"The Biggest Loser" OHHHHHH! He said it!

Ok. I am NOT a big fan of television. You can ask anyone, rarely do I watch anything other than basketball in the winter and some womens beach volleyball in the summer.. hehe.
But I do watch NBC's The Biggest Loser. WHAT?!?! But I'm a trainer! HOW! WHYYYY! Think of the children!!

Anyway.. I have heard waaaaayyy too many people rag on this show lately for what it portrays trainers and weight loss to be. Yes, it is incredibly dangerous to do things the way they do, and yes, Jillian yells and screams at the morbidly obese contestants. But they have doctors on site, and sorry, but some of those people NEED to be yelled at. It might not be motivating for the people watching, but these contestants are pushing themselves to the limit and the yelling has actually been proven to increase the mitochondrial release in the cells and may push their intensity farther than they could just by themselves.
I also want to address the fact that other trainers HATE this show because it shows people that they can lose weight at the rate of 24 pounds/week. Listen, if I had ANYONE come into the Studio expecting those results, I would show them the door. The fact is that EVERYONE knows that weight loss can not happen this way unless it is under the most EXTREME circumstances.
I have also read some blog entries from the contestants talking about dehydrating themselves to the point where they are peeing blood, or going on the most intense diets a few days before the big finale, just to lose the extra few pounds they need. . .now, I in NO WAY agree with this and I watch everyone else shake their fingers at the producers saying, "Look at what you are making them do?!" But honestly, look at competitive bodybuilders and the extreme lengths they go to in order to win their competitions.. And they don't get anywhere near a million dollar prize.
You can hate the show all you want, but don't deny what it has done for hundreds of thousands of people around the world. For every pound lost by American citizens, they donate a pound of food to a local charity. And they are now up to almost 3.9 million pounds lost. Now, I don't care who you are, that's damn impressive.
Now, everyone just calm down about the show, it's more relevant then "So you think you can Dance" or "Big Brother" and helps quite a few more people.

But man, the contestants really do cry waaaay too much for my liking this year.. Val, any thoughts? :)

And those are my two cents. And if I am the only one with this opinion, send me your thoughts, but not on Tuesdays between 8 and 10pm. Because I'll be watching my stories.

More milk for me, and a blog you should defintely check out.

As EVERYONE knows by now, Sheila is gone, and while this is quite a loss for the studio as we lost an exceptional trainer and a good friend, I am pretty excited that I have all the milk to myself now. No one to refill it with water, no one leaving milk IOU's around the fridge. . The future looks promising.
It has been a solid week now since she has left, and I have convinced most of her clients that have switched over to me that we do not mention her name in these walls anymore. Surprisingly, they didn't have much of a problem with it.. . Sorry Sheila.
But I wish you the best on your 5-6 month vacation, and I will try to make sure that there is a spot here for you when you get back.. seems I am the only one with this opinion though. The other guys aren't too keen on it, but I've got your back. :)

GOOD LUCK!

Now, onto actual important issues. hehe. It's nice that even though she's gone, I can still picture her reading this, squinting (more than usual) and just saying, "I hate him" over and over again.

But all of you should make your way over to a blog I have found recently. It is called "Obesity Panacea - Two researchers in pursuit of a cure for Obesity" and can be located at www.obesitypanacea.com . One of the 2 contributors is a high school friend of mine named Travis Saunders who is now a PhD student in Exercise Physiology in Ottawa, Canada. You can read his full bio on the site, there is just a little too much for me to mention here. Now this blog is FULL of very useful information and I have yet to come across a post that I didn't fully agree with. They answer all of your health related questions and are very up to date on the latest fads and marketing gimmicks that society is throwing at us. I consider their blog like an educated version of mine, as I just show you links to the most terrible inventions I have ever seen (Shake Weight, Neckline Trimmer) and shake my head, where as they actualy explain to you why these do not work, in easy to understand scientific terms.
Their "Top 10" blog posts is one of the best reads I have had in a while and I wish more health professionals put as time time and effort into their craft as these two have.

Take a look and see for yourself. I also recommend signing up to get updates by email as everything they post is worth reading.

And Sheila, if you have read this far and still don't have the urge to send me anthrax, I want you to know that your cat never fought back, not once. ;)

My personal "Train the Trainer."

