June 2009

Farewell Belltown X Gym

As of July 1, I will be exclusively at the Alki and Kirkland X Gyms per the divorce ruling. Evan, Joanna, Steve, Mike, Kailyn and I are all going to Alki, and the Alki crew will be at the Belltown club. It will still be called X Gym, and as far as I know, the protocols will stay the same too.

I have formed many close friendships at the Belltown club and hope to keep in touch with everyone. I can be contacted any time through my email (pj@xgym.com), the website (www.xgym.com), and the club phones at Alki (206) 938-9496 or Kirkland (425) 822-9496.

Losing any of the 3 clubs is a tragedy for me and I am extremely sad to say goodbye to Belltown. I wish to thank all the members there for their friendship, patronage, and help in making it the most successful X Gym ever. It was a blast!

The Belltown club will always have a special place in my heart. It was my first X Gym, and the one I bought over 11 years ago from my very first personal training client and dear friend, Melissa. There are so many fond memories there. It will be extremely difficult to tear myself away, but life throws us curve balls sometimes, and we just have to make the best of them.

With change comes opportunity as well, so I’m looking forward with wonderful anticipation to the changes I can now bring to Alki with my “A Team” of senior trainers. Evan, Joanna, Steve and Mike have been at the Belltown X Gym the longest, and are amazing at what they do. Kailyn will bring his ideas for growth and skills in customer service as well. I know the Alki clients will be thrilled with the improvements in store for them!

We will also be rolling out a new online schedule system for Alki and Kirkland members, a new website, and an outdoor boot camp (see video below).

Thanks again for the memories Belltown! You will forever bring a smile to may face and warmth to my soul.

Here is the new outdoor boot camp teaser clip. It’s pretty corny, but that’s what you get when you shoot, produce, and publish in one afternoon:

All Calories Are NOT Created Equal

I have been singing this tune for years, but sometimes it helps to hear it from someone else in their own words. Dr. Sears is very good at explaining things in simple terms, so I just cut and pasted his message on the subject below. Please enjoy!

I was reading The New York Times recently and came across an article, “Calories Do Count.”1 Doctors, public health officials, restaurant chain executives… are all jumping on the bandwagon about how much calories matter.

“Good old calorie counting is coming back into fashion,” the reporter wrote.

When it comes to your health, forget the fashion.

Your body treats calories differently depending on the source. A carbohydrate calorie is not the same as a protein calorie is not the same as a fat calorie. Your body “counts” them in completely different ways.

These three “macronutrients” provoke varying biological responses, some of them good, some not so good, depending on a number of factors.

You probably already know that carbohydrates kick your body’s

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If You Want To Climb To New Fitness Heights, Take The Stairs!

Stairs are the perfect activity for getting in shape fast. They are also one of the best fat burning workouts I’ve ever discovered I’m not talking about the StairMaster either, or even the Stepmill. I’m talking about real stairs. There is a big difference! X Gymer “Proby” pictured here is a good example of stair fitness success. He’s our last year’s Biggest Loser winner and one of our fastest stair climbers now!

Climbing real stairs in a building is both mentally and physically beneficial – beyond what you can imagine. Physically, it causes a visceral/instinctive reaction in your body that makes your heart and lungs change faster than any workout (outside the X Gym of course). It also burns fat better than anything besides X Gym methods.

When you push yourself hard up stairs, your body thinks you have moved to the mountains somewhere, and there are lots of sabertooth mountain goats chasing you. It then

Burn Fat With Your Brain

Did you know that your brain burns 15-25% of your daily calories? Even though your brain makes up only about 3% of your weight, it accounts for a very big part of your metabolic rate! Most people think of muscles as their only calorie burner, and while they are the main engine for that, the huge amount of energy the brain requires is hardly ever discussed.

The reason this is important is because a healthy brain uses more energy and therefore contributes more to your metabolic rate. Keeping your brain healthy is pretty easy too if you know how. Some of the ways are:

Archives for June 2009