"Guaranteed to work or your money back!" I can't tell you how many times I've heard that. So I always get asked about fitness products,equipment, supplements,books,videos etc.  So lets start with what I think started it all:

Body For Life

Body For Life was a book written by Bill Phillips (founder of Muscle Media 2000) that started the whole fitness contest craze. It was simple. Take a before picture . Use at least one EAS product and take an after picture 12 weeks later. The winners were featured in the movie Body For Life and then the book Body For Life. The book was very simple. No great secret here. If you burn more than you take in, you lose weight. Add 3 days week of resistance training and you will improve your physique. What I really like about this whole thing was that it got everyone excited about fitness. The result, Body For Life spent 200 straight weeks on the best seller list.

Total Gym

You gotta love Chuck Norris. Seriously, if Chuck told me that eating cat food would turn me into a better fighter I probably would have to try it. Throw Christie Brinkley in there and you have got a recipe for success. I actually like the Total Gym. It is based on the principal of using portions of your body weight to perform exercises. The pulley system adds an element of instability. Get the delux version it is more stable and not as shaky. I recommend the Total Gym to maintain you body. You can also get some very original Pilates like movements on this machine.

The Bow Flex

I loved the infomercial for this thing. It was comical. Yet very accurate. This is actually one of the most complete pieces of equipment I've ever seen. No real drawbacks. I like the"power rods". While I've seen a number of these machines in the garage collecting dust, I have yet to hear a complaint. Like the Total Gym , the rods add an element of instability. 

P90x

I get so many people that say Austin Fitness Extreme is a great deal like this DVD. I bought it a while back and was very impressed.  I love the concept. Work every body part and never rest. The exercises are very  smooth. The transitions are flawless and the workouts are diverse enough to keep you interested  and motivated. I like P90x. 

The Power Plate

I'm gonna get myself in trouble here. Every now and then a piece of equipment comes along that makes too many claims for it's own good. The Power Plate is  a platform that vibrates at varying levels of intensity. The user can perform varying exercises and/or poses to engage their stabilizing muscles and core. I am not a fan of this machine at all. While it does cause you to engage stabilizing muscles , it does so in a way that doesn't address the users individual lack of balance or stability. The plate vibrates at an even rhythm. Conversely if you get on a balance board, you find out real quick which side you favor, and how you need to correct your own stability. The power Plate doesn't do that. The claim that it improves strength has been disproven by The Cooper Clinic and Harvard Medical School.  However, if you are sore it does offer some relief much the same way a massage chair would. 

So What do I like? 

I love kettlebells, plyometrics and my new set of gymnastic rings. More than anything else, keep your workouts new. try new things. Just be logical about it. Like I said a while back, "Does balancing on one leg ,on the bosu,holding a weight in one hand, closing one eye,   while doing a squat realy do anything?"  Not so much.

Before I start, several people have said...."so would you encourage Tommy to fight professionally as you have?" The answer is..... I would discourage it. If he did choose to pursue fighting I would make sure he was prepared and focused.  Even so, you can prepare 4 hours a day, 6 days a week and still be unsuccessful. 

 Now on to some fun stuff. I love working  sitting back and watching people workout. I try to figure out what is driving them . I also look at what they are doing or who their training with.  I read enough fitness magazines and fitness books that I can tell who has a subscription to Mens Health. I also can tell who is obsessed with "youtube". Myself included. I love to watch old Duran Duran videos. 

   What amazes me these days is that so many people try to reinvent the wheel. 

  So here is my question to you:

If you stand on a bosu(blue boob) with one leg and do bicep curls what exactly are you accomplishing? 

Better yet, if you do an incline chest press with a medicine ball between your legs what exactly are you accomplishing?

Core? Blah Blah Blah Balance? Blah Blah Blah

 So lets talk about fitness. Fitness is your bodies ability or inability to do work. Now that is different for all of us.  Last year I got a chance to roll(jui jitsu) with a Hawaian ironman participant. Dimitri is in phenominal shape. He does ultra marathons in his spare time. When I got him on the mat, he lasted about 3 minutes before he completely gassed out. At the same time, he would kill me running. So who is more fit? Well, we both are, for our individual sports. I do some grueling workouts that are designed to prepare my body for combat in the ring. Not everyone needs to do those types of workouts.

