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 Were you one of those families that sent out a newsletter with your holiday cards each year? Where your Mom spills the beans on the not-so-sordid details of your life?

 We were certainly not such a family. My parents were less “Danny-got-three-A’s-and-two-B’s-and-Lori-finally-got-her-first-tooth” and more “park-the-new-car-around-the-block-so-the-neighbors-don’t-know-what-we-have”.

 As someone who is always asking their clients to break old, bad habits and create new healthy ones, I am starting a new tradition right now. Each New Year I will revel in my own accomplishments (something that is honestly not that easy for me) and, more importantly, those of my clients. I give to you the First Annual Trink Fitness Family Newsletter.

The PTDC

Just as I was heading out for my annual trek down to the palm trees and retirement homes of South Florida to visit my mother-in-law last year, I was asked by Jon Goodman, head coach and founder of The Personal Trainer Development Center, to become one of the coaches for this great organization dedicated to improving the quality and business of personal training. By accepting I was now in the company of some amazing fellow coaches including Brad Schoenfeld and Nick Tumminello and had the power to impact a profession I care so much about.

In the year that has past I’ve written some pretty impassioned articles for the PTDC and the feedback has been incredible. I’ve actually had trainers who I’ve just met or barely know come up to me and tell me how something I’ve written has altered the way they train clients, run their business or changed their life. Pretty powerful stuff.

I was also honored to be a featured speaker at the first ever PTDC Hybrid Training Seminar in Toronto in June. Which, if my Mom wrote newsletters, she could tell Aunt Miriam that her son was a speaker at an international conference.

Being part of the PTDC has been one of the most positive professional experiences of the past year. I’m still honored that Jon asked me. Besides, how could I say no to the second most handsome Jewish trainer in North America?

The Transformassacre

This was a lesson in just being faster than everyone else. Men’s Fitness Magazine and GNC were embarking on an 8 week physique transformation with one of the Men’s Fitness staff and they need a trainer to design the training program, provide the nutritional and supplement recommendations and appear in 8 webisodes that would run on the MF site. They emailed 4 or 5 trainers. I was the first to respond so I got the gig.

The test subject was a a kid right out of college who worked in their digital department named Charlie Romano. Charlie got INSANE results in only 8 weeks and the number of people who followed his journey and sent in their support was huge. While this gave me tremendous exposure the best part was getting to know and work with Charlie. He’s just a guy you can’t help but like and root for. He became like a kid brother to me and even though we only worked together for 2 months we’re still pretty tight.

Charlie’s before and after

Check out the entire Transformassacre here.

A Regular Ernest Hemmingway

I could write a paragraph on each and every fitness website and magazine that I was lucky enough to write for this year but it is January which means you have to head to the gym and fight off all the New Year’s Resolutioners who are now occupying your favorite squat rack.

If you would have told me at the beginning of the year that I would be writing weekly columns and features for Men’s Fitness and Muscle & Fitness, have over a half dozen articles published by T-Nation, contributed articles to the Greatist that have been shared over 5000 times and write for LiveStrong, Women’s Health and WWE Magazine, well, I would have told you that that’s about as likely as Lindsay Lohan passing a sobriety test.

But, amazingly, it did happen and I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to drop some fitness knowledge on the world. Maybe there’s hope for Lindsay yet.

Don’t you just love my new ankle bracelet?

Check out any articles you may have missed here

My Clients

What can I say, my clients killed it this year. Fat was lost, muscle was gained, lives were transformed. I am very fortunate to have a loyal group of people who have not only become success stories but also good friends.

One of our NBA clients, Roy Hibbert, whose BioSignature I was in charge of and had a small hand in training made his first All-Star Team this past season. I prepared huge underdog Matthew Macklin for the WBO Middleweight title fight at Madison Square Garden where he was ahead on score cards in the late rounds until a couple of devastating hooks ended his night. I helped my client Michael, a hedge-fund manager in his early 40s prepare to compete in his first powerlifting contest in which he broke 4 New York State Records.

Macklin v. Martinez at The Garden

I’ve also helped many online clients get incredible results which, to be quite honest, have exceeded my expectations. When I developed the online program I was very aware of the limitations of not having ‘hands-on’ training time with my clients. But after spending many sleepless nights working on a system that would minimize these barriers I can honestly say that the online coaching program has been hugely successful in helping people reach their goals. I’m extremely proud of their success.

Need help reaching your fitness goals? Consider online coaching.

Too Much To Mention

If I learned anything in this past year it’s that internet writing is supposed to be short, pithy and full of pop culture references, funny pictures of cats or stills of Willy Wonka with funny sayings plastered over them. Therefore, I’ll just summarize the rest.

My transformation of fat guy in advertising to the bald beefcake you see before you was featured in the pages of Men’s Fitness in September. Not only was this super bad ass, it also gave me the experience of preparing for my first photo shoot.

As seen in the pages of “Men’s Fitness”

Along with the PTDC I was asked to be part of the Greatist’s Expert Network as well as become an Ambassador for FitFluential.

