I’ve taken a long break from the internet, and honestly, it’s done me a lot of good. Sometimes it’s good to get away from something for a while and come back refreshed - and that was definitely the case for me.

Anyway,  I was reading through some of my old fitness posts today and it made me remember how much I actually enjoyed answering peoples’ questions and helping them out.

I just reconnected with some of the people I helped on Facebook, and I think I just may have made a difference.. Cool, right? Ha.

So, I’m bringing back the Ask Doug section out of retirement - at least for the time being.  This blog has changed direction a few times, but it’s time for me to get back to basics and write more about what I know.

• Losing fat quickly
• Building Strength
• Designing Quality Programs for yourself based on what you’re trying to do. (ie, look better, lose fat, build muscle, gain strength, etc)
• Preventing injuries

I know there’s already probably too much info on fitness out there, both on the internet and everywhere else, but I still get questions from friends all the time about tons of things related to fitness.  And, in my always humble and objective opinion, I feel I’m better than most people at analyzing and addressing specific, real world fitness related questions.

Feel free to write in your specific questions, and be sure to be specific.  Details like your current weight, current routine / program, your age, gender, injury history, and your experience with weights will help me deliver an answer that will actually help your current situation.

Anyway, hopefully I’ll be posting something up here soon, and, if the question is particularly good, I may even throw up a nice audio post like I was doing last year.

Until then, I’ll leave you with this post from the archives that I just sent to a buddy of mine with regards to approaching splits in your strength training program.

Hey! There post is for some quick updates for anyone who stumbles across this site, or happens to be following what I’m doing .. The truth is, I’ve taken a much needed break from the online thing and a few things have changed, so I’d thought I’d get off my butt and post up a quick update.

Since the last post, I’ve taken on a few personal training clients and have decided to get my business back going in Jacksonville. So if you know anybody looking to lose a few pounds, or someone who doesn’t know where to start with their fitness routine, just have them give me a call or shoot me an e-mail ..

I’m doing a little advertising on Craiglist and just threw together a quick sales page today for Personal Training in Jacksonville. It’s not much to look at, but it’ll do for now ..  The cool thing is, it’s been up two days, and it’s already number 3 in the Google Local Listings!

As far as business, I’m loving training the clients I’m working with right now. I haven’t found a home gym to train out of just yet, but I’ve found that many people value the fact that I’m willing to go to them and train in or around their home..

Anyway, I’m now officially open for business, so if you know anyone looking for help or in need of some guidance please send clients my way - After a year and a half training clients, I know how to get results..

Take care!

Technorati Tags: personal training, updates

Whatsup!?

Okay, so I’ve been a real slacker lately — at least when it comes to my OWN blog.

The truth is, I’ve been working away behind the scenes with all that’s been going on with Super-Trainer and haven’t had much time to keep this blog updated.  Also, the content on some of the other blogs are so great, I’ve been trying to think of how I can take a different approach.

The title you see on this website may be a little deceiving.. While I’ve been doing a lot of traveling and consulting, as well as attending a couple major fitness marketing events such as Fitness Business Summit and the Continuity Summit, I’m really not the “gossiping” type - if that’s what the title implies.  I’d rather take the approach of keeping you updated on the industry, but also writing about things that  will help you, your marketing, and your web presence - as in things that can help you today.

I’d even like to venture outside of fitness from time to time and talk about things like business, finance, money, and maybe even women?  Who knows.. (not me)

Also, I’m opening back up my “Ask Doug” section soon, but instead of answering questions from aspiring high school football players and young women looking to lose weight in time for their wedding, I’ll be answering questions about marketing, using the web, and social media etc. You’ll be able to write in questions and have me answer them on the blog and in my newsletter (which I’ll be getting ready soon).

I’ve noticed in my e-mail interactions with other trainers that lots of people are needing guidance and help just with getting set up with a website, basic search engine optimization, and setting up their blog and SEO configuration set up correctly - which are all very important steps - and there are ways to make the jump much more quickly and painless than you may think — so I’ll be answering a lot of questions addressing that, so be ready.

