Ladies (and Gents) Who Lunch from Sam Page on Vimeo.

Sam Page Fitness and The Veggie Grill took friends and clients to lunch at the Hollywood Production Center last week. Thank you Lucy Mardonovich,
Melissa Sandoval and Maria Ramirez, with mad love to my husband Bronson Page, too.

Here’s a nice yoga routine brought together by Barry Ennis, a yoga instructor in the L.A. area. He comes to me via a client who recommended him highly. Namaste.

Don't try this at home, kids.

I recently started working with a trainer. I’ve always had trouble putting on muscle mass (called “scrawny” in high school).  My trainer told me that doctors sometimes prescribe testosterone for people with HIV. Do you think this is something I should consider? Would it help me put size on faster? —Rob, Pasadena, Calif.

Most people know that testosterone (like growth hormone) is an androgen that your body produces, so you need to see a doctor to determine if your natural levels are in keeping with a “normal” medical reference range.  This is really the first question you should be answering, i.e., “are my natural levels of testosterone too low?”

It may also be worth kicking around some questions developed by St. Louis University to screen for androgen hormone deficiency. You can answer the questionnaire here

If your natural levels fall below the normal reference range, you should weigh your options. There are many new delivery methods available—from patches, gels and creams to injections—so be sure to have a robust discussion with your provider.

Incidentally, there are other many hormones which can be screened by your doctor, including thyroid hormone, growth hormone, and free/total testosterone. These levels could also be checked and taken into account before making a decision.

I’d do everything you can to enhance your natural levels of testosterone. Make sure that you are eating a balanced diet, taking a multivitamin, getting enough sleep, and avoiding excessive caffeine, alcohol and nicotine. While it’s true that supraphysiological levels of testosterone and growth hormone will increase lean body mass, reduce fat, and improve well being—the long-term effects are largely unknown.

Also, ask your trainer to customize your workout. For instance, there’s some evidence that “multiple joint” exercises, (such as the bench press and squat) may play a role in higher levels of post-workout testosterone in the people who do them.

Ever since I first discovered bodybuilding in 1992, I’ve been amazed at how lifting weights truly grounds me. It’s kind of similar to what my friends say about yoga or meditation: it brings me a sense of clarity and peace.

In an eastern sense, my “western” weight room is my dojo; the weights are my sensei. Students of karate or meditation may relate to encounter some of the same lessons I’ve learned in my western dojo:

Enter only when you’re ready. Lifting weights is hard work, and doing it properly requires focus and discipline. Anything less, and at best you’ll have a lousy workout. At worst, you’ll thoroughly embarrass yourself or die. Enter the dojo only when you are 100 percent ready to give it your all—including your mental concentration.

Leave the Blackberry behind. The dojo is no place for texting.

Be in flow. During a hard, effective set, I feel a certain unawareness of the activity around me. Musicians, actors and athletes call it being in the “zone.” Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, a Croatian born psychologist and author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience defines being “in flow” using the following characteristics:

1. Concentration and focus: a high degree of concentration with a limited field of attention (you will have the opportunity to focus, and to delve deeply into it).
2. A loss of self-consciousness.
3. A distorted sense of time: (your subjective experience of time is altered).
4. Direct and immediate feedback (success and failure in the course of the activity are apparent, so that your behavior can be adjusted as needed).
5. The activity is neither too easy nor too difficult (challenge and ability level are balanced).
6. A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.
7. The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there’s an effortlessness of action.
8. You become absorbed in the activity, and focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity itself.

Do it for the sake of. When you’re in the gym, remember: this is all for you, so make the time in the dojo your own. You’re not there to impress your trainer, your spouse, or other gym goers. Do it because you choose to.

Clean up after yourself. After a workout, dojo trainees conduct a ritual cleaning of the space. This reinforces the fact that aside from the obvious hygenic benefits, the dojo are supposed to be supported and managed by the students themselves, not the instructors. So pick up that spray bottle and wipe down your equipment. It’s just good karma.

Shredded in Barcelona in ’07 (left) and 1 year later, back in L.A.

AS A TRAINER IN HOLLYWOOD, not a week passes that I don’t hear about the “latest, greatest” TV show revolving around weight loss. Sure, it makes dramatic television, but what about people who face the opposite challenge—that is:  gaining lean body mass? Enter: Scrawny to Brawny: The Complete Guide to Building Muscle the Natural Way, a book conceived for ectomorphs, or people genetically engineered with this problem.

To put on muscle, you need to do away with the “vanity” exercises such as bicep curls and focus on the basics.

Know Thy Body Type. There are three human body types (or somatotypes).  Ectomorph (just described), endomorph, (a pear-shaped frame), and mesomorph.  The latter is the “classic” gymnast or bodybuilder type, (short muscles and thick, compact frames).  Most of us fall somewhere in the middle.  If you’ve fallen prey to the exercise and muscle magazines in your quest to become more toned and muscular, you’re wasting your money.

