A few weeks ago, I did a client feature, on one of our clients, Oren who gained 20 pounds of muscle.
This week, I’m doing a feature on Moe, who lost 32 pounds of fat.
Meet Moe
Moe is a 68 year old doctor. When he started working with us, he weighed 258 pounds. He has struggled with weight his whole life, and has worked with multiple personal trainers, until his friend referred him to my company. Here’s a picture of the stud:
After doing an assessment, I connected Moe with Alex, who is one of my top personal trainers.
Moe is a busy professional, and for over 30 years has been commuting from his home in North York, all the way to Burlington, where his clinic is. No easy feat.
By the time Alex had finished working with Moe (about 11 months later), Moe was 32 pounds lighter. A much healthier, 226 pounds. Oh, and along the way:
- His sleep also improved
- Energy levels got better, and
- He was able to reduce the dosages of some of the medications that he was on.
How did Alex help Moe? Read on, and I’ll detail his exercise, nutrition and supplementation strategies. After all, one of the major things that sets us apart from other personal trainers is that we combine all 3: exercise, nutrition and supplementation. If you’d like help with that, see if you qualify here.
Exercise
Moe had a little “mileage” on his body, and one of his big hesitations in hiring another personal trainer was that his past trainers have made him do exercises that aggravated certain joints, or exercises that he didn’t like. A few years earlier, Moe had a knee replacement, so that created challenges, and certain exercises needed to be modified.
Alex made the necessary modifications so that Moe could still get an effective workout, without bothering his knee.
The routine Alex had used involved doing strength training on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and cardio on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
For strength training, Moe worked out in his home with Alex, and did a circuit style workout that consisted of exercises like chest press, stability ball squats (a knee-friendly version of a traditional squat), mountain climbers, squat touch downs, lat pulldowns, bird dogs, planks and others.
Most exercises were done for 3-4 sets of 12-20 repetitions.
If you want the thought process behind all this, I wrote an entire article, titled “Strength Training Over 60.”
As for cardio, some days were intervals, and others were more steady state. Overall, the cardio workouts lasted 30-60 minutes.
Nutrition
Moe was overweight, and did not handle carbohydrates well at all. He could look at pasta and put on body fat. So Alex adjusted his intake that he only ate starches about 10% of the time, and the remainder came from protein (like meat, fish and seafood) and healthy fats (like nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil, etc.).
Oh, and of course, lots and lots of vegetables.
It worked well.
Supplements
Moe was already on several medications, so Alex had to mind any drug-nutrient interactions that may occur. To that end, here were the supplements Alex had Moe using:
- Whey protein. This was used after workouts for muscle repair and building
- Krill oil. A very potent oil, used for heart health, and the reduction of inflammation.
- Magnesium. Moe didn’t sleep very well. And sometimes, poor sleep is nothing more than a simple mineral deficiency. That mineral is magnesium. As a result of magnesium supplementation, Moe’s sleep improved.
- B complex to both balance blood sugar, and strengthen the immune system. Moe used to get colds very frequently. They were much less frequent throughout his work with Alex.
- Zinc. For a little testosterone enhancement. Very nice. I like (think about those last two sentences in Borat’s voice)
- Vitamin D. Helped elevate Moe’s mood. I’d be grumpy too if I was living in Canada during the winter. Oh wait… I do.
Challenges
Just as with every client, each client brings their own likes, dislikes, and habits to the table, so rarely is any client a “textbook” case.
Here‘s a quick, 4-minute video where he explains how he did it:
When you live for 68 years, you get to like certain foods. Moe’s Achilles heel was bagels.
Another challenge along the way is the already-mentioned knee replacement. That limited the exercises that were available to use, but we still made do. Almost none of our clients walk in with no injuries whatsoever. There’s usually some sort of issue, whether it’s a lower back issue, a shoulder issue, or something else.
Moe also had high blood pressure, which had Alex monitoring him a bit more carefully, and avoiding certain positions that would aggravate Moe’s condition.
But overall, Moe put in a fantastic effort. Enough to:
- Lose 32 pounds
- Decrease the dosages of some medications
- Increase his energy levels
- Get better sleep
If you want the same results, you can see if you qualify to work with us here.
