Do You Really Need Aerobics? Rethinking The Need For Cardio

Walk into any major gym in America and the first thing you will see is the cardio equipment. Mention the word  ‘exercise’ and for most people the first images to come to mind are aerobic in nature- running, treadmills, Zumba classes, elliptical machines, Stairmasters and the like. Say ‘weight loss’ and the images get sharper, as it is a commonly held position that you need to do cardio if you want to lose weight and maintain a healthy body weight. Gyms are filled with people eager to shed a few extra pounds, and yet in spite of the innumerable  number of hours spent sweating, few ever attain the lean and sculpted look that has become the Holy Grail of our time. Most of us double our efforts after seeing so little in terms of improvement after slaving away doing hours of aerobics in the hope that maybe just a little more of the same will bring us that all-so elusive look. We persist for months, sometimes for years, trying to eat better and train harder until finally, over-trained, frustrated and very often injured, we quit. Relegating ourselves to the ranks of those-who-can’t-lose-weight-because-of-bad-genes. It can be an incredibly disheartening and depressing experience to do so much work and get so little back in terms of tangible changes in your body, but it most of the time has nothing to do with our inability to lose weight. In most cases the blame lies squarely on the fact that cardio is not an efficient method for weight loss and that it simply cannot give you the toned and trim body of your dreams. Perhaps millions can attest by their lack of results, that using aerobics as a tool for getting in shape is driven primarily by advertising and misinformation, not results. And yet many experts in the field cling to the idea that cardio is an irreplaceable part of any fitness regime. The science of how our bodies work don’t support this notion, nor do the countless number of frustrated gym goers still waiting to see their six packs. The reality is that you don’t need cardio and anaerobic resistance exercise alone can provide superior results in  terms of weight loss, increasing endurance and improving overall health parameters.

Cardio and Weight Loss- The Case For Anaerobic Exercise Over Aerobics

It goes without saying that if everyone who ever ventured out regularly for a run or frequented a cardio machine was able to lose weight and keep it off that we would have had a simplesolution to our growing obesity problems several decades ago, (as well as an influx of six pack sporting magazine cover models.) We all know this not to be the case and many recent studies affirm what so many have learned the hard way, namely that cardio is a poor method of weight management. One study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine tracked the results of 58 sedentary overweight/obese men and women who participated in a 12 week course of supervised aerobic exercise. The results were positive in terms of increased endurance and decreased systolic and diastolic pressure but not at all glowing in terms of weight loss. The mean weight loss was only a bit over seven pounds in three months, with most of the group losing barely half of that amount. [1]

In terms of fat burning, new research has continued to show that short high intensity, anaerobic type exercise do far more to reduce body fat than conventional aerobic exercise. A study done at Laval University investigated the impact of aerobics versus high intensity anaerobic exercises on body fat using young adults and the findings were quite eye opening. Participants took part in either a 20 week endurance training regime of sustained aerobics or a 15 week high intensity intermittent training protocol. Despite the fact that participants doing the aerobic exercises expended over twice as much energy as the anaerobic group- (120.4 MJ as opposed to 57.9 MJ), those in the anaerobic group lost significantly more body fat than the cardio exercise group.[2] When corrected for the energy cost of training, the decrease in the sum of six skinfold tests induced by the anaerobic exercise was impressively nine times greater than that of the aerobic group.[2]

Many other studies show similar outcomes. A study done at the University of New South Wales inadvertently found that women taking part in anaerobic high intensity interval training burned fat at a rate three times higher than those doing aerobic exercises.[3] This result came from a total of only 20 minutes of anaerobic exercise on a stationery bike, while the second group exercised at a consistent pace in standard target heart rate zones for twice as long. After 15 weeks, researchers found that the women in the high intensity group lost three times more weight than those who rode the bicycles for twice as much time.[3] A testament to the inefficiency of cardio over more intense anaerobic forms of training.  Other studies have found similar patterns with even shorter durations of high intensity anaerobic exercise.

Dispelling The Myth Of Cardio’s Afterburner Effect

For years the party lines for using cardio to promote fat loss have that that increased activity burns more calories- which is true and not at all in dispute and that aerobic exercise elevates the metabolism for prolonged periods after the training session. As standard an idea as this has been for many, it has not stood up to the test of scientific scrutiny, nor has it helped produced a new generation of trim and slim waistlines. The afterburning effect sought by cardio enthusiasts is really what scientists call excess post-exercise oxygen consumption or EPOC. Exercise brings about a change in the equilibrium of our body (See our article on responses to exercise stress here). Our body will always do its best to revert to a resting state of homeostasis and this requires an increase in the amount of oxygen (EPOC) which is needed for our bodies to return to its normal state and adapt to the exercise performed. As a result, there is a measurable increase in metabolism and fat burning after exercise. [3,4,5] This increase was originally thought to occur only with aerobic exercise, but studies have shown that it actually is far more prevalent in anaerobic exercise of sufficient intensities.[2]

Cardio And  Heart Health- Do You Really Need It?

Weight loss aside, you must need some form of cardio to increase your endurance and to keep your heart healthy, right? Again, the science disagrees with what has become practiced convention. Aerobic exercise can indeed increase lung capacity and strengthen the heart muscle which is related to a decrease in cardiovascular disease[6] but it isn’t the only way to do it nor the most efficient.  With regards to your heart and lungs it should be noted that

THE CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM WORKS TO SUPPORT THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM AND NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!

It is physically impossible to train your muscles without working your heart as well. The two are not disconnected, yet this basic fact of physiology is often overlooked in discussions regarding aerobic exercise requirements. Any improvement in muscle mass and strength brought on by anaerobic exercise of adequate intensity will correspond with an improvement in cardiovascular health parameters as well. The impact of a high intensity workout to your cardiovascular system should not be underestimated, and those who argue that it doesn’t stimulate your heart and lungs have simply never executed a compound resistance movement to a point of momentary muscular failure or beyond. Needless to say, a high intensity set of squats to even close to the threshold of muscular failure leaves even the most conditioned of athletes gasping for air. You can’t work muscles at high intensities without significantly elevating your heart rate.

