Don’t Hire A Personal Trainer For Fat Loss! Part 2/2

In Part 1 of 2 in this “Don’t Hire a Personal Trainer for Fat Loss” series I set out to define one simple thing: that in the fat loss adventure, when working with a personal FITNESS trainer (which is what we are) I have my roles and you have yours.

Let me go back and reiterate your roles as a client:

Your job:

1) Show up for your sessions. Seriously, if you can’t get yourself into the door how the hell am I supposed to get you into shape??

2) Put your heart into the exercises I prescribe. When I ask if you think you could lift heavier, more explosive or just with better form…if you think you can, then answer yes and just do it!

3) Communicate things that may hurt while doing exercise. You’re not a hero for “toughing it out”

4) Communicate discomfort in any situation (such as you ladies being around a bunch of 24-year-old gym monkeys that don’t know how to act right around a lady)

5) Communicate things you really enjoy doing and or situations, things I do/can do that will motivate you to push harder

6) DON’T F*** UP YOUR NUTRITION

7) Get some sleep!

8) Lower your stress levels

My buddy Mitchell Wright over at www.homefitnessmanual.com left a very intriguing question/comment on the Part 1 blog:

“Adrian, how many clients seem to do their part from 1-8 on a regular basis?”

The short answer is not a single one does 100% of all of them. I’ve never met anyone that is perfect. Nor do I feel it’s necessary. It’s sorta the 80/20 rule. Get it right 80% of the time and you’ll probably see 100% of the results you first sought out.

The way I truly look at most stuff in fitness is to “fix” my client’s greatest weaknesses first (poor posture, not enough strength, poor cardiovascular shape, etc.) and then when I’ve made the rounds in what was once weakness I’m usually left working with  a client who has become a badass. I joke sometimes but in truth it’s not a joke: my girlfriend’s mom could kick most of your asses! But it took me a while to get her there. And in the roles of who does what job, it was a hard thing for her for focus on her greatest weakness: food intake.

When she was able to work on that, bang, then came the greatest fat losses over shortest periods of time.

So when I say don’t hire a personal fitness trainer for fat loss, I’m not being literal. 80% of people that walk in my door come to lose fat. What I am saying is I have my job and you have yours. Your biggest job is to get #6 right in the list above!

So how do you eat to accomplish fat loss?

Let me detour for just a short moment. And in case you couldn’t tell this blog will be the uber blog. I intend to have to never answer the food question ever again. Basic guidance and tips, sure; that falls in my job description. I’m happy to tell you an apple is always better for fat loss than a banana.

People literally hire me to take them through a workout. You’re paying $50-60 for a 60-90 minute workout session. Now, sure there’s a lot that happens outside of that idea. Some life coaching, some psychologist work, some BFF cheering on, some smack-you-upside-the-head-when-you-need-it, and some education on many topics. But at the end of the day you pay me to take you through a workout you probably wouldn’t push yourself through on your own. Right? You don’t pay me to come home with you, cook your meals, watch you like a hawk to ensure you eat what you’re supposed to when you’re supposed to and my job surely isn’t to spoon feed you…right? (For the record, no, you can’t hire me for that job.) You have to feed you. You have to prep, cook, eat, and clean up after yourself.

Muscle breakdown, improvements of your fitness levels and small but important bump ups in your metabolic level happen in the gym.

Fat loss 100% does or 100% does not happen directly because of what you do in the kitchen. Ask any nutritionist, dietician, bodybuilder, bikini model and any athlete in any sport…they won’t argue against this point. Ever. So I hope we’re clear and I now hope to give some answers, options and clarity on the really important topic:

So how do you eat to accomplish fat loss?

I have a question for you: why isn’t everyone doing P90X? Why is Crossfit still alive? Why haven’t bodybuilders, yoga masters, professional MMA fighters and Vogue cover models all switched to P90X? It is the best, no? It works for every one in every situation, no?

Why is there Weight Watches, Jenny Craig, Dr. Bernstein, the Atkins Diet, the South Beach Diet, the HCG Diet? I mean, isn’t Paleo the answer for absolutely everyone on the planet?

