I just celebrated my 52nd birthday. But I don't feel like I'm getting old. In fact, I feel like I'm just getting started. Objectively, I'm stronger, better conditioned, and more flexible than I was in my twenties. The science is clear. If you do the right things, you can hold back the worst ravages of aging and, to paraphrase Kevin Seconds, stay young until you die. This is both my goal and that of most of my clients. Due to where I live (Orange County, CA) and because my in-person sessions...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Effective strength training is part science and part art. The science is in knowing which variables: sets, reps, tempo, exercises, rest periods, etc, are most appropriate for a given goal. The art is knowing how to tailor these to each unique individual. And although it's beyond the scope of a single article for me to distill the entire body of exercise science research into a plan anyone can follow. I'm hoping that by providing you with the basic principles along with a case study of how...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
Let's begin with some of the reasons you might want to be able to do more push-ups. Maybe you're looking to enlist in the military or join the police force, both of which use push-ups to test the fitness of a potential recruit. Perhaps you've seen something about how middle-aged fellas who can bang out more than 40 reps are significantly less likely to experience cardiovascular events and have a lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to men who can do fewer than 10? Or maybe you just like...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
The first goal of a fitness and health program should be to achieve optimal body composition. I define this with my clients as 10% and 15% body fat for the guys and 18 %—25 % for the ladies. Although you won't see too many 40+ people walking around with these levels, this is more due to the ill health so rampant in our society than it is that these standards are unreasonably high. Achieving these body fat percentages will land you squarely in the sweet spot between health and aesthetics, and...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
One of my philosophical guiding lights is that when it comes to your body, it’s entirely up to you what you do with it. Whether we’re talking about a woman’s reproductive rights, an aging legend getting into the ring to fight an in his prime you-tuber or whether or not you decided to take the jab back in 2020. It’s your body, it’s your choice. So if you wanna be a little fluffy around the mid-section, I won’t judge you for it. But there are definitely some things I want you to aware of,...
2 months ago • 2 min read
On the surface, going on a diet to lose fat sounds like a good idea. After all, statistics show that six out of seven people who start a diet will lose a significant amount of weight. Which is a pretty damn solid success rate by any measure. Unfortunately, that's not the end of the story. The problem is that within 12 months of achieving said weight loss, nearly 80% of those people will have relapsed to their pre-diet weight. Within two years, that number goes up to 85%, and within three...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Did you know that every male has a daily health indicator offering as much insight as a medical check-up? I'll give you a couple of hints. It's free and 100% natural. Although it may have led to some questionable decisions in the past, it's always been a loyal friend to you. Whoever wrote the readers' letters in eighties nudie mags had about a million names for it. Yep, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Waking up with a morning boner is a positive sign that your system is functioning...
6 months ago • 1 min read
I've been a proponent of Intermittent Fasting for a long time now. When I first stumbled upon it in 2012 on the now-legendary Leangains.com, it seemed like a simple answer to a complex problem. How could someone eat in a way that helped them lose fat, retain muscle, and support long-term health without having to obsess about tracking everything they ate? Of course, calories would still count, but maybe you didn't always have to count the calories. The founder of Leangains, Martin Berkhan, had...
11 months ago • 3 min read
I recently came upon a study that reported that most Americans struggle to do five push-ups, and more than half are incapable of doing ten consecutive reps. This is a sad state of affairs indeed. Over half of our population is piss weak, fragile, and useless in any situation requiring even the most minimal amount of physical strength. And you can bet dollars to donuts; that this half of the population will be much more likely to suffer from lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes and CVD...
over 1 year ago • 2 min read