Have you ever quit your exercise routine because you became bored with it? And going to the gym seemed like a chore?

Have you ever struggled to lose just a few pounds, even though you were going to the gym and eating a bunch of boring healthy foods?

The sad fact is that most people who try to do it on their own fail. Very rarely does their body seem to change much, even when they try their hardest.

By far, the absolute best solution to this problem is to get a personal trainer. They can guide, direct and motivate you to a better body. Personal fitness trainers can help to change someone’s physique like nothing else on the planet

But, many times this isn’t the case and the trainer ends up being more problems than they’re worth...You see, often times when someone hires a personal trainer the only place they end up trimming any extra fat away is in their bank account.

Have you ever known anyone who hired a trainer and got NO results at all?

Have you ever been working out in a gym and actually observed the trainers?

If you have, I bet you probably could tell right away that the trainer is just doing a job, and has no emotional investment in seeing the client get results.

If you’ve ever hired a personal trainer yourself you know what a crap shoot it can be to try and find the right one.

If you’ve had friends who’ve hired personal trainers it’s no doubt you’ve heard the horror stories... The flakey trainers who are always late and missing their appointments, the trainers who promise everything yet produce nothing in the way of tangible results and the trainers who go on and on about insignificant matters the entire workout all on the client's dime!

If you’ve ever done a trial workout with a trainer you know that many of them can give great sales pitches, but how do you know if they’re really the best trainer for you?

Keep reading and you’ll find out...

The Problems with Many Personal Trainers...

One of the problems with many of the personal training programs in Camden County is that the trainer and client spend a lot of time talking about their personal lives, and frankly, the trainer wastes a lot of time just standing around counting reps.

Why pay good money for someone just to count your reps? You could easily hire someone for minimum wage to count your reps if that’s what you’re looking for.

And if you're looking for someone to talk about your personal life with for an hour then a therapist might be more what you’re looking for...not a trainer.

Here are a few of the types of problem personal trainers that are giving the rest of us a bad name:

The Selfish Trainer... who’s motto is if it works for me it will work for you - This is the trainer who doesn’t take their client's goals into consideration when designing a routine.

This is why it’s common for a female to hire a personal trainer and then 3 months later she looks all buffed out like she’s been taking steroids.

Or why you’ll see people in the gym working out with a trainer doing some really ineffective and funky exercises.

You see, while the client's goal might be to lose fat and tone up, the trainer will put the client on one of “his” favorite exercises, which won’t do anything but add a couple of yards to your golf swing... but if you want to lose fat, who cares about improving your golf swing! Just because the trainer’s a golfer and finds that doing a lot of functional sport training routines helps him improve his swing and impress his buddies on Saturday morning doesn’t mean that’s the same workout his client's need to reach their own fitness goals.

But the Selfish trainer doesn’t see this. Because he’s completely self-absorbed and self-obsessed and what his clients want really doesn’t matter to him.

So it’s very important when hiring a trainer that you let them know EXACTLY what your goals are.

Make sure the trainer knows that you have no interest in improving your golf swing, unless that’s your goal.

If you’re a female and don’t want to get big and bulky, make sure you tell this to the trainer before you sign ANYTHING, and ask the trainer to see before and after pictures of his clients, so you can make sure he’s not turning women into bodybuilders.

Watch out for the Selfish Trainer who just puts his clients on “his’ favorite exercises, with no consideration for the client’s goals.

The Amateur Psychologist Trainer... One of the biggest problems in the industry is personal trainers trying to be amateur psychologists.

They’ll happily give out financial advice even though they’re broke.

They’ll happily dish out marital advice, many times as a way to get into their clients pants! (I’ve seen this one more times then I can count).

They’ll talk to you about your inner child; right after they just snorted a few lines of coke in the gym bathroom (cocaine and steroid addiction is a giant problem in the personal training industry).

The truth is many of these "pop-psychologist" personal trainers live lives that are an absolute mess. And it’s easier for them to dish out information about how their clients should live their lives than it is to fix their own.

Watch out for the personal trainer who wants to play “psychologist.”

The Know-It-All Trainer... It’s impossible to know EVERYTHING about exercise. There’s just so much to learn. Science is rapidly finding the best ways to go about losing fat and toning muscles that to know it all would require a hundred lifetimes and a university-sized library of knowledge.

Any personal trainer who claims to know it all is dangerous! If a client comes to this kind of personal trainer with an important question regarding their body or health, if the trainer doesn’t know the answer many times the “know-it-all trainer” will just dish out any old line instead of admitting they don’t know the answer and going and finding the best answer or solution for that individual client with the client's best interest in mind.