  Dimitri had his workouts designed around running. Those workouts made sense for him. 

In return he was a successful at his sport.

   So what is your goal? I know ,the standard trainer question. Lose weight? Get stronger? Run faster? Run longer? Play with your kids? Only you know. When I design workouts I like to work "top 2 bottom" if my clients goal is to get more overall  fit and lose weight. I suggest they do these workouts 3 days a week. So for those of you who want to mix it up. Try this (no silly bosu or power plate nonsense)

Incline dumbell chest press 20 reps

Single arm dumbell row(right) 20 reps

Single arm dumbell row(left)20 reps

Scissor jumps 20 reps

cross body crunch 20 reps

Shoulder press 20 reps

Weighted squats 20 reps

Crunches 20 reps

Squat and Press  combo 20 reps

Single leg dead lift(right) 20 reps

Single Leg dead lift(left) 20 reps

Bicep curls 20 reps

Dips   20 reps

Crunches 20 reps

This is 1 circuit. No break in between exercises. Upon completion of  the full set, take 2 minutes and then repeat the whole set.

Good Luck.

I always get asked if I'm going to let my son kickbox or do jui jitsu.  Ever since Tommy was a baby  he has been around the fight game.  When he was in a  carrier I would bring him into the kickboxing gym and give him a bottle in between sparring rounds. He has watched every fight known to man. He usually reads or draws during the UFC. He actually has his own Thai boxing shorts and gloves. For his 7th birthday, the boys from Tapout made him shirts and shorts.  He knows how to kick, punch and do a few submissions.  I'm just waiting for that first phone call" Mr. Krausz your son triangle choked some in the playground. He kept saying tap or nap." If his mom doesn't already hate me she will then. 

   Last year in Vegas while training at Extreme Couture , I watched Josh Hayes teach a kids MMA class. It was awesome. There were 16(4-7) kids all in mma gear working on technique in the octagon.

     Here in Texas it's all about Football. If a kid can throw a football, their parents automatically think he is going to be the next Vince Young. That sport turns into an obsession for..........the parents. They buy them the best gear. Make them watch football. Posters or Brett Favre on his walls. And then they get them a personal trainer. This all happens by the time they are 10 years old.  By the time they are 12 , the parents are sending them to "football" camps during the summer. What was once a kids sport has turned in to a full time job for these young boys.  I watched an interview with Troy Aikman and Emitt Smith  on HBO's Real Sports last year. They were asked what a parent could do to improve their kids chances of getting into the pros. Their response surprised me. They both said  1.) make sure they are capable of getting into college 2.) don't put them in summer football camps.  I was shocked. They both explained that playing college sports required getting in to college. Even the slowest player needs to  be able to get into college.  They both also said that many of these sports camps are ruining young athletes. These kids get no breaks and it doesn't allow their bodies time to build,get stronger , and get better. In the end many of these young athletes get burned out and injured long before they hit college. This actually made sense to me.

    So, what is my advice to the parents that want their kids to be the next Deon Sanders, Eli Manning, David Beckam, Mia Hamm, or Nolan Ryan? 

First Let them be kids first. Make sure they get a good education. If they are gifted, rather than overuse and damage that gift ,reinforce and protect it by incorporating stability movements into their workout regime. Pay attention to their core strength. Everything starts in the center. So make sure that the relationship  in strength between their abs and lower back is proportional.  And by all means, if they can swim, get them in a pool. Trust me.

    It is finally starting to warm up again in Austin. It's about time. Those outdoor workouts are calling my name. 

    I was in Eisteins yesterday getting myself a bacon, egg, and cheese on toasted wheat bread and i noticed the person in front of me getting a box of bagels for work(at least I hope it was work). This person got themselves a bowl of fruit and blueberry bagel caked with creme cheese. They washed it all down with a diet coke. What caught my eye was that they were filling out a diet log as they ate. I am all about the diet log. Later in the day I sat down with one of my clients who was concerned about their weight loss.  I tend to be pretty blunt so I broke it down for them very simply. "There are 168 hours in a week. I see you 2 of those hours. A great deal of what your body looks like will depend on what you do with the other 166 hours."

