get toned, Always Hungry Personal Training

In my stint as a personal trainer, one of my favorite things is consultation calls. It’s a chance for not only me to learn more about you the potential client, but also a chance for you to get to know me and make sure that what I have to offer feels comfortable to you. During these calls we dive into a little bit of your exercise history, any information about previous/current injuries or limitations, what you’ve tried in the past, and ultimately What is Your Goal? The best part of any conversation is hearing what it is that you are on the phone with me to solve. What problem you feel you have and how can I help solve it.

Though everyone says their goal in their own words, they tend to fall under 3 categories –

Toning up

Losing weight

Quick transformations

I decided to take some of the top goals I’ve heard and breakdown what they mean vs what it takes to actually achieve them. Let’s take a look at some harsh truths about your fitness goals, shall we?

Toning Up

“I don’t want to get bulky, I just want to get toned.”

“I want to get rid of this!” [points to arm/belly/leg]

What this person is looking for is the visible definition of their muscles being showcased in instances of wearing t-shirts/tank tops, shorts, crop tops, etc. They want to tighten up their body that might feel “flabby” in certain areas. There may be some excess fat in those areas that we would address through proper nutrition and they just want to feel strong and confident in their bodies.

The best way to achieve this goal is through progressive weight/resistance training. These people are often a little shy of the idea of lifting weights based on lack of knowledge. When someone tells me they want to get toned, my first thought is, “let’s lift weights”. That tone that you’re looking for is the visible definition of a muscle. In order to showcase the muscle you have, you need to make it bigger. By making it bigger, and cutting fat (when necessary), you are able to display the muscle underneath. A workout plan that is well rounded to hit all of the major muscle groups coupled with individual isolation exercises to focus on specific areas can help you reach this goal. Workouts should include anywhere from 6-8 exercises performed for 3-4 sets and between 8-15 reps per set. One big secret to helping you achieve this goal is to SLOOOOOW down your movement. It should take you about 2-3 seconds to lift the weight and 2-3 seconds to lower it with control and through a full range of motion on each rep/set. Slowing down the movement causes the muscles to work longer, thus helping them grow quicker.

YOU WILL NOT GET BULKY BY LIFTING WEIGHTS UNLESS YOU WANT TO!

The people you see that you don’t want to look like are special cases. They train 4-7 days per week for 60-90+mins at a time with a lot of additional coaching, specific training focus, 100% dialed in nutrition, etc. It is their job to look like that. Your job is to look like the best version of you. Lift the dang weights.

…Also, most are probably on some sort of drugs.

Losing Weight

“I want to boost my metabolism to lose weight.”

“I want to start eating keto because that’s how I’ll lose weight!”

This person has read a good number of magazines, blogs, or news articles and is in the camp that there are specific reasons and ways in which you gain/lose weight that require special, specific, and drastic changes to see results.

Boosting your metabolism is literally done through the act of moving! If you’re not moving, your body isn’t burning calories and will naturally slow down, causing the energy you’re not burning off to be converted to fat stores. Moving your body and remaining active can keep your metabolism humming even when you’re not active to boost your calorie burn.

Keto is fine, for a while, but I don’t know anyone who’s done keto who didn’t eventually put the weight back on as soon as they stopped. Specialized diets work for the short term, but if you don’t address nutrition habits and lifestyle changes, chances are when you finish or quit the diet, you may end up putting the weight back on and then some.

Ultimately there is no perfect solution to nutrition and weight loss, but addressing food behaviors, choices, and making adjustments while eating in a caloric deficit. As little as 500 calories less per day over the course of time can lead to weight loss. 1 lb = 3,500 calories. Consistently eat 500 less calories per day over 7 days, there’s your 1^st pound gone!

It’s not easy. It’s not super fun.

But it IS 100% worth it.

Quick Transformations

“I NEED to lose 50lbs. in the next 2 months.”

“I’m going on vacation in 2 months and need to be beach ready!”

This person is looking for the quick fix and drastic change in a short amount of time. This is possible but drastic change in a short time frame requires hard core dedication. Strict diet + heavy training routine and little to no days off can help you work toward your goals, but this is the area where we need to discuss realistic expectations. In regards to fat loss, a healthy drop is ~1-2 lbs. per week. Beyond that we are getting into extreme calorie restriction which isn’t healthy or sustainable. Too often this person will either not be able to maintain or as soon as they’re done, go right back to where they were or worse at the beginning. The stress from a hardcore regimen like this can damage the body physically and mentally. There are good transformations, but it requires dedication and commitment.