Also, expect to start seeing more frequent and informal posts just about things I’m thinking about and interesting articles that I find.. I figured out that I’m going to have to keep this blog fun for ME for there to be any chance to keep it updated.

I may also look to jump on the “interview bandwagon” and get some of those up here too, because they’re actually a lot of fun.

Anyway, I’d love to hear some feedback on this in the comments section (though this may be hard because I haven’t been posting at ALL). This post is pretty much serving as accountability to force myself to get blogging again!!

After all, I shouldn’t be allowed to help people with this stuff, if I’m not doing it myself - so watch and learn!

Technorati Tags: blogging, Fun, updates

If you’re familliar with any of my past fitness articles in the past, you know how I feel about Swiss balls, stability balls, bosu balls, and other similar devices when it comes to effective and safe exercise.

Trainers don’t know what they’re doing, the balls are popping, and people are getting hurt!  Go check out my recent guest post on Super-Trainer about 3,000,000 exercise balls being recalled.

Everyone warned me about it, but it’s true - I’m already missing college. Yes, even the grueling Biomechanics Lab days where our professor would set up 40 stations where we’d have 30 seconds a piece to give the correct muscle, muscle attachment, or bony landmark on the body…

Anyway, my buddy Mike over at AskTheTrainer.com is creating a database of Kinesiology and Exercise Science degree reviews from trainers across the country.

I recently did my college degree review of the Georgia Southern University Exercise Science program.

You can find it by clicking the link above. You can probably sense my own bias in the review, but can you blame me? I happen to like my school. Lots of good memories there. Read the rest of My Georgia Southern College Degree Review on AskTheTrainer!

Technorati Tags: askthetrainer, georgia southern degree-review, kinesiology degree, personal training degree

Click play above for audio

Question:

I’m a 16, male, have been lifting for about 2 years, i weight about 160lbs and my wrestling season just got over. Before wrestling, started I had about 12% body fat, then I dropped about 8lbs for wrestling. Anyway, I will be a junior in high school next year and I started varsity as a sophomore at linebacker. I hope to play college football at a linebacker, but I need to gain some weight, and I was wondering: -What is the best way to gain a lot of muscle fast? -What muscle will give you best success on the field? -Which ones to work on the most, and are there any supplement’s you would recommend?

Now I feel where you’re coming from because I was in a similar situation in high school. My primary sport was baseball, and it was the sport I wanted to focus on. But, I wrestled from the 6^th grade through my sophomore year in because I liked the sport and the competition. Read the rest of Gain Fast Muscle for football: What to do, what to eat?

Technorati Tags: audio, diet, exercise philosophy, exercise selection, football, hypertrophy, Nutrition, Performance, strength training, supplements, wrestling

Question:

Doug I’m, 39 years, female, 5′ 2″, 224lbs - I started exercising and eating right about 1 month ago and I’ve lost 5lbs. I have a weight loss goal of 100lbs and that could take a year or more to achieve. So I thought that I could also have a fitness level goal as well. Do you think that participating (actually running) in a 5K in June 2009 is too much of a lofty goal? Thanks

Answer:

First, Happy New Year, and congrats on losing 5 pounds on your own in your first month of change!

And I want to commend you on:

1) Actually taking ACTION, in changing your eating and beginning some form of exercise – and sticking to it for an entire month.

I read somewhere recently that it takes between 30 – 90 days to cement a habit and lifestyle change. What’s even more interesting is that it takes the MOST willpower during the initial 30 days, while it actually becomes EASIER to keep a routine going, the longer you go. This means that on days 1-10, you really have to just grit your teeth and make yourself prepare salads, get to your workouts, avoid sweets, etc. But the longer you go, the more the habits become AUTOMATIC, so you do them without thinking.

2) The second thing I’d like to comment on is your use of the deadline – This is a concept I’ve yet to mention on this blog. The use of deadlines is a very effective tool in your goal-setting arsenal.