     You need to :feed your body,test your body ,and rest your body. If you skip out or overindulge in any of those it can truly affect your energy and progress.  So what is the hidden danger out there? 

First off: Fat free doesn't mean calorie free! Stay away from saturated fats! Look at your sugar intake. Sugar raises your insulin levels. When your insulin levels are elevated your body doesn't burn fat.  So for all you smoothie people out there. Be careful. I know it sounds healthy, but many of those smoothies are loaded in sugar. 

     As the weather gets warmer take some of those workouts outside. Sprints are wonderful. Here in Austin we have several hills I love to torture my clients with.My favorites are the 7th street hill and the spicewood and 360 hill. Try sprinting up hills. Watch for traffic. Take a medicine ball with you and do side 2 side pushups for 30 seconds and then sprint up the hill. Do this for 6 sets. Take a 2 minute break and then do squats with the medicine ball and then jog up the hill backwards. Try that 3 sets. When your done get some food. NO SMOOTHIES!!

About 5 years ago I tore my ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) while I was sparring with my training partner Nick Gonzales. While I went to kick Nick in the head with my right leg, he simultaneously kick my left leg. Normally my leg would have just gone out from underneath me. This time however, my leg  locked and my ACl was sliced in half. The purpose of the ACL is to keep your femur and tibia stable. When my ACL tore, i lost all stability in my left leg and when I went to balance on it it just collapsed. 

   I had a great surgeon here in Austin(Don Davis). I was a completely annoying patient. I asked way too many questions, and even wanted to videotape the surgery. I know, I'm a little sadistic. During some of our discussions, Dr. Davis told me that over the years he has seen an influx in ligament surgeries for young athletes. Why is this?

   One thing I've noticed while watching young athletes train, was that very few of them incorporate stability and injury preventative exercises. Yeah they all squat,dead lift,bench press, and do sprints. Coaches want you to max out those lifts and the minute you get injured  there is no shortage of kids to take your place. 

   So here is some advice: Perform stability exercises in conjunction with your traditional lifts. Single leg squats. Squat on the bosu(blue boob) or a balance disc. Try bounding from side to side . Don't just do a regular plank, perform a side plank and lift your top leg for 1 minute. We all know what a squat thrust is right? Balance on your right leg and perform a single leg squat thrust. Single leg dead lifts are amazing for your core and hamstrings. Remember, you can benefit from your traditional movements as well your stability movements. It doesn't have to be one or the other.  A good schedule for this week is shown below.

Monday

Full body Power Circuit

15 min moderate cardio workout

Tuesday

Full Body stabilzation and core work

10-15 min sprint interval cardio

Wed

Off

Thurs

Full Body Power Circuit

15 min moderate cardio

Friday

Full Body stabilization and core work

10-15 min sprint interval cardio

Sat/Sunday

Plyometrics upper/lower

Good luck

I got a confession for you guys. I love reality TV. Seriously. I think I have an addiction. It started with the bachelor. It was completely insane. We as a coulture are obsessed with seeing heartache on Tv as well as getting the chance to be on TV. No matter how horrible,despicable,gross, or nasty. I myself tried out for season 3 of "The Ultimate Fighter".  Sometimes you can't help but watch a train wreck. Don't lie people, "Rock of Love" is a little entertaining. If for nothing other than checking out all the different ways you can rotate"Every Rose Has It's Thorn" into 60 min.

     When I heard of The Biggest Loser I was intrigued. Once I found out they kicked people off when they didn't lose enough weight , I was completely turned off.  But, I was finally convinced to watch about 2 years ago. After crying like a baby for more than half of the hour I realized I was officially hooked.  The Bigggest Loser shows all of us that being overweight is much more than just being lazy. 

   Once the participants on the show are able to focus themselves it's amazing what they can do. Our bodies can do some incredible stuff.  About 13 years ago while working out at the Chicago Fitness Center, I saw some guys doing a series of jumps onto platforms. It was crazy. They weren't basketball players, or football players, or even fighters. They were actually in the ballet. I tried jumping up on a 24 inch box and racked my shins as well as bruised my ego. These guys were jumping on top of 36 inch platforms for 10 reps at a time.  I was determined to master this thing called plyometrics.  The explosive movements involved in plyometrics is designed to create explosive power and strength. One of the great benefits of this is that plyometrics gets your heart rate elevated and helps you burn calories at a much higher rate. 

