in attendance at our dinner at Sublime Restaurant on Sunday night.

At the beginning of the meal, we drew the grand prize winner for our

Holiday Fitness Challenge.

So who is the lucky winner?

Davie, FL resident Larry Rice!!!

Larry won a $1,000 credit for his training program at Personal Fitness

Advantage (PFA) in Plantation, FL.

Lucky guy!

We’re going to be launching our next challenge in the next couple weeks

and I need your input.

What are you ideas for the challenge?

Think “simple, motivating, and effective”.

What things can we do which are relatively simple, yet motivating and

effective?

Email me your opinions at doug(at)personalfitnessadvantage.com

the morning at the training facility for the NHL Florida Panthers.

I was helping strength coach Craig Slaunwhite with body composition

testing for their rookie training camp.

It was a unique occassion for me to spend some time with high-level

athletes which have committed so much to their sport.

It was also telling to take a look at their strength and conditioning facility.

This may or may not be a surprise to you, but their “gym” is much

different than the typical gym most folks have access to.

But it’s not what they had, but what they did NOT have, which is

important.

Other than three functional 360-degree cable crossover machines,

there were zero “selectorized” weight machines.

Here’s some of what they did have:

-a straight track (maybe 25 yards or so), to work on agility, etc.

-three squat racks (with attachments for chin-ups, etc.) – with lots of

olympic weights

-Cardio equipment for warming-up and basic cardio conditoning (bikes,

arc trainers, upper body ergometer)

-one relatively small rack of dumbbells

-one TRX suspension trainer

-foam rollers for myofascial release and general mobility work

-rack of BOSU balls

-rack of stability balls

I might have forgotten a thing or two, but that’s pretty much what they

use to train with.

The take away?

For high performance and elite fitness, you don’t need a lot of specialized

machines.

In fact, the usual rule is the more elite the athlete, the less specialized

machines they use.

The equipment emphasized in the Florida Panthers training facility are

pieces which support the development of strength,power, mobility, and

agility.

And I would argue that instead of focusing on “feeling the burn” or trying

to tone up this muscle or that, that you’ll getthe body you want more

quickly by focusing on a more athletic style of training.

And I’m happy to say that we are moving more and more to this style of

training in our private studio at Personal Fitness Advantage.

general were pretty much the devil.

And I grew up in the fast food culture.

My dad worked in the finance department at Wendy’s. For our family,

eating fast food was the normal routine.

And if you take a look at what the fast food restaurants were serving up

until recently, the food was pretty much a heart attack waiting to happen.

But the fast food industry has really improved over the last few years. I

was recently at Wendy’s and had a small bowl of chili along with their new

Berry Almond Chicken Salad.

Was it a perfectly optimized meal designed for world-class health and

performance? No.

But it really wasn’t too bad. Had a lot of protein and a lot of fiber. It wasn’t

terribly high in fat. The biggest problem was the sodium.

And today, McDonald’s is making news that it is improving its kids meals.

I thought they were already moving in the right direction before by giving

parents an option to replace the fries with fruit.

But now their policy is to include fruit in every happy meal by the start of

2012.

I really consider this the essence of leadership.

When I took a look at news reports of McDonald’s decision, some stories

suggested that McDonald’s caved to the pressure of researchers who have

been critical of the lack of nutrition in their food.

But I don’t totally buy that.

Ultimately, McDonald’s (or any business) cares what its customers think

(not the critics that will unlikely ever be happy).

And their customers, by and large, weren’t pounding on the counters

demanding healthier options.

In fact, McDonald’s states that customers have opted for the fruit (rather

than french fry) option within their kids meal only 11% of the time.

That means that 89% of the time, parents made a choice that was clearly

harmful to their child. And that’s not McDonald’s fault.

Parents were either making the easy choice just to go with the fries or

were clearly ignoring the damaging effects of the french fries.

In the past few years, I’ve watched McDonald’s make menu choices that

most likely weren’t the most profitable in the short-term so they could “do

the right thing” from a social responsibility standpoint.

And I applaud some of the fast food companies for improving food choices,

even when customers aren’t truly demanding it.

What’s disappointing is the 89% of consumers that continued to pick bad

choices over good choices. It comes down to personal responsibility. Let’s

all accept the fact that are health and fitness are OUR responsibility. And

let’s make the best choices we can today to support our health and fitness.