I got to work on an amazing project called GWODs (Greatist Workout of The Day) with Tony Gentilcore, the second most handsome bald trainer in North America.

Tony, trying to steal my look

I get to go into work and manage the best trainers on the planet at the greatest gym on the planet, Peak Performance, where I share an office with my partners-in-awesome Ed Williams and Joe Dowdell.

And, maybe the greatest accomplishment of all is at the end of the day I get to go home to my wife of 12 years, Ricki Jean and my 7 month old son, Henry. Not too shabby.

Thank you all for being such a loyal part of the Trink Fitness Family this past year and prepare to be part of the total world domination that is planned for 2013. Now get going, you’ve got a squat rack to defend.

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Here are the links to all 8 episodes:

http://www.mensfitness.com/training/build-muscle/transformassacre-week-8-charlies-big-reveal

http://www.mensfitness.com/training/build-muscle/transformassacre-week-7-recapping-charlies-journey

http://www.mensfitness.com/training/build-muscle/transformassacre-week-6-packing-on-the-muscle

http://www.mensfitness.com/training/build-muscle/transformassacre-week-5-put-away-the-baby-weights

http://www.mensfitness.com/training/build-muscle/transformassacre-week-4-reassessment

http://www.mensfitness.com/training/build-muscle/transformassacre-week-3-will-he-train-the-same-alone

http://www.mensfitness.com/training/build-muscle/let-the-transformassacre-begin

http://www.mensfitness.com/training/build-muscle/the-8-week-fitness-transformassacre

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According to the Center for Disease Control, the average American woman gains almost a pound a year after age 20, meaning that the fear of turning 40 and being stuck with an extra five, 10, or even 20 pounds is perfectly legitimate. And the longer you wait to develop a fitness strategy, the harder it’s going to be to get rid of the pooch.

While hormones are part of the equation, especially as your body changes during different phases of life, your weight is within your control. “The reason we get weaker and out of shape as we get older isn’t so much about biological factors as it is about lifestyle factors,” says Dan Trink, Director of Personal Training Operations at Peak Performance in New York City. “If you stay active, you’ll have a strong, healthy body your whole life.”

Trink, along with all the experts we spoke with, believes that it isn’t about adding specific exercises to your routine as you age — it’s more about adjusting your workouts to your changing lifestyle and hormonal profile.

Continue Reading Article…

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Now, what is NOT good for you is ‘fake fats’. And the number one offender in the ‘fake fat’ category is Trans Fats. Trans fats are processed fats that find their way into ingredients such as hydrogenated oils, shortening and margarine and they are just about the worst ‘food’ you can put into your body. Take the time to read the following paragraph about the process of hydrogenation, which is how these fats are produced. It is from the seminal paper “The Skinny on Fats” by Mary Enig, PhD and Sally Fallon.

“This (hydrogenation) is the process that turns polyunsaturates, normally liquid at room temperature, into fats that are solid at room temperature—margarine and shortening. To produce them, manufacturers begin with the cheapest oils—soy, corn, cottonseed or canola, already rancid from the extraction process—and mix them with tiny metal particles—usually nickel oxide. The oil with its nickel catalyst is then subjected to hydrogen gas in a high-pressure, high-temperature reactor. Next, soap-like emulsifiers and starch are squeezed into the mixture to give it a better consistency; the oil is yet again subjected to high temperatures when it is steam-cleaned. This removes its unpleasant odor. Margarine’s natural color, an unappetizing grey, is removed by bleach. Dyes and strong flavors must then be added to make it resemble butter. Finally, the mixture is compressed and packaged in blocks or tubs and sold as a health food.”

Yum! If that doesn’t make you want to put down the Crisco, I don’t know what will.

Also, I am not a big fan of Pam and other ‘spray fats’ that have become very popular of the past 10 years or so. There are two reasons to be wary of these products. First, they usually use canola or other vegetable-based oils. And while vegetables are great, vegetable oils are not. Most vegetable oils are highly processed and contain a very high ratio of Omega 6 fats. And while Omega 6s do have their place in a healthy diet, we tend to get too much of them already. The second reason, and this is opinion, not science, is that I don’t really want to eat anything that comes shooting out of an aerosol can. Yes, that goes for Cheez-Whiz as well.

So, here are the fats that I do recommend getting in your diet. For cooking, my favorites extra-virgin coconut oil (which has a ton of health benefits and has a high smoke-point so it does well at relatively high heat), walnut oil, macadamia nut oil and butter.

Now butter gets a bum rap and I am here to change your mind about it. Butter is a great cooking fat. It contains Arachidonic Acid, Short- and Medium-Chain Fatty Acids, Omega-6 and Omega-3 Essential Fatty Acids (small amounts but in a nearly perfect ratio of 1:1), Conjugated Linoleic Acid, Lecithin, Cholesterol, and Glycosphingolipids.  Charles Poliquin has actually prescribed high amounts of raw butter to some of his body building clients to get them past fat loss plateaus citing that high levels of biotin (a nutrient found in butter) can actually help very lean people get even leaner. Obviously this strategy is not for most, but I mention it because some experienced coaches are actually using butter to help peoplelose fat.