Cardio Is Not The Only Way To Increase Endurance

The idea of a need for repetitive steady state aerobic exercise to improve endurance has been a constant theme in modern sports medicine, however this theory also fails to hold up to the rigors of scientific testing. A study done by Martin Gilba of McMaster University in Ontario found that short, anaerobic high intensity bouts of exercise produced far greater improvements in endurance as compared to conventional aerobics and not only in terms of performance but also with regards to molecular changes in mitochondria related to increased endurance.[7] In one group participants were made to cycle as hard as they could for 20 to 30 seconds for a total of two to three minutes per session while the other group rode a stationary bike at a sustainable pace for 90 to 120 minutes. Each group trained three times a week, and at the end of the two week study both groups showed almost the same increases in overall endurance, with the high intensity anaerobic exercise group having slightly better aerobic performance over their aerobic exercise counterparts, even though they only trained for six to nine minutes a week in while the other group had trained for an weekly average of five hours.[7] Similar findings have been reported in studies by the National Institute of Health and Nutrition in Japan and many experts in the field of sports medicine have begun to question the validity behind the theory of sports specificity for increases in endurance and performance given the new findings on anaerobic high intensity training.[8]

Anaerobic Exercise Conveys The Same Benefits As Aerobics If Not More

So what about the other benefits of aerobic exercise? Pretty much all of them can be replicated or improved upon with resistance exercise of adequate intensity. High intensity anaerobic training has been shown to:

• Improve depression as well as aerobics.[9,10,11,12]
• Reduce insulin sensitivity and the risk of diabetes.[13,14,18]
• Increase bone mass and decrease the risk of osteoporosis.[15]
• Reduce visceral abdominal fat and decrease the risk of metabolic syndrome.[16, 17, 18
• Improve circulation, blood pressure and the risk of cardiovascular disease.[18]
• Strengthening and safely enlarge the heart muscle, to improve its pumping efficiency and reduce the resting heart rate [20, 21, 22, 23]

Cardio Won’t Give You ‘The Look’

It should be said that the toned and defined look sought by most gym-goers is unattainable from simply doing aerobic exercise. As with all steady state type movements, the body quickly adapts and learns to burn less and less calories the more the exercise is continued and there are no profound changes in body fat or muscle mass as there is no stimulation intense enough to bring about an adaptation response in skeletal muscle. No matter how hard you may think that aerobics class may be or that session on the bike was- it can’t make profound changes in the way you look the way weight training can as there is no continued overload. Doing aerobics in conjunction with weight training doesn’t always give the best of both worlds either as the extra work can have a counterproductive effect on your weight loss efforts, since the added workload can lead to overtraining and consequently less results than you would get from resistance exercise alone.

Now it would be inaccurate to say that aerobic exercise is without merit- as such a statements fly in the face of countless studies that show very real benefits to doing it, but it may not be the only path to optimum health and fitness. I personally have not done any aerobic type exercise over the past 23 years and during that time I have been able to distinguish myself as a successful drug free bodybuilder, maintain year round body fat percentage of 6% all while  sustaining an extremely high degree of cardiovascular conditioning. I have personally trained endurance athletes such as triathletes, marathon runners and distance cyclists and helped them increase their performance times using only three ten minute high intensity weight training a week and no cardio exercise whatsoever. Add to that twenty years of helping dozens of fitness models and bodybuilders get into contest winning shape using only high intensity training and proper dietary practices and the  hundreds I have helped lose anywhere from 30 to as much as a 100 pounds- all without the use of aerobics or steady state exercises.

The appeal of cardio is easy to understand, as it requires little in terms of instruction and women for one tend to find it less intimidating than weight training. Cardio exercise are also easy for researchers to study, as creating controlled exercise protocols for groups is far less involved and costs far less to supervise and execute as compared to anaerobic type resistance training. Logically there are more aerobic exercise studies than anaerobic ones, which explains the initial bias towards cardio over resistance exercise in terms of weight loss and health benefits, but as more studies emerge using resistance training, we are learning that it can be equally beneficial and far less time consuming. There are also entire industries based on aerobic exercise- gyms, home exercise equipment, exercise classes and even the sneaker industry all invest heavily in promoting it, while there is very little in the way of promotion of weight training as dumbbells don’t sell gym memberships- cardio machines do. Nevertheless if you are serious about getting into great shape or looking for a more efficient way to improve your health and fitness, high intensity training might be a better fit for you over cardio. So get off the treadmill and pick up the weights if you really want ‘the look’ and don’t forget to watch what you eat as neither aerobic nor anaerobic exercise can negate the ill effects of an unhealthy diet.

Related Articles: Aerobics & Strength Training- Does It Help Or Does It Hurt?

Kevin Richardson is one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City and the creator of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training™. Get a copy of his free weight loss ebook here. If you live in the New York metropolitan area and need help losing weight or taking your body to the next level give Kevin and his team a call at 1-800-798-8420. Check out Kevin’s personal training services here.

References

1. Beneficial effects of exercise: shifting the focus from body weight to other markers of health, N. King, M. Hopkins, P Caudwell, J. Stubbs, J. Blundell. The British Journal of Sports Medicine 2009

2. Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal muscle metabolism. Tremblay, A. et al., Physical Activities Sciences Laboratory, Laval University, Quebec, Canada Metabolism.1994;

3. Bahr R (1992). “Excess postexercise oxygen consumption–magnitude, mechanisms and practical implications”. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica. Supplementum

4. Bahr R, Høstmark AT, Newsholme EA, Grønnerød O, Sejersted OM (September 1991). “Effect of exercise on recovery changes in plasma levels of FFA, glycerol, glucose and catecholamines”. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica

5. Bielinski R, Schutz Y, Jéquier E (July 1985). “Energy metabolism during the postexercise recovery in man”. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

7. High-intensity Interval Training: A Time-efficient Strategy for Health Promotion. Martin J. Gibala, PhD, Department of Kinesiology, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada Current Sports Medicine Reports 2007

8. Specificity of training adaptation: time for a rethink? John A. Hawley-J. Physiol. 2008

9. Singh NA, Clements KM, Fiatarone MA. A randomized controlled trial of progressive resistance training in depressed elders. Journal of Gerontology Medical Sciences

10. Doyne EJ, Ossip-Klein DJ, Bowman ED, Osborn KM, McDougall-Wilson IB, Neimeyer IB. Running Versus Weight Lifting in the Treatment of Depression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

11. Martinsen EW, Hoffart A, Solberg O. Comparing aerobic and non aerobic forms of exercise in the treatment of clinical depression: a randomized trial. Comprehensive Psychiatry

12. Singh NA, Stavrinos TM, Scarbeck Y, Galambos G, Liber C, Singh MA. A randomized controlled trial of high versus low intensity weight training versus general practitioner care for clinical depression in older adults. Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences

