All About Fitness

John Wolf is the CFO - Chief Fitness Officer for Onnit, a supplement and fitness equipment company based in Austin, Texas. Onnit promotes a unique line of fitness products and education programs that is changing how we exercise. On this episode of All About Fitness John and I discuss what you can be doing to enhance your workout program and getting the results you want. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discussing the disruptive forces in the fitness industry and what that means for YOU - the exercise enthusiast and fitness consumer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The past six Presidents of the United States, Barak Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Cinton, George HW Bush, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, have had one thing in common: each enjoyed exercise. The past number of White House residents were each shown participating in favorite fitness-based pastimes from jogging to basketball to weightlifting to mountain biking and from selecting Arnold Schwarzenegger for the President's Fitness Council (HW Bush) to hosting yoga on the White House lawn (Obama) each played an active role in setting a positive example for health and fitness.  Both in and out of office President George W. Bush has set a positive example for an active lifestyle. On this episode of All About Fitness, Assistant Professor of American History and Co-host of the Past-Present podcast, Natalia Petrzela, and I discuss the role that Presidents have played in establishing promoting a healthy and fit lifestyle. This is based on the excellent article that Dr. Petrzela wrote for the Washington Post on Presiden

Why would you hire a personal trainer? Would it be based on looks or knowledge? Just because a trainer looks great does not mean that he or she has the skills to help you optimize your level of health and fitness. It's important to remember that exercise is stress applied to the body; when done correctly you can achieve awesome results. If applied incorrectly exercise can cause injury or be fatal. When it comes to working with a personal trainer you want to make sure you select one who knows what the heck he or she is doing. On this episode of All About Fitness I interview Matt Berenc, the Director of the Equinox Fitness Training Institute (EFTI) about the education process required for ALL of their trainers. Matt Berenc giving a talk on how to optimize human performance. Equinox is widely for having one of the best, most comprehensive education programs in the fitness industry. The company knows that education is the best way to enhance the member experience while strengthening employee engagement and re

Not all health clubs are the same; many have similar types of equipment like treadmills, free weights and machines, but what really sets one health club apart from another is the environment, the education of the staff and how that creates a unique member experience. When was the last time someone from your health club or gym talked about understanding how exercise affects the human genome? David Harris is the Vice President of Health and Human Performance for Equinox, an upscale health club company with locations in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom. Among his other duties for the company David chairs the Health Advisory Panel for Equinox which includes neurologists and molecular biologists who study how exercise affects the human body down to the cellular level.   David Harris, Vice President for Health and Human Performance, Equinox The purpose of All About Fitness is to introduce you to the thought leaders and companies who are making a difference in how fitness is delivered to you, the consumer.

Did you know that currently ZERO states require personal trainers or fitness instructors to have a license? Did you know that you need a license to cut hair or do nails (non-living tissue) yet anyone can simply call his or herself a 'fitness expert' and begin dispensing advice that could potentially be deadly? On this Quick Fit Tip of All About Fitness I explain the fitness certification process and why you should only work with instructors that have earned an accredited certification or have a college degree. As someone who currently does freelance work for two of the largest fitness certification organizations and teaches personal training courses in college (ok, junior college, but still) I offer unique insight and background into the process and why you should only be working with certified fitness professionals.   For 15 years I've been educating personal trainers and fitness instructors around the world to help them earn and maintain their professional certifications. Back in the early 2000s the fi

On this episode of All About Fitness my former colleague from the American Council on Exercise and wellness expert Jessica Matthews returns to discuss her book: Stretching to Stay Young. There are three components of a well-designed workout program: strength or resistance training to increase lean muscle (and improve definition), energy system development (often mistakenly called 'cardio') and flexibility - often overlooked in favor of the other two components. In our discussion today, Jessica and I address the role that flexibility plays as an integral component of well-designed exercise program and how the right types of stretching can help reduce pain, improve physical performance and stave off the effects of the biological aging process. It's always fun to catch up and hang out with Jessica when we're speaking at the same events Jessica is a college faculty, PhD candidate, content contributor to well-known fitness magazines, international speaker and now a book author. I have known Jessica for the be

There are three primary components of any workout plan: strength or resistance training, energy system development (often mistakenly called 'cardio') and flexibility, or more appropriately, mobility training. Doing too much of any one of these components at the expense of the others could mean that your exercise program will not produce the results you want it to; additionally, if you want to how leaving a car in your backyard is relates to a proper, well-designed exercise program, tune in to the episode of All About Fitness. Exercise should be a balance between strength training to help develop lean muscles, mobility training so they function properly and energy system development to ensure they have the proper fuel for activity. Or this is just an opportunity to stick in a gratuitous Arnold pic. Strength training helps improve muscle force production. On the podcast I explain why cardio is a misnomer for how we exercise to improve aerobic capacity or anaerobic efficiency and flexibility is not exactly t