Real change that lasts can take time if you’re not careful and don’t plan on how to maintain or continue once the transformation is complete. Take heed and make a plan and you should be good to go.

Honorable Mention:

“I want to look like Brad Pitt in Fight Club!”

…Me too dude… me too. 😊

There are a ton of different variations and types of goals that ignite people to pursue a personal trainer, fitness program, gym membership, etc. but these tend to be the most common themes I hear. If these sound like you and you have additional questions, do not hesitate to drop a comment or head to the Contact page and drop me a line. I’d love to speak with you further and help you pursue your fitness and health goal today!

When I started my fitness journey, I followed a number of free training programs I had found online – mostly via bodybuilding.com before they started requiring memberships for access. During that time one of the parts of my body that saw great results was my arms – my biceps and triceps. Over the years, they became a notable point of conversation if anyone was admiring a part of my body and

Negative Reps

One of the first training techniques I learned in the gym through my friend Manuel was the “negative”. It’s one of the easiest ways to train, but most often overlooked methods because it’s boring, it’s exhausting, and it hurts (in the good way). When an exercise is done, focusing on the NEGATIVE, what we’re talking about is the portion of the movement when the weight is moving down toward the ground, which could be the dumb/bar-bell, your body, the stack of plates, etc. This is the eccentric motion of the exercise when the targeted muscles are lengthening out after having been contracted. For example: During a biceps curl with a dumbbell, when you lift the dumbbell from your hip up to your shoulder by flexing your elbow, you are contracting the biceps muscle which engages it to pull the elbow/forearm up. Having reached the shoulder, it’s now time to lower the weight back down. Releasing the contraction of the biceps, the muscle then stretches back into place. By slowing down the time we allow the muscle to release the tension, we are forcing the muscle to work harder and longer than it would be if we just let the weight drop. The longer time under tension of contraction, the more the muscle is working; therefore the more the muscle will become stronger, and bigger.

Aim for a 3-4 second negative per rep, doing 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps.

Drop Sets.

A big proponent of bodybuilding style workouts that helps people build muscle and tone quickly is the incorporation of drop sets. What this means that you pick a number of reps and perform the heaviest weight you (safely) can at that weight, then immediately drop the weight down by about 20-25% and perform another round of reps without rest. Once you’ve completed both number of reps at the original and dropped weight, THEN you take your rest break. Reset the weight to the starting point, and go again. The idea here is to push the muscle close to it’s failure point, meaning if you tried to do one more rep, it would be almost impossible (without risking injury); but then by dropping the weight by that 20-25%, your muscles are still able to keep going for a few more reps. This pushes the capacity of the muscle to work, building stronger and larger muscles.

One of my favorite set/rep schemes if you’re looking for an extra challenge is a DOUBLE drop set, in which you perform 2 drops of the weight in 1 set. If you’re up for it, try 3 sets of 10-12 reps, dropping the weight twice per set (perform 10; drop the weight + perform 10; drop the weight again; perform 10; rest; reset; repeat).

Save for the End.

If you’ve programmed correctly, the bulk of your training program should be focused on compound movements – exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench press, etc – that utilize more than one muscle group and perform more than one joint action. Because of that, during the main focus of your workout, you are already using the biceps and triceps as accessory/support muscles in exercises like presses (triceps) or pulls (biceps). Since they’ve already been used, they are already feeling the pump of blood and oxygen coursing through them. Now is the time to take it to the next level by isolating them for ultimate growth! This is now the time to do your negative reps and drop sets. The isolated work that focuses solely on the pre-warmed up biceps/triceps will help take your progress over the top.

It’s no secret that toned arms are seen as sexy and as someone who’s received compliments for having a big arms, I can tell you that the 3 secrets laid out here, are where it’s at when you want to grow bigger arms.

Hit a great workout then finish off with some negatives and drop sets consistently, and you’ll start busting sleeves in no time!

What’s your favorite exercise to work your arms? Sound off in the comments below!

Harsh Truths About Your Fitness Goals

Learn the 3 Secrets to Sleeve Busting Arms!