13. Pedersen BK, Saltin B: Evidence for prescribing exercise as therapy in chronic disease. Scand J Med Sci Sports 2006

14. Extremely short duration high intensity interval training substantially improves insulin action in young healthy males- John A Babraj , Niels BJ Vollaard , Cameron Keast, Fergus M Guppy, Greg Cottrell and James A Timmons

15. High-intensity resistance training and postmenopausal bone loss: a meta-analysis.Martyn-St James M, Carroll S. Osteoporos Int. 2006

16. Influence of exercise intensity on abdominal fat and adiponectin in elderly adults. Coker RH, Williams RH, Kortebein PM, Sullivan DH, Evans WJ.Metab Syndr Relat Disord. 2009

17. Effect of exercise training intensity on abdominal visceral fat and body composition. Irving BA, Davis CK, Brock DW, Weltman JY, Swift D, Barrett EJ, Gaesser GA, Weltman A.Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2008 Nov;40(11):1863-72.

18. Resistance training in the treatment of the metabolic syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect of resistance training on metabolic clustering in patients with abnormal glucose metabolism. Strasser B, Siebert U, Schobersberger W.Sports Med. 2010

19. Resistance training in the treatment of the metabolic syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect of resistance training on metabolic clustering in patients with abnormal glucose metabolism. Strasser B, Siebert U, Schobersberger W.Sports Med. 2010

20.  Graf Ch., e.a.: Fachlexikon Sportmedizin: Bewegung, Fitness und Ernährung von A-Z, Deutscher Ärzteverlag, 2008, p. 209, ISBN 3769112237, here online

21. Reuter P.: Der grosse Reuter: Springer Universalwörterbuch Medizin, Pharmakologie und Zahnmedizin, Birkhäuser Verlang, 2005, p. 1300, ISBN 3540251049, here online

22 Woolston, Chris. “Ills & Conditions – Athletic Heart Syndrome”. CVS Caremark Health Information. 17 January 2007

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Post tags: aerobics, body fat, body fat percentage, cardiovascular exercise, diabetes, high intensity training, overtraining, weight loss, weight training

Is it Safe To Exercise With A Cold?

We have all been there: You  wake up feeling like warm death. Your nose is so stuffed up that you can barely breathe, and the idea of the coming day makes you want to cringe. One question that immediately comes to mind is about your upcoming trip to the gym and is it safe to exercise with a cold? For a serious athlete, a head cold is nothing more than a nuisance and wouldn’t deter most from missing a scheduled workout and we all know the old wives tale of the sweating out a cold. The hard and fast rule that I use with my personal training clients has always been to go ahead and exercise with a cold as long as the symptoms were confined to coughing, sneezing and mild malaise. If fever or body aches are included in the symptoms, however, I always advocate rest. Personally, when I exercise with a cold I don’t usually scale back my high intensity workouts. Sometimes I will go to the gym intent on taking it easy when I have a cold, but 99% of the time I end up training as hard as I always do once I am all warmed up and my blood gets pumping.  Thanks to the strides in our understanding of human biology we know today that while it is physically impossible to ‘sweat out a cold’ - it might not only be safe to exercise with a cold but actually beneficial and speed up the healing process!

Study Finds No Decrease In Capacity In Subjects That Exercise With A Cold

A study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise conducted at Ball University found that there was no decrease in lung function or exercise capacity in the test subjects exercising after being infected with the rhinovirus, even though they all reported feeling tired and run down from their infection. In the same study, researchers found that there was no difference in overall symptoms between those that rested and those that continued to exercise with a cold. In fact, the results from the questionnaires found that those that did exercise with a cold reported feeling significantly better after their training sessions.

Exercising With A Cold Is Not Only Safe But Can Help You Feel Better Faster!

As I mentioned before, for serious athletes a cold is hardly an issue. I have worked with clients that have run marathons with a cold and clocked their best times in the process! I myself even won a bodybuilding contest with a really bad head cold a couple of years back! If you reflect on the harsh and unforgiving nature of life for humans as a species for the past several thousand of years of our existence, it makes sense that in a time when survival depended on physical exertion that nature would equip us with the ability to achieve peak performance even with a cold.

It says a lot as well about our own mindset, and just how little of our potential that we tap into on a daily basis. So next time you come down with a head cold, don’t let it keep you from continuing your workout regime as long as you don’t have any lower body symptoms or fevers. You might even feel better in the process!

Get a copy of Kevin’s free weight loss ebook here!

Kevin Richardson- celebrity Personal Trainer New York City is the creator of Naturally Intense™ High Intensity Training, a lifetime natural bodybuilder, head of Naturally Intense™ Personal Trainers NYC and one of the most sought after personal trainer in NYC.

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Post tags: breathing, common cold

19th Street Gym Is Now Complete Body & Spa- New Home of Naturally Intense!

Last November the legendary 19th Street Gym closed its doors for the last time and Naturally Intense NYC Personal Training Services was forced to move to a new location. The former 19th Street Gym however was purchased by Alex Reznick, owner of Complete Boy & Spa and one of the first things that Alex did when he bought the space was to give me a call to discuss how he was going to revive the space. As a former gym owner myself I was very much impressed not only by his ideas of bringing high end services to the gym like various classes, a full spa with massage and facials available and on site physical therapy but his desire to keep the hardcore atmosphere that made the 19th Street the home to so many serious trainers from supermodels to professional bodybuilders.

The other thing that impressed me was his desire to ensure the return of the really fantastic high end independent personal trainers that worked out of the 19th Street Gym as well. On any given day walking on the the gym floor you would see a who-is-who of some of the top personal trainers in New York City and it was an environment that my clients and I really enjoyed. Success breeds success and in a place where such professionalism is the norm it made for a great home for our Naturally Intense High Intensity Training 10 Minute Workouts!

Opening February 1st, to former 19th Street Gym members and trainers, Complete Body & Spa is going to be one of the best gyms in NYC for independent personal training with the serivces and amenities of a New York City Sports Club or Equinox while maintaining the no nonsense hardcore training environment that made the 19th Street Gym such a popular place for everyone from movie stars to people focused on acheiveing their fitness goals without having to deal with a scene.

I encourage all former members to go check out what they have already done with the new space and I look forward to starting back over there with my new staff! I hope to see you there! Tell them that you heard about the reopening through Naturally Intense and they will give you the red carpet treatment!

