Fusion Fitness Studio News

A Success Story

That’s what “Mr. Jay” (my nickname for Jay….I know, very creative…) said to me yesterday here at the studio as he was doing his post-workout self myofascial release on his hips and legs on the foam roller.

Jay has been with me for a while.  He’s a GREAT client, has a great attitude, he works hard, we have a lot of fun during our sessions and more importantly, his results show it. 

In fact, it was when he was reflecting on his progress during his time training with me that he said…

“You know Fernando, after all this time with you…I still can’t believe all the results I’ve experienced with doing so little exercise!  When I was training on my own…I never got THESE kind of results.” 

“And I still don’t understand how we do it.  Especially when the program you have me on, is almost the complete opposite of what I ‘ve ALWAYS heard and read about how to train!”   

“How could this possibly be working?”

Mr. Jay and I have these kind of conversations a lot.  And they usually end with Jay saying…

“I know, I know…the results speak for themselves, right?  The proof is in the pudding…if it ain’t broke don’t fix it…It doesn’t matter if I understand it or not, what matters is that it works…etc.  It just racks my brain!”

You see, when Jay first started with me, his goal was to put on muscle and lose some fat.  Muscle building was the top priority though.

Jay wanted to:
Get bigger
Get stronger
Increase his Bench Press  

The problem was that Jay:
Had nagging lower back and neck issues…
And he never felt his exercises where he should…
He struggled for years with little results…
Was frustrated…
Had a fast-paced, high-stress business…
And was over 35 years old…so he thought it may be too late for him to change his body.

Not anymore!

What kind of results are we talking about here? 

Well, Jay has:

Built 20lbs of muscular body weight…
Increased his Bench Press from 135lbs to 220lbs…
Increased his flexibility…
Strengthened his core…
Fixed his lower back…
And his upper back is now under control…

Not bad, huh?

And why is he STILL sort of bewildered about how he has achieved those results?

I think it’s what I said when I laid out his plan.  When I told him that I was going to:

Work MORE of his ”little” muscles vs. the big ones…
REDUCE his workouts from 3 to 2 days a week…
Work each body part only ONCE a week vs. three…
Use mostly TOTAL BODY Functional movements…
Use more BODYWEIGHT exercises…
Use mostly MODERATE weight training…
Use MORE Cable, Band & Stability Ball training…
STRETCH his muscles a lot more…

And that by doing all of THAT, we were going to FIX his particular problem.  He thought I was crazy!

While Jay still believes that I’m crazy…the program I designed for him DID fix his problems.

And he’s STILL left wondering ’how’ it all worked.

Funny…

MOST people are usually bewildered by the LACK of results they experience from their training programs.

I usually get the opposite!

My clients get bewildered by the ABUNDANCE of results they get!

How about YOU?…

What are you bewildered about? 

Motivation

Investing in YOURSELF!  Listen, it doesn’t matter how you invest in yourself, just do it! 

ANYTHING you do that helps to make you better, develop, improve or even master; will ALWAYS be money well spent and will ALWAYS produce an INUMERABLE return on investment for you.

Guaranteed.

You will NEVER have to worry about it:
Losing value…
Not providing returns…
Disappearing…

It will always APPRECIATE and is PERMANENT!

So whether you:
Read instructional books…
Listen to audio books while driving…
Attend seminars…
Take courses…
Take time to self-reflect…
Work with a coach…

Just DO it.

People that understand and recognize this concept, are the very SAME people you see that ALWAYS improve, grow and achieve things in EVERY aspect of their life: 

They have better relationships…
They have better family lives…
They achieve more in their career…
The think better…
Their personal health is better…
Their body looks and feels better…

They have a better everything!

Coincidence?

If you already invest in yourself…you already know the great POWER it holds and are benefiting from the HUGE RETURNS it has already delivered.  Keep it up!

If you are not happy with where you are right now…let me ask you these two very simple, yet powerful questions:

1.  How much of your time, effort and yes, money, are you investing in yourself?
2.  Is that amount enough?

You see, the amount that you put in, directly determines how much you will get back in return.

Don’t skimp on yourself!

You CAN design your outcome.
You CAN design your future.

And you can start TODAY!

EVERYTHING you do…say…and even think today, will determine everything you do, say and think:

Days from today…
Weeks from today…
Months from today…
Years from today…

So which future are YOU building for yourself…TODAY?

A better one?
A worse one? 
The exact same one you have right now?

If it’s NOT the one you want….what are you waiting for?

Start INVESTING more in yourself today!   

A Success Story

It was INCREDIBLE to watch…

To see Brian, one of my toughest clients, go through the workout I put him through yesterday and Bench Press 205 pounds for reps! 

Not bad for a guy that struggled with bench pressing 95 pounds when he first started with me. 