I’m being facetious for a reason. There are many, many, MANY ways to get you from point A to point B in your fat loss and fitness gain journey. What us personal fitness trainers know best is what works best for YOU, the client, is the nutritional strategy that you’re most likely to stick with on the long term. I have my favorites but I’m not naïve enough to think they’ll always work for absolutely everyone. Unfortunately, there is this unique thing called YOU and your personality quirks that have destroyed all of us fitness trainer’s plans on becoming uber millionaires because of our genius discovery of the one, the only way to obtain as much fat loss as you desire. In just 3 easy installments of $99.99! Order today!!

I will say this at least 1000 times in my career: I only know what I see happen right in front of me. No certification, no expert, no scientific paper and no late-night infomercial squid is going to have me believe against what I’ve seen benefit my clients and help them achieve their goals. If you lost 50lbs and kept it off using the Jenny Craig system, as shit as I may personally feel that nutrition system is…it worked. Period. End of conversation. It worked for that client.

In the past 5 years and over 6000+ training sessions with a wide population base, here’s what I’ve seen work, I will then leave it to you to go with your gut feeling as to which approach you feel will work best for you and that you can really get behind on the long term.

Category 1: The Choose This Not That Method

Who it’s for: those who don’t play well with others telling them what to do; in fact they generally revolt and do the opposite. If you tell these people that they can no longer eat their beloved peanut butter well to hell with you sir, I’m now going to eat double! For these folks, it’s not about rules, it’s about better choices. It’s not about that “you must never have an ounce of caffeine or you’ll ruin your entire body” nonsense, it’s about the three Redbull’s a week aren’t gonna kill you and if it makes you happy in life, go for it! 3 a week, not 3 in one day. There’s a difference!

I find this is a good place to start for emotional eaters. For the most part that’s women. For women it’s more about the moment; stressed out of your mind because your crazy mother-in-law called you a _____ again, chocolate seems like the right answer right now!

For guys in this category, it’s not that we aren’t emotional eaters we just portray it in a different way. I call it Sense-of-Entitlement eating. I worked hard all this week. I had a rough day at the office. I’ve put in my 3 workouts this week. I mowed the lawn like the wife’s been nagging me to do so to hell with you wife, I’m going out with the boys to slam two pitchers of beer, eat a dozen hot wings and nearly a whole large pizza to myself!

Starting to sound like someone?

If that someone is you, for now, right now make it your mission not to completely stop. Just make better choices. Drink a pint of beer, have a couple of hot wings and only two slices of pizza. And tomorrow, add 20 minutes to your jog.

For lunch, at your favorite sandwich restaurant, forget the sauces, drop the meatballs and opt for chicken breast and some light Italian dressing instead.

Instead of GMO-soy laden Kashi cereal for breakfast, instead scramble up three eggs and have a small handful of mixed unroasted nuts (walnuts, almonds, macadamia nuts; just mix it up!).

Drop the soda. Drink more green or white tea instead of 6 pots of coffee a day. If you drink alcohol every weekend, drink once a month instead. I promise, it won’t kill you.

I’ve seen RIDICULOUS fat loss when the average Joe or Jane goes from what’s become the typical North American (fast, processed food) to the “this is simply a better option than that over time” eating strategy.

In my opinion, a great resource for this style of eating is Tosca Reno’s Eat-Clean diet, cookbooks and other written resources (including the awesome food magazine Clean Eating which you can get at your local grocery store).

When that stops working for you, and you’ll recognize when it has, it’s time to add in some time tested rules.

Category 2: Play by the Rules!

So you’ve gotten to the stage of what you feel is damn clean eating comparative to when you first started this journey. But the progress has come to a grinding halt. Now what?

Tips, tricks, rules and guidelines. It’s time you adopt a select 6-12 of these to set yourself on a stricter path.

I personally feel those at this stage are best to adopt one of two strategies:

1)      Regular, Intermittent Fasting. For my overview of fasting for fat loss and why I suggest it for certain clientele in this nutrition Category (2) see my blog HERE.  I’m not the expert. See www.eatstopeat.com OR download this free eBook: http://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting

Fasting is NOT for everyone. Hell, it’s not even for a good 50-80% of you. The hard rule is that fasting is not going to work if you’re starving yourself and in a state of nutrient deficiency already (e.g. those that only eat two meals a day or go more than 12hours without eating).