19th Street Complete Body & Spa

- new cardio equipment
- spa services
- variety of classes
- physical therapy (most insurances accepted)
- team of the best personal trainers in New York City

Opening its doors at 22 West 19th st (between 5th & 6th Ave) on February 1st (soft opening) with Grand Opening March 1st.

Get a copy of Kevin’s free weight loss ebook here!

Kevin Richardson- celebrity Personal Trainer New York City is the creator of Naturally Intense™ High Intensity Training, a lifetime natural bodybuilder, head of Naturally Intense™ Personal Trainers NYC and one of the most sought after personal trainer in NYC.

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Post tags: best gyms, gym, personal training

Want To Try Out Our High Intensity 10 Minute Workouts? Here Is Your Chance!

As a way to help more and more people have a chance to experience the ten minute workouts that have been the cornerstone of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™
for the past 19 years, we have set up a Meetup Group where as a group you can come in and see for yourself how effective our ten minute workouts can be at no cost!  Here is our 10 Minute Workout Meetup Information:

Get Better Results In Less Time With Effective 10 Minute Workouts!

Kevin Richardson is one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City a champion lifetime drug free bodybuilder and founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet and Exercise. He has used his system of 10 minute workouts and holistic dietary approach to help hundreds get into the best shape of their lives over the past 19 years of his career as a personal trainer and is a living testimony himself to its effectiveness! Here is why you owe it to yourself to attend the Meetup:

Why You Should Try Our Naturally Intense™ 10 Minute Workouts:

• Experience An Exercise Program That Fits Into Everyone’s Schedule!
• Lose Weight With A Simple and Time Tested Program That Helps You Keep The Weight Off!
• Increase Your Endurance In A Fraction of the Time From Our High Intensity Workouts!
• Increase Your Strength & Muscle Mass!
• Long Term Weight Loss & Decreased Body Fat From Building Healthy and Natural Muscle!
• Safe For Everyone At Any Age Or Fitness Level!
• Have A Chance To Meet With Kevin & Get Hands On Help With Your Diet From One Of The Experts In The Field

You’ll have a chance to try out our Naturally Intense™ 10 Minute Workouts and see for yourself why people regularly commute from as far away as North Carolina on a weekly basis to train with Kevin and his team! The System works!

Note that there is no fee for this Meetup- we take care of all associated gym and training fees for the day!

Please come ready to workout, lockers and showers are available.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Kevin Richardson, NYC Personal Trainer
Founder, Naturally Intense System of Diet And Exercise™
Call for more information at 1-800-798-8420

See the full event details, including location, at http://www.meetup.com/10-minute-workouts-naturally-intense/calendar/12382309/.

Get a copy of Kevin’s free weight loss ebook here!

Kevin Richardson- celebrity Personal Trainer New York City is the creator of Naturally Intense™ High Intensity Training, a lifetime natural bodybuilder, head of Naturally Intense™ Personal Trainers NYC and one of the most sought after personal trainer in NYC.

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Post tags: 10 minute workouts, high intensity training, naturally intense, personal training

Why don't more overweight people go to the gym to lose weight?

The Real Reasons Overweight People Don’t Join Gyms

According to the numbers from the Center of Disease Control, two thirds of Americans are overweight and even more fall into the category of being obese. We know conclusively that being over one’s ideal weight increases the risk of everything from heart disease to Type II diabetes, not to mention the potential mental anguish from a negative body image. We also know that exercise can be a major force in helping people get into better shape and to improving their health, so why don’t more people join gyms and start exercising? It sounds like a simple solution yet only a third of people who are overweight meet the National Institute of Health’s exercise recommendations. Given these facts one has to assume that there are other issues stopping more people from joining gyms that we are not bringing into focus.

Often I hear people who already have made exercise a part of their lives talk about how easy it is for America to reverse the obesity epidemic. In a very shallow and unsympathetic manner they will proclaim that people are just lazy and too set on sitting in front of a television with a remote control and a bag of chips to do anything about their weight problem. If you have a poor body image, all you need to do is to get off of your behind and hit the gym- that simple. I hear such ignorance so often that is sickens me and from people in the industry that should really know better. I don’t think that you need to have a degree in behavioral sciences to understand that simple black and white approaches to real human problems ignore the basic truth that our actions are based on emotions, not on logic. We are not machines and thus for there to be a real solution to a problem, it must come from an understanding of the emotions that those problems can bring about. Any other approach simply will not work and while the gym industry is indeed a multi-billion dollar enterprise, the overwhelming majority of Americans that really need their services do not have a membership. Let’s take a real hard look at why that is.

Fallacy: People Who Are Overweight Don’t Know That Exercise Is Important

Even if you live in a small cave, I am pretty sure that you, like the rest of the world are aware that exercise is not only important but that it can help you lose weight and live longer. It’s no secret and pouring more money solely into increased health and fitness education is not the answer. People who are overweight or obese actually are stronger believers in the importance of exercise than their regular weight counterparts. According to a survey of over 1,500 men and women done by researchers at the Washington Medical Center soon to be published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, people that have weight issues are well aware that exercise is a key factor in improving their body image and their overall health. With the constant cues from the media and their physicians this should not come as a surprise to anyone although recent studies have called into question the effectiveness of conventional exercise programs for weight loss, (and with good reason- See my post: Is Exercise Effective) it is still medically accepted that exercise does reduce the health risks associated with being overweight and improves self esteem.

Truth: People Who Are Overweight Don’t Join Gyms Because They Are Self Conscious

Stop and think for a minute, if you were overweight, obese, or simply didn’t feel that great about your body, how would you feel about going into a hip sports club advertised on television and flyers as being filled with fit and trim beautiful men and women? If you felt some degree of trepidation then you would begin to understand what so many really feel. The study found that most overweight men and women dislike the idea of sweating and exerting themselves in front of younger and more svelte gym-goers, and this was their primary reason for not joining a health club. This feeling of self consciousness is obviously even more prevalent in women than with men. Women are far more likely to feel pressured to wear trendy and sexy clothes while in the gym and to feel embarrassed about training in front of members of the opposite sex. They also are far less likely to try to use a complicated piece of machinery for fear of looking ridiculous if they use it incorrectly. These fears are very real and can do quite a lot to stop someone from making positive steps towards improving their health.

