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Top ten truths about fitness and weight loss you refuse to believe.

Normal sized human beings, circa 1983
Well... hopefully YOU will believe by the end of this article if you didn't already, but these are the hotly disputed but actually true facts that people need to face up to.

1: The Body Mass Index IS a suitable and accurate assessment.

Let's set this straight, once and for all.

As of the past couple of weeks... I'm obese. aka BMI 30.

Now, a lot of what you might call BMI denialists might read that last sentence and say "see? how can you be 'obese', you're a trainer, you're healthy and active. This proves the BMI is flawed!"

No.

It took me YEARS of hard work to get up to this size. And if you think training was the hard part, you'd be wrong. The hard part was training my APPETITE in order to be able to consume enough food to maintain this body weight. Now... it might be easy enough if I didn't train, ate high calorie junk with no nutritional value day in and day out etc... but to consume enough calories with some attention to macronutrition ratios and end up at this weight with a reasonable ratio of lean mass to body fat... eating that much was HARD WORK.

In plain English, it's not normal to be this size. It's out of the ordinary. Now since I'm phenomenally strong my body is putting all of that extra fuel to good use... but to be at this weight (relative to my height) due to an inactive lifestyle and excessive consumption of unhealthy foods. That's clearly not the ideal condition for a human being to be in, and it should never be considered normal.

The scary part is, there are people out there so much bigger than I am, and not because they're elite strength athletes.

Now to further illustrate my point... I was watching some old episodes of The Goodies on youtube the other day and the first thing I thought was "wow, look how skinny people are". Then later on, I watched one of those embarrassing "spring break" type movies from the early 80s on tv. Again... I'm struck by how slim people are, especially women's arms. You know what though? Those are NORMAL SIZED human beings... probably around BMI 22 or so.

We're just not used to seeing normal sized people any more, and when you really stop and think about it... isn't that terrible?

Here's a great article explaining the Body Mass Index.

Stay tuned I've got 9 more of these to come in the days ahead! In the meantime if you haven't done so already, go check out my new profile on the gym's website especially if you're looking for a Personal Trainer In Brunswick.
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Personal Training In Brunswick, promo and testimonials video



Just a little sneak peak at the new promo & testimonials video I am putting together. This is actually like, out takes or something. I have other takes of my parts that I like better and will use in the finished video.

What you can see here is me in the infamous leg room at Doherty's world famous 24/7 gym in Brunswick, and a few testimonials from local PT clients and worldwide online coaching clients. There'll be more people in the finished product. It's going to be awesome.

Local people interested in Personal Training In Brunswick can go check out my profile at Doherty's Gym website, and if you're not a local you can go read about my Online Personal Training program on my official business site.


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Trainers who don't "Eat Clean"

I shot a little video blog before training yesterday... it was just off the top of my head in one take, so it requires a little elaboration.

A while back I was talking about french toast, on facebook... and I got a little bit of a lecture from some other trainers like I should be "setting a better example for my clients" by cutting out bread. This was in the context of... you know... the usual sort of conversation about carbs being the devil and "clean eating" being the way to manage your weight and get into great shape.

Well... my opinions on this subject are already well documented. To lose weight and get into great shape you need to eat "about the right amount, more often than not" and follow an effective training program. There are certainly better choices of foods that will make it easier to hit your targets for total calorie intake, macro nutrient rations and mirco nutrition (that's vitamins and minerals) requirements... but the idea that "you can't do it" if you're not on some kind of clean eating / green eating / caveman style / low carb diet is ridiculous and unhelpful. People already have enough of an unhealthy, disordered relationship without us trainers telling them most common every day foods are a "deal breaker" that is going to ruin their lives.

That kind of thinking is called ORTHOREXIA and in my opinion, promoting it with misinformation like that is just as irresponsible as the other forms of "pro eating disorder" and self harm glamorisation that fucked up people are putting into the heads of young people. It's terrible.

SO anyway I've already talked about that a lot and this post was supposed to be about something related but a little different, which is:

What about Personal Trainers who eat junk food?

