Category Archives: Fitness

Work out of the week: TRX.

TRX is one tool that every fitness freak should have in their gym bag. Due to its unique stimulus and ease in which you can adjust the difficulty of each exercise, I have made the TRX one of my got-to tools in workouts for clients and myself.  TRX is unique in that you can hit every part of your body and scale each exercise in difficulty without adding an additional load or more tools.

This also makes for the perfect stocking stuffer and can help hold us to our cliche new years resolutions to eat better and work out more in the New Year. (Expect some TRX workouts/challenges to be posted in the future.)

Kyle is a nationally certified personal trainer, certified nutritionist, and lifestyle motivator out of Los Angeles, CA. He has been training for 5 years and has experience working with top-tier celebrity and executive clientele. When he’s not in the gym, Kyle is reading philosophy or writing poetry.

5 Tips to make sure the Turkey is the only sweaty, thing with a belly full of stuffing.  Follow these tips to ensure that you eat more of the right things on thanksgiving, and less of the bad.

• Make your first plate nothing but Meat and vegetables – This will make sure you get filled up with low calorie and high nutrient foods first, and will have minimal room left over for the bad stuff.
• Drink at least 1 large cup of water per plate.  This will not only help keep you full, but also remain hydrated through the inevitably high amounts of salt that you will be consuming.
• Sugar free pie-If you must have pastries, eat the sugar free one or bring one to the gathering. Anyone with diabetes will love the company, and you can feel a little less guilty while still enjoying the delicious fruits.
• Get in a KILLER workout in before the festivities begin.  This can be a quick trip to the gym, a game of touch football, or the workout listed in the last post. EARN YOUR FEAST.

Don’t stress, be thankful. Be health conscious, not obsessive and stressed over every calorie. This will put you in a shitty emotional state and actually lead to more weight gain. Relax, be happy, and give thanks!

Kyle is a nationally certified personal trainer, certified nutritionist, and lifestyle motivator out of Los Angeles, CA. He has been training for 5 years and has experience working with top-tier celebrity and executive clientele. When he’s not in the gym, Kyle is reading philosophy or writing poetry.

The Hotel Express workout

Too busy with family or do you happen to travel a lot and don’t have time to get a decent workout in? I’ve designed this workout so that you can do it ANYWHERE at ANYTIME with minimal time commitment, and just like all the finer things in life- all you need for this is a bed.

Here is the breakdown – perform each movement in the order listed, starting at 12 reps per set and countdown all the way to 1 rep. So 12 reps the first round, 11 reps the second round, 10 reps the third round etc. Don’t rest; keep cycling through until you are done!

12 squat jumps

12 push up

12 bulgarian split squats (One leg on bed or chair)

12 v-ups

12 split jumps (per side)

*These are advance movements, not recommended for beginners.

Kyle is a nationally certified personal trainer, certified nutritionist, and lifestyle motivator out of Los Angeles, CA. He has been training for 5 years and has experience working with top-tier celebrity and executive clientele. When he’s not in the gym, Kyle is reading philosophy or writing poetry.

This week’s post recognizes that many of us may be struggling with the colder temperatures  and what is better than warm, buttery pancakes on a cold fall morning? WARM PUMPKIN PROTEIN PANCAKES ON A COLD MORNING!

These pancakes are reasonably good for you and a known deterrent of the dreaded PANCAKE ASS. Liven up your protein shake and cook it!  Here’s the ingredients:

Combine in a bowl and then Cook on a griddle like normal, apply butter and low sugar syrup and enjoy.

Kyle is a nationally certified personal trainer, certified nutritionist, and lifestyle motivator out of Los Angeles, CA. He has been training for 5 years and has experience working with top-tier celebrity and executive clientele. When he’s not in the gym, Kyle is reading philosophy or writing poetry.

Bottoms up kettlebell press

This is just like a kettlebell overhead press, but with the mass of the kettlebell pointing toward the ceiling, and it is a killer workout that helps to build shoulder strength and stability.

Give it a shot next time you’re in the gym.