2)      This absolutely fantastic guide developed by coach Nick Tumminello over at Performance University. Read this: http://nicktumminello.com/2012/01/the-perfect-meal-what-to-eat-to-lose-fat-build-muscle/

When it comes to other tips and tricks I find you have to look at the situation individually. First find your greatest struggle.

Hungry all the time? Try adding 2 Ziploc sandwich sized baggies of raw veggies as your snacks each day.

Are you drinking 4L of fluid a day, preferably mostly water? No, well, get on building that up. I’d suggest as you do that you add fresh chopped lemon or lime to that water. One it makes you go pee less as your body has to filter the lemon/lime out of it first and two both of those alkalize the body which most of us could use. One note, both lemon and lime can be hard on teeth enamel. If you develop sensitive teeth cut the lemon/limes for a while.

Carbohydrate timing can really be a science. But understand this: carbs (especially sugar) are our easiest, fastest source of energy. Fats are a slower but equally good source of energy. Proteins are mostly used for repair. So a good rule of thumb is that when you are active you can afford carbs. When sitting on your ass in a cubicle for 8 hours, stick to proteins and veggies and little high-fiber fruit (apples, pears). Also, I’ve read some research showing that the body is more sensitive (in a good way) in utilizing carbs early in the day and fats later. So those silly cut off rules of “no starches past 4pm” can work. My only rule here is that you need to fuel your workouts. If you train hard with weights in the evening, you should have one serving of carbs (think rice, yam, potato) split before and after your workout.

For those who have abused carbs and are healthy (no diabetes, health conditions) I’ve read some great suggestions on the 100-125g carbs maximum/day rule. This is a must read article: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/one_hundred_gram_carb_cure if you’re worried about performance, time 80g of those carbs in the pre-intra-post workout period. That leaves only low cal veggies (salads) along with copious amounts of protein that will make up your meal plan.

The only rules are that there are no perfect rules. But find 6-12 you can fully commit yourself to for the next 6-12 weeks and be amazed at the level of progress you make!!

And when that stops working, then I recommend people take the leap of finding yourself a VERY specific nutritional strategy designed specifically for you.

Category 3: Personal Training for Food

It took me a few years to realize that trying to be the jack-of-all-trades in regards to brining fitness and health to an individual was the absolute wrong way to go. I had to realize what I’m great at and where I’d be better served in referring out.

So when we’ve been training for a few weeks and your low back pain just won’t subside, you have a few options and I’ve got some great connections to a chiropractor with awesome ART skills, a physiotherapist who does IMS and a massage therapist if I think that’ll help. Fixing you isn’t my job, it’s theirs. As one of my favorite coaches out there said it best: “I’m bringing fitness back!!”

Now, back in the day I’d write nutrition programs for my clients. But it’s not my passion. It’s not my expertise. And while I generally bash nutritionists and dieticians for trying to make people eat the government food pyramids (a great way to be shaped like a pyramid!), there are professionals out there that do specialize in body recomposition (fat loss, muscle gain), athletic performance and special population (vegetarian, diabetic, allergies) nutrition protocols. Over time I learned to seek out and align myself with individuals I saw bringing consistent progress to their clients.

Hear me on this: If you’ve changed to eating “clean,” if you’ve minimized or eliminated the processed junk, if you’re keeping your alcohol low, if you’ve been following some sound guidelines and rules as described in Category 2 above and STILL you’re not happy with your results: it’s time to hire a professional.

Here I have two go to gents:

1)      Scott Abel whom I greatly respect for his approach to training, nutrition and coaching. Look into his services here: http://www.scottabel.com/coach-scott-abel-services.php He’s been invaluable in making me a better trainer over these past 5 years.