The draw back is that much like my shins and ego, you can hurt yourself. It's all about moderation. Anyone can do plyometrics.  Last week on The Biggest Loser, I saw people jumping on top of a  24 inch platform for reps. Impressive!

   Every morning I make Austin Fitness Extreme jump in one form or another. If you get a chance try this out at home or in the gym

5 jumping squats

5 clapping pushups(as you push your upper body up clap your hands together)

5 crunches

10 jumping squats

10 clapping pushups

10 crunches

15 jumping squats

15 clapping pushups

15 crunches

20 jumping squats

20 clapping pushups

20 crunches

Do all reps with no break. Once you do your last set rep of 20 crunches, take a 2 minute break, and then go in reverse order(20 reps,15 reps,10,reps,5 reps) back down.

Good Luck

I was watching one of my fellow trainers put one of their clients through a workout a while back and something struck me a little odd. I had seen this before.   I went home and looked through all my fitness magazines and low and behold there it was.  Muscle and Fitness Hers   center fold out workout. Almost the exact same workout exercise for exercise. I was perplexed. I payed attention to this trainer for the next few weeks and I saw the same trend. All but one of their clients received this exact same workout. I was amazed  that a client was paying $65.00 and hour for something they could have gotten for $3.99 at the local HEB. 

   I'll be the first person to say that personal training isn't rocket science. In fact I think sometimes we try to overcomplicate it. I actually heard someone say that standing on the "power Plate" can rid your body of toxins. You've got to be kidding me. Don't even get me started on the "power plate".

       I've always tried to make things new and inventive for my clients and for Austin Fitness Extreme. About 6 years ago when I was just beginning my first small camps I decided to spy on all the "other camps" out there and see what was going on. For the most part they all did similar things. Some were more intense. Some seemed like a social hour. And some just seemed as though the class was leading the instructor not the other way around.  I knew I needed to be different. I went out and bought 40 kettlebells , 40 resistance bands, and 40 pushup handles. It was a gamble. Every other month I would add something new. Eventually I couldn't just bring everything. I brought one item a day . On friday I started doing stations of 15-30 different exercises.  I also included days of nothing but military calisthenics . Now our list of supplies has grown to

 kettlebells

dumbells

weighted bars

resistance bands

pushup handle

plyometric ladders

plyometric benches

hurdles

sandbags

medicine balls

kickboxing shields

cones

gymnastic rings

I'm sure as the months pass that list will increase. I've constantly tried to think outside my own comfort zone.  I want to learn new things. At the same time I don't want to find myself doing the same workout everyday. One of my frequently asked about workouts is "the Deck Of Cards" so check it out.

Take a deck of cards

Diamonds:   pushups

Spades     :    curls(resistance bands)

Hearts     :    squats(with med ball)

clubs        :    crunches

as you draw from the shuffled deck  do 4 counts of each number. Jacks are 15 Queens are 20 Kings are 25 and an Ace is 30. A Joker is a minute of mountain climbers. Go through the whole deck.

Good luck!

For those of you who know me, you know how much I love MMA.  I started Kenpo Karate when I was much younger and went through the belt systems. After a while I switched to Tae Kwon Do to learn how to do all the aerial kicks. The thing I loved the most was sparring. I loved competition. When I joined the Navy I competed in a bare knuckles karate tournament in Chicago. It was on payperview, and espn. I got my butt kicked but I fell in love with the sport of kickboxing. When I got my first duty station, in Everett Washington, I looked for kickboxing. Luckily Maurice Smith had a school close by. Mo was the current ISKA heavyweight kickboxing champion, Extreme fighting Champion, and UFC champion. Mo and and I became great friends and he led me into MMA(mixed martial arts). Since then I have extensively studied muay thai and jui jitsu and have dedicated my time to living and breathing MMA. 