You see these conversations on the internet a lot. Like... oh, "I was in the food court and there was a trainer in there eating something unhealthy. Lol what a bad trainer"... that sort of thing. People like to spot trainers and make an instant judgement call about them not being very good, don't they?

So I wasn't really happy with how I said this in the video so I'll type it up a bit better here.

First possible scenario: trainer doesn't appear to be in tremendous shape and is eating "unhealthy" food.

Well... you could be right. Maybe they don't have an adequate knowledge of how to train and eat for a goal body type. OR, maybe they've actually done tremendously well already... starting out as an overweight inactive person, getting into training, becoming a qualified PT, they're about half way through their own transformation and this is their one "cheat" meal of the week? How would you know?

Second possible scenario: trainer appears to be in decent shape, but is eating "unhealthy" food.

Again... they could be one of those people who simply do not get fat no matter what they eat. And that's not necessarily a good thing for a trainer, as it may or may not mean that they don't have that necessary understanding of how a normal person (aka a client) needs to eat for their goal body type. But then again, they might. OR once again, it could just be their one "don't give a fuck, gonna eat what I want and enjoy it" meal of the week. How would you know?

Third possible scenario: it's me eating pizza on a Saturday night.

People who have a real understanding of this stuff... and that means actual trainers as well as people who you might describe as "successful enthusiasts" have a healthy relationship with food, and know that as long as they get it "about right" more often than not throughout the week, it's fine to have that "this one is just for enjoyment" meal once in a while. This is important for your sanity as much as anything else. Setting an unrealistic expectation of following a perfect "clean" diet 100% of the time isn't even necessary to start with, and beating yourself up for eating like a normal, non-obsessive human being once in a while is certainly a lot less healthy than allowing yourself a little guilt free indulgence once in a while.

So the example we should all be setting is MODERATION. Achieve your goals through healthy, sensible and moderate approaches.

Anyway here's the video.


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Training videos from Doherty's Gym, Brunswick

I treated myself to a new camera, and so here are some videos I shot while training this week.



First up is a pushing routine, and the next day I performed all the opposing movements aka pulling routine.


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Press Release: Personal Training In Brunswick

This is big!

I just posted over on my official business site for Personal Training In Brunswick, that as of right now I'm an officially approved Doherty's Gym Personal Trainer. As you can see from the profiles on that link to the gym's website, this is the home of some of the best trainers in the country... pro body builders, strength and figure athletes, boxers. Home away from home for international superstars of the body building and fitness world.

I've blogged here recently about how fortunate I am to be able to operate from this location, and now to be officially recognised, approved and recommended amongst the other competent and accomplished trainers there is really a big deal. Now, I have happy and successful customers here and all over the world... but it's nice to be noticed and get this vote of confidence from some of the biggest names in the legitimate fitness, body building and weight lifting community.

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Weight Loss For Idiots

I'm trying to organise my thoughts well enough to write some new articles. I have a couple of ideas for topics, and here's one of them.

I read a comment last night which I can't find right now... but a guy was some kind of exercise science student and he was saying the whole premise everything is based is that people are fat lazy idiots and if you simply tell them "here's how it's done" they won't have what it takes, so you have to keep inventing new "tricks" and fads and whatever else, and hope that at best there might be a slight benefit / marginal increase in health from the week or two that they adopt whatever the latest thing is.

So, that's quite offensive right? I mean.. the bloke was making an observation, he wasn't agreeing with it. It's an accurate assessment though.if you look at the products, methods and half baked nonsense the media, elements of the weight loss industry, and the mainstream fitness industry push on people.

Fad diets, meal replacements, burn more calories with this gadget, pill, or product... none of that garbage is going to get people into healthy shape.

The real story is pretty simple:
  • Eat the right amount for your healthy goal body type.
    Not too much and not too little, and try to include more nutrient dense, natural foods.
  • Train strategically and methodically for about an hour a day.
    Note the difference between this and "exercise to burn more calories". 
  • Get enough sleep, and manage your stress levels. 
That's all it really takes.

