Ever wonder why your "diet and cardio" plan isn't working?

Ever wonder why your "diet and cardio" plan isn't working?
It's been a few weeks that you've been following your new diet and you've been doing all your cardio.
You've even finally lost a few lbs on the scale. But...
You don't really look much different.
Your clothes fit MAYBE a little looser..
But you don't really see any more definition or tone..
No one has really noticed or commented on your weight loss..
You don't really FEEL much different..
Maybe it's time to give up? Or is it time to diet harder and do even more cardio?
("ugh.. how would that even be possible? I barely have time to do 4 hours a week of cardio I am already doing, not to mention I am already starving! Well, I guess it's either suffer more or just give it up and accept the fact that nothing works for me.")
Does any of this sound familiar?
If it does, do not fret. It's not all in your head. It's real.
While you may have lost a few lbs, you probably don't look or feel much different. Here's why:
Scientific studies suggest, and a quick look at any gym in the world will show you, that traditional "cardio" exercise is not a very effective way to lose fat. In fact, in numerous studies with thousands of people, there was some incredibly small amount of fat lost (like 3 or 4 lbs., seriously) after close to a year of doing cardio for 7 hours a week.
7 HOURS A WEEK?? Who has time for that?
Particularly when it barely even works!
Here's the deal. It doesn't work because traditional "cardio" work, ie: walking, jogging, elliptical, aerobic classes, etc., and caloric restriction (dieting) results in a loss of equal parts muscle mass and fat. SO, if you lose 10 lbs, you actually lose 5 lbs of muscle and 5 lbs of fat. Losing equal parts muscle and fat results in a smaller body but one that has exactly the same percentage of body fat.
SO the pear-shaped person who loses 10 lbs through traditional cardio and diet is now just a slightly smaller pear-shaped person.
THE GOOD NEWS: The secret is strength training. With two to three metabolic strength training sessions per week combined with a clean diet, fat loss is dramatically increased and there is very little, if any, loss in muscle mass. In fact, there is usually a gain in lean muscle mass combined with a loss of a lot of fat.
So now, the pear-shaped person who loses 10 lbs on a metabolic strength training program actually loses 13 lbs of fat, gains 3 lbs of muscle (for a total loss of 10 lbs.) and looks completely different. WHY? Because losing 13 lbs of pure fat and gaining 3 lbs of muscle completely changes that person's percentage of body fat, it changes their body shape and they FEEL totally different as their metabolism speeds up, their clothes are fitting completely differently and on a daily their friends are asking them how much weight they have lost!
The pear-shaped person is no longer a pear-shaped person! 
It's legit. Only two or three metabolic strength training sessions per week will do more for your fat-loss, muscle building and defining/toning goals than any amount of boring cardio sessions and restrictive dieting ever will.
Learn more by visiting our website, www.ironwillstrengthstudio.com and schedule a complimentary, no-strings attached consultation to learn more about how to create and perform a metabolic strength-training workout and fat-burning, non-restrictive eating plan.
Simply go the the Contact Page and let us know you'd like to come in for your free consult. We'll be in touch shortly and arrange a time for you to come in and learn what you should be doing do dramatically increase your fat-loss and there is absolutely no pressure to sign up with us or join our program. Seriously.

The scale sucks- here's why...

So as you likely know by now, we at the Iron Will Strength Studio have one mission. That mission is to empower people through strength. Most of our clients are looking for a few things- to build muscle, to get stronger and to lose fat. Along the way, we find that they develop confidence, inner strength and a vitality and sense of purpose that they never knew they had.
One thing that trips a lot of people up on the road to being lean and mean is the scale. You know the drill... You workout consistently for a few weeks, start feeling stronger and tighter and perhaps your clothes are starting to fit better and some people may have even commented that it looks like you have lost weight. You are feeling great! You are on cloud 9! "This is working!" you think.. "This is actually working this time!"
Then, feeling confident about what you will see, you step on the scale. Suddenly, that good feeling leaves and the feeling of failure kicks in.. You have gained two pounds. WTF?! Suddenly, all those compliments, all those good feelings go out the window. You are in a tailspin. Well guess what? F*ck that. Watch this short video..
"The scale sucks- throw it away!