   About 9 years ago I picked up Tapout as a sponsor. They were always generous with me. I got free clothes and in turn wore them every chance I got.  For years I got strange looks from people wondering what the heck I was wearing.  Now, with the UFC being mainstream and fighters now being celebrities, those stares have turned into questions. "hey man , do you fight?" Tapout has become part of my wardrobe. 

   Last night Charles Lewis(the founder of Tapout) died in a car wreck. I knew Charles. He was a friend of mine. I'm heartbroken that he is gone. He nearly singlehandedly took a brand ,and in just 9 years went from selling it out of the back of his car to generating 10 million in revenue . No matter how big Tapout got, Charles always had time for everyone. Including me. I miss him already. Tonight I'm going to have a drink for my friend.

"Charles, tell the big man upstairs I said hello"

Today put an end to my "warm weather is comming" theory. This morning within the course of about 30 min the temperature dropped from 71 to 49 . Not only that, but that sudden drop in temperature was followed by rain.  I'm sure by now everyone absolutely hates the word....pushup. This morning we did absolutely every variation of pushups known to man. It's bad when your body is begging for weighted jumping jacks. 

  So how is it that we can talk our bodies into doing the impossible? One thing is for sure, your surroundings have a great deal to do with what gets you moving.  At Austin Fitness Extreme misery loves company. At the very least, everyone is cursing me under their breathes as I tell them to do "spiderman pushups". Large groups help motivate eachother. As long as there is no mutiny I'm all about it. One thing I do is play a wide variety of music. Everything from Ludacris to Franz Ferdinand to Vampire Weekend to Slipknot.  Music can help push you. Try working out to the soundtrack of Yentl. See how that works for you. Get a good mix before you take a run.

   I thought of this as I prepared for my own personal workout this morning at 8am. I had an empty hour so I decided to workout. For 10 minutes I played old Guns and Roses and then I was ready to go. Believe me, if I would have had a VCR, I would have popped in Rocky 4 and got completely psyched. 

   They should sell a mixed VHS tape containing nothing but training sequences from Rocky,1,2,3,4,5,6 and from Vision Quest, and Pumping Iron.  I'm telling you, I'd be the first person in line to get it.

   Get motivated people. Summer is almost here. For anyone who is curious, Below is the workout I did today

45 lb olympic bar squat and press  10 reps

70 lb two handed kettlebell swing  10 reps

side2side pushups on medicine ball 10 reps

60lb barbell bicep curl      10 reps

dips on bench                      10 reps

4foot plyo bench jump     10 reps

overhand pull ups             10 reps

45lb olympic bar upright rows   10 reps

jumping with and without 70lb kettlebell 10 reps

Around the world and back with 45lb plate

I did this circuit 5 times.  Friday I'm thinking the "deck of Cards". I better get some good music ready.

As you can tell by the ever changing weather we are about to head into warmer months. Pretty soon it will be 100 degrees in the shade. I love the heat. I love the water. And I love to have a drink every now and then. Yes ladies and gentleman I love to sit back and have beer. No one said I was perfect. So I get this question all the time. "I'm going out tonight with some friends what can I drink?" Well that's up to you.  It really depends on what you want to accomplish.  Drinking a beer or a glass of wine every now and then isn't going to kill you. In fact there are a few people I know that need to sit down, relax and have a drink. One thing to remember is that 1 gram of  alcohol  has 7 calories. Thats more than protein or carbs which  have 4 calories per gram. A typical beer has 145 calories. A glass(3.5oz) of wine has about 75 calories.  Do the math on how much you typically drink.  The more important thing to remember is that alcohol is a drug. It will slow down your metabolism. So if you had a big meal with your 3 beers, you better run 5 miles tomorrow to burn it off. Moderation people.  Plan for the next day to do something active. 

   Wouldn't it be nice if your waitress /bartender could tell you that your last 4 drinks equaled a double cheeseburger. Wishful drinking.