How many times have you seen an advertisement for a fitness product or exercise program and wondered, "Does that really work?" On this episode of All About Fitness I talk with Clifton Harski about how to identify fitness programs that work and how to determine which ones are complete nonsense. We also talk about awesomeness - I'm not sure about you, but I am always interested in how I could be doing things a little better and Clifton is one of the most awesome guys I know so we discuss strategies on how to be more awesome. Clifton is the Director of Fitness Programming for Fitwall - a unique studio training concept THAT WORKS, as well as an educator responsible for teaching kettlebell and Animal Flow workshops to personal trainers. Clifton is a hella smart guy who knows how to design exercise programs that deliver results so his advice can help you identify workout programs to meet your needs. Clifton is not only a cool guy, he's pretty freaking strong I've gotten to know Clifton through his social media

Adding muscle, improving definition or just simply looking better are popular reasons for starting a workout program. The past few episodes of All About Fitness have featured guests who specialize in a movement-based approach to exercise because, whether in sports or activities of daily living, moving better is the foundation for everything else from performance to appearance. Exercise programs that focus on movements like squats, lunges, pushes and pulls as well as multi-planar patterns are not only important for athletic performance but can also help produce a shredded physique. In an effort to discuss how the two approaches can merge to produce the results you want from your workouts I reached out to professional wrestler turned personal trainer and health coach: Giovanni Roselli.   Giovanni aka Romeo Roselli doing his thing in the ring This was a fun interview for me because as a kid growing up in the 80s I was a huge (at the time) WWF fan. To me the wrestlers were real-life superheroes capable of amaz

How can we judge the best athletes in the world? On this Quick Fit Tip edition of All About Fitness I talk about what it takes to be the world’s best athlete and what that means for your personal exercise program.   CrossFit positions itself as the sport of fitness. Ironman Triathlons and Ultradistance events challenge individuals to use their own energy to travel for more than 100 kilometers during a single competition. Endurance athletes, as well as CrossFit competitors, can be extremely fit and well conditioned, but these sports are based on cyclic, repetitive actions that don't require reacting to an opponent’s movements. Having the cognitive ability, speed, agility, strength, power and stamina to react to — or anticipate — an opponent’s movement can significantly elevate the demands of a competition.   Extreme sport athletes like big wave surfers, free climbers and mountain bikers have incredible skills and risk their lives for the love of their sports but may not always have attributes of endurance,

On this episode of All About Fitness I reach out to another connection from my DC days and talk about bodyweight strength training and how to make fitness more inclusive with an old friend: Jim Bathurst, currently the Master of the Training Universe for Nerdfitness.com His name is Bathurst, Jim Bathurst Jim and I met a number of years ago when we both were doing some work with Balance Gym (one of my favorite places to sweat - EVER). He always impressed me with his positive attitude, approachable demeanor and he could do some KILLER bodyweight exercises that are a true testament of strength. Over the years it's been fun to watch Jim evolve into a leader in the industry where he is now playing an important role for an important website working to make fitness more inclusive for people who might not normally be considered exercise junkies. Nerd Fitness.com is working to gamify fitness to make it more accessible for people who might prefer interfacing via computer as opposed to real life. Our discussion tod

On this episode of Quick Fit Tips I talk about how exercise and fitness should be inclusive for every single person, no matter what they look like or the size of his or her body. The point of exercise is to improve one's own health and wellness; not for how you look on a social media post or dating website. In my twenty years of working in the fitness business the only negative feedback I have is that we are an industry that is driven by image, not necessarily by message.    Fitness is for every BODY - regardless of age, size or socio-economic background! Far too often companies will use images of fit, lean, muscular models (I'll hit this topic on the podcast) as a means of marketing a product or service. I get it - companies want to create the image that if you use their product or service then you will look like the models featured in the ad. Why is this important? Why are we in the fitness industry so driven by appearances? In my opinion fitness is having the physical ability (physical literacy +wor

If you have been a health club member for the past twenty years you may or may not have noticed a major shift in how fitness facilities are laid out and the type of equipment used for workouts. Up until the early 2000s gym culture was heavily influenced by bodybuilding culture, most of the equipment was designed for muscle isolation because that's what consumers wanted. Nowadays when you walk into a commercial gym you are likely to notice a lot of open space and a lot less equipment; my guest on episode 40 of All About Fitness is Juan Carlos Santana a gym owner, strength coach and educator who has had a major influence on this evolution in the modern fitness culture.  Juan Carlos is the owner of the Institute of Human Performance, which has been named as one of the top gyms in the country by Mens Health, he is an international fitness educator, the star of numerous fitness videos and the author of many articles and books including Functional Training (which I highly recommend if you're looking for some ideas

