Make Me Cringe

Wanna make a personal trainer or group exercise instructor cringe? Complain or voice concerns that are generic that make my eyes roll and internally puke. It doesn’t matter if you are young, old, fit, overweight, lazy or motivated – the complaints and concerns are all the same. 1. “I don’t want to use those weights, I build muscle really easily. I don’t want to get get bulky.”  – Oh, lucky you. You are so special you build muscle so easily while the rest of us have to work our asses off to attain some definition.  So let me address this one head on – YOU ARE NOT GOING TO TURN INTO A SHE-HULK. THE WOMEN YOU SEE IN THE MUSCLE MAGAZINES ARE TAKING SERIOUS DRUGS TO LOOK LIKE THAT. You would need to be doing a lot more than lifting the 5 lb dumbbell. Are you really challenging yourself with 5lbs while you do leg work. Probably not. It takes a tremendous amount of energy for your body to build muscle. This statement is important, so remember it: Females do not have enough testosterone (the main muscle-building hormone) to bulk up like that, nor do they tend to consume enough calories to PROMOTE that type of muscle growth. 2. “Can we just focus on my abs? I want to lose the weight there.” – The answer is NO. We are not going to spend an entire hour just doing ab work. You can not spot-reduce fat. It just doesn’t work that way. So when I make you do a HIIT workout or total-body free weights and you get mad at me because I’m not listening to you, just remember I know what I’m talking about (you, like, PAY me for this. I am the professional and you HIRED me). 3. “Why am I not losing weight?! I only eat Greek yogurt for my breakfast and I take laxatives daily” – When I hear comments like this, I don’t even usually need to see a food log; I already know part of your problem. If you are only eating Greek yogurt (or insert some ridiculous food that doesn’t quantify as a meal here), you’re not eating enough. Period. The idea of consuming MORE calories perplexes a ton of people, but I’m telling you. Eat more (of the RIGHT foods) and you’ll lose weight. If you don’t eat enough, your body goes into “starvation” mode and stores/holds onto fat for dear life, thinking it needs to protect itself for a future of not getting enough nutrients. You are doing far more harm than good here. To put it in perspective, I eat 5 to 6 meals a day (1 meal every 3-4hours). Do I look fat? No. 4. “I’m going on vacation in a few weeks and I want to lose 10 lbs.” - Ummm. Ok. Do you plan to live in the gym until then and do a complete overhaul of your diet?  Yeah, I didn’t think so. This is not a quick fix. If you starve yourself or do something drastic to lose the weight for an “event,” the second you start eating like normal, you’ll gain it all back, plus some. Trust me, I’ve seen it happen 1,000 times. The idea that the weight they’ve spent the past 15 years putting on should just melt off in 2 weeks is deluded. You shouldn’t be so concerned about what you’re going to look like in a bikini in 2 weeks; what you should be focused on is putting a priority on your HEALTH. I can’t beat that concept into your head (as much as I’d love to). I mean, I get it. I panic a little at the idea of “OMG, I’m going to be on a beach in a few weeks, in front of PEOPLE, and they’ll probably think I’m a beached whale laying there on my towel and roll me back into the water.” The best lessons I can teach you is to focus on your HEALTH and how your body preforms and feels. If you want me to ugly cry all you have to do is “get it” and FINALLY do it. This list could go on and on but I’ll spare you the long post. Think before you speak.