Try this on a treadmill the day after your festivities

• 1min 6.0 speed 0 incline
  
• 1min 7.0 speed 0 incline
  
• 1min 8.0 speed 0 incline
  
• 1min 6.0 speed 2 incline
  
• 1min 7.0 speed 2 incline
  
• 1min 8.0 speed 2 incline
  
• 1min 6.o speed 4 incline
  
• 1min 7.0 speed 4 incline
  
• 1min 8.0 speed 4 incline
  
• 1min 6.0 speed 6 incline
  
• 1min 7.0 speed 6 incline
  
• 1min 8.0 speed 6 incline
  
• 1min 5.5 speed 0 incline
  
• 1min 9.5 speed 0 incline
  

Good Luck!

Welcome to Austin Fitness Extreme

Hello everyone. I started this blog to hopefully increase the interest in Austin Fitness Extreme as well as keep myself  versed on all the new trends and questions you guys may have about fitness, working out,diet or just about anything. I hope this continual blog will be informative, humble, and at times funny. So please, tell me what you think. 

  First off a little background. When I was 18 I got my first gym membership(Golds gym College Station, TX) I loved sports growing up. I was just a little too lazy to play sports once I got into high school. I was way more interested in girls and parties. Once I graduated from high school, I joined my roommates in working out at Golds. My goal was to  check out girls and hopefully make myself a little stronger. I had a basic routine:

shoulder press

barbell curls

lat pull downs

leg extensions

leg curls

machine chest press

crunches

I repeated this 6 days a week. Within about 12 days my whole body was sore. There was no cardio, or stretching whatsoever. Needless to say my diet consisted of beer,mexican food, and burgers. I worked out and then I ate. I had no direction. One day while doing one of my routines I noticed a couple of bodybuilders working out. They were huge, strong and most importantly had girls with them.  I immediately went to the grocery store and bought the newest copy of FLEX, Muscular development, and Ironman. I looked at the pictures. I read the workouts. I became obsessed. Little did I know that these guys had a little bit of "help". As i started doing Dorian Yates newest workout , I started befriending the bodybuilders in the gym. I still had very little direction. One day a guy name Tony Ang saw me working out and decided to help me out. That day started a long friendship. Tony was a natural bodybuilder. I wanted to be as big as Tony  yet I didn't want to put in the work he had.

  In 1993 I did my first cycle of steroids. I stacked sostanon and prematest for 3 weeks on 1 week off. Tony was completely against it. He tormented me calling me a cheat. Yet he stayed loyal to me. Within about 4 weeks my strength had tripled . So too did my hunger. I was ravenous. All the guys said"feed that hunger. That's what gets you bigger" Well, I got bigger. A great deal bigger. I weighed 205 lbs. This on a 5foot 4 inch frame.  For nearly 2 years I continued down this path. I looked bad. In 1995 I decided to join the Navy.  I was asked if my mass was natural and I admitted it wasn't.  I was given 3 months to clean up. The day I reported for boot camp I weighed 195 lbs.  I was way out of bodyfat standards. It was embarassing. Even more embarassing was that I couldn't run the 1 1/2 mile in the max allotted time of 14 min.  Every morning, myself and everyone else that was out of bodyweight standards was directed to workout extra before breakfast. It was announced on a loud speaker. "Now muster the fat kids on the quarter deck" . I was ashamed. Yet I was very motivated. By the end of boot camp(8 1/2 weeks) I was down to 175 lbs.  Once I got assigned to a school I started running and working out on a regular basis.  I still used a great deal of my knowledge from my bodybuilding days but I still struggled with my weight.  One day I picked up a copy of a diet book.  I started changing my diet right away. Within a year I was down to 160 lbs. The light bulb went off in my head. Everyones level of fitness has a 3 part equation. Diet, cardio and resistance training. Your body will reflect whatever direction you take it in. So many people train like a body bulider, yet eat like a marathon runner and do no cardio. It's craziness. Identify your goals  and determine which direction you want to head.  

   I took this concept and ran with it. While in the Navy I volunteered for the collateral duty of PRT coordinator. I was responsible for scheduling our ships physical readiness test as well as getting those who failed back in shape. I knew when I got out, 4 years 9 months and 3 day later what I wanted to do. I picked up my family and moved to Austin to become a personal trainer. I've been here for the past 10 years, and I'm still learning. I started Austin Fitness Extreme to pass along my own personal twist to group fitness. In this blog I will share aspects of our workouts as well as my own. I'll throw in videos and pictures.

I love you guys