2)      Jeff “Wet Wolf” Kuh. I needed to develop a closer relationship with a nutrition expert to help my clients better realize their goals. As most of my clients come to me with aesthetic goals (fat loss, muscle gain) his before/after style website and the testimonials of his clients spoke loudly. And naturally my personality works best with and I respect how Jeff does what he does. He’s a no-bullsh*t, tough-love sorta dude whom I’ve found to be very reasonable if you’re willing to put in the work (sticking to your meal plan). See his website at www.wetwolftraining.com

The only hesitation I find with my clients hiring a nutrition coach is that just like their decision to hire a personal fitness trainer (me) it really came down to them getting to know a little about me, how I do what I do, what my “style” is and being clear about what I expect. I’m perfectly fine when a client tells me that I am not the trainer for them. I am me. I have my way of doing things. If it doesn’t suit you, the best I can do is perhaps refer you to another qualified trainer I know that may suit you better.

With that said, I asked Jeff if he’d be up for an in-depth interview, which follows my summary.

Summary

I know this blog is long. I set out to cover this subject once and for all. I hope after you’ve read it you’ve discovered where you are on the scale of being more and more regimented in your nutrition planning. It basically comes down to this: if you’re out-of-control, eating crap all the time, start replacing it with quality foods. If it was once living, it’s probably good for you. Pasta doesn’t grow on a tree. Stop eating it. If you’ve made the transition to buying, prepping, cooking and regularly eating quality foods and have run into a plateau, then it’s time to experiment with some guidelines, rules, tips and/or tricks such as I outlined above. If yet still you are not happy with your gains/losses and/or physical performance: you need a professional. Period. Here’s my sincerest advice to you in regards to that: Hire an individual you can trust, work with and respect. I have listed two above such gentlemen. Lastly, am I saying that if your diet is a train wreck that you need to work your way through Category 1, then 2 and finally hire a professional? NO. But let me ask you this: are you ready to pay someone to tell you exactly what to eat and when? No? What if I told you that if you are ready for that, it will mean the absolute fastest fat loss or muscle gains OF YOUR LIFE!

The point is…go with your gut. You should know the direction to take now.

 

Today, I’m stoked to introduce you to Jeff “Wet Wolf” Kuh:

Adrian Crowe (AC herin): I discovered you on the Figure Athlete/T-Nation website a few years back. You immediately came across as a guy in the know. How about you shoot us a brief resume/background for those that may not know of you:

Wet Wolf (WW herin):  I signed a collegiate football scholarship and played for 4 years. When my playing days ended I lost over 50 lbs going from 21% body fat down to 5% body fat in 16 weeks. After graduation I went on to be a collegiate strength coach. From there I transitioned to the private sector as personal trainer for the next 10 years. I’ve had 25 articles published over an 8 month period by the highest paying fitness website in the world (at the time). That led me to creating an online website where I sold customized eating patterns and training programs. Since starting my online business I’ve had over 200 successful fat loss case studies from 16 different countries and wrote an eBook. I transitioned to doing the online program design as a full time gig back in 2011.

AC: When suggesting my personal fitness training clients take on your services one of the big questions I get are related to what certifications or education related to nutrition/diet do you hold or where did you learn the macro science/magic you always impress me with?

WW: You know what’s funny is when I was writing my articles back in early 2009 under a pseudonym I had people contacting me requesting I build a diet program for them. None of them asked me for my resume or who I’d trained, in fact no one even knew my name! So why in the world were they asking me to build them a diet program if they didn’t know a single thing about me?

I’ll tell you why. I sold them on my articles.

When I first started out back in 2001 in the private sector I had several certifications. I won’t reveal which certs they were as I don’t want to endorse any organizations. However one of the certifications was one of the most respected in the industry. In fact I remember after I took the exam I wasn’t any better at doling out nutrition advice.

It didn’t equip me with the knowledge to build effective fat loss or muscle building eating patterns, and it didn’t make me any better as a trainer. In fact none of the certifications did. One of the biggest misconceptions people have out there is that holding a cert or degree actually makes you better at performing your job in the fitness industry. In other industries that’s different. But in the fitness industry having a cert or degree does not better equip you to design an effective personalized nutrition program or customized eating pattern.

The biggest pit falls of certifications & academic curricula is that they don’t teach you how to actually build diet programs. In fact very little of what you even learn has any carry over to real world program design.

In fact it can actually make you worse at program design. I’ve never been shy about voicing my dislike for the pernicious information registered dietitians dish out as seen in my infamous video here.