A true fitness professional will keep their client's best interest at the absolute forefront of their mind at all times, and won’t be scared to say “I don’t know”
An amateur will THINK that by admitting that they don’t have the answers to everything that it’s a weakness, so they’ll tell a boldfaced lie to the client and dish out possibly harmful information just to protect their own ego.

Beware of the know-it-all personal trainer.

The Rep-Counter... The Rep-Counter is the most harmless of trainers yet also has the worst track record for getting results.

You see, a lot of personal trainers just train for the money and look at it as job.

In fact, gyms are filled with unqualified personal trainers who could give a damn about their client’s goals and only care about bringing in a paycheck.

Here’s a typical situation of how this kind of personal trainer gets hired:

In this case we’ll call our trainer Johnny.

A local gym puts and ad in the newspaper or online saying they are hiring for Personal Trainers, Sales People, Front Desk Staff and Custodians.

Johnny is fresh out of high school (maybe college) and needs a job so he can afford his weekly sack of weed, gas money and the $25 a week he pays his parents for rent to live in their house.

While looking through the classifieds, at the strong urging of his mother, he sees a job listing for “Personal Trainers”.

This catches Johnny’s eye because he’s heard trainers get a lot of “chicks” and Johnny kind of looks like a trainer. Not because he works out, but because he’s young, has good genetics and took P.E. in high school for the past four years... he looks like he’s in good shape.

So Johnny applies. And since many gyms will hire just about ANYBODY to be trainer, he gets the job. They make him go to a two-day certification program that the gym offers which amounts to one day on how to train people, and then another day split in half between how to sell personal training to people who don’t want to buy it and how to up-sell their clients on the line of crappy supplements that the gym offers, allowing the trainer to make a 5% commission.

Johnny loves his job because he quickly realizes that all he has to do is sell packages of personal training and count reps and his boss is happy.

And the fringe benefits are, while Johnny’s on the job, he can check out “chicks”, go on and on about his personal life, and even possibly sleep with a few of his unhappily married Osage Beach housewife clients.

A common disguise for this kind of trainer is the stop watch and clipboard, which will many times only serve as “costume” for making them look like they know what they’re doing.

Shocking yes, but common...

When searching for a trainer, be sure and avoid “Johnny the Rep-Counter.”

Two-Routine Trainer... Another common situation that gives personal trainers a bad name are the trainers who put clients on one of two workout routines.

Routine #1 is where the trainer will stick the client on a treadmill for half the workout while the trainer either blabs about his personal life to the captive-audience client on the treadmill or while the trainer hangs out and chats with his trainer buddies at the “trainer desk”. All while the client is forking over good money for the hour.

Routine #2 is where the trainer knows how to do one workout (usually the one he learned in that two-day certification program) and he puts his clients on this routine, EVERY TIME THEY COME IN THE GYM.

What the trainer didn’t learn in his two-day certification program is that this not only will get clients very little in the way of results due to the “Law of Physical Adaptation,” but this will cause pattern overload syndrome, which will ruin the client's joints and cause them to have that horrible-rounded-shoulder- head-poking-forward-posture that will make them look like a caveman.

Do NOT hire the “Two-Routine Trainer” unless you want to end up paying high dollar to walk on a treadmill while you turn into a hunchback.

The Genetically-Gifted, Steroid-Freak Trainer... The last kind of trainers I’m going to warn you about is the “genetically gifted” and the “steroid freak.”

Often times this trainer comes in a combination of both and is actually a hybrid, which I call “The Genetically-Gifted, Steroid-Freak Trainer.”

Due to either steroid usage or genetics or a combination of both, these trainers can do just about anything and be in perfect shape. Any kind of exercise they do will make them look like Greek Gods, even if they live on cheeseburgers and onion rings.

Now that’s great for them, but the problem is these trainers think that since whatever they do in a gym works for them, then it must work for everyone else.

And their clients believe it too because any trainer in that kind of shape MUST know what he’s doing. Right? WRONG!

Unfortunately, most of us weren’t blessed with perfect genetics, nor are we willing to order black market pharmaceuticals from third-world countries online and then inject them into our tush just to get six-pack abs.

There is so much science behind what it truly takes for the average person to get into incredible shape, and what works for “Genetically-Gifted, Steroid-Freak Trainer” will not work for the vast majority of the population.

But “Genetically-Gifted, Steroid-Freak Trainer” doesn’t need to keep up on this science because hell, anything works for him!

The truth is that this is an extremely dangerous breed of trainer because often times they are so amped up on the 'roids that they can perform near superhuman feats in the gym. And the harder the feat, the better the results.

Yet the real problems start when they give these kinds of routines to their clients.

Not only will these routines put the average client into an over-trained state which will actually cause their bodies to lose muscle and hold onto fat, but they risk seriously injuring the client as well.

Avoid “Genetically-Gifted, Steroid-Freak Trainer” like the plague, they are the most dangerous of all trainers!