-Doug Jackson

For those not familiar with CrossFit, it is one of the hottest growing fitness

trends today.

And fundamentally, it appeals to me.

But when people ask me, “How does your Metabolism Acceleration

program compare with CrossFit?”, here is my answer:

“We’re like CrossFit, but more personalized and safe”.

As I mentioned, the CrossFit concept fundamentally appeals to me.

According to Wikipedia:

“CrossFit is a strength and conditioning brand that combines weight lifting,

sprinting, and gymnastics, powerlifting, kettlebell training, plyometrics,

rowing, and medicine ball training.

CrossFit contends that a healthy, fit person requires proficiency in each of

ten general physical skills: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina,

strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination, and

accuracy.

It defines fitness as increased work capacity across all these domains and

says its program achieves this by provoking neurologic and hormonal

adaptations across all metabolic pathways.”

Sounds pretty cool to me.

I buy into most of that. They essentially train folks like athletes.

And CrossFit grew its reputation by serving a population that tended to be

very athletic and providing them a challenge that traditional health clubs

didn’t meet.

According to the CrossFit corporate website:

“CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many

police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations

units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and
professional athletes worldwide.”

But then business comes in.

Over the last few years, CrossFit gyms have realized that to make a lot of
money, they need to mass market their program.

According to their corporate website, “We’ve used our same routines for
elderly individuals with heart disease and cage fighters one month out from

televised bouts.”

That’s interesting in theory. Stupid in practice.

And of course, they are using the same routines for out of shape men and
women as they are for those cage fighters. They knew they needed to

reach the mass market of regular Joes and Janes to make a lot of money.

Compare that with what we are doing with our Metabolism Acceleration

program at PFA.

We have developed small group programs for various levels of participants:

Level 1: You’re a beginner and you will work with us privately until you

learn basic movement patterns to protect your safety. Once basic

movements have been performed successfully, you will be invited into our

Metabolism Acceleration small group program.

Level II: You’ve shown you can complete basic movements safely and you

are welcomed into a small group program that develops muscle endurance,

as well as tendon and ligament strength before beginning to lift heavier

weights and performing more complex movements.

Level III: You’re starting to get pretty fit. You’re learning quite a few
functional movements that are improving your energy, fitness, and well-
being. Your confidence is increasing and your body is changing.

Level IV: You are advanced! Advanced trainees need advanced training,

and Level IV training sessions will continue to push you to your max.

From there, we are now developing different specializations within Level IV
training to allow people with different goals to receive specific training
needed for that goal.

It may not be as sexy as CrossFit, but it’s smarter. And it’s safer and
more effective for regular folks who don’t have a high-level background in
athletics.

If you are SWAT, active duty military, or someone at a comparable level
that likes the ideas of CrossFit, give it a go. As I said at the beginning
of this article, some of their concepts really appeal to me.

But I don’t think the one size fits all approach is the best approach.

Most folks will be better off finding a fitness professional or fitness facility

which hires quality fitness pros that are willing to personalize your program

to your specific level and goals.

And as far as how our Metabolism Acceleration program compares for the
Average Joe or Jane:

We’re like CrossFit, but more personalized and safe.

Dedicated to your success,

Doug Jackson, M.Ed.,CSCS
Personal Fitness Advantage

Shezad’s Fitness Story in His Own Words

October 15, 2007. I walked into the doctor’s office to get the results of a routine blood test. You see, I hadn’t been to the doctor is quite some time and my significant other convinced (forced) me to go get a routine checkup. She was concerned that I might be subject to some health risks due to my weight. I had put on some extra pounds over the years, but I didn’t feel like I was having any trouble. I do however have a family history of heart disease and diabetes, so it was always a concern in the back of my mind, so I begrudgingly agreed. That day literally changed my life.

As you may have guessed, the results weren’t too good. As a matter of fact, they were quite serious. I had high cholesterol, high sugar and dangerously high blood pressure. Basically, every health fear that I ever had, came to life in a matter of minutes. I was on the road to heart disease and diabetes. My blood pressure was so high, that my doctor had to prescribe me some meds to keep the blood pressure under control. In this day and age, it might seem quite common to be prescribed blood pressure medicine, and there’s nothing wrong with it, but I couldn’t believe MY health had gotten so bad that I had to be on prescription drugs. You see, I was only 27 at the time. The doctor looked me in the eye and told me I had two choices; either make a lifestyle change, or pretty much die young. Right then and there, I made a promise to myself that I would make that change.