Kettlebell press tips:

• Always try to “crush” the handle by squeezing as hard as you possibly can.
• Make sure to start with a light weight to feel the exercise better and avoid injury.
• Keep your elbows in front of your torso and close to your body.
• Keep the elbow under your grip at all times.”PUSH” the kettlebell to the ceiling and slowly “pull” it in.

Kyle is a nationally certified personal trainer, certified nutritionist, and lifestyle motivator out of Los Angeles, CA. He has been training for 5 years and has experience working with top-tier celebrity and executive clientele. When he’s not in the gym, Kyle is reading philosophy or writing poetry.

Feeling down? LIFT yourself back up!

When I have a couple busy weeks that don’t allow me to get my own workout in, I not only feel like something is missing, I feel a little down. This transfers into low energy, lack of focus and ultimately getting less things done and killing productivity.

A new study helps support the phenomenally positive effects exercise has on depression, specifically stress induced depression. This has been proven to work in cases where the subjects did not want to work out, but pushed through the exercise. This means that the physical demand placed on the body can not only make you physically stronger, but mentally too.

Kyle is a nationally certified personal trainer, certified nutritionist, and lifestyle motivator out of Los Angeles, CA. He has been training for 5 years and has experience working with top-tier celebrity and executive clientele. When he’s not in the gym, Kyle is reading philosophy or writing poetry.

One of the most overlooked and intimidating avenues of fitness is boxing. People are often hesitant to partake due to the fear of looking silly and the guarantee that they will not be very skilled upon starting. Boxing specifically is a skill based sport so it takes time and repetitions to be comfortable with the gloves, but once the proper mechanics are learned it becomes a high intensity full body workout that is sure to improve your endurance while burning fat. Get off the treadmill and check out one of Boston’s many boxing gyms and clubs where you can learn the fundamentals and get into shape.

Kyle is a nationally certified personal trainer, certified nutritionist, and lifestyle motivator out of Los Angeles, CA. He has been training for 5 years and has experience working with top-tier celebrity and executive clientele. When he’s not in the gym, Kyle is reading philosophy or writing poetry.

Why you should do glute bridges before leg day

Are you having trouble building up your ass? Do you only feel your quads get sore and swollen on leg day? You are not alone.

Since we have adapted to sitting for prolonged hours in a day, we have effectively “shut off” our glute from sitting on them, making our quads do all the work. This makes us more likely to have knee pain and injuries, or even worse a bad case of what I like to call “Pancake Ass”.  One way to avoid this is to practice “Glute activation” before you start your leg workout.

This is what I have my clients do when they have trouble “feeling” their glutes work.

• Hip flexor and quad static stretch for 1 minute on each side.

• Glute bridges on the ground with toes up, and driving through their heels for 20 reps or literally until they “feel” their glutes working.

Kyle is a nationally certified personal trainer, certified nutritionist, and lifestyle motivator out of Los Angeles, CA. He has been training for 5 years and has experience working with top-tier celebrity and executive clientele. When he’s not in the gym, Kyle is reading philosophy or writing poetry.

If you are trying to put on muscle and are not currently practicing at least 1 or 2 sets of “negatives” you are missing out on a lot of potential upside, for literally less work.

Let me explain further, there are two primary types of muscle contractions, concentric and eccentric. Concentric is when a muscle is “shortening” (ex. action at the bicep on a curl when you are raising the muscle.) and eccentric is when the muscle is “lengthening” (ex. action at the bicep when you are lowing the muscle).

Studies show that “eccentric training” or putting your focus on the eccentric muscle contraction, during a workout, will build more muscle.  The activity causes more microtrauma and forces your body to rebuild and grow. Try applying this rule to your current program and see the results when you start lifting.  For each set, count 5 seconds on the “eccentric” and 2 seconds on the “concentric”.

• Bench press: 5 seconds slowly bringing the bar to your chest, and 2 seconds pressing it up.
• Squat: 5 seconds lowering your hips and 2 seconds pressing up
• Bent over row: 2 seconds pulling the bar into your stomach and 5 seconds letting the bar out toward the ground

Kyle is a nationally certified personal trainer, certified nutritionist, and lifestyle motivator out of Los Angeles, CA. He has been training for 5 years and has experience working with top-tier celebrity and executive clientele. When he’s not in the gym, Kyle is reading philosophy or writing poetry.