And to make matters worse...

Did you know that many trainers make the majority of their income by keeping their clients out of shape and dependant on them?

They know that once they get you into great shape you probably won’t need them anymore.

They also know that if they give you just enough results to where you see a small change in your physique, you’ll probably keep coming back in hopes of really getting into shape.

And they know if they keep you uneducated that you will most likely completely rely on them to get into and stay in shape. This means big bucks for the trainer yet a feeling of dependency for you.

Bottom Line...

It’s extremely important when looking for a personal trainer that you are (or stay) on the lookout for these kinds of trainers and avoid them at all costs.

There are a lot of great trainers out there but there are also a lot of scam artists who will take your hard earned money and then throw you on a treadmill for the entire workout.

Or they’ll make you do the same unproductive routine every time you come in for a workout.

Their sales pitch might be great, but the only place you’ll lose any fat is in your wallet.

Make sure you state your goals and what you’d like to achieve before you make a commitment to any trainer.

There’s nothing worse than seeing a female get all buffed out because of her personal trainer, or watching a guy get a nicely developed upper body from workouts but get stick-figure-twig legs that all his friends tease him about.

The sad fact is that 93% of personal trainers just look at training as a job.

So make sure you find one of the 7% who love to help people get into shape, find a trainer who trains people because that’s his or her passion in life.

When you first meet the trainer, ask him or her why they decided to become a trainer in the first place.

Asking this question could save you thousands of dollars and countless hours working out with the wrong trainer.

Make sure you can try at least one workout before making any financial commitment to a trainer. Many will just want to do a quick consultation and then sign you up. So remember to make sure and really taste the goods before you buy... Insist on a trial workout.

During this trial workout your job is to see how well the trainer motivates you.

Do they push you to do your best while still showing you respect?

If not, I would run away, not walk, RUN from that trainer as fast as you can.

Immediately after choosing your trainer, make sure and go home and clear out your fridge and cupboards of any junk (it’s been my experience if there’s junk in the house, it will eventually get eaten).

Then go buy the foods your trainer tells you to buy. This will ensure you will lose fat as quickly and safely as possible. Eating the right foods is extremely important.

And another tip is to find a trainer who works with multiple people at one time. You’ll be amazed at how much more enjoyable the workouts are when there’s someone else beside you giving the workout their all as well.

The energy of a semi-private workout is much higher than with traditional one-on-one training and the results the clients get are much greater and come much faster.

One last tip... Find out how busy they are. Usually the best personal trainers are busy. With the rare exceptions of the dedicated trainer just starting out, the trainer who just moved to the area or the instructor who chooses not be busy because of personal value preferences, the best personal trainers in Camden County are busy training clients… especially because there is such a demand for good trainers in this area.

So What Do You Do Now That You Have This Information?

Armed with this information you’re now one of the most savvy and educated consumers in the entire world. You now know instantly how to differentiate a good trainer from a bad one.

Go to Fit Physique Custom Fitness and opt in to my Get Fit Newsletter. It will keep you on the forefront of the fat loss frontier with cutting edge information on how to lose fat FAST, and keep it off for good.

Also, I want to let you know that I’ve hand-picked a team of what I believe to be the best 1% of personal trainers in Camden County.

Not only do these trainers bring a tremendous amount of passion and experience to their training, but they are all down to earth, good human beings with a proven track record for getting people into incredible shape.

I urge you to learn more about this unparalleled team of personal trainers here...

Click here to learn about the Fit Physique Custom Fitness Training Team

Yours in Never Ending Health and Fitness,

Rick Streb

Physique Transformation Expert
http://www.fitphysiqueonline.com

P.S. By the way, I’m not sure how well you know me yet, but as a new subscriber to my Get Fit Newsletter you can learn a little bit about me here:

Click here to learn about who I am and why you should listen to me

And in case you haven’t checked out my Fit Physique Online Training Program, be sure and check it out:

Click here to learn about the Fit Physique Online Training Program

5 Things You Should Know to learn more about finding the right personal fitness trainer for you.

You can visit our Osage Beach personal training page to learn more about finding the right personal fitness trainer for you.

He is not a fictitious character.

He is a real person.

Brad has been exercising for about twelve years now. Brad isn’t a large man by any means. He weighs about 165 pounds. If you met Brad you wouldn’t think anything special is standing in front of you. He is a very kind, unassuming individual. But Brad is a special as it gets.

Brad has the heart of a lion and a will to live that is rare and exceptional.

Brad is what I want to be.

Brad loves life and is doing what is necessary to live.

Brad has cystic fibrosis. That’s right, cystic fibrosis!

The deadly disease that kills most people inflicted by it before their sixteenth birthday.

The ailment that systematically eats away at any active tissue fiber in the body.