Dietitians base their entire weight loss protocol off the calories in vs. calories out formula. They’re never focused on fat loss but rather on weight loss. Their battle cry for weight loss is always exercise more and eat less. I’m the only person in the fitness industry or on the planet it seems who says the way to smart healthy fat loss is to exercise less and eat more.

Let me explain.

What I’ve found is that the people who sign up with me who are trying to burn fat but have hit a stubborn plateau are over training and under eating. If you’re already hitting the gym 2 x day, 6 x week, popping fat burners 2 x day and gulping down energy drinks and eating tilapia & asparagus every meal what’s next?  Where do you go from there? Gym 3 x day and twigs & berries? See my point? You have to ditch the chronic over training, drop the fat burners and use food as your chief weapon in the fat loss battle.

Nutrition for fat loss isn’t like math where 1 + 1 will always equal 2. It doesn’t matter what your body fat % is or you gender or your age, no matter who you are, 1 + 1 will always equal 2 does not hold true when it comes to food. Two different people can respond totally different to the same type and portion size of food.

The way I gained knowledge was through testing. I would read, study & absorb different articles by “experts,” books by renowned fitness authors & diet gurus. I bought diet programs from some of the very first online fat loss program pioneers in the industry. I took everything I learned and tested the info on myself and on my clients. I stuck with and improved what worked and ditched what didn’t.

Bruce Lee had a great quote which definitely rings true for me in my journey, “Absorb what is useful and reject what is useless.” Most of the stuff, I’d say 99% of the stuff I read and experimented with on myself and on my clients just wasn’t very effective. The stuff the fitness rags say, “experts” say, text books say or the academic curricula say just doesn’t always work out that way in the real world. It has very little validity in a real world scenario. Does that make sense? It just doesn’t pan-out in the real world. Real world fat loss adversity does not come to you in black & white, it’s different for everybody.

The way I deliver my “magic” as you put it has to do with my very high emotional & intellectual aptitude on how to write program design. Granted it took many years of real world experience in the front line trenches to refine my skills and develop the working knowledge I have today. The biggest misconception I get is that you can learn how to do this. You can study how to get better & use testing like I did but you’ve got to have a God-given aptitude to be really effective at building diet programs and building eating patterns for the individualized customized person. You’ve got to be able to think outside the box and be able to see the forest for the trees. That’s a skill set you can refine over time but you’ve also got to be born with.

The backbone of my eating pattern design is built through three scientifically-backed, proven principles and guidelines but you’re not going to read about two them in text books. They are beyond the scope of what’s being taught in North American certification organizations and academic institutions. Oddly enough I stumbled across them by mistake back in 2003. Since then I’ve refined them and tweaked them along the way to “fit” the different somatotypes of folks I work with.  It’s all out there and it’s proven but you’re not going to find it in textbooks or certification manuals.

You know, the longer I’ve been in this business the more I’ve learned that folks really care less about a certification and more about what you’ve done for others or more appropriately what you can do for them.  Bottom line is that testimonials & success stories mean a lot more then pieces of paper.

AC: Wow, that’s quite the answer! I know what you’re saying though; I see it all the time in personal training where the art and science of workout program design really just doesn’t come to life as it should. Any Joe trainer can write 12 exercises on a piece of paper and call it a workout. But when I ask the “why” questions it all starts falling apart. Okay, let’s move on. Who is your typical clientele? Have you worked with really out of shape (read: obese) folks? Pro athletes? Do you have a preferred client to work with (in relation to training experience or sport)?

WW: I really love this question! My typical clientele now is through online training. I don’t train folks at a gym or do boot camps. I’m just in front of the computer. Being a former collegiate football player and then strength coach at the University of Florida I worked with athletes that were 1^st round NFL draft picks , top athletes that have gone on to play professional sports. And at the time were All-Conference or All-American collegiate athletes who were phenomenal physical specimens.

From there I transitioned to the private sector back in 2001. That’s where I worked with everyone from skinny junior high kids in puberty to geriatric folks battling obesity and everything in between. Might have been the guy in his 30’s who was a former collegiate athlete who wanted to get back in shape or the petulant, despondent single woman who was trying to shrink her waist line.