On the subject of nutrition... there are people out there who'll tell you it's not so simple as "just eat the right amount", but it actually is. Generally speaking, the people who push the low carb, no carb or "clean eating" (aka orthorexia, if you ask me) plans are not actually qualified nutritionists. They may be in shape, or they may have impressive qualifications in some other field... but actual nutritionists recommend a balanced diet sourced from all macronutrient groups, including some food that is just for enjoyment. There have been uncountable numbers of people throughout history (and still to this day) who have maintained a healthy weight range without avoiding carbs or adopting any of these other restrictive measures. Contrary to what these charlatans attest to, the evidence does NOT support a need for anything other than a moderate, flexible approach to nutrition.

So in actual fact it is a very simple equation, but apparently you can't sell the message "eat right and train hard"; you have to dress it up, offer some quicker fixes with fast temporary results and so on.

Is it really because people are stupid and lazy though?

Well... not necessarily. Not in my opinion anyway, but perhaps they are pessimistic. It doesn't help that there are so many advertisements and talk show segments on the TV suggesting that any amount of serious physical training is an unlikely and unreasonable expectation that aint nobody got time for. Instead it's "what if getting into shape could be as easy as sitting in a chair". For fuck's sake.

It doesn't help either, with so much conflicting disinformation about diet that people give up on that and say "it's all too complicated, I'll just starve myself instead".

I've written before about the measures that should be taken in order to address the obesity epidemic, including a code of conduct the tv and print media need to adopt. This should be legislated as well, to the effect that any segment or advertisement related to weight management must be along the lines of "to manage your weight, you must consume an appropriate range of calories and stay active. Here's our product which is one way to do this". Any of the usual "you can't do it unless these special conditions are met" type messages should be banned as being dangerous and damaging to people's health.

The underlying issue isn't even about nutrition, education or exercise. At the root of the problem is... I won't go so far as to say a mental health issue.... but... well look at it this way; These weight loss products and segments on tv treat people like lazy idiots. “oh no one is gonna actually do exercise, or eat sensibly… luckily here’s this thing that lets you lose weight just as easy as laying back on the sofa”. And people AREN’T all offended like “hey I might be a bit fat - but I'm not stupid” when they see that.

The issue behind the obesity crisis isn’t even anything that people usually talk about… the issue is, how are people so disempowered, so low on self belief that the idea of “eat an appropriate amount of your choice of foods + choose some serious but enjoyable form of exercise for about an hour a day” is out of the question. Like, that’s an entirely unreasonable thing to expect a full grown, otherwise intelligent & responsible adult to be able to do?

On a somewhat related note, here's a short video talking about the economic cost of obesity, and how financially disadvantaged people are more at risk.
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Online Personal Training Product Review

here we go with a nice review of my DHPT Coaching Via Email program, complete with before and after transformation photos!

I am writing this post mostly as a massive thank you to Dave. I know I rant and rave about his program a lot but, I promise I wouldn’t if I didn’t love it and the results I’m seeing.
First things first…what exactly does this program entail?
- you firstly sign up with Dave and send all your details through and he sets up nutrition stuff for you
- you get an email sent to you daily with the training plan for the day and some extra info which, makes it really easy to stay on track
 - the program itself is a push/pull/HIIT Cardio split.  It’s specifically designed for Body Sculpting and involves quite a lot of weight training, leading to some awesome results!
What results did I achieve?
 - I’ve added photos at the end so you can see evidence there
 - I didn’t really have much ‘weight’ to lose but, I did lose body fat and I certainly have more muscle definition and I’ve lost centimetres.
 - I gained the confidence to use free weights and increase all my lifts quite significantly
 - I am far more confident, happy and I have a much better idea about the amount of food I should be eating each day as well as a better appreciation for macros.
So…proof is in the pudding, right?  Or, in the progress pics…
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There you have it!  In conclusion, this is absolutely worthwhile and I strongly recommend checking out Dave’s email program!

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