The syndrome that literally rots away the lungs, muscle and immune system of anyone inflicted by it.

Brad’s lung capacity is one-third that of yours and mine. Yet, Brad has lived almost twice as long as doctors and medical experts expect.

Have you figured out why Brad has bucked the odds?

Has the light bulb come on yet? Isn’t it obvious?

It’s right there in front of your nose.

I gave you a hint in the very first sentence of this post...

Brad exercises!

Brad realized at an important time in his life that exercising could prolong his life.

When the doctors told him that he had only about two years to live, Brad said “Wrong!”

And because Brad did so, he is enjoying life well past everyone’s imagination.

Brad decided that he would not just endure life, but he would live life!

And that is exactly what he does.

Now, take a look at yourself.

Do you refuse to do something about your dismal physical existence?

Are you really that lazy?

Excuses are for losers!

You have no valid excuse for not taking control of your own health.

In any contest or sporting event, you don’t hear the winner making excuses for winning, now do you? No! It’s always the losers!

And the people who look and feel healthy aren’t the ones you find justifying themselves. It’s always the ones who feel and look terrible! They are the ones who are always trying to justify themselves with pathetic excuses.

See the correlation here?

Losers make excuses for their failures!

Winners take control of a situation and excel.

Brad is a winner. Twelve years ago he was written off for dead. Yet, today he lives a healthier, a happier life than most people. I salute Brad. He’s the type of person I want to be like.

What about you?

Are you a winner or a loser?

Do you want to live life, or simply endure it?

The choice is yours to make.

Live or die.

Is there really a choice?

Do you really have to think about it?

If so, that’s too bad.

Have thoughts about this post? Let us know your comments...

Two girls at the beach were admiring the passing scene, which included a bodybuilder who was strutting his best.  "That's my type," said the first girl. "Well, I don't know," the other replied.  "I have a friend who married a man that owns a two-car garage, but he just keeps a bicycle in it!"

There’s a postulate in quantum physics that states, “We don’t know how much we don’t know.”  This statement rings out such resounding truth when it comes to weight training… and, yes, sex… but for now we’ll stick to the topic of weight training. 

Every gym across the country has them… you know the people… the ones who make you put on that set of headphones (no stereo mind you, just the headphones) just so you can be left to yourself…. the woman who sees no wrong in setting the treadmill to the very lowest setting, and staying on it for an hour and a half while others are in line… the wannabe Hulk who loads 280 lbs. on a barbell and starts pounding away bicep curls by throwing his upper body back and forth - without ever bending the elbows… the men and women who filter in and out of the gym every day thinking that they are accomplishing something with their aimless antics and lack of planning. Every one of them thinks that they are doing it right!

The reality is that most people in the gym have lousy form, and pathetic knowledge of weight training. There’s little wonder why they look exactly the same, week after week, month after month, year after year. In fact, over 90% of the people who frequent gyms fall squarely into this category.

Let’s take a look at some of the characters that are commonly found in any gym across the nation:

“No Pain, No Gain.” There are actually people who believe this! I sincerely doubt that Ronnie Coleman or Arnold have ever consciously tried to hurt themselves. Yet there are morons out there that actually train with that mentality. Exercise should never be painful. If it is, you'll run the risk of injury as a result of overtraining. Once you enter the "overtraining zone," you're guaranteed to experience physiological and mental stress which can eventually lead to a number of health problems.

The Flirt. All you guys know who she is. She is the one that thinks she’s the hottest girl in the gym, but in reality she is simply the most annoying. She is the one that comes up to you immediately after you have just pounded out a set of squats from hell, bats her eyes at you then proceeds to ask you "Can you please come take these plates off the leg press. They are just too heavy for me." To which I would say "Hell no, what do I look like, your personal trainer?" (You know how moody one can be after doing a set of brutal squats.)

The Screamer. Every gym has to have at least one of them. I know you will easily create an image in your mind of the person that I'm talking about. He's the guy that, for some reason, feels it's his obligation to shriek at the top of his lungs before performing any set. What makes it even more astonishing is that this person will be lifting such a small amount of weight. I find these people more humorous than annoying. I've had the “privilege” to experience quite a few occasions where the "Screamer" has made his presence known. Although it may seem to provide a psychological edge, it has been proven through research, that yelling before or during an exercise provides absolutely no benefit whatsoever. It can, however, be very distracting. My first reaction when I hear someone scream is, "OH GOD! Someone’s stuck beneath a barbell," or "OH NO! Someone just tore a muscle!" Whenever I am in the presence of a Screamer in the gym, I always remember something I was told when I first started training. I was having a conversation with a young lady that was training next to me when a Screamer yelled at the top of his lungs. As I was trying to suppress my laughter, she turns to me and says, "You know, I’ve always heard that the noises a person makes while training are the same ones they make while in bed." After hearing that, I nearly had to use the restroom to wipe my backside clean. As funny as it was at the time, I think she may just be right! What to do think?