Truth: Lack of Motivation Isn’t Why Most People Don’t Exercise

So in the end laziness and lack of motivation really are not as much a part of the equation as some would think. Many people don’t join health clubs because they hate the idea of going into an environment where they would feel out of place, and understandably so. In the study only about 18 percent were members of a health club. That means that a full 82 percent were not going to a gym because of their negative feelings towards their perception of what a health club environment would be, and I can say with authority that you don’t necessarily have to be overweight or obese to be intimidated by going to a gym. Of all the clients that I have trained over the course of almost two decades, most of them who had never worked out in a gym before expressed some trepidation about going there for the first time. This negative feeling towards health clubs held true whether they saw themselves as being overweight or underweight and is one that I think most people can relate to feeling at some point, but what are some solutions?

One Solution: Independent Hardcore Gyms Over Health Club Chains

When started training some twenty-one years ago I was a scrawny teenager. At almost six feet and weighing 125lbs soaking wet, to say that I was self conscious about my appearance would be a serious understatement. At the time the idea of joining a gym filled me with a genuine sense of terror. I was so certain that I would be ridiculed that I started lifting weights in earnest at home in order to get into decent enough shape to be able to go to the gym!
It took two months before I mustered the courage to join a hardcore gym not too far away from where I lived and it was one of the best decisions of my life. Everyone there was so focused on their training that no one even noticed that I was there. There was also a real sense of community and the regulars took it upon themselves to take me under their wings and teach me the ropes. The rest you could say is history and I owe my successful career as a natural bodybuilder and personal trainer to the support I got in the gym during those early years.

Many tell similar stories at neighborhood independent gyms across the country. You would think that in such hardcore places would be the last place where someone who was overweight would not fit in, but nothing could be further from the truth. In a spandex free environment where everyone is focused on achieving their goals you don’t feel like you have to be part of a scene the way you would at some of the commercial health club chains. To this day I have never had a membership at a commercial health club chain and I have always based my personal training service out of more hardcore independent gyms. With the high intensity training that I do an environment where everyone else is serious as well is extremely important and my clients have always done exceptionally well in these settings and felt more comfortable regardless of how they look. Commercial gyms have a lot that needs to change if they wish to reach out to the majority of the population, and from a business world perspective it would also make them more profitable (although to be honest people waste millions of dollars every year on gym memberships that they never really use, but that’s material for another article.)

Other Solutions: Less Judgement More Action

Society as a whole has to stop equating people’s character with their weight or activity levels- it isn’t always as simple as joining a gym and people in the industry also have to be more understanding just how difficult it can be to join a gym. Hiring a personal trainer can be a great way to be introduced to the gym environment without feeling like you are going in all by yourself. True the prospect of working with someone that looks just like the people that you might find intimidating at the gym can be a daunting one, but there are a lot of trainers out there like myself who do understand the issues, and as a rule hiring an out of shape trainer is seldom ever a good idea.

Some in the industry think that by lowering the bar it will help more people feel comfortable about working with a trainer, but all it does in the end is make it less likely for the client to be successful. If you are drowning you wouldn’t turn to someone that was having difficulty in the water as well for help, you would look to a strong swimmer and the same applies to personal training. Every trainer is different, though and you may have to shop around to find one that is both understanding and knowledgeable.

Another great idea is starting with a partner or a group of people you know that are already working out. In any case starting an exercise program can be as exhilarating as it is frightening, so the next time you see someone starting out in your gym, take the headphones off for a second and make them feel welcome, it does make a difference.

Get a copy of Kevin’s free weight loss ebook here!

Kevin Richardson- celebrity Personal Trainer New York City is the creator of Naturally Intense™ High Intensity Training, a lifetime natural bodybuilder, head of Naturally Intense™ Personal Trainers NYC and one of the most sought after NYC personal trainer.

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Post tags: self image, training, weight loss

All,

I wrote this three years ago and stumbled upon it recently. It is one of my favorite pieces and I hope you like it.

Thanksgiving Day 328 

Today is Thanksgiving Day 328 for me, and in my own personal calendar, there are so many of them each year (365, most years but sometimes even as much as 366), that it is really hard for me to celebrate each and everyone of them by going off my diet. This year marked the third holiday season that I have lived through without any concessions in terms of my diet. A lot of people ask me how I do it, and to be honest, I really do feel as though every day is special enough to deserve some form of celebration, and I choose to mark the beauty of every rising and setting sun with the same steadfastness and dedication that I have everyday.

 
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the Thanksgiving Day holiday as much as anyone else, and I think many people are of the opinion that because I do not indulge, that somehow I am apart from the spirit of the day. Nothing could be further from the truth- I spend every Thanksgiving in the kitchen cooking the best Thanksgiving meal that anyone could imagine. I am a very accomplished cook (yes, the cook book is being written as we speak), and I cook every year for my friends and family- turkey, roast beef, fried plantains (well, I bake them, but don’t tell anyone, as they think it is fried), rice and peas, garlic bread, ham, my special potatoes and yams. I hear that it is delicious and son number one spent most of his afternoon doing the ‘dance of joy’ after eating dinner, so I think I scored another hit this year.

 
What is funny is that I don’t have the slightest clue what any of this stuff tastes like. I eat what I always eat, as I always eat it, even though I cook all those foods, I never taste them, but that does not stop me from enjoying the time with my friends and my family, and that is more than enough to be thankful.

 Related Posts: What is it like to never cheat on your diet?

NYC Personal Trainer Kevin Richardson is one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City, a lifetime drug free bodybuilding champion and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™. His unorthodox 10 minute workouts have been helping people get better results in less time for the past 19 years! Get a copy of his free weight loss e-book here!

© KevinRichardson for Naturally Intense High Intensity Personal Training™ Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: diet, diet tips, health tips, healthy eating, Kevin Richardson

Chi Kung teacher, Masahiro Ouchi with Kevin Richardson, Naturally Intense founder at 19th Street Gym

High Intensity Workouts of Naturally Intense™ Integrated Into Chi Kung Practice

When it comes to the principles of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™, I can be very much the protective parent. Everything that I teach comes from decades of hard work on my part and is very much a part of my life, and with the impressive success rate that the system has in helping people realize their health and fitness goals, it is my obligation to ensure that all trainers in the system are living success stories as well. In today’s world where everything is fast and about making a quick dollar, it is important that certain traditions remain apart from such noise. To maintain a high level of quality requires a high level of quality candidates. Individuals that are focused on first making the system a part of their life and then passing on the knowledge to others. All of my trainers thus far have been rather exceptional people and Masahiro Ouchi certainly joins that list. As the second trainer in almost two decades to be officially certified as a Naturally Intense Personal Trainer, he creates a rather unique platform for the Naturally Intense 10 minute workouts- an integration into his chi kung and Tai Chi practice.

