We’re all out there searching for how to be fitter while the fitness world screams at us:

Look at me!

I have a great physique.

I can do amazing physical feats.

I have the answer. BUY MY STUFF!!!

Just like, subscribe, download, buy my machine, join my email list, fork over $29.99/month and I’ll give you all my secrets. All your dreams will come true.

It’s never enough for fitness influencers to give solid advice. They must indoctrinate you.

Us Weekly has that page where they show Celebrities doing mundane everyday things like taking out the garbage or walking the Dog.

The caption: ‘Stars: They’re just like us’.

Truly captivating journalism.

You know who else is just like you? Trainers.

How so?

The author David Sedaris was on TV a few weeks ago. The topic of revisiting his old writing came up and Sederaris shuddered. He wasn’t a fan of his old work; and insisted he’d gotten better.

Don’t we all look back on our careers like that? Don’t you shudder when you think about what you wrote, how you acted, what you wore?

Me neither. Moving on.

Joking aside we all know more now than when we started. When I began training a common request was to work on posture. I trained clients to have stronger mid back muscles to pull their chest forward and shoulders back.

Why are our muscles tight?

Look at this picture of the subway system. Let's call Braintree your brain (too on the nose?). All movement starts with signals from your brain, then travels down the nervous system system. If Braintree is your brain the red line is your spinal cord.

‘The race doesn't always go to the swift, but to those who keep on running.’ That's my favorite quote. I used it to finish last week's newsletter.

Yes it strikes a chord with my stubborn Scots/Irish heritage, but above all the quote is hopeful.

You may not skate well.

Or golf well.

Or run well.

But if you keeps stubbornly showing up; for strength; for weightloss; for balance; for flexibility…

You too can be inspirational.

Monday is the 127th running of the Boston Marathon. Once upon a time I was pretty fast. How fast? I once outran the redline between Downtown Crossing and Park street stations.

Running is simple. Left foot, right foot, repeat. Yet somewhere in that simplicity I’ve been gifted more fitness and life lessons than I can possibly share.

The Battle of Thermopylae was fought in 480 BC. The Legend states that a mere 300 Spartan soldiers held off a 120-300,000 strong Persian army for over 3 days.

Nearing the end, the Persians demanded the decimated Spartan ranks throw down their weapons.

‘Come get them,’ they said.

The Spartan ethos lives today. It lives in the gym, in books, graphic novels, adventure races, and the movies.

Here are 6 Fitness Bullet Points for today’s lightning attention span! :30 seconds of advice that may make a huge difference.

Multi- tasking is impossible. Only 2.5% of people can actually do it per this passage from over at the Cleveland Clinic:

We’re really wired to be monotaskers, meaning that our brains can only focus on one task at a time, says neuropsychologist Cynthia Kubu, PhD. “When we think we’re multitasking, most often we aren’t really doing two things at once. But instead, we’re doing individual actions in rapid succession, or task-switching,” she says.

Your body is an amazing machine. Yes, yours! I know you think you need to lose 5 lbs and you haven’t been in the gym enough this year but your body is ready to adapt and improve.

Whatever you water will grow.

Understand your body and you can do amazing things: get stronger, more flexible, taller.

Taller? Really?

Yes really. Sit back, we’re getting taller like a lawyer taking viagra.

The LO Maglev are The fastest trains in the world at 375 miles per hour. They utilize Magnetic Levitation to ride, without friction, a few scant inches above the track.

An adjustment of a few inches makes the LO Maglev faster and more efficient than conventional trains. Small adjustments (inches) can create big improvements on the train…

Or in your Training.

So you wouldn't have to.

Name a common injury, any common injury. I’ve had it. Yes. All of them.

Plantar fasciitis. Chondromalacia. Shin splints…

All of them.

I’ve pushed myself too hard, run too far and worked out too often.

I did it all so that when you, Dear Reader, are hurting, or wondering if you’re overdoing it, I could speak to you authentically. Here are two big (authentic) pieces of advice that’ll save you some trouble.

Nothing is more expensive than being unhealthy; eating healthy could be a close second.

I got some bad news from a blood test: My liver enzymes tested high. No big deal; You can regrow a liver, right? Long story short- I read that drinking beet juice detoxes the liver. So I ordered up some apple, beet and ginger juice from Jugos on Mass ave. 16 oz ran me $8.

One a day for a week is $56. $224 a month to restore my liver. That’s about $3000 if I drink one a day for the entire year.

I read that Lebron James spends over a million dollars a year on his body. This makes sense for him because a healthy Lebron commands a LOT of money. 10 years at a million dollars per can be recouped with a single one year contract.

Eccentric millionaire Bryan Johnson spends upwards of $2 million a year on his health regimen and claims “My chronological age is 44, measured biological age is 36." He can afford it, and it will add years to his life and quality to those years.

The most important ingredient for success is mindset.

I’m not just saying this. I can prove it.

Welcome back for another round of ‘A Trainer answers your most googled fitness questions.’ Let’s get straight to the questions.

Google: What’s the best exercise to burn belly fat?

Close relationships? Sure. Psychologist Susan Pinker says people with at least three close relationships live longer.

Your Genes? True. Scientists think between 10-25% of your life span can be explained by your DNA.

Lifestyle? Eating a mostly plant based diet and having a sense of purpose improves one’s odds of outliving the average human.

I need some instant gratification. There are two predictors of longevity that you can test RIGHT NOW! tO predict your lifespan with some degree of accuracy.

Good news: you can train to improve both of these things; and quickly.

At some point we all entertain eating better. We’ve heard about how life changing it can be. We want in.

And then we don’t do it.

Why? Because few of us actually have an idea of what that even means?

Sunday is the start of the new year.

I had grand plans to check off over a dozen New Years resolutions in detail. Some were grandiose (cook something every day, cut out processed sugar); most were straight up mundane (check the weather every day).

I dumped that idea for a pair of cliches. Want to hear ‘em?

I’m about to share the most amazing fitness secret. What I’m about to tell you is so amazing you’re not going to believe it. You ready?

Your body is an absolute masterpiece.

You probably see someone too weak, too slow, or too tight. I see an evolutionary marvel with room to improve. You can be stronger, faster and more flexible FAST.

How fast?

188 MPH. The speed of the nervous system.

Exercise and you burn calories. Some of those burned cals may even come from stored body fat. What exactly happens to the fat once it burns?

It does not turn into muscle. I hear that a lot.

Knowing what happens to burned fat may change the way you view/perform 2 important daily functions. Let’s cut to the chase: what happens once fat is burned?