The Spandex Lady. This one is not a pretty sight to see. This is the lady who really needs to lose about 75 more pounds before she tries to squeeze that lard into those tight-fitting spandex shorts. Lady, let me clue you in on something, NOBODY WANTS TO SEE YOU IN THAT! To makes matters worse, she’s the one I described above… the woman who sees no wrong in setting the treadmill to the very lowest, slowest setting, and stays on it forever while others are waiting in line to use it. She goes so slow that she burns maybe 20 calories the entire time she lumbers along. This lady needs to make it worth all of our time by picking up the pace, or getting the hell out of the way. More importantly, she needs to do us all a favor and just wear some big, baggy sweats.

“My Ego Is Bigger Than My Bench.” Inevitably, you will always have at least one guy who feels the need to place more weight on the bar than even Ronnie Coleman himself will lift on a regular basis. What sucks about this guy is that since you look like you work out, you are a prime candidate to spot this person. Being the nice person you are, you happily agree to spot them. Then just before they begin, they look up and ask you, "Give me a lift-off on 3 and make me work!" You respond by saying, "Okay, on 3". One, two, three, lift.” The person holds the weight for an instant and then, in the blink of an eye, the weight accelerates straight down like, well…dead weight! You fear the worst, thinking that the person over-estimated their abilities and could be seriously injured. So, with all of your strength, you apply as much possible resistance to slow the downward plunge of the weight. The thud it makes at the bottom makes you cringe! You breathe a sigh of relief when you notice that the person is not hurt and you immediately begin to pull the weight up and towards the rack. As you do, the most mind-boggling thing happens. The idiot murmurs in a low, strained voice "Help me get one more..." Your mouth nearly hits the floor in amazement as you think to yourself, "What? You didn't even get the first one.” You repeat the process. After it’s over and your traps are recovering, you swiftly move to the other side of the gym in hope that the person won't ask you to help him again. As you move away, this clown asks the question heard around the world, "How much did you help me"? “Well, Bullet Head... A WHOLE DAMN LOT!” From that day forward, you avoid that person like cardio during the off-season.

There is a common theme that must be adapted by any successful bodybuilder. It’s called “Let Go of My Ego.” This is where you must convince yourself that your body will grow with proper technique, correct form, and most of all… nutrition. It is not always necessary to lift massive amounts of weight all the time, and sacrifice good form and technique to do so. The moral of the story? Big weights only look cool if... and ONLY if... you can lift them without subjecting the person spotting you to an unexpected set of shrugs.

The Rat Pack. Similar to the previous category, except this is usually a group of three or four guys that work out together. They are usually using way more weight than most pro bodybuilders fathom using. There are two distinctive characteristics of this group of pinheads. First, they all think they are getting bigger and stronger. I mean… they truly believe it! Picture these guys. They load up a barbell with way more weight than any of them can dream to lift with proper form, and then proceed to take turns spotting each other through set after set of gyrations and movements that defy nature. The second distinctive trait is that the person spotting is actually getting a better workout than the one doing the exercise!

Marathon Man. He always seems to be the first to arrive, and the last to leave. He believes that the longer he trains in the gym, the more weight he will lose (or gain). His workouts are of epic durations. He’s the guy that performs every conceivable exercise designed for the particular body part he is training that day. He just doesn’t get it. The longer you're in the gym, the more muscle fibers you'll tear down. This is an unhealthy way to lose (or gain) weight. Once your body hits a catabolic state, you begin to lose energy... and that eventually leads to over-training… which leads to a plateau. A plateau is an inability to make progress in training. It can last for months. To be safe, consider working out for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, increase the intensity and continue to progress.

The Serious Person. When this person gets ready to train the first thing he will do is get into his own little world. Then he gets the “if you talk to me I will kick your butt” look on his face. He grabs his belt, straps and whatever else he may need on that day of training. When he gets in this zone he doesn’t like to be bothered. You know him… he’s the guy that after doing a heavy set of dumbbell curls will walk around and brood even though he has just pushed himself through a pain barrier that nobody else in that gym is willing to do and doesn't even have the guts to do. He never looks at anyone in the eye. Everyone avoids him until it is finished. Then as quickly as the all-out assault started, it is over. Then he comes back to the real world and once again he is a really nice guy… until the next time he trains. I guess this is why people think bodybuilders are crazed idiots. He can be intimidating to most people, but at least he has a purpose for his training.

