Yesterday morning, the latest episode of Transformation Talks dropped: How to Make Your Diet WAY More Fun & Flavorful with Ben Johnson He's a longtime friend, fellow coach, and experienced cook, and we talked about: ➡️ Why food is so much more than "fuel"—including some of our favorite travel and social experiences that illustrate this ➡️ How to approach your diet if you're somebody who gets bored eating the same things over and over ➡️ Why learning how to make healthy foods tastier is FAR...
2 days ago • 1 min read
Probably a year ago now, I read In Other Words on the recommendation of a client. It's a book about language learning, and the challenges and lessons that come with it. (Impressively, the author, Jhumpa Lahiri, wrote it in her third language: Italian.) An analogy in the book that resonated with me is how learning a language is like being on a beach, and having to swim out to an island to achieve fluency. But most people—myself included—only ever venture a little off shore (think basic...
7 days ago • 1 min read
If you want high quality, affordable supplements... Buenos Aires ain't it. Thanks to a history of limited imports from other countries, options here are sparse, and often egregiously overpriced. Case in point, the vegan protein powder I just bought for 67,000 Argentine pesos. That's about 48 USD. I could get the same amount of vegan protein powder in the U.S. for... 15 bucks! Bananas. To the point where I almost didn't buy it. On principle. But what would that have said about my values? A...
11 days ago • 1 min read
One of my clients had a strong start to last week. From Monday-Wednesday, she averaged 1,433 calories, 87 grams of protein, and 17 grams of fiber. Protein was a little low—but not by much. Then she went to NYC for a concert Thursday night, and when she got back Friday, she had a friend's birthday get-together. This is where most people stop tracking. Usually because you expect to go over your calories, and don't really want to see the damage—or feel like there's no longer any point once...
22 days ago • 1 min read
I know that "what I eat in a day" content gets mixed reviews. Partially rightfully so. What I, or anybody else, eats in a day doesn't necessarily make sense for you. But as long as the content is taken as a reference, and NOT a personal prescription: I genuinely think it can be helpful. This said, here's where I'm getting most of my calories right now: Protein: protein powder, egg whites, chicken, tuna, and steak Carbs: oatmeal, bananas, apples, rice cakes, honey, rice, beans, wheat bread,...
24 days ago • 1 min read
Earlier this week, I checked in with a client whose bodyweight hasn't dropped in a few weeks. In most cases, this is just a calorie thing. Occasionally, a recomposition: where somebody is losing fat and developing muscle at the same time. But she asked a great question: Could it be the creatine she started taking again? This is where it's REALLY important to distinguish between changes in weight and changes in fat (the real goal): Creatine leads to more intracellular water retention, so when...
29 days ago • 2 min read
I'm not sure how I didn't tackle this sooner. But I just dropped a new podcast on: ➡️ What most new clients ask me about group exercise classes➡️ The four main benefits of taking them (hint: burning a lot of calories isn't one of them)➡️ Why they're ineffective for developing strength* and muscle—despite how they're marketed➡️ Exactly how I'd modify the typical group exercise class to make them more effective for these goals➡️ My dust-settled recommendation if you really enjoy classes... but...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
One of my biggest regrets from Season 1 of Transformation Talks is not including videos. I'm not sure why I didn't. Probably because seemingly everybody has studio-level production now, and that's not possible for me given how often I move. In any case, I haven't been making this mistake again during Season 2. Almost every guest episode has included a video—including this week's episode with my good friend Michael Soares: a fellow coach who has helped 40,000+ people around the world improve...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
This popped up on Facebook yesterday: Me presenting at my first-ever event seven years ago! I made it a charity event for the shelter I got these knuckleheads from: From the day I brought them home It was far from a perfect event: My presentation board was way too small for the amount of people we had and the room layout I moved around a lot during my presentation Some people said they couldn't really hear me during the group workout afterward (I let everybody spread out too much on a soccer...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read