Masahiro Ouchi- Chi Kung Master &  Naturally Intense™ Certified Personal Trainer

With a thriving meditation practice here in New York and in Tokyo, Japan, Masahiro Ouchi is the founder and director of The Healing Tao Center of New York, founder of the TaoZen Association and Senior Instructor of Universal Healing Tao. He is a faculty member of the Healing Tao University, and has been chosen as their Teacher of the Year.  Masahiro has been teaching T’ai chi, Qigong and meditation for over 30 years and has taught Tao and Zen disciplines at everywhere from NYU to the Open Center to numerous prestigious venues in Asia, Europe, Central America and Africa.  His focus and purpose has always been to help teach others how to bring ancient spiritual and healing practices into their daily lives that they may live their lives as fully as possible.
Masahiro found, however that for all the benefits of the spiritual and mediation practices, there was not enough emphasis placed on practices that engaged the body.

“Everyone is so focused on the mind, that they forget that they even have a body, and that brings about imbalance.”- Masahiro Ouchi

The Spiritual Aspects Of Naturally Intense™ High Intensity Training

About two years ago, seeking to find a way to improve his physicality, he began training his training with the 10 minute high intensity workouts that are the core of the Naturally Intense System. Masahiro immediately fell in love with the idea of pushing the body literally to the limit and beyond. What was even more surprising was his realization that those 10 minute workouts were in fact based on the aspect of Shugyo, which formed a central part of my own training as a teacher of the martial tradition called ninpo/ninjutsu. Most of what I have presented over the years as the Naturally Intense System of Diet Of Exercise™ is related on some levels to this esoteric practice.  The end result of shugyo or any form of truly highly intense physical activity is a certain inner clarity and perspective. This comes when the attention of the mind and body focuses solely on the execution of a task that takes both aspects to their limits- the noise of unrelated thoughts falls away and what is left is a very direct body and mind communication. Many of my clients, from writers to musicians to yoga and meditation teachers have realized this inner side of high intensity training and use it very effectively as a means of improving their own focus. This was exactly what Masahiro was looking for, not only in terms of helping him lose a bit off his waistline and sculpt his body somewhat, but in terms of finding a vehicle that would allow him to truly experience and be aware of his physical form.

Masahiro Returns To New York To Bring Naturally Intense™ Back To Japan

After leaving for Japan for a while to tend to his large meditation practice in Tokyo, Masahiro returned to New York City, determined to learn the basic concepts of Naturally Intense™ and integrate them into his holistic practice. I can hardly say how honored I was to have him as a pupil and to have Naturally Intense integrated into a spiritual life practice, and during his tenure as an apprentice trainer, he truly distinguished himself as one able to make the Naturally Intense™ System a part of his life, and as one able to pass long that knowledge to others as well in a safe and compassionate manner. Yesterday was his last day of apprenticeship with me at the 19th Street Gym, and was awarded his level one certification. Today, Masahiro returns to Japan to bring the 10 minute workouts of the Naturally Intense™ System to a whole new continent. I wish him all the best and look forward to his return in March for his second round of certification.

Masahiro Ouchi’s TaoZen websites:

English

Japanese

NYC Personal Trainer Kevin Richardson is one of the most sought after personal trainers in New York City, a lifetime drug free bodybuilding champion and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™. His unorthodox 10 minute workouts and customized dietary plans have been helping people get better results in less time for the past 19 years! Get a free trial personal training session with Kevin here!

© KevinRichardson for Naturally Intense High Intensity Personal Training™ Blog, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 10 minute workouts, chi kung, high intensity training, personal training, spirituality

Fred Sanya- Kenyan Bodybuilding Champion

I got an email from my good friend and photographer, Dennis Lee about a guy that he had met in Kenya named Fred Sanya. Fred was a Kenyan bodybuilder that was coming to America to compete in the November MuscleMania contest and Dennis asked if I could meet Fred and give him some guidance with regards to his training and diet, as where he lives in Kenya, the gym is made up of homemade weights, made from cement. More astonishingly Dennis told me that Fred was truly a sight to see in terms of his impressive muscle mass, but that he was even more impressive since he only ate one meal a day. On hearing that I knew that I had to do whatever I could to help out Fred. I had just received a letter from a bodybuilder in Benin who was in a similar situation and wanted to know if I could help him out in some way as well and I always do my best whenever I hear these stories as I know all too well what it is like to try to build a champion level physique on just one meal a day myself.

Fed Sanya Back In The Gym In Kenya

As a teenager in Trinidad, I never had enough money to afford the ideal number of meals and would struggle to eat four times a day. I actually started my career as a personal trainer at the advice of my coach as a way to get more money to buy my food. At the time I only got paid once a month so I only had enough food for about 3 weeks. For the last week (or sometimes two depending on the length of the month) I would only have enough for one main meal and as hard as it was it never stopped me from the pursuit of my goal. Hearing about Fred, I thus felt an immediate kinship and arranged to have him meet me at the 19th Street Gym, where I train and my personal training business operates.

To say that I was impressed by Fred would be a true understatement. He came in, all full of smiles with a friend of his who was helping him get around for the day and I shook the hand of this giant of a man. He stood just about six feet tall and at about 220lbs with a barrel chest and impressively wide shoulders. His physique spoke of the years of training that he had put himself through (Fred at this point has been training for over 8 years now) and that he was able to accumulate such amazing proportions eating one meal a day spoke legion to what he would accomplish in the months to come. Fred was so happy just to be here, and we sat down in the gym lobby for a while and spoke about bodybuilding, training and the difference between what it is like here in the United States and his native land in terms of the food and training equipment.

Fred Sanya At 19th Street Gym

Fred said that in his country there is so little food and the gyms are so run down that you just have to train hard and do the best that you can. Some of the competitiors in Kenya also take steroids, which Fred is dead set against using and welcomed the idea of coming to the United States to compete in drug tested contests. I sympathized with him, as when I started competing in Trinidad, there was no such thing as a drug free contest. Steroids were very much a part of the competitive landscape and my decision to not not go that route was  very difficult one, but I stood fast and was able to be competitive nonetheless.