I am sure you can relate to most, if not all, of the people I have written about. If you are one of these people… let me ask you this? Do you want to be stuck in the stagnant pond of mediocrity all of your life? No? Then get over yourself and change your views towards training. Be like the Serious Person… determine the PURPOSE of your training… determine the PURPOSE of your workout… determine the PURPOSE of the exercise. And then train WITH A PURPOSE. Only then will you begin to train RIGHT! Only then will you begin to feel the pleasure of accomplishment after each repetition of every set. And only then will you truly ENJOY your workouts… sounds a lot like sex, doesn’t it? Whatever your training goals, whether it's the size of the muscles, or the use of them, don't miss the adventure along the way... again, it sounds like sex. Vince Gironda once said, "There's joy on the gym floor." Only those with a heart for training can understand what he meant.

I believe that about wraps up Dr. Diet’s Personal Rant Session. I feel much better now. And if anyone reading this knows me, yes I am talking about you!

Have thoughts about this post? Let us hear your comments…

Dear Friend,

Success in any exercise program... and in LIFE, for that matter... depends largely on the attitude that a person brings to his endeavors. I want to touch on the importance of a positive mindset in achieving your ideal body.

That’s because it all starts in your head...

Every day, we make hundreds of choices, starting with whether to get out of bed or not. Some choices contribute to achieving our dreams and others keep us away from them. And even when we DON’T make a choice, we already have… by choosing not to. Our choices, and the actions that follow, add up to make us the people we are. In fact, we are the sum total of all the choices that we have made during our lives, right up to this very moment.

I believe that like a muscle, the mind can be trained. Motivation to accomplish all of your goals can be built just like a muscle, a little at a time. The more you work on building your motivation and developing a positive mindset, the stronger you become as a person.

I'll give you an example. Whenever I travel on an airplane, I seldom take the time to talk to the person next to me. But I’ll never forget this one man that sat next to me. He looked terribly down, so I asked him, "How are you?" He said, "Oh, okay, I guess." Then he asked me, "What do you do for a living?"

I said I was a personal trainer, but some people might call me a motivational speaker since that is a lot of what my job entails. I motivate people to be their physical best. Then, right out of nowhere, he asked, "Tell me something. Why does everything go wrong for me?" Well, I certainly didn’t know. I had never met the man before. So I replied, "Beats me."

For the next thirty minutes he went on and on about all his difficulties. There I was, stuck on a crowded airplane listening to this man I've never seen before. And he repeated the same negative thoughts over and over again.

Then all of a sudden he exclaimed, "Hold it! Hold it! I know why everything goes wrong for me. It just came to me. Everything goes wrong for me because I'm wrong. I think wrong, speak wrong, and act wrong. I'm just too negative all the time." He was right. He had gotten right to the crux of the matter.

The same is true for you. Your attitude is one of the most important, most powerful factors in your life. In fact, just about everything you achieve or don’t achieve can be traced back to your attitude. Quite simply, good attitudes bring good results, and bad attitudes bring bad results. It is your attitude, more than your aptitude, that will determine your altitude. YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK!

Of course, a lot of people think its "cool" to joke about one's attitude.

Comedian George Burns was once asked, "Can you do everything at 98 you could do at age 18?" He said, "Of course I can do everything at 98 I did at 18 -- which tells you how pathetic my life was at 18."

Sure, it can be fun to joke about a negative attitude, but in reality, nothing could be more serious. Benjamin Franklin knew that. He said, "Most people die at age 18, but we don't bury them until they're 65." Think about that!

It’s like a point that a psychologist made to me a few years ago. He asked me, "How long have you been alive?" I responded something like "43 years." Then he said, "No. That's how long your heart has been beating. How long have you been ALIVE? How long have you been on fire?"

About that time I "got" it. The light bulb came on. I realized what he was getting at. It's a person's attitude that pushes them forward or holds them back.

Of course, you may be thinking that all this talk about attitude is just a bunch of pie-in-the-sky talk. Is there any evidence to back up my claims? Yup. Absolutely!

In one long-term study of 1500 people, group A -- or 83% -- of the people took their particular jobs because they believed they could make lots of money. Only 17% of them -- or group B -- took their particular jobs because they happened to have a positive attitude towards those jobs.

Twenty years later, the two groups had produced 101 millionaires. The amazing thing is, only one of those millionaires came from group A, but 100 of them came from group B. Now that's significant!

Even more amazing, over 70% of these millionaires never went to college. And over 70% of those who became CEO's graduated in the bottom half of their class. The conclusion was that it was their attitude, more than their aptitude, that determined their altitude. In no uncertain terms, this study determined that positive thinking is "the" hallmark of successful people.

My psychologist friend from above made this point even clearer to me. He explained that he asks clients to give him the words they would use to characterize a winner, and then he'll write down the first ten words they give him.