I immediately changed my eating habits. No more McDonalds, Wendy’s, or Burger King. I knew a change in my diet would help, but I needed to get into the gym. The funny thing is for the past six months, I already had a gym membership, at one of those massive gyms you see on every corner these days, but I had probably gone a whole two times. I knew there was no way I could go to the gym on my own on a consistent basis, for one, I had no idea what I was doing in the gym and two, the place was quite intimidating. I needed help. That night, I sat on my computer and searched for personal trainers in the South Florida area. I was pretty excited to see the abundance of trainers available, and wrote down a few names and numbers, and called them all the next day. I figured I wouldn’t get anyone on the phone, but I left messages with all of them. Call it fate, luck or whatever, but only one of them called me back. Doug Jackson.

Doug was pretty cool on the phone, and asked me what I was looking for. I told him my story and he invited me in for a face to face chat, and to check out the facilities of the gym he was training out of (BB3 Results Driven Training Facility). From his website, I could see all his accomplishments and credentials, but I was still apprehensive about the whole thing. When I met Doug, he took me into his office and explained the different training options I had. He made me comfortable about going to the gym. The atmosphere at the gym was wonderful. Only a handful of people in at a time, made my intimidation of going to the gym more manageable. Seeing my two problems of going to the gym solved, I signed up.

My first day at the gym, I was all hyped up to get to work, but to my surprise, I barely broke a sweat. Instead of doing an intense workout, Doug took the time to sit with me and outline my goals and what I wanted to accomplish. In my mind I was thinking, ok this is easy, I want to lose weight, but Doug, wouldn’t take that as an answer. We spent about 30 minutes, writing down several detailed goals I wanted to meet, and the dates I wanted to accomplish them by. What I really liked about Doug was that he was straight with me. He made it clear that as hard as I worked in the gym, I would have to work equally as hard outside the gym. I could do all the exercises in the world, but if my eating habits weren’t good, I wouldn’t meet my goals by the dates I had set. He helped me start a food journal, recommended an eating “strategy” and gave me client access to his website (which has tons of useful information). I have heard of so many people whose personal trainers basically count their reps, but Doug was so much more. After that point, we never looked back.

To make a long story short here is what transpired in my time with Doug Jackson:

• Increased metabolism by eating more, but eating healthier.

• Averaging a 2.5lb weight loss a week.

• Lost approximately 50 lbs of fat and gained 10 lbs of muscle in 5 months.

• Reached my target weight before my target date.

• No longer have a need for blood pressure medicine. Cholesterol and sugar are at normal levels.

• Renewed confidence

• Complete shock of friends and family who haven’t seen me in awhile.

• 6 garbage bags full of clothing donated to the Salvation Army.

• High credit card balance due to the need of buying a new wardrobe. (Which I don’t mind at all)

• Being asked for workout tips from co-workers.

• Changing my weight loss program to a muscle building program. (I put on about 8lbs of muscle in a month!)

• Becoming addicted to the gym.

I think anyone out there would be content with those accomplishments listed, but I feel the most important thing that Doug Jackson has done for me, is given me the confidence to continue working out on my own. He even encouraged it! I was thinking to myself, why would any personal trainer in their right mind want to encourage his/her clients to begin working out on their own (and lose out on their $), but that’s the type of person Doug Jackson is. He knows his clients won’t be with him forever. As in my case, I am moving back to my home city of Chicago. And because Doug has instilled that confidence in me, I know when I move, I will continue on my path, and not revert back to what I used to be, because if I did, Doug would take it as his personal failure.

At the risk of sounding like a cliché Doug Jackson has really been a savior, and I would recommend anyone, at any fitness level, who is serious about getting results, to pay him a visit and finally make that change in their lives.

THANK YOU DOUG!

Shezad Mehdi

“The Transformation has been unbelievable, more than I expected!”
- Josh Venis

Week 1: 235 lbs.

Week 14: 201 lbs.

14 Week Before and After Pictures

“When I first started training with Doug, I wasn’t too sure how well I would do. I had been a guy who hit the gym pretty hard all my life, and had a lot of muscle already. Doug did a very good job of taking my initial information including my goals, and what I wanted to achieve, and turning them into a 90-day program that would get the desired results I was looking for. This included not only workout routines, but also nutrition.