I told Fred about another bodybuilder that also had very little access to good food at the beginning of his career, but was able to compete and build a championship level physique, my good friend, Kai Greene- who in my opinion was one of the greatest natural bodybuilders of all time, during the period that I was with him competing in the NPC. Kai and I would spend hours talking about the importance of passion, and that most people simply didn’t understand the concept of making your dreams a reality no matter what the obstacles are. Fred is a great example of just that as he never complained about what he didn’t have he just trained hard and was able to accomplish great things in the process.

Fred Shows The Champion Level Form That He Was Able To Build Drug Free!

Victor Munoz, Victor Martinez’s coach and a friend of mine walked by and I introduced him to Fred. Fred was very excited to meet the man behind one of the top IFBB pros on the circuit today and Victor shared some of his words of wisdom as well. Hailing from Cuba, he too knew what it was like to not have everything at your fingertips as it is here in the United States. He said that Fred had a lot of potential  and that he would do really well over here, but that he needed to eat clean at all times, since the food over here is plentiful, but it is really easy to start eating the wrong things. Fred was very excited to learn that Victor Martinez actually trained at the 19th Street Gym and could hardly wait to see the place.

Fred’s typical workout regime in Kenya revolved around the very basics, squats, deadlifts, shoulder presses, rows curls and bench presses with not very much else. Fred trained 6 days a week twice a day (that’s not a typo) and has made tremendous gains from this remarkable regime. Some might say that his unconventional approach is not an effective one, but the proof as they say is in the pudding and Fred’s physique does indeed speak volumes for the validity of what he was doing. As someone that gained over 100lbs over the years with three fifteen to twenty minute workouts, I know for a fact that very often the unconventional can produce some unconventional results! I told Fred about my own Naturally Intense System of 10 minute workouts and he was incredulous.

“How can you work the muscles in such a short time?” he asked with a puzzled expression on his face, so I did what I always do when asked that question, I took him for a workout! Fred had also never trained in a real gym, so when we descended into the sprawling sea of iron that is the 19th Street Gym, he was dumbfounded. I reminded him that though the many machines offer a great degree of variety for many body parts, the basics of what got him to where he was in the first place should never be forgotten. He wanted to train legs and so I took him through a paces of a Naturally Intense leg workout!

Fred loved every minute of it, and after the first round of hamstring curls (which, by the way he had never done before ), clearly feeling the effects, he boomed,

“Please! We are not finished yet?”

We were not, after launching into a set of squats, verticals and calves he was barely able to walk. Total training time, 8.5 minutes and Fred looked at me with a great smile, shook my hand and said,

“Maybe I need to think about training a bit like this, I have never felt like this before!”

At this point my other clients at the gym had arrived and Fred warned them,

“Be careful with this guy, this training is no joke!”

Me & Fred Hamming It Up For The Camera!

In Fred I could really see the passion that I and so many others have over the years and I look forward to helping him and seeing him go straight to the top of the sport. I hope that his example helps inspire you and many others that you can indeed make your dreams a reality without drugs, and even without the many protein powders and supplements that are so much a part of training today. All you need is a burnign desire to succed and a real commitment to never give up, no matter what. Excelsior!

You can see more of Fred at his website at www.fredsanya.com.

Update- 12/2/09- Congratulations to Fred Sanya on winning his class at the 2009 Musclemania and I am honored to have been able to help him with his diet and training. He truly is a champion at heart!

Kevin Richardson is a lifetime drug free bodybuilder and founder of the Naturally Intense High Intensity Training. You can visit his official website at www.naturallyintense.net

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Post tags: bodybuilder, bodybuilding, fred sanya, kai greene

Steroids In Sports Are Here To Stay! 

98% of Olympians polled in 1995 said they would use drugs if they wouldn’t be caught.

In 1995 a Chicago physician, Bob Goldman, asked 198 Olympic-level U.S. athletes whether they would be willing to take a banned substance if they were guaranteed to win and not get caught; 195 said yes. More than half of them went on to say that they would take the drug if it would enable them to win every competition for five years even if it would kill them.

As alarming as it may sound, it’s the truth and for all the hue and cry about the need to clean up the sporting arena of illegal drug use, it is really all a flimsy façade and one that has support from the highest levels downwards.
Take competitive bodybuilding for example, few people in the general public know that there are two completely different types of bodybuilding, drug tested contests- where the athletes are given either a polygraph test or their urine is tested to ensure that they are not using anabolic steroids and a list of other banned substances. Most of you probably have never seen a natural bodybuilder (besides me!) or even knew that there is a difference. (As an aside: Many make the mistake of seeing me and wondering whether or not I use drugs, but truth be told if you saw me standing next to a modern professional drug using bodybuilder there would be little question, since I would look like a anorexic girl in spite of all my 20 years of hard training and my accomplishmentes as a natural athlete!)

Steroids In Sports: The Public Side Of Steroid Use- Professional Bodybuilding

Yes, there is another other side of the coin, and the more popular version by far are the non drug tested shows. It might surprise you to learn that these are the bodybuilders that grace the covers of the muscle magazines (natural bodybuilding has its own magazine as well, but its readership is negligible when compared to the millions of reader of their drug using counterparts). The bodybuilders you occasionally see on television use steroids, as do the ones that cross over to the film industry- a certain California governor included.
These images of men and women inflated to almost comic book like proportions are what most people think of when they hear the word ‘bodybuilder’. Sadly for women in general, female drug bodybuilding, which essentially will masculinize the bodies of women using steroids has made most women shy away from the idea of lifting weights, as the misconception is there that they will end up looking like some of the girls with masculine features. This isn’t true, but since there is no real movement to define to the general public what a drug user looks like and what a natural athlete looks like, it is hard for them to think any other way.

Both Are Hard Training Top Female Bodybuilders- One Competes In Drug Tested Contests & One Doesn't. See Any Difference?

 Now some may say that steroids are harmless when taken in moderate doses over a short period of time, but the fact of the matter is that to attain the size and definition required to stand on a national stage as a competitive male bodybuilder, you will need to use a combination of several different anabolic steroids, in addition to human growth hormone, insulin (yes, that’s right, insulin is  major part of the bodybuilder chemistry set) and diuretics. In the good Governor’s time, steroid use was rampant as well, but the doses were lower and even then the amounts that they used to look the way they did would be considered insane by clinical standards. As time went on, more and more athletes tried to push the envelope of inhuman size and definition and so more and more drugs kept being added to the cocktail.

