"I've got ribs" said our male client after viewing his B&A photos taken a little over three months apart. Dropping 4.75 inches from his waist and 2.75 inches from his hips helped some definition emerge in his torso.

We also had a female client reduce her torso at the navel by 6.38 inches and 4.5 inches in the smallest area in 12 weeks.

Oprah's Modified Plan

Several clients participated in an experiment borrowed from Oprah and her fitness trainer, Bob Green. Actually, we synthesized several steps incorporated in the first two phases of The Best Life Diet.

At least five men were successful in completing a 30-day regimen based on the following.

• No alcohol ---not a little, not much, NONE.
• No soft drinks, not even diet.
• Cut out white flour, going whole-wheat on bread and pasta.
• Switch to low-fat alternatives in milk, cheese and ice cream.
• Weed out trans fats, which will probably require more work than any of the other steps.
• Cut off food supply two hours before bed -- no calories whatsoever.
• And, of course, hydrate . . . which means drink daily an ounce of ice water for each two pounds of body weight.

A top performer on this plan reduced his torso measurements by almost 10 percent in 30 days.

Although it is a lot like one, Florida Fitness is not a personal training studio, nor am I a personal trainer.

This probably doesn't matter as much to you as it does to me.

Floirda Fitness is a figure- and physique-reshaping center housing a diet and exercise program we call a 6-week fat-to-muscle makeover. One of its prime elements is supervised circuit strength-training workouts, and I supervise those workouts.

The distinction is important -- to me at least -- because personal training is a field being over-run by quackery and gimmicks.

Never waste your time/money on a training method claiming to be “functional” and using buzzwords such as “the core” and RNT.

"The core" is purely a marketing term; not something scientific. When I was at MedX we packaged several machines into "The Core Spinal Fitness System." These same machines had been available previously under their less-enticing names. But we decided to cash in on the core craze.

There can be very effective exercises that strengthen the muscles just above and below your waistline -- the core. But the mystique now associated with it -- fueled on unproven and unchallenged claims -- is ridiculous

And a great many times "the core" gets rolled into what is now termed "functional" training, usually evident by stability balls and wobble boards. Its proponents seem to think there's an advantage, for instance, to pressing a heavy weight while standing or lying on an unstable surface. They even claim this is a more true-to-life replication -- so when is the last time you lifted a heavy weight while standing on a wobbly surface?

This type of training utilizes multiple low-grade muscle contractions and its only benefit is acquiring the specific skill of the movement itself. It’s like learning to stand on your head. You might be fascinated but the only thing you’ve accomplished is the ability to stand on your head.

Although its verbiage about balance and posture sound good, there’s no meaningful physiological adaptation with so-called functional training, and its proponents can’t point to any quantifiable objective data supporting their theories.

In contrast, the meat and potatoes system I use is based on the developments of Arthur Jones and those who’ve stood on his shoulders such as Ellington Darden, Wayne Westcott,  Miriam Nelson and – on the rehab side – an orthopedist in Minnesota, Dr. Brian Nelson.

This is a system that puts 89-year-olds back on their feet again after 28 sessions of five exercises. It’s a system that made the West Point Cadet football players 60 percent stronger in 16 weeks.

Arthur’s work was examined in a research study you can download from: