Fitness

Sooner or later, gyms and fitness centers around the country will re-open. But it’ll be anything but back to normal. This could happen sooner than you might expect thanks to a big lobbying push from the International Health,...

In case you haven’t heard, we are in the middle of a global pandemic. Wearing a face covering isn’t a political statement, it’s an IQ test. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations, an influential model used by...

Under the best of circumstances, coping with the daily stresses of life can be overwhelming. Psychologically, stress can cause depression, anxiety, irritability, and restlessness. It can leave you feeling overwhelmed, unmotivated, and unfocused. Excessive stress can affect...

By now, most of you are sequestered at home, deep into your home workouts. You’ve cobbled together a hodgepodge of at-home workout gadgets, rubber bands, and rusty dumbbells from the garage, and you’re doing your best to replicate the...

According to one study, the average treadmill in a public gym is teaming with germs; more than one million per square inch. That’s about 74 times more than you’d find on a public bathroom faucet. Some of the common...

Sometimes it’s called “Bro Science.” You hear stuff at the gym all the time. And if it gets repeated often enough, before you know it, everyone accepts it as gospel. Sometimes it’s pseudoscientific, other times it’s...

This is your year! Seriously. This is the year you do it. (Think David Naughton singing “Making it”.... Google it.) You are not too old, too fat, or too lazy to get in shape! But if...

Believe it or not, modern presidents have been a little preoccupied with physical fitness. Based on the findings of an NYU Professor (and rock climber) which showed that American kids were way more out-of-shape than their peers in Europe,...

Anyone who’s been to the gym has seen these individuals. At a glance, nothing in particular really distinguishes them from the other gym goers. By every measure, they are basically ordinary. But you’ll know them when you see...

Calories in. Calories out. It’s basic biology. If you burn more calories than you take in, you will lose weight. If you take in more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. It doesn’t...

What you are about to read is true. Some of it may be difficult to believe, but all of it is real. I know because it happened to me. I’m Philip Hitchcock and I’m a Personal Trainer....

“I’m certified in CPR,” I tell all new clients. “Please don’t make me prove it!” Because the last thing I want to do is perform chest compression on a client who’s in cardiac arrest. But if the...

Last year at this time, NBC News reported that a CrossFit franchise owner canceled a gay pride workout event because he thought it was “a sin.” His franchise license was revoked and the entire facility was shuttered. Executives at...

It happens to a lot of people. One day, you wake up and your jeans are too tight, you have a muffin top, and that ass that used to be so righteous, high, and tight has now hit the...

The very thought of walking into a gym can send some gay men into a tailspin. Rivers of sweat. Accelerated heart rate. Increased blood pressure. PTSD. Whether it was being bullied in school, always being...

Every Monday I feel like some kind of a food priest hearing a confession. I have a client, call him Mike. “My food was really bad this weekend,” Mike says. “It was out of control. I ate...

I remember an old pharmaceutical ad that extolled the virtues of better living through chemistry. It was something heady like, “without chemicals, life itself would be impossible.” Of course the stoner community seized upon this slogan immediately and...

An ancient Chinese philosopher once said, “The expert in anything was once a beginner.” (Or was it RuPaul?) Yes, it was RuPaul who said that. No wait. RuPaul said, “Remember who you really are, unleash the dragon, and let these...

Once again you’ve decided that THIS will be the year to get in shape. Look out 2019, because this time you’re serious. You’re going to stop devouring pizza like a college freshman, curtail that taste for Fireball you seemed to...

With the high (calorie) holidays upon us, my advice to clients is “stay the course.” This is not the time of year to start a new diet, change gyms, or alter your workout schedule. It’s a set-up for failure. Stay...