95% were female, some were hot, some had a great attitude and some were angry at life for a number of reasons but they all wanted to burn fat.

Now since I’m totally online, 90% of all my clients are females. Most are probably in the age 30-50 demographic. About 70% are married with kids. I currently have 2 folks who are in their 60’s and two teenagers on board.

AC: Do you work with vegetarians? Any specific challenges or insight/opinion you can provide for this bunch?

WW: Yes I do. It’s funny you ask this because I have a quote I coined on my Facebook page where I say, “If you’re a vegetarian and you’re trying to burn body fat that’s like taking a knife to a gun fight.” What I mean by that is it’s a mismatch.   It’s like trying to climb a cactus. However it can be done with the right tools.

In fact one of the vegetarians you sent my way, Muni actually lost 7 lbs her first month once I built her a fat loss specific vegetarian eating pattern.

As a vegetarian, your complete protein sources are limited; therefore you have to be on point with the carb & fat sources you eat. And Muni did just that. So although it is more challenging, it can be done.

AC: Alright, let’s get into the meat and potatoes (excuse the pun). Where are people royally screwing up or quite simply just don’t get it in relation to diet?

WW: People trying to “figure out” what to eat on their own, trying to “wing it” on their own. This never works. This doesn’t work for 2 reasons:

1)      People don’t have the emotional aptitude to eat the right foods.  People have a compelling fear of food. I can’t tell you how many folks have come to me quivering in fear about the certain disaster that awaits them if they eat their last meal too late at night.  People are also afraid of large portions of food, yes even healthy food. I once had a girl email me in absolute terror just to make sure she was supposed to eat her ½ cup of quinoa. You see when you cook quinoa it greatly expands thus that little bitty scoop now takes up five times as much space after you zap it in the microwave. Same amount of calories and carbs as before but the increased volume had taken a death grip on this poor girl’s emotional aptitude rendering her defenseless against her compelling fear of food. “It was just so much I just wanted to make sure I was supposed to eat it all!” So they eat small or moderate amounts of healthy food which doesn’t have the caloric load to support their energy expenditure. Then a couple days later they are starving and fall off the deep end with an all-out jail break binge. Then the same vicious cycle starts all over. Wash-Rinse-Repeat.  When it comes to healthy food, more is less.

2)      People lack the Intellectual aptitude to design their own effective fat loss program. Quite simply they just don’t know what to eat. When someone signs up with me I have them list on their evaluation the foods they currently eat. Every single person always eats the wrong foods or isn’t eating the right foods. It’s a re-occurring theme of three problems, too much protein, too many processed foods and dairy.

Now the question is why do people think they can figure it out on their own? I mean, where does this false bravado come from? Two reasons:

1) Everywhere you look, Dr. Oz, fitness mags, fitness celebs, diet blogs, the news, etc. people are always telling you what to eat. Top 3 foods to burn belly fat, top 8 ways to trim your waist line, top 10 clean recipes, etc. people hear so many tidbits of advice they think they are equipped to do it on their own.

2) People have been eating their entire life. You have to eat to live and you eat every day. So people think that because they’ve been doing it their whole life and you have to eat to survive that surely then can manage on their own. Nothing could be further from the truth.

If this weren’t the case you wouldn’t have so many people trying to burn fat, who couldn’t.

AC: Where do you stand on the dietary supplement issue? Do you recommend them? And if you do, are they absolutely necessary for your program? What about the fat burner usage?

WW:  I am a fan of using supplements but let me be clear it is a very short list. I do not endorse any one brand but cherry pick the best products from a variety of brands. I do recommend a very short list to my clients. I’m not going to say they are 100% necessary to follow my program but at the same time with over 1000 sign ups I’ve never had anyone that insisted to void them altogether.

My stance on fat burners is that unless you are doing a competition or a photo shoot you have no business taking them. My general rule of thumb is that if you can’t get under 20% body fat (excluding extreme endomorphs) by eating healthy and exercising alone you have no business taking fat burners.

Fat burners should be taken acutely not chronically.

AC: How about training? And what’s your opinion on typical (read: machines in gym) cardio?