Scott
Founder, Iron Will Strength Studio
IronWillStrengthStudio.com
GetOnThePROGRAM.com
ShapelyStrength.com

TBT and life lessons from a skinny kid

As the majority of you know by now, I generally avoid posting selfies or a lot of pictures of myself on this site. The reason for that is that one of my biggest pet peeves is trainers and fitness athletes who think everyone wants to look like them and should do exactly what they do. This is not about me, it's about you. But today I decided to post these pictures for two reasons. First off because one of them is just fucking funny, and secondly, for what they symbolize to me.

 I can still remember back when I was competing, in the picture on the right, I was training for the Junior USA bodybuilding championships, which is a very high-level national  competition. I will never forget the day that one of the members of the gym, who later became one of my best friends, came up to me and asked me what I did for my arms. Maybe it was the low-carb diet or the fact that I was just tired of people looking for some secret, but my response to him was as follows. I said “Why don’t you tell me what you did this weekend?”  He proceeded to tell me about the clubs that he went to, how many drinks he had, etc. I told him that in the last six months I had only one drink and it was a rum and Diet Coke (which was terrible by the way.)

 My point was that there is no secret. Actually, that’s not true. There is a secret. The secret is hard freaking work and a ton of dedication and sacrifice.  In the picture on the top, I am on stage next to Craig Richardson, (I'm in the middle) who later went on to become a professional bodybuilder. The reason I mention this, is that the way I went from being the skinny dude with the mullet, high tops and jean shorts on the left to someone who was sharing the stage with a future professional bodybuilder was through a tremendous amount of personal sacrifice and commitment.

  I missed out on a lot of things that most other 26 year olds were doing. I didn’t go out. I didn’t party. Ever summer during college I worked 8-5 and then went to the gym and worked out every night for 2 hours and went home and went to bed. All summer, every year for four years. After four years of that I did my first contest. Over the next 10 years I won a lot of shows and got a lot of trophies but what I got most was an education for life, and that was this expression: “You have to be willing to sacrifice who you are today for who you want to become.”

That lesson lives with me to this day. People still ask me “How did you go from being the new guy at the gym to the busiest trainer in such a short time?” The answer is the same. Once I decided to get into training clients again, I made the decision to get up at 4 am every day in order to fit 6 clients a day in before I had to get home and work my full-time job. Just like many of you, I have two kids and a wife and a lot of responsibilities. But this was important to me so I gave up watching TV and doing other useless shit at night in order to pursue something I love and something that would benefit my family. I could have continued sleeping til 7 and just going about my easy, normal life but that wouldn’t cut if for me. I was being called to do something greater with my life, and that is helping people.

My point in this post is not to say how great I am or to impress everyone, but rather to inspire everyone out there who is also sacrificing a lot to live the life that they want. It doesn’t come easy. I see many of you on this page in the gym at 5 and 6 am, when most people are sound asleep. I know many of you spend hard earned money on training with me, gym memberships, etc. It’s a sacrifice. But that is what it takes. And guess what? All of you who are doing that are miles ahead of the rest of the world who are comfortable and lazy and not achieving what they want in life, whether that is in career, family or fitness. At the end of the day, any successful person will tell you the same thing. To achieve something you never have, you need to be willing to do something you have never done. That is the lesson I learned from bodybuilding, from the iron, and that is something that I will strive to pass on to all of the people I touch in my life and especially my children. I hope that this inspires you to go after whatever it is that you love and to also take a moment to be proud, knowing that each and every one of you is already sacrificing and making a commitment to better yourself and that is truly something to be proud of.

Iron will- “A burning determination that cannot be stopped or hindered by anything.”

-Scott
www.GetOnThePROGRAM.com

Interested in learning more about how to get stronger and join the Iron Will team? email me info@ironwillstrengthstudio.com and we'll chat.

I hate the word "fitness"...

I have to be honest...
I hate the word "fitness"... 
Let me explain..