Talk about PROGRESS!

Furthermore, what Brian accomplished during our last workout, totally flew in the face and defied “traditional” exercise thinking and programming!

(when I say “traditional”, I am talking about ALL the typical things you hear you should do in order to see results like: using isolation exercises, machines like leg extensions, leg curls, etc., using split routines, performing 10-20 sets per body part, training 3-4 times a week, doing cardio for 40-60 minutes to burn fat, performing crunches to reduce your waistline, etc.. - along with all the rest of that miscellaneous NONSENSE ‘they’ say should work – but in reality, DOES NOT WORK for the VAST MAJORITY of people.)

Brian is one of those clients that has an alter-ego.

You see, by day, Brian is a 41 year old, mild-mannered executive at the top of his field.  But when he comes into my studio for his sessions….he becomes like Superman or something. 

He takes whatever I throw at him, and then some!  He is focused and INTENSE.   

He’s a GREAT client!  

Through his hard work Brian has:
Built a lot of muscle…
Lost fat…
Sculpted his muscles…
Improved his conditioning…
Re-balanced his body…
Reduced his waistline…etc.

Traditional programming says in order to see the progress Brian achieved on his Bench Press, going from 95 pounds to lifting 205 pounds he MUST HAVE done the following:

used a split routine…
trained the Bench Press AT LEAST once a week…
used HEAVY weight training…
trained 3-4 times a week…
performed 10-20 sets PER body part…

What did WE do? 

The EXACT opposite! 

FULL-BODY routines…
TWO workouts per week…
Training no more than ONE HOUR…
Functional & BODYWEIGHT exercises…
MODERATE to LIGHT WEIGHT training…
2-4 sets PER body part…

AND, get this, here’s the REAL kicker…

We’ve only performed the Bench Press, a HANDFUL of times….EVER!

That’s right…WE DON’T EVEN TRAIN THAT EXERCISE. 

Yet, Brian was able to DOMINATE IT.

How can that be?

It’s the power of the ORIGINAL system of exercise. 

REAL core & functional training.  And it DELIVERS results like these, EVERY SINGLE TIME.  Which is why that is the ONLY system I use with all my clients.

And for all you strength and Bench Press aficionados that believe Benching 205 pounds is NOT a big deal, thinking that….you see teenagers doing that all the time….you personally Bench Press 300 pounds…etc…

I neglected to tell you the circumstances in which he did it…

1.  We ALREADY did a FULL BODY workout.
2.  His core and body was already ‘toasted’.
3.  With only 10 minutes left in our session, I challenged him!
4.  Brian benched AFTER an INTENSE FULL BODY cycle.

Here’s the Cycle he did:
- Pull Ups to fatigue (10 reps)
- Deadlift with 200 pounds (explosive 10 reps)
- Bench Press with 205 (8 reps)

And he performed that cycle with ONLY 30 SECONDS REST in between EACH exercise! 

Then…he repeated that very same cycle AGAIN.

No big deal, huh? 

Try THAT routine during the last 10 minutes of YOUR next workout, after you are already tired, and see if you can duplicate Brian’s 205 pound Bench Press….WITHOUT hurting yourself, of course. 

Did I mention that Brian NEVER uses a weightlifting belt?  He doesn’t have to.  We’ve strengthed his CORE so much, that it’s become a PERMANENT ‘weightlifting belt’ that supports his body and is ready to respond whenever called upon!   

And one LAST thing…

WHY did Brian hire me in the first place?

Two reasons:
1.  Brian wanted to get back in shape after not exercising for years. 
2.  And he wanted to fix his shoulder. 

You see, Brian had just finished weeks of physical therapy for a severely INJURED ROTATOR CUFF that left his shoulder very much out of balance with his entire upper body feeling EXTREMELY WEAK. 

So what do you think?…

Did we fix it? 

A Success Story

That’s what Michele S., said to me yesterday as she blasted through the ’lunge and stretch’ exercise during her training session here at the studio!

(Yes.  I’m using her last initial for a reason….I have a couple of ‘Michele’s as clients: Michele S. and Michele B….I’ll tell you more about ‘B’ on another post)    

But she loves it!

Michele has been working with me for a while and is one of my most-intense, hardest-working clients.  

She’s looks all sweet and lady-like on the outside…but when she gets into the studio, she’s a workout ‘fiend’!  

Michele moves through her workout with a vengance, giving 100% all the time….she’s GREAT! 

And she’s made SO much progress!

Michele has:
Increased her strength…
Sculpted up her muscles…
Reduced her waist-line…
And has dramatically improved her tennis game!
(Michele takes her tennis very seriously…)

Michele also LOVES to give me a hard time and throw in some ‘good-natured’ complaining during her sessions. 