WW:  People have a poor Training Economy (doing crummy exercises) and they over train. That’s why 99% of the folks you see in the gym either regress or look the same year after year. When it comes to exercise, less is more.

My opinion is evidence based off the 1000 or so folks who have signed up with me and filled out an evaluation and the last 17 years as a collegiate athlete, college strength coach and private sector personal trainer.

AC: You’re big on people using your online forums for progress journaling. Why? What benefits would someone see by using this service? Is it necessary and what loss is there if someone chooses to opt out of this?

WW:  My online forum provides a great source of accountability, social support and mentorship for the members. Starting a personal journal in my message forum is very valuable because you are surrounded by like-minded individuals.  All the folks following a customized eating program like yourself are in the same boat as you. The biggest benefit is that the members feed off each other’s success and lift each other up when someone has a bad day. I’ve seen some women totally change their mentality and outlook by following the success of another member. It’s an amazing thing to behold. Never underestimate the power of being surrounded and supported by like-minded individuals who are all fighting for the same thing as you are!

Your journal is where I will field all your questions you may have about your program. You see, when folks know other people will be reading what they write they often tend to ask fewer stupid questions.

If someone chooses to opt out of this service it is very foolish for the following reasons: 1) the support they receive is included in their program price. They’re paying for this. Your program price isn’t ONLY for the program delivery; it also includes the ongoing support, coaching & adjustments that may be necessary over the course of the month.  2) They are missing out on the intangibles such as social support, accountability & mentorship. If someone claims they don’t feel comfortable posting their journey with others they can simply use a pen name when they register as most my clients do this anyway. This way you will remain anonymous. 3) Posting in your journal also opens up the communication lines. The more you communicate with me the better your chances are to be successful.

AC: You’re known, especially on Facebook, for showing some “tough love” (to put it nicely). Anything you care to say to those that may not be able to handle it or quickly feel offended?

WW: I’ve found that 90% of folks respond best to “tough love” or the “No B.S.” approach. People respect it because it’s not sugar coated. I’m always brutally honest with people. Basically 90% of folks respond well to it and 10% don’t. In the end most people respect a brutally honest answer that helps them even if it’s not what they want to hear.

AC: One look at your website: www.wetwolftraining.com can leave one confused on which program may be best for them. I generally suggest for my clients the Quick Fix Diet (QFD) for those looking for the best “eat this to attain your goals” type of plan. Then I recommend the Oscillating Macronutrient Eating Pattern (OMEP) for those that really need more serious coaching in their nutrition plan. Where would you suggest someone start?

WW:  I agree with what you said 100%. That’s a perfect way to present it.

AC: Alright, last one. Time to put you on the spot. As a personal fitness trainer I really believe in the old story of teaching a man to fish so he may be able to feed himself long term versus simply giving him a fish for the day. I’d say a good 50-75% of clients could care less to learn the how’s and why’s; that’s why they come to us – to tell them what to do to help them reach their goals. But what about those that want to learn? Say if I’m a new client, I feel I need the enhanced level of coaching OMEP provides and choose to take it on for 6-12 months, during that time frame am I going to learn how to eat best for my body and goals? Where do you stand on the teaching front?

WW: I specialize in program delivery and support and that’s what I deliver. One question I never answer is the “why” question. Folks need to focus less on the “why” and focus more on the “doing” the actual program that lies in front of them. My motto is pretty simple: “Read your program, trust your program, obey your program then watch your program work!”

I also have an aggregate of articles, webinars & YouTube recordings where I dish out important info for smart eating that anyone can watch without ever paying me anything.

AC: Alright, Jeff. Thank you very much for your time. On a final note, until last week I didn’t even know you had a YouTube channel. Where else can we find you and what’s the best way for someone to learn more about your services?

WW: I would suggest people browse around the journal section of my message board and get inside street info on what my members are doing straight from the horse’s mouth.

My Facebook page is still the best place to read daily tid bits of info from me.

It has been my pleasure Adrian, glad I could share my thoughts with you.

BTW, you can now find me on:

Instagram @adriancroweathletictraining

Facebook page at Adrian Crowe Athletic Training “The Crowe’s Nest”

YouTube www.youtube.com/acathletictraining

or email me directly at adrian@adriancrowe.com