Train with basic, multi-joint weight exercises. Forget isolation exercises, such as bicep curls, lateral raises, calf raises. You should be doing squats, deadlifts, pull ups, bench presses, military presses, and dips.   You need to train with the heaviest weights you can safely manage with these exercises.  These exercises train the largest muscles in the body, and therefore have the most growth potential.

Slightly modify those exercises to better suit your body type. Ectomorphs generally have longer bones and this means that they have to move the weights through a greater range of motion than their mesomorph counterparts.  Therefore, it is essential to make some alterations to the traditional exercises named above to “mimic” the ROM experienced by mesomorphs.  On the bench press, ectomorphs should use a close grip (6 inches closer than shoulder width) and should bring the bar down only to about four inches from the sternum. On the squat, you should adopt a much wider stance (6 inches wider than shoulder width on each side) and point the toes slightly out, at 11 and 2 o’clock, respectively.  On the deadlift, you should adopt a closer grip, and keep the bar as close to your body as possible.  “The more vertical the path of the bar, the less strain imposed on the lower back,” say the book’s authors.

Train with intensity, but less often, getting plenty of rest. Rest is often overlooked as a pillar of muscle growth. In a nutshell, if you’re an ectomorph, it’s better to train two days a week, with maximum intensity, and plenty of rest in between, than it is to train 3-5 days a week on a “split” bodybuilding/fitness magazine style routine.

Eat more quality, nutrient-dense calories. Eat, eat, eat!  Sounds easy, but it’s one of the things many people have difficulty with.  It’s important to get several high-calorie, but nutrient dense meals, every day.  You must always, always, always…consume a protein drink after every workout.   While it may be “hard” to eat this many calories the authors suggest that it’s also hard to do a lot of things. But if you really want a bigger, more toned and more muscly body, then you need to give your body the nutrients it needs to grow.

NOW LISTEN UP, RECRUIT. If you want a leaner, harder body in time for summer, you must take action right now.  Here are a few basic building blocks to cleaning up your diet and shedding that fat. (I’ll add to this list often, so check it for updates).

Eat often, and listen to your body (eat when hungry) but get into the habit of eating 6 small meals a day and NOT 3 squares. A “meal” is considered 1 serving of carbs and 1 serving of lean protein. If you don’t eat both, it’s not a meal.  A “serving” is about the size of the palm of your hand.

Eat breakfast. Don’t ever skip it. It truly is the most important meal of the day.

Practice Zen Cheating™ (a Sam Page Fitness original). If you absolutely must cheat, I want you to get a chair, and sit in front of a mirror. Then, watch yourself while you eat or drink whatever it is you must have.  Become fully conscious and fully aware of each bite, and watch your Adam’s apple as you swallow.  This is a remarkably effective way to curb addiction.  You can cheat as often as you like, but you must practice Zen Cheating.™

Consume a meal-replacement drink containing high quality protein within ONE HOUR of weight training.

Food is fuel. Before you eat, ask yourself: “Self, what am I going to be doing for the next 2 hours?”  If you’re going to be sitting around in the house, don’t eat so much. If you’re going to be going to the gym, eat accordingly. You should think in terms of fueling your body for what you’re doing next, not eating for what you’ve already done. (more…)

HEY SAM, I’m trying to lose 50 pounds but I seem to be in a rut. Can you tell me what I should be doing differently? —Karen, Long Beach, CA

Karen, life never stands still. If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward. Keeping a fitness journal is one of the best ways to ensure that you move in a positive direction.  You have to set goals for yourself and continue to strive for positive results.

The best way is to keep a personal fitness journal.  I like to use a small spiral bound book of lined recipe cards. (more…)

If you’re on Facebook, you’ve likely been “tagged” with this Internet meme, in which you’re supposed to share 25 things, facts, habits or goals that your friends don’t know about you. Like a chain letter, you choose 25 people to be tagged, (tagging the person who tagged you). If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

Here’s my list:

