Great question from a 40-something guy with a very common problem: “I wanna get a bit bigger, just not too fat in the process. But whenever I try the cut/bulk cycle, it just seems like I gain and lose the same 10 pounds of fat. What do I do?” Here’s the deal: bulking & cutting works REALLY well… if it works for you. You need to be in a net weekly calorie surplus to gain weight, just as you...

Here's a question I get often: "Is it better to eat the same calorie level every day, or eat more on training days vs. off days or days I'm really busy?" Short answer is, well, it depends. I know: that answer sucks. But the good news is it depends on YOU, and mainly what you like doing. Whether you gain or lose weight is determined by your calorie intake over a 24 hour period, i.e., if you're in...

So a coaching client reached out with a good-bad problem. They have some really cool social events to look forward to, in the form of weddings and weekends away and nights out with friends. But they also have fat loss and fitness goals, which is what had prompted them to hire me. And considering they're less the “pack Tupperware and pretend to be happy" type and more the “next round is on me"...

Here’s the deal on alcohol: The ideal or healthy amount of alcohol in your diet is ZERO. Zilch. Zip. Nada. Not one glass of wine a day for the resveratrol or a drink after work to take the edge off. The much celebrated health benefits were all a ruse. A case of "when marketing meets wishful thinking." The results from multiple randomized trials keep rolling in and they’re unequivocal: any amount...

I hear it from clients from time to time. I'm sorry I let you down. It happens after a rough stretch where they fail to hit the process targets required to reach their goals, and the calendar is now their enemy. I tell them that life happens and they haven’t let me or even themselves down. Because whatever week we're at in our plan, it's still just the third quarter. I remember a Pittsburgh...

I get a variation of this question from clients about once a week: Hey Coach, I'm starting to dread the weekends, mainly because of cheat meals. Sometimes I go overboard when I start eating and they become full blown cheat days. It's like a slippery slope once I eat something like pizza or ice cream. It can get so bad that I can't be remotely sure how much I eat that day to even begin to log it,...

The day was cold and rainy and too much like autumn for June. It was the anniversary of Anthony Bourdain’s death. I miss Bourdain. I feel like I knew him—or at least I identified with what he was about. He was a late bloomer with a sharp wit and curious mind who didn’t hit his stride until his forties, when he accepted his demons and went all-in on his talent. That spoke to me. How he never...