What do you think they say? Over the years, he found their answers to be very consistent. They list: attitude, enthusiasm, determination, motivation, confidence, optimism, dedication, happiness, balance, and patience. Very interesting. None of these qualities has anything to do with physical or mental abilities. They all relate to attitude in some way or other.

You’re obviously interested in physical fitness. You want to build the best body possible. Well, your attitude has a lot to do with your physical success as well.

Most people think of mind and body as two separate realms when, in effect, they are part of the same whole. In order to have a healthy body, you must have a healthy mind. Sometimes the best medicine is in your head.

One of the first people to popularize the mind-body connection was Norman Cousins. As a respected journalist and professor, he wrote and spoke on the topic many times. One study was particularly interesting, a study done on 40 patients who recovered from "irreversible" illnesses.

When they were told they didn't have much of a chance to live, they panicked. That was to be expected.

Recent battles with health problems had me fully understanding the emotions and feeling of despair that comes with such a diagnosis. I found myself making plans for the inevitable during that recent period. Life insurance, trusts, wills, etc. These things become matters that consumes one's mind when they prepare for the "inevitable."

But at some point those 40 patients decided to reject the notion of foreseeable death. They decided to live! They would take advantage of the best that medical science had to offer, but they would also get actively involved in their own recovery. They would do whatever it took to regain their health. According to Cousins, it was that decision, that attitude, which made the difference. Attitudes have a definite biochemical effect on the body. An attitude of defeat or panic constricts the blood vessels and has a debilitating effect on the entire endocrine system. By contrast, an attitude of confidence and determination activates benevolent, therapeutic secretions in the brain.

Apparently a positive attitude can help in the prevention of disease, and a positive attitude can help in the recovery from disease. Dr. James Strain, the director of Behavioral Medicine and Consultation Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City found that to be true. Dr. Strain compared pessimistic and optimistic men who had heart attacks. In the first group of 25, 21 of the 25 pessimistic men died within 8 years of their heart attack. But only 6 of the 25 optimistic men died during that time.

Of course, I'm not a physician. I'm not doctor, period. But I can see a definite connection between the mind and body. It's pretty damn obvious to me that when faced with an "inevitable," when the facts won't budge, you have to change your attitude.

You may have no power to change the "facts" in your world, but you always have the power to change your response to those "facts," and that power can be enormous.

More often than not, your attitude is the number one determining factor in your success. With the right attitude, you’re almost certain to achieve your goals. And the good news is, your attitude is self-chosen. You control whether or not you will be a winner in life, regardless of your natural ability.

So you can be a winner. You can have a stronger body. You can have better relationships. You can make more money — if you have the right attitude. It is your responsibility to change your attitude if it’s not as positive or as powerful as it needs to be. No one "gave" you your attitude, and no one can "take" it away — except you. It’s your responsibility.

I’m sure you want to be a "winner." You don’t want to be a "loser." And the difference between the two is huge.

The winner is always a part of the answer.
The loser is always a part of the problem.
The winner always has a program.
The loser always has an excuse.
The winner says, "Let me help you."
The loser says, "That's not my job."
The winner sees an answer for every problem.
The loser sees a problem in every answer.
The winner sees a green near every sand trap.
The loser sees a sand trap near every green.
The winner says, "It may be difficult, but it's possible."
The loser says, "It may be possible, but it's too difficult."

Can you think of a bigger winner than Abraham Lincoln. I can’t think of anyone who had more pressures in life or in his career than Abraham Lincoln. Whether it was his repeated losses in various elections, his difficult marriage, or the nation falling apart, he lived and led with an indomitable positive attitude. He simply chose to be that way. As Lincoln said, "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

Starting today, I'm making up my mind to be like Abe! How about you?

Have thoughts about this post? Let us hear your comments…

Nutrition is almost always THE neglected factor when someone isn't making any progress with their fitness training.  And why shouldn't it be?  It can be quite confusing.

But understand that without a grasp of proper muscle building and/or fat burning nutrition, you won't be able to make the progress that you desire, and you won't reach your potential.

With a well implemented nutrition plan, you'll be on your way toward achieving your fitness goals.

Why does nutrition seem so confusing?  For starters, there are too many choices. This makes it very difficult to decide the appropriate course of action.

We have the Hollywood diet, the cabbage diet, the grapefruit diet, the juice diet, the zone diet, high carb, low carb, no carb, high protein, low protein, no protein (okay, maybe not but it wouldn't surprise me), high protein foods, high fat, low fat, slim fast, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutri-System, etc, etc.

Obviously, nutrition is big business.

It can become very frustrating trying to sort through all this information.

I've read hundreds of articles, books, and medical journals on nutrition, and I've come to decide on some fundamental principles that all nutrition programs do include.

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Remember, we are all different, but all essentially the same.  What this means is that the principles of proper nutrition apply to all of us, but we will need to make certain adjustments for the individual.