"Fitness" to me, spells mediocrity.
"Fitness" sounds like the half-ass workouts that I see in the gyms all the time.
"Fitness" is a trainer who has his or her client doing lots of "fun" and useless exercises in the name of "just getting fit and healthy" and to "change things up."
Fitness is the individual who is "exercising" for the sake of saying they exercised but they aren't getting anywhere. (Oh, and it's been years...)

People like to say "everything in moderation." Yes, in some cases I guess that's fine. But with a goal of getting fit and being awesome, you've gotta go all in.

Nothing GREAT happens in moderation.

No great book was ever written by someone who dabbled in writing.

No great politician ever changed the world and lived his life "in balance".

No world class athlete ever trained in his sport "in moderation."

Greatness happens in the extreme.

I am not suggesting that everyone live like a bodybuilder and give up their social lives forever, not hardly. But what I am suggesting is that in life we need to surge and coast.

When it is time to make some dramatic changes and change your life, it is time to SURGE.
Commit Fully. Get it done. Don't dip your feet in. DIVE IN!!

Once you reach your goals, you can COAST for a while. Bring back some balance.

But if you are reaching for greatness, for awesomeness; don't settle for mediocrity. Go ALL in!

Don't exercise with the goal of "just being fit". That is not exciting enough to get you to do what you need to do to see results.

Train with the goal of a complete transformation. Do whatever is necessary to achieve that. Change the way you eat, change the way you sleep, change the way you work out.

That is when the magic happens.

Interested in learning more about how to get stronger and join the Iron Will team? email me info@ironwillstrengthstudio.com and we'll chat.

"I know how to work out. I don't need any help."

One part rant and one part blog post-


 I can't tell you how many people who I run into who tell me they "know how to workout" and that they don't need any help or coaching. Interestingly enough, the majority of these people who "know how to workout" do not have one ounce of visible muscle and if there weren't wearing workout clothes, I wouldn't even know that they exercise.
Here's the thing: Most people give too much credit and too much blame to genetics.
 They think everyone who is strong or has visible muscle is either on steroids or is genetically gifted, and they seem to think that even though they know how to work out and they eat pretty good, they must just have bad genetics because they can't really build muscle.
This is simply WRONG.
Working out with weights works.
Building muscle is not easy, but it is simple.
If someone has been working out for more than 2 months and is not noticeably different looking and feeling then they are doing something WRONG. Done correctly, strength training builds muscle. A lot of muscle. 
If someone has been strength training for a year or more, it should be very evident to everyone that that person "works out." So congrats to all of you for being open enough to learn from someone else and to implement training that works. And if you know someone who "knows how to workout" but doesn't really look like they do (you know, because they have bad genetics or something) send them my way. We'll put some muscle on them. ;-))

GetOnThePROGRAM.com
On INSTAGRAM- getontheprogram

Protect the asset. (yes, that's you.)

Protect the asset. 

For many of us, trying to be the best dad, mom, employee, business owner, etc. that we can be, we often find that we don't have enough time to do things for ourselves. We are so focused on being the best at whatever it is we are doing that we feel there is not enough time to do things for us like sleep, exercise, eat right, etc. It often feels like these things are an indulgence and that we are being selfish if we set aside an hour a day to work out, or time to go to bed early or take time to prepare food for the week.

Even more ironic, is that those who are trying the hardest to be the best parent, employee, business owner etc. are even more likely to neglect working out, sleeping, eating right, relaxing, doing things for themselves. 

Here's the catch. 

In order to be the best mom, dad, employee, or business owner you can be, you have to be operating at your best.

 The biggest asset you bring to the world is you. 

You operating at 100%.

 You operating at 100% is the best gift you can give to the world, to your family and to your job.

 An investment of time in taking care of yourself is worth more to those around you than a 50% you overworking yourself and ignoring things that make you feel good and happy.

Moms are particularly susceptible to this as they tend to put everyone else, ie: children, husband, house, etc. before themselves. 

Don't fall into this trap. 

Think of it this way,. When you listen to the safety information on an airplane, they instruct you to put your mask on first before helping others. 

Only when you have your mask on can you help others. 

You won't be any help to the others if you are dead. ;-)

"Helping ordinary people accomplish extraordinary things."

IronWillStrengthStudio.com
GetOnThePROGRAM.com
ShapelyStrength.com

"I get bored easily."