She says things like:
Take it easy on me Mister!…
What did I ever do to you?…
You’re SO mean to me!…
You’re bringing me to tears!…(today’s post)
Hey!…does anybody care that he’s KILLING me over here?!…

etc, etc.. you get the point, right?  

You killed my abs!

Last session, she was telling me about how SORE her abs were from the ab routine we did on our last workout.  

“I loved it!”  She exclaimed.  “We barely did anything though.  How do I get so sore from these ‘little’ exercises you come up with?  They all look SO simple, but boy do they WORK!  I can’t believe I’m getting MORE results with LESS exercise!”

You see, Michele fell into a trap that many high-energy people fall into….thinking that more is better.   They grind out the workouts and see results…for a while at least.

That is, until the body REBELS: 
You get injured…
The body just stops responding like it used to…
Nothing seems to work anymore…
Everything starts to hurt…
The results just – STOP – coming! 

Ouch…my calf!      

For Michele, it was injury.  One day she injured her calf muscle.  REAL bad too.  And she was laid up for MONTHS. 

That was it.  She’d had enough!  Tired of spinning her wheels….Michele decided to finally give me a call.  The rest is history.

Wish I would’ve called sooner!…I love it here!

That’s exactly what Michele told me one day.  You see, Michele had THOUGHT about calling me for a while.  But, just never got around to it. 

That is, until her ‘calf’ muscle MADE her pick up the phone and give me a call!

Now…
which part of your body…
is going to make YOU pick up the phone? 

I was very sad when I heard that the Comcast Network decided to shut down production of their CN8 television channel.

Which means saying ‘bye-bye’ to all the TV shows on that channel, including the “Your Morning” Show with Connie Colla and Greg Coy.

Being that I was one of the morning show’s resident ‘Friday Fit Tip’ fitness experts for about a year and a half, it’s a shame to see it all go.

I have SO many great memories of my time with them!

Driving down to the Delaware studio on Friday mornings to shoot the segments LIVE was very exciting.  I love the energy of LIVE TV!

Going to Philadelphia to shoot at the luxurious Lowes Hotel was also great. 

One year, I was invited down to shoot a fitness segment, for a special show CN8 did in Atlantic City, NJ, in which comedian and ‘Saturday Night Live’ alumni Joe Piscopo was the special guest host!

(Here’s the all-star cast after wrapping up the A.C. show!  From left-to-right:  one the of CN8 cameramen that got in the shot, me, Greg Coy, Joe Piscopo and the lovely Connie Colla)  

Now THAT show was a lot of fun.  We had a great time in AC! 

Putting Greg Coy, Connie Colla, Gwen Owens and Jill Horner through the workout segments we did during my time there was a lot of fun.  

Especially the segments I did with my man - Greg Coy.

(Here I am with my main man Greg Coy!)

Most of the segments we shot for the show were with him.  Greg was always willing to try anything I had in store for him and really got into the ideas I had for each segment.

Connie Colla was a blast. 

She is one of the sweetest person’s you’d ever meet and was full of surprises.  You just never knew what Connie was going to do once the camera starting rolling!  Many times she and I would ad-lib during the segments and we would have each other cracking up!

Gwen was so easy to work with and very fun too!

Gwen was always so unsure…”Are you sure I’ll be able to do this, Fernando?” she would ask me while going through rehearsal.  “Sure! Without a doubt!  I’d tell her.  And we’d end up having a great time.

I only did one series of segments with Jill Horner, but she was great to work with and once the ice was broken, we were laughing it up as well.

All that FUN we had really came through in all the segments we did.  

You can see it all for yourself by clicking => HERE to watch all the ‘Friday Fit Tip’ segments we did together.     

Regardless of whatever conditions led to the decision to shut down the channel, all I can say is that everytime I was there, they always treated me great and they ran a professional operation.

Thanks for the Memories guys!

I’ll never forget it. 

That’s exactly what I thought to myself after reading yet ANOTHER article about the declining health & fitness indicators of today’s youth.

This is a SERIOUS problem folks.

And it’s a shame on top of that.

While there are MANY factors that contribute to this, (social issues, big business, etc..)  the bottom line is that kids today have MORE FOOD around than EVER before AND are a lot LESS ACTIVE than just a couple of generations ago.

Being that I WAS a fat kid that loved to eat when I was growing up, I can relate. 

And if I was growing up in TODAY’S environment….there’s no doubt in my mind that I would’ve been obese.

I wouldn’t have stayed that way though.

You see, I WANTED to change, I just didn’t know HOW.  And no one at the time taught me the RIGHT way of doing things.

Which is why today, I always try to encourage and educate kids as much as I can.  I teach them to THINK healthy.  Then sooner or later, the ACTIONS follow.