Steroids In Sports- Professional Athlete or Professional Drug User?

Today’s professional bodybuilder can spend anywhere from $30,000 to as much as $100,000 or more to look the way they do. They don’t follow pristine diets and try to live as in as healthy a manner as possible, that is a myth that is used to sell magazines and questionable supplements, the bottom line is getting as big and as fat free as possible. Nothing else matters and to be honest, most of them eat no different from the way the general public does in terms of junk food and the like in the offseason.
Is it glamorous? Yes and no. The fan base, (small though it may be as the male athletes are now far too big to appeal to the tastes of most people in the general public and the female athletes are simply too scary for mainstream media to even look at) does exist and if you are at the very top of the sport you may be able to make some money from endorsements and guest appearances but there is a downside. At those doses, your life is pretty much centered around eating, sleeping and training and there is really no way for you to do the things that most people do. Climbing a flight of stairs at over 300lbs isn’t easy when nature would have had you at 175 lbs and I can tell you from personal experience as one that has worked with many of them, that the experience is pure misery.
From abscesses, to muscle tears, to strange fevers, the pain of the site injections, loss of energy, sex drive and so much more make up the lives of many of the athletes touted by many as the ultimate in human physical perfection. The numerous trips to the E.R. as well aren’t covered in the magazines, only when one of the troupe is unfortunate enough to die as a result of their use- at which point the industry as a whole is first to say that there is no proof that their drug use caused their death. As one that has worked with addicts over the past 14 years the similarities are considerable-  but at the end of the day, a professional bodybuilder today is really a professional drug user, and given the inability of so many of them to be able to stop- and the overall behavior, and culture as a whole, I would say professional addict.

Government Policy Towards Steroid In Sports 

Now, what does this have to do with sports, as bodybuilding is a fringe activity at best? Simple, if the most blatant use of drugs is not stopped by either the government or the upper echelon of the sport, why would they devote their time to stopping athletes whose use is almost undetectable to the average human eye? Take baseball for example. People pay money to see athletes throw the ball faster and hit the ball harder than they ever could. Mediocrity doesn’t sell, but record breaking performance does. The same applies for everything from boxing to American football to a host of other sports. In many cases, steroids are used in small amounts to help recovery so they can train more often and get better at what they do, or to help injuries heal faster- steroids are fantastic anti-inflammatory drugs. They don’t take drugs to the degree that say the bodybuilder does, nor do they train and consume an inhuman amount of food they way a bodybuilder would, so they don’t ‘jacked up’ as one would say. The crowd loves a winner and if you recall the statement by the Olympians at the top of the post that they would use drugs if they were sure they wouldn’t get caught, what would stop the boxer, baseball player or any other sportsman from thinking the same way?
Add to it the insane amounts of many given to athletes based on their performance and I would go out on a limb and say that over 90% of every sports fan would use drugs if it would make them able to play their game better and allow them to rake in millions of dollars. Wouldn’t you at least consider it? Especially since the amounts that are used in most sports are really not that much and are under the supervision of a physician in most cases? Be honest and you will find that the immorality of steroid use that the media portrays is nothing more than typical human behaviors. The powers that be know that their athletes are using drugs, but they also know that the crowd loves what they do and that they are making them very wealthy- thus there is no real incentive to put real testing in place. When an athlete is past their prime and the government and or media is on their backs they might ‘find’ a positive test or two from some of their athletes that happen to be on their way out of the game anyway- but those tests are almost always several years old. Why the delay? I will let you figure that our yourself.

The Governor Of California Is The Main Sponsor Of The Biggest Steroid Show In The World

Getting back to bodybuilding, Arnold Schwarzenegger did  a lot to influence so many impressionable young men to get into bodybuilding, and as they went on I the pursuit of looking like him many learned that Arnold had a little help and so got a little help of their own. Arnold Schwarzenegger almost single handedly made the steroid look publicly acceptable. He admitted his use very early on, and yet today as governor fo California and chief law enforcement officer of the state, he still sponsors and lends his name to the biggest convention of steroid users in the world, the Arnold Classic. A weekend of bodybuilding and other sports that the good Governor always attends. Do you really think that in a country where the Chief Officer of a state lends his name and image to a steroid rally that stopping drug use is a real priority. Perhaps more importantly, in a world where athletes make millions, we overlook the small detail that the team owners and sports officials that run and manage the games make billions, and that they are not going to give up their income anytime soon. Most telling is our own attitudes. We are a nation of winners, of great performers and we love our sportsmen to be the best. Add that to the thoughts of a young and upcoming teen athlete and his or her coach and you should understand that the drugs are not going anywhere unless we all change as a people.

Kevin Richardson is a lifetime drug free bodybuilder and founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise. You can visit his official website at www.naturallyintense.net

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Post tags: arnold schwartzennegger, female bodybuilder, female bodybuilding, steroids, steroids in sports

From Better Bodies to 19th Street Gym- The History Of NYC’s Best Gyms

Since January of 2009, the 19th Street Gym has been the new home of Naturally Intense NYC Personal Training Services, when I moved over there after a really thorough search for a truly no nonsense gym that would be a perfect fit for me and for my training service. After all, I demand nothing but the best when it comes to training facilities for both me and my clients and settling at 19th Street was one of the best decisions that I have made!

Truly a bodybuilding landmark, with just about everyone that was serious about training over the years having stopped by there at one time or the other in its original incarnation as Better Bodies, or in its current form, the 19th Street Gym.

Today not only is it home to me and many other top bodybuilding champions, (its the headquarters as well for top IFBB pro, Victor Martinez), bit also to a host of NYC celebrities including Busta Rhymes ( a really cool cat) and a a number of supermodels (it is always a bit strange to see someone from the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition training next to you). Celebrities and top athletes aside, it is really one of the best gyms in New York City and RxMuscle just published a story about this training landmark. You can read the full article here: http://www.rxmuscle.com/articles/nutrition/850-miracle-on-19th-stree-the-evolution-of-bodybuildinig-landmark.html

19th Street Gym

22 West 19th Street (Between 5th & 6th Ave)
New York, NY 10011 
212.414.5800
http://www.19thstreetgym.com/

 For all inquiries contact Junior at julioramos16@gmail.com

Kevin Richardson is one of NYC’s most sought after personal fitness trainers and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise. With only 3 ten minute workouts, Kevin and his staff can get you into the best shape of your life! Click here for a free trial!

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Post tags: best gyms, gym reviews