Fitness Contrarian

Being a personal trainer for over 25 years I have seen a number of trendy classes come and go. But Spinning classes have lasted the test of time. I have a number of clients who love to spin on their off days when not exercising with me. The problem with spinning classes; however, is that some of my clients and their friends think that spinning is making their legs bigger. One of my clients told me that her friend said if she did spinning twice per week it helped her lose weight but if she did spinning three times per week her legs got bigger. Most people spin for the cardiovascular workout and the overall calorie expenditure, and not to bulk up their legs (…)

If you had to gain weight fast what foods would you eat? Well this is an exercise that I have used with my personal training clients who tell me they can’t lose weight no matter what they eat. I ask my clients to make up a list of the 10 foods they would eat if they had to gain as much weight as possible in a short period of time. I got the idea {…}

Extreme dieting can work in the short term if done correctly. While I don’t usually recommend it, sometimes it is necessary. For example, it may be necessary if your getting married in 4 weeks and you have to lose weight to fit into your dress or your going to star in a move in a few weeks and you haven’t gotten down to (…)

QUESTION: Dear Tom: If you are going to go out and have a drink or two with friends, which drink is the best when you’re on a fat loss program like BFFM? Would it be wine or a vodka mixed with soda? Is champagne better or worse than the other two? ANSWER: The first thing [...]

You can’t control your weight with long hard aerobic sessions forever; it’s an uphill battle that most people lose.  You have to lift weights to lose weight.  The popular way to lose weight is with long and sometimes very hard (like spinning) aerobic sessions that leave you tired, over trained, hungry and vulnerable to burnout [...]