So, now that that is out of my system .. and I am going to try not to rant about it, I will let all of you try to figure out why it is terrible all by yourselves. (If you don't know what I am talking about, check my last blog post)

But on to my personal challenge. I have been seeing clients reach their goals and completely change their lives for the better in the last year that I have been with the Studio. It absolutely blows my mind what these people have done with their bodies and their metabolisms. So, now, I think it is my turn. I am going to pick up my training volume and intensity DRAMATICALLY in the next 6 months and really put my knowledge to good use. Ok, I know what you are asking yourselves, "But Bryan, why are you telling us? We really don't care that much..." I understand this, but you have to understand that this now holds me accountable for what happens to my body in the next 6 months. I am going to transform myself completely. And as much as I don't want to, I am going to post my starting numbers up here for everyone to see. I am going to periodically update here on my blog and at the end, I will have some before and after pictures.

So, here's to 6 months, let's see what happens until May 1st, 2010.

Starting weight - 172
Starting Body fat percentage - 13.2 - Hey, it's been a lazy summer.
Startng 1RM Squat - 220
Starting 1RM Deadlift - 265
Starting 1RM Bench Press - 205
Starting 1RM Bent over Row - 170
Starting # of consecutive Pull ups - 6 (my worst category by far)
Starting 1RM Military Press - 120

Tme to get down to business.

...

I .. . . am.. . .. so.. .. mad. .. . right. .. . now.. ..


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSpUaTPKkCk&feature=player_embedded

Locke St Festival

What an amazing Saturday. I worked all morning and was thinking that being at the festival until 8pm would be exhausting, but the energy there was contagious. There were so many vendors and different musical acts, it was incredible. I had never been to the festival before, but I am definitely going next year. And the best part was that we were set up right outside of Westown and next to the jazz tent! So many people came over to try our "60 second rope challenge" and I was surprised at what they could do. It's harder than most people think it is!

We even had to close down early because we just had nothing left to hand out. There seemed to be some genuine interest in the company and I am really excited to see the outcome. And for all of you first time readers, just coming to the site to check it out, what are you waiting for! Come on down to the studio, and meet with one of us, you wont regret it.

ENDAST tonight.

For those of you who don't know... I like metal. Not all the time, but every once in a while I need my metal fix. So, as it turns out, tonight is that night. I know a few guys in a band based out of Montreal who call themselves Endast. Now, this isn't metal for the faint of heart, it's loud, sweaty, and last time I was at one of their shows, I got knocked out in the mosh pit.. . good times.

Check them out on Myspace if you like good, heavy metal.

http://www.myspace.com/endast

It s at the casbah tonight if anyone is interested, though I am fairly certain nobody reads my blog AT ALL, let alone on a Friday evening, looking for plans.

On a more "vomity" note, I found out the hard way that my daughter gets motion sickness very easily. I bought a strap that you hook onto the back of your car that is supposed to get rid of motion sickness, but judging by the projectile vomit produced on the highway this morning and the fact that my car now smells like a dirty hospital, I'd say they might want to do some more research.

It's going to be rough for a little while, but if anyone knows of anything to help prevent it, that would be a big help. I put some motion sickness magic potion I bought at the drug store in her bottle every morning, but it just doens't seem to do the trick. I've tried trying to play with her to help her not think about it, but looking in the back seat and making faces while going 100+km/hr, is generally frowned upon by the other motorists.

I'm also eating milk chocolate covered blueberries right now... As Sheila put it, I'm "in my element."

Delicious element.

Endast - Sweeeet.

The Weather!

I know.. Incredibly exciting blog title. But that's what I want to talk about. The Weather.

It has been a terrible 2 summers that I have spent here so far, having to lock myself indoors for about a week and a half altogether. Some of the days here got up to 47 degrees.. I remember. I was peeking out of my blinds with the lights off and 2 air conditioners blaring. Anyone who knows me knows I sweat like a fat kid.. no wait, more like 2 fat kids naked, taped together.

But this summer has been amazing, granted there were days I went outside and immediately felt sick because of the heat, but not HALF as many as last year. . Everyone I talk to is complaining about the summer, but, I would like to thank the province of Ontario for giving me this summer.

And I want to finish off by saying that the snowball was an AMAZING throw, it hit her right in the hand that had the coffee in it... I told her to look at something that didn't exist and then tossed with all of my might.



It reminded me of that scene from my favorite movie "The Terminator" where Arnold is looking for Sarah Connor in "Tek Noir"... and when he finally sees her, the IMMEDIATE GLARE he gives her.. That's kind of what Sheila did to me after I hit her coffee... I was legitimately scared.