I never knew the magnitude of how much changing nutrition plays into fat-loss! Changing my diet, along with Doug’s barrier-breaking workouts helped me achieve my goals. I was 235 pounds on March 10, 2007, and my goal was to lose 30 pounds in 90 days. On June 23, 2007, I weighed in at 201 pounds, totaling a 34 pound weight loss. The best thing of all is, I did not lose any strength, and retained most, if not all, of my muscle mass. This 34 pound weight loss was mainly fat-loss, which was very impressive. I attribute all this to Doug’s expertise and guidance throughout the 90 days of training.

An added challenge to this relationship was that we were doing all this collaborative training long distance. I live in Bowling Green, OH, and Doug lives in Florida. Let me tell you, this distance barrier was certainly bridged and overcome by Doug’s commitment through phone calls and email follow-up whenever I had questions. Doug was 110% committed to my success, and I think I actually gained more through the accountability of being long distance than what I may have training with him in person. I knew that when I sent him my updated pictures throughout the 90 days, I wanted him to see the difference, and this motivated me to work hard!

This experience was not just a transformation on the outside, but also on the inside. Working with Doug has changed my mindset and has educated me on how to eat well and design workout plans that get results. I think the biggest thing I learned from a training perspective was about cardio interval training and active recovery workouts. These two concepts incorporated into my workouts were really an essential ingredient for the success.

Doug has a great reputation for getting results, and I would certainly say that I was not disappointed in mine! I consider Doug the best in the industry, and his expertise and knowledge is priceless! If I could do a MasterCard commercial, my commercial would say “90 Days working with the Top Personal Fitness Trainer, Doug Jackson….Priceless!!! If you’re like me and can’t seem to get results that take you to that next level on your own, and are ready for a change, Doug is your man. I guarantee you that he will deliver what he promises, as I know he did for me!”

Accountability, Commitment, Results!!!

-Josh Venis, June 27, 2007

What the challenge meant to me…

When I first heard about the Fall Challenge I honestly didn’t think much of it. I never was one to enter fitness challenges, think I could ‘transform’ myself, or be compliant and dedicated for that length of time. Sure, I was capable. Everyone is capable. I figured life is already busy enough. In my eyes, it was always everyone else that was more dedicated. In reality, those are the people that I envied.

After a few words of encouragement from Doug, I asked myself, “why not?” I could be one of those individuals who set my mind to do something to better ME! I thought about life and the balance that we all struggle with…family, friends, relationships, careers, religion, and ourselves as an individual. Apart from the support that comes from above, the other relationships would not exist if the individual didn’t. My point is that we are all given one body and one life to live, and we should each make ourselves a top priority on ‘Life’s To Do List’. When one does not take care of oneself, everything else suffers.

The Fall Challenge gave me focus and confidence. It wasn’t just about becoming lean and to see how strong I could become; that was just the added bonus. It was about putting my mind to it and setting all the excuses and alibis (and chocolate!) to the side. I set my mind to it and accomplished one week at a time. I focused on eating more nutritious quality foods and taking healthy supplements. I focused on drinking more water and cutting out the sodas and caffeine. I focused on my workouts and doing them the right way instead of just going through the motions. I focused on my cardio and pushing myself that extra 3-5 minutes that I didn’t think I could get through. It was about going to the gym when it was easy just to drive on past, and pushing myself past my ‘comfort zone’ that I have lived in for many years. Pushing yourself is what gets you ahead to see the difference. Sure, I had a few setbacks over the past 12 weeks; I won’t lie, but I picked myself right back up and kept going.

As the weeks went by, I could see results. I could see myself becoming leaner, having more defined muscle tone, and therefore more muscle strength. It was motivating! I felt more energized and emotionally less stressed. I slept better at night and didn’t feel the need for that late afternoon nap. I was able to prove to myself that I can do anything I put my mind to. It wasn’t fun everyday, but it was worth it in the end! The Challenge has changed my lifestyle that I will carry throughout my lifetime. And, yes, it is okay to cheat every now and then and eat that extra piece of chocolate or pizza, but you better do that extra 5 minutes the next day! Like the Kayne West song says, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”.

Krista Hardy

 
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