"I get bored easily."

Can't tell you how many times people have told me that in our initial meeting. "I get bored easily. My other trainer used to change it up a lot."

I get it. But it doesn't apply to what we do. 

Let me explain. 

Do you think an Olympic gymnast gets tired of practicing back handsprings? Of course she does.  Does that mean she should do something different every time she shows up for practice? Just so she doesn't get bored? Does she tell her coach she wants to swim or do throw some baseballs to "change it up?" 

Getting stronger and building muscle is not supposed to be fun. Don't believe all the Zumba people out there. 

Dancing is fun (well, not for me but for some people). Playing sports is fun. Going to sporting events is fun. Skiing is fun. Partying is fun. 

Kids are fun. (sometimes) 

You get the idea.

Lifting weights is not fun. It's hard. 

And it can be boring. 

And you have to do the same lifts a lot if you want to get good at them. 

But you know what is fun? Getting results. Being strong as hell. Looking fantastic. Feeling hard as a rock. 

No one has ever said my workouts are fun. Not ever. 

But very few complain about being bored once they see the results.
Here's another thing.. If your trainer has you do squats with 20 lbs once a week every week for a year that is boring. And dumb. I would be bored too. It's boring because you are not making progress.
But how about this? You show up on your first day and you can only do 12 squats with 20 lbs.
We squat every week, but every week you get a little stronger and a little better. Your legs feel tighter. You butt is getting better.
After 6 months, you are squatting with 135 lbs. Your legs and butt look fantastic. Your back never hurts because it is strong as hell.  You can lift just about anything you would ever need to. You feel invincible.
Do you think you'd be bored that we were doing squats again?
I don't think so.

There is an expression in marketing that says when you are getting bored with your marketing is just when it's starting to work. 

It's similar with working out. 

Do you know how many different leg exercises I know how to do? About 250. 

Do you know how many I do each week for the past 15 years? About 6. 

There are exercises that provide a big "bang for your buck" and a lot of results. Those are the ones we focus on. Does that mean all the others are "bad"? No, not at all. 

But when they distract you from doing the best exercises, they are bad. 

Don't get discouraged if you get a little bored. That usually means it's getting hard and that is where the magic happens. 

I see a lot of people "changing it up" and what isn't changing are their physiques. 

Don't get sucked into changing it up all the time. Stick with what works and get really good at those exercises and get really, really strong  on them. Skip the nonsense and the "invented" exercises. 

"For Best Results- Start Here"

Imagine that the body you desire came in a box. When you open the box, there are directions for how to obtain your goal body. When you begin to read the directions, you see you see that there are three different sets. 

One set says "For best and fastest results, start here". Another section says "For moderate results, begin here". And a third section says "For slow and inconsistent result, start here". Which set of directions would you start with? 

When it comes to achieving your fat loss goals, it is very important to start with the "For best results" section.

The obvious reason is that it will work the best and the fastest. The less obvious reason is that when you see dramatic results you will be more motivated to continue and see further dramatic results.

The instructions in the "For best results start here" column for your new body would be as follows:

For fastest bodyfat and weight loss choose almost exclusively from the following foods: natural proteins, tons of vegetables, fruits and natural fats.

 Eat things as close to whole foods as possible, meaning no boxes and no ingredients. 

Think about that for a minute. 

A carrot doesn't have ingredients. A piece of fish doesn't have ingredients. 

An egg doesn't have ingredients. A bag of bread has a lot of ingredients. 

A box of mac & cheese has a lot of ingredients (many that you can't pronounce).

You get the idea. 

The next part of the directions would say "Don't get creative". This is where you can get into trouble. Don't scour the isles of the supermarket trying to find foods (and I have totally done this) that somehow miraculously have high protein, good fat content and no refined carbs, yet still taste like macaroni and cheese. 

They don't exist, and if they do they are full of chemicals and shit. 

The best results and fastest results will come from eating whole food proteins like meats and fish, tons of vegetables, and lots of avocado, butter, coconut oil, olive oil and nuts. 

Drink lots of water and you are all set. 

Don't overthink it and don't get creative. Eat that way for two months and you will see incredible changes in your body.