Then I remembered something…

I remembered a GREAT opportunity that was presented to me not too long ago. 

An opportunity to make a BIG impact in this area that is so very PERSONAL to me. 

And it happened back in April of this year…. 

“Ex-fat kid that hated ‘gym’ class, now turned Trainer, teaches the ‘gym’ Teachers about exercise!”  

Yep.  That’s what the headline would’ve been if the newspapers would have covered the workshop I did for the Centennial School District back in April.  (or maybe not, it’s a but wordy…)

When the Centennial School District invited me to give a workshop on ‘Functional & Core Training for Youths’ , for their entire Physical Education Staff, I jumped on it.

What a way to help kids, right at the SOURCE! 

Here are some pictures of that workshop: 

 Here I am introducing myself to Physical Education Staff… 

Here are a couple of pictures of me demonstrating the proper ‘functional progressions’ for what has to be the best, yet most abused and misunderstood exercises of all time, – the Push-Up.

And that’s me observing the technique of the P.E. Teacher performing some exercises using the powerfully effective, yet under-used exercise tool….resistance tubing.

I had blast that day!

I had such a great feeling that day because I KNEW that, in my own small way, I was going to make an IMPACT on more kids than I could EVER reach on my own. 

Maybe even some kids that were just like ME.

Talk about coming around ’full-circle’, huh?

A Success Story

That’s exactly what the Doctors told one of my clients, Sam.

You see, Sam was in a terrible car accident that left him severely injured.  So severe were his injuries, that the Doctors were amazed that he made it through alive.  They also told him that his body may never be the same again.   

Yes.  Sam cheated death.  And he was only 19 years old when it happened.

Afterwards, Sam was confined to a wheelchair for 3 months while undergoing physical therapy to get his body working properly again.

Sam is a strong-minded, hard worker that doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘quit’.

He kept working hard, determined to prove those Doctors wrong!  In his mind he KNEW that one day he would get out of that wheelchair, walk AND be better than ever!

And he did…AHEAD of schedule!

The only problem is that the accident left his body very weak, out of balance and had lost a lot of muscle. 

Not good for someone that was used to being very active, worked out regularly and had the body, complete with a very muscular ‘six-pack’, to prove it!

So Sam tried to resume his previous workout routine to no avail.  It just didn’t seem to be working like before.  After his workouts, his body would only feel MORE out of balance, twisted and weaker.

Nothing he tried seemed to work. 

He became very frustrated, and he decided to seek out some help.

That’s when he heard about me.

Sam and I have been working together for about 8 months now.  And his progress has been INCREDIBLE to say the least.

He was just in the studio yesterday.

We had a tremendous workout.  So much so that he started thinking back to when he first came in to see me.  

He said…

“Wow Fernando…remember when I couldn’t even DO these exercises?  My body would be moving around all over the place trying to maintain position.  It just kept twisting and turning.  I had no body control at all!  I was so weak.  I feel SO much stronger now….I can’t believe it!”

“Oh yes…I remember!” I said.  ”Look how far you’ve come…AND your body is getting stronger and better balanced every time!”

Sam looked at me and said “Thanks Fernando.  Working with you has made such a BIG difference.”

“No Sir!”  I exclaimed. 

“YOU, and only you, are the reason for your success, NOT me.  I was merely your assistant.” I told him.

You see, it was SAM that:

Had the burning desire to get better…
Had the will to succeed when others said he couldn’t…
Had the determination to stick with it…
Took ACTION to help himself…
Reached out for help when he realized he needed it!

All I did was provide the plan.  Thank YOU for letting me be a part of your personal Journey Sam. 

I am proud of you.  

I wish more people displayed the QUALITIES that helped Sam succeed…

Are you? 

A Success Story

Had a GREAT workout with one of my GREAT clients, Bridget, the other day.

She’s training for the NYC Marathon, and over the past few months we’ve been achieving some EXCELLENT RESULTS together.

Her running time is getting better…
Her running mechanics have improved dramatically…
She has less aches and pains…
Her conditioning is better…
Her core is stronger…
Her body is better balanced…
Her muscles are sculpting up…
And her waist is getting smaller…A LOT smaller!

In fact, I’ve had to start calling her “tiny-waist”.  Not a bad nickname to have, huh?

Which leads me to the title of today’s post…

The last time Bridget was here at the studio, she was VERY upset with me!

She had a SERIOUS problem.

Seems like her jeans were getting SO loose and baggy around the waist, that she just couldn’t stand it anymore. 

And she actually had to go shopping to buy some NEW jeans…2 sizes SMALLER!

Oh…the horror of it all.

I am very sorry to put you through all that Bridget…but, I don’t think there’s a lot of people out there that are going to feel your ‘pain’.

I don’t know…do YOU?