1. I moved to Los Angeles 12 years ago, and while I’ve found so much success and happiness here, I miss living in a smaller town.
2. I’m trying on the idea of a life without shame.
3. A quote that’s really stuck with me:
   “Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.” (Eleanor Roosevelt).
4. I’m planning to enter a bodybuilding competition this year to uncover what’s physically possible if I honestly cleaned up my nutrition. I’m using a great website to track my nutrition (thanks, Eric).
5. At 6-foot-3-inches and 230 pounds, I’m somewhat clumsy and struggle with spatial awareness. Like, this week while training a client, I nearly tipped over backwards when I tripped over my own foot. Luckily, I caught myself.
6. After eight years bleaching my hair, I’m making a conscious choice to embrace the gray, a la Anderson Cooper.
7. Sex, sunsets, Bronson, and licorice. What more does a guy need?
8. I love film scores, and they’ve formed the soundtracks to many periods of my life. A few of my favorites: Brokeback Mountain, Moulin Rouge, and Run Lola Run.
9. I eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich pretty much every day.
10. My favorite food used to be chicken fajitas, but it’s been replaced by my mother-in-law’s slum gullion, which is sublime.
11. I consider myself a Zen Christian, a term coined by my college journalism professor Michael Kirkhorn (R.I.P.) On that note, I believe that a historical person named Jesus existed, but I don’t believe he was the only manifestation of the divine. I believe there are many names for what we call “God” and that no one religious sect has a corner on the truth.
12. Speaking of college, I attended Gonzaga University in Spokane, known for its basketball team. After graduating with a double major in speech and journalism, I made ends meet working as a funeral singer.
13. I’ve performed in the following operas:  Die Fledermaus, the Ballad of Baby Doe, and La Boheme.  I’ve auditioned for both the Metropolitan and Los Angeles Opera companies.
14. The habit I’d most like to break is biting my cuticles.
15. I found a copy of Playgirl when I was 5, and shoplifted a red Speedo at age 13. Seven years later, at age 22, I came out as a gay man. I was diagnosed HIV+ at 29, after a year of performing in adult films. I’m not implying any kind of cause and effect—that’s just the timeline.  I have no regrets.
16. For the last five years, I’ve been working full time as a personal trainer. My decision to become a trainer was directly informed by my desire to take my health and fitness more seriously in the wake of the above diagnosis. But, I’m not perfect and I’m always trying to find balance and get out of my own way.
17. If I forget my headphones in the gym, I’m screwed. I work out almost every weekday, but I don’t do enough cardio. As a way to keep me accountable, I started posting photographs of the LED screen from my time on the cardio machines to my Facebook profile.
18. I’m rethinking how I feel about the terms “fag” and “queer.”  I get the whole “reclaiming the word” thing, but I reject that the words ever belonged to the gay community in the first place. How can a pejorative term ever be reconstituted as positive?
19. The physical accomplishment of which I’m the proudest is completing the 2000 AIDSRide from San Francisco to Los Angeles, which took 7 days and a whole lot of Gatorade.
20. The first book I remember reading is Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, but I don’t really like fiction.  I have a tattoo of  the main character, “wild” Max, on my right shoulder.  My second tattoo (the word “Discipline” across my back) took four hours. The tattoos taken together represent for me the dynamic tension of my life experience.
21. The last book I read was Where’s My Fifteen Minutes by Howard Bragman—a really great read.
22. My favorite sound are “I’m home,” which is tied with the sound of a rainstorm pounding against the roof.  The two together?  Heaven.
23. My favorite quote of all time:
    “I want to beg you, as much as I can, be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves—they are like locked rooms or books written in a foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you now because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live some distant day into the answer.” (Rainer Maria Rilke,  Letters to a Young Poet).
24. I don’t agree with Rush Limbaugh or Dr. Laura, but I listen to both of them. Show me an absolutist and I’ll show you a hypocrite.
25. Everyone should work in a bar at least once. It’s a microcosm for the whole world. Also, there’s no place on Earth more humbling than a porn set.

I’m just starting a cardiovascular exercise program and am about 140 pounds overweight. Should I start this exercise program now, or should I try dieting and wait to lose some of the weight first, and then start the program? I’m having difficulty keeping up in the classes and the movements seem really difficult. —Pamela, Redondo Beach

You’ll lose weight more rapidly if you combine calorie restriction with exercise rather than just restricting calories alone. If you’re having trouble with the classes, try non-weight bearing activities, such as bicycling on a stationary bike, swimming, or working on an elliptical machine which will protect your joints, ankles and wrists while you begin to lose the weight.

SAM:  Would you be able to tell me the best heart beat range for losing weight?  Is there a different range for cardio-exercise?  I’ve been using a stationary bicycle during the cold weather for exercise.  ~ Marcy, Utah

It’s easy to determine your target heart rate for losing fat (remember: you want to focus on fat loss, not weight loss).

The calculation is:

80% x [220 - (AGE)] = Heart Rate.

For example, I’m 34 years old, so I subtract my age from 220, then multiply the resulting number (186) by .80 to reveal a target heart rate of about 148 BPM.  That’s about 80 percent of my heart’s capacity.  The medical establishment says fat burning mode is between 55 and 65 percent of your maximum heart rate, but as a professional trainer, I’ve personally come to believe that you’ll burn more overall calories by working a little bit harder (e.g. 80%) and get more out of your cardiovascular training time.  Also, remember to give consideration to other factors, such as your medical history and what your doctor has to say.