As with every other aspect of nutrition, it pays to get quality and butter is no exception. Many supermarket butters can be processed so be sure to check labels. I just picked up a small tub of Ronnybrook Farms butter at the farmers market. It has one ingredient – heavy cream (another ‘good fat’ in my opinion).

Extra Virgin Olive Oil is another great fat but I prefer not to use that for cooking as it tends to break down in heat rather quickly. Great on salads and any other non-cooked foods.

Nuts, natural nut butters and avocados are also great fat sources. And please, for the love of God, stop eating non-fat versions of foods that naturally have fat in them. The food companies often replace those fats with sugar to improve the taste. All of which is much worse for you then the fat the fat they took out of the product in the first place.

Finally, and this will be the topic of another blog post but I wanted to mention it here, if you get your fats from good sources and limit or fully eliminate processed carbohydrates, there is no need to worry about cholesterol or heart disease from a high dietary fat intake. In fact, it is my belief that one of the biggest myths about nutrition is high total cholesterol and how it relates to disease. But, again, that is a topic for a future post.

So don’t be afraid of good, healthful fats. They just might be the key to getting you lean.

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I believe in the big lifts. I love heavy weights. I get excited when one of my clients goes for and gets a personal record during a training session or competition.

But I have to say, I’ve had two of the greatest moments of my career this week and neither of them had to do with how much load was on the bar.

I received two emails this week from two BioSignature/Nutrition clients that have me so beaming with pride that I had to share them with you.

The first one is from nutrition client, FD (I’ll use initials just in case these clients want to remain anonymous). FD’s son is also a nutrition client of mine who has had great success, he dropped over 40 pounds in 4 months and has managed to keep that weight off for the past 6 months. FD followed some of the advice that I was giving his son and also lost some weight but ultimately plateaued and decided to come and see me. FD is 63 years old. He certainly had some fat to lose and was on blood pressure medication. His doctor also has him on Lipitor to control his cholesterol (which will be the topic of a future post, I guarantee).

So FD came in for an assessment. We discussed some nutrition strategies, emailed on almost a daily basis to make sure that things were going well, that he understood what I wanted him to do and to troubleshoot any difficulties he may have been having.

This week he came in for a reassessment. In 3 weeks he had lost 9lbs of fat and put on 1.5lbs of muscle. Again, this is someone who is 63 years old. He felt great on the nutrition plan, energy was good, sleep was improving, he wasn’t finding himself hungry. He even mentioned that he doesn’t feel like he’s on a diet, really. More like he just changed a few habits. The next day he was going to his doctor for his check up. This is the email I received from him when I asked how it went:

Blood back next week. Blood pressure 120/70. Finished with those meds. Lipitor next.

As great as it is to help someone break the 400lb mark in a deadlift or bench their body weight for the first time, getting someone healthy and off medication is a whole different level of awesome. And, to quote FD, “Lipitor next”.

Then on Thursday morning I wake up to this email from my BioSignature cient MB. MB is the type of client I dream of having. She’s positive and realizes what she is gaining from making changes as opposed to focus on what she may be losing. The “Jamie” in her email is my great friend and trainer Jamie Dryer who referred MB to me. Here is her email:

“Hi Dan,

i’m feeling so good!

I started taking the fiber supplement and 6 Omega 3s per day immediately after we met.  I’ve become pretty obsessive about buying organic fruits vegetables, eggs and other food products whenever I can and seek out restaurants and shops that carry these items.

It’s hard to believe how amazing I’m feeling!  It’s been less than a week since I started following your strategies and I already feel more energetic and have had absolutely no stomach issues or bloating at all.  That is truly hard for me to believe!  I also find that my thought process is clearer and that I’m more focused and upbeat.

I’m still waking up during the night, but mostly to use the bathroom.  I’ve been doing my 5 minutes of “grateful for” logging and it does have a calming effect.

What’s most positive is the fact that I’m not anxious about eating.  I used to eat the same foods all the time and worried about portions and calories.  It’s so much easier now to just eat “real” healthy food spaced out throughout the day and not obsess.  And surprisingly, I’m not craving sweets except for a mint lifesaver at bedtime… don’t ask me why?  And yes, it was a little hard to give up sweet and low, but I’m getting accustomed to Stevia.

Today, even Jamie remarked about a change in me that he couldn’t pinpoint… and I was stronger than ever in my workout.

As you can see, I’m very pumped and look forward to experiencing more positive changes.  Thank you for that!

I will send you another food log in a day or two.”

Helping others reach their goals, whether those goals are to get off medication, break a new world record or look great in a bikini, is not only my job as a coach, it is also my honor as a person. And being a part of changing someones life for the better is just about the greatest gift I have ever given myself.

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