The important thing is to understand the general principles of a nutrition program so that you can tailor it to your specific needs, whether it be to build muscle, burn fat, get stronger, or nutrition for your specific sport.

Let's take a look at some general principles of a proper nutrition program.

We'll start with a brief introductory look at the three macronutrients - carbohydrates, protein, and fat.  All play an important role in your sports nutrition program.  And YES... there are only three macronutrients!!!  Vegetables ARE carbohydrates!

Carbohydrates - Carbs are your muscles preferred energy source for short, intense muscular contractions, i.e. weight training.  They supply the energy for these sessions as well as play a crucial role in recuperation and muscle growth.

Ingesting carbs signals your body to release insulin, which transports the amino acids (the building blocks of protein) and the carbs into your muscle cells.  This absorption by your muscles is a very important part of the muscle growth and repair factor.

Carbohydrates are stored as glycogen in your body's muscles, and it's this glycogen storage that gives the muscles their fullness.

This is the basis of the idea of carb depleting and then loading before a bodybuilding contest, the idea that when you deplete your body of glycogen and then "carb up," your body will store even more glycogen then before in the muscles, making you look larger, tighter, and more ripped than ever.

In addition, the consumption of carbs creates a "protein sparing" effect, in that more of your protein will be used for the muscle building process instead of being burned as energy.  As you'll see below, this "protein sparing" is a key element in your nutrition program.

Some important rules to keep in mind with regard to carbohydrate consumption are...

Avoid all processed foods -  Processed foods are 'empty' calories that do nothing for your health or your fitness.  By dropping them from your sports nutrition program, you'll go far in improving your results - building muscle, losing fat, improving sports performance, increasing energy - not to mention vastly improving your health.

Processed foods include things like cookies, chips, donuts, pastries, soda, candy - your basic junk food.  But beware, processed foods can be dressed up in "healthy" packaging.  Read labels.  Stay away from these foods, especially one's that contain high fructose corn syrup

That low fat muffin you're about to eat... put it back.  It's loaded with unhealthy sugar.  The regular muffin would actually be a better choice.

Processed foods should never be a part of your nutrition program, no matter what your fitness goals are.

Instead of processed foods and high fructose corn syrup, get the carbohydrates in your nutrition program from whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.

Protein - Protein, as most of you know, is the building block of muscles.  Without adequate protein consumption, you will be spinning your wheels with regard to your resistance training program.  No nutrition program is complete without proper adequate protein intake.

You should consume a MINIMUM of 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass every day.

And you may find better results taking in up to 2 grams per day per pound of body weight.  At 225 pounds, I've found that roughly 400-450 grams of protein per day works very well for me, which is about 2 grams per pound of body weight.

Fats - Yes, fats.  A macronutrient that is more misunderstood than carbohydrates, if that's possible.

Here's a neat little factoid for you.  The United States went on a low fat, high carb craze in the 80's and began to get fatter and fatter as a nation.

Fat is not your enemy.  Good or "healthy" fats such as omega 3's and omega 6's are essential to good health and a properly functioning body.

Hey, maybe that's why they are known as Essential Fatty Acids.

Here's the problem with most people's nutrition.  They are taking in enough fat but they are taking in the wrong fats by consuming too many trans fatty acids and saturated fats, and not enough good fats.

Try and eliminate the bad fats (in things such as margarine, shortening, snack foods, and most fast foods).

Consume more of the good fats, such as cold-water fish (salmon), walnuts, ground flax seeds of flax seed oil, hempseed oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, fish oils, and olive oil.

In addition, taking in enough EFA's (essential fatty acids) is imperative when trying to put on muscle.  Low fat diets suppress the body's ability to produce testosterone, a cardinal sin when trying to build muscle.

Fats also supply chemical substrates that are necessary for proper hormonal production, as well as protect our vital organs and carry the fat-soluble vitamins to where they are needed.

Fats are an important part of your sports nutrition program to develop muscle, burn fat (yes, burn fat) and get fit and healthy.

Water - Drink it... Drink lots of it... And drink it often.

Seriously, you should be consuming at least 8 - 10 eight ounce glasses of water every day.  Our bodies are made up of 75 percent water.  It's not uncommon for people to dehydrate by 2 percent to 6 percent of their body weight during exercise.  The result isn't good.  Cell function is disrupted, muscle growth stops, you become mentally and physically sluggish, have a general sense of fatigue and can no way be on the top of your game.

There you have it.  Sound  nutrition includes ALL of the macronutrients.  It does not eliminate any of them like most of the "fad" diets do.  Keep that in mind the next time you want to start eliminating carbohydrates or fats from your nutrition program.

Do you see the point here?  There is nothing magical to it.  Just a little common sense will yield results like the pros.