For example, have you ever had a project, test, or other chore that just HAD to be done by in a certain time period? We humans are pretty good about getting things accomplished when this is the case. Think about it – how many bills would get paid if there wasn’t an actual due date and the company just told you to send the money in when it’s convenient? If it were me, I’d probably be in debt with a credit score in the 300’s.. – Somehow the deadline makes you get off your butt and get stuff accomplished.

On the other side of the coin, have you ever had something that you know you needed to do, but just never seemed to get done? It’s sort something that’s always on your mind, but you never seem to be able to get it off your to do list?

Well the same thing applies to making LASTING OVERHAULS to your diet and exercise. (Which, by the way are the two keys to losing fat - despite what some late night infomercials want you to think).

Here, you’re using June 2009 for a specific 5K event – Make sure you know the exact date of the event and mark it in bold on your calendar. Somehow having this deadline for a time where we HAVE to be ready to run seems to have a profound effect on allowing us to accomplish our goals.

Now to answer your question..

YES!!

Okay, so you’ve probably figured out that weighing less makes it easier to run – It’s easy to see that with less weight on your body, it takes less energy to move. Also, it’s much easier on your joints, making it a more realistic option when choosing appropriate exercises.

So..

Traditionally, us trainers are taught in our certifications and textbooks that a realistic and safe rate of fat loss is approximately 1-2 pounds a week. Although I personally believe it is very realistic and perfectly healthy to lose weight even faster.

For the sake of this question, we’ll say your goal is to lose 2 pounds per week.

Now, to see how whether it’s realistic to make your goal, we just take the number of weeks until your race and multiply it by 2.

I don’t know the exact date of your race, but we’ll say June 20^th (a Saturday).

Starting next Monday, you have 21 weeks until your race.

So here’s what you do..

Set a 21 week goal to lose 42 pounds, and plan on weighing 179 by June 20th 2009. Unless you have some kind of injury, 179 should be plenty light enough to run in your 5K!!

Make sure to take this main goal, and break it up into a series of mini-goals along the way so that you make sure you’re staying on track. For example, after 11 weeks, you’d want to be down to 202 – After 6 weeks, 212, and so on.

If you’re not hitting your mini-goals, you know that you need to change something in order to get there.

So way to go in making a change for a month – Be sure to look around this website and others for tips on what changes you can make to your diet and exercise today in order to get you the fastest rate of fat loss.

More people are writing in, which is good, and I’d like to see some more comments – That will help me address the stuff that you need on here. So use the Ask Doug section and the comments section, and I’ll talk to you soon.

Technorati Tags: 5k, deadlines, fat loss, goal-setting, lifestyle change, running

I ate a few too much heavenly chocolate (my Grandmother’s secret recipe) and pumpkin pie over the holidays - I’ll admit it -

So I figured…

Why wait until 2009 to work off a few of the fat pounds I put on?

Here’s a glimpse into my 30 minute fat loss session that I just returned from (My heart is STILL beating fast). It doesn’t seem like much, but I kept the rest periods short and believe me, the intensity was high - I refuse to be fat - haha -

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The Workout - Quad Dominant, Vertical Push, Vertical Pull

A1. Neutral Grip Dumbell Push Press, 35’s - 12, 12

A2. Close Grip Chinups, BW - 10, 7

A3. Bulgarian Split Squats, 35’s - 10, 10 / leg

B1. Walking Lunges holding a 35 lb plate overhead - 10, 10 / leg

B2. 1 Arm Dumbell Swing, 30 lb dumbell - 15, 15 / arm

B3. Triceps Duck Unders (I needed this rest station, the swings killed me), 12, 10

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I tried to keep the rest to under 1 minute between sets, and I think I was in and out of the gym before some of the other people switched exercises!!

Happy New Year, and I’ll talk to you in 2009!

Technorati Tags: fat loss, Program Design, quick workouts