer Armes After more than 15 years of helping people lose weight, tone their bodies, and transform their lives, I have learned something very important: people do not change because they receive information. People change because they find a reason powerful enough to take action. At Custom Body Fitness, I have found that once people di...

Personal Trainer for Women Over 40: Why It Matters Why do you care about starting to exercise? Do you really think exercise can change your life? Would the benefits outweigh the difficulty of the routine? Let’s be clear from the beginning. You are probably reading this article because something sparked your interest to finally start exercising. And the truth is this: it is never too late to start....

What is really your goal? Do you simply want to lose weight, or do you want to improve your appearance, your health, and the way you feel? Many people say they want to lose weight, but what they really want is to lose fat, tone their body, look healthier, and feel more confident. I have had many clients become frustrated after months of hard work because the scale did not move the way they expecte...

Chris Ryan is a nationally recognized performance coach, entrepreneur, and founder of the Chris Ryan Fitness app — a science-driven strength and longevity platform built for ambitious professionals who want to perform at a high level in business, at home, and in their bodies. A former Division I track & field athlete at the University of Florida, Chris was named one of America’s Top 10 Trainer...

How to Break a Weight Loss Plateau I have seen many of our members hit a plateau after losing a significant amount of weight. The truth is , when someone reaches a real plateau, the best action is often to continue the habits that helped them lose weight in the first place. As you get closer to your goal, fat loss naturally slows down. Losing the same amount of weight becomes harder, especially wh...

You want to transform your body? You want to lose weight? You want to tone your body? Then let’s be clear about something first. I’ve said it many times, and I’ll keep saying it because it matters: If you don’t fix your eating habits, nothing else will work. You can do all the workouts you want…  But without proper nutrition, your body won’t transform. Yes, I sound repetitive. But that’s because t...

Best Workout Plan for Fat Loss (Trainer Approved) Let’s make this simple. If you want to lose weight and keep it off, your eating habits come first . Not your workouts. Not supplements. Not trends. Your nutrition. I’ve seen it over and over again—people working out hard, sweating every day, doing everything they think is right… and still not losing weight. Why? Because no workout plan can outperfo...