Once upon a time when you walked into a commercial health club you saw row after row of treadmills and strength training machines. The only constant is change (someone smart said that, but I'm not sure who), nowadays when you walk into many health clubs or fitness studios you see a lot of open space and very few, if any strength training machines.   That was then: commercial fitness used to be machine driven   The original health clubs and fitness facilities were influenced by the bodybuilding culture so the focus was on equipment for muscle isolation so users could get their swoll on and hit their GAINZ. Over the past fifteen years or so there has been a tremendous shift and while many commercial gyms still have some strength training equipment they have gotten rid of extraneous pieces to create open spaces for members to move.  Episode 39 of All About Fitness talks about how this change came about, who influenced it and, most importantly, how it benefits YOUR fitness program!   This is now: many

From teaching group fitness to designing group fitness class formats to receiving an Emmy nomination for exercise programming as the VP of Programming for Daily Burn Lisa Wheeler is one of the backbones of the fitness industry. Today on this episode of All About Fitness we talk about how to identify the best fitness instructors for your needs and how a streaming service like Daily Burn can be a great resource for your fitness needs. Lisa doing what she does best: 'encouraging' people to sweat Whether you are looking for a way to start an exercise program or a total fitness junkie looking for killer instructor-led workouts you will get a lot of information from this episode on how you can reach YOUR fitness goals.   Instagram: @PeteMcCall_fitness Twitter: @PeteMc_fitness www.petemccallfitness.com   To see myself and other guests teach live workshops on fitness techniques visit us at a SCW Fitness conference; use the code McCall17 to save money on registration. Please visit the sponsors of All About

One interesting thing about the fitness industry is that media and non-industry friends are always asking about the newest, latest, great workout product or program. For some reason when it comes to the commercial fitness industry it seems like we're always on the lookout for the 'next big thing' whether it's a product like the TRX or branded program like CrossFit; as a result we often overlook what really works to establish a foundation of good health: consistent exercise and smart nutrition choices.  Fitness is only part of the puzzle, other lifestyle habits like nutrition, amount of time spent sitting, sleep, hydration and total amount of daily physical activity all play important roles in helping to create optimal health. When it comes to which exercise program works the best, here's what ALL good, educated fitness professionals know: EVERYTHING works, if you do it the right way and you adopt healthy lifestyle behaviors at the same time.   That said, it is fun trying to predict future trends. When I fir

When most people think of 'strength training' they no doubt think of bulky, overly-muscled men like Arnold Schwarzenegger from his nineteen-eighties, action-movie glory days; but here's a little known secret about strength training - the biggest muscles aren't always the strongest muscles. That's right; muscles may be large but that's not the primary determinant of strength. Muscular strength comes from numerous muscle fibers working together to generate tension; it is a function of the nervous system's ability to communicate with individual muscle fibers. The more fibers recruited to generate tension, the higher the levels of strength developed. If you're a fitness aficionado who wants to learn more about strength training you have a couple of choices: you could read the literature of the Russian Researchers or who could work with someone who has been trained by StrongFirst. Brett Jones, Chief Instructor, StrongFirst  Strength is a technical skill; if your goal is to get strong then you will want to wor

On this edition of Quick Fit Tips I go into the most important benefit of strength training: It can slow down the normal biological aging process. Until someone invents the flux capacitor for time travel (80s movie reference) there is nothing that we can do to stop the progress of time; however getting older certainly does beat the alternative. Strength training increases the levels of specific hormones which can act as a literal fountain of youth helping to mitigate the aging process. Would you believe that he is 62 years old?* If you're in your 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s or even your 20s and are not currently exercising, you should think about starting. Not to lose weight or look a certain way, but to take control of the aging process; because regular physical activity combined with a number of other healthy lifestyle choices can help you maintain your youthful energy and appearance well into your later years. Here is my blog for the American Council on Exercise on the types of exercise to do in each decade of

Question: What can George Constanza teach us about exercise?   To learn the answer you'll have to listen to strength coach Mike Boyle and I discuss the most effective ways you should be working out. When it comes to developing and coaching practical, effective fitness solutions Mike has over thirty years of experience  helping both athletes and individuals to achieve extremely high levels of performance. On this episode of All About Fitness we discuss why the average person should be training like an athlete and how you can get started on a program to help you get fit at any age. If you have kids that play sports or coach youth sports yourself then you will want to pay CLOSE ATTENTION to the first part of our conversation where Mike and I discuss the many mistakes being made in youth sports that could impede athletic development or lead to a career-ending injury. When it comes to strength and conditioning Mike is a straight-shooter and one of the best in the business. He the author of New Functional Tr