“Did you hear that Gwenyth Paltrow and her trainer are opening a gym in NYC?” a client asked during a recent training session.  Believe it or not I actually had heard, I think from browsing through one of my girlfriend’s fashion magazines. But, what I didn’t know is what my client went on to tell me, this celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson advocated women not lifting any more weight than three pounds. “She was absolutely dead-on,” Ms. Anderson said of Ms. Fonda. “You never saw her lifting crazy big weights.” And here is the doozy: “she said a woman should never lift more than three-pound weights”-NYTimes.

A few things happened here all at once, first WTF! Second, my female client was yielding 20lb dumbbells; is she trying to tell me something? She can’t be. Luckily for me she wasn’t–she understands that this lady does not know what she’s talking about. And went on with more silly quotes from the article like “Ha ha!! I am famous for my horrible counting! Don’t worry the results will be the same!!” – Mrs. Anderson’s response to her workout DVD having flawed counting. The best part is that the new gym slated to open mid-March in TriBeCa wil cost $900 a month with initiation fees of $787.50 for six months and $1,500 for a year! I guess those three pound dumbbells are expensive. So, does lifting more than three pounds make women big? NO!!! Of course not; I bet Tracy Anderson’s purse weighs more than three pounds. Tracy also says “Repetition builds and bulks muscles.” That’s ironic coming from a woman who prefers 100 reps for most exercises! Take a look here. Who the hell has time for a 100 reps of every exercise? That’s one of the best things about actually knowing a thing or two about fitness– the more you know the faster and more efficient you can make your workout, but not with the Tracy Anderson method, the better you get the more reps you do…but I thought this was going to make me bulky!?

One of my favorite clients Chrystie lifts 165lbs - 159lbs too much for a woman.

Bulky and Madonna Arms

“Madonna arms” is a term that keeps coming up lately, mostly during initial evaluations. These conversations can be painful! “I just want to tone, you know just get more toned” huh? What? “I mean I’ll lift weights, but just for toning, I don’t want Madonna arms.” Well guess what? You’re not gonna get em’–you know why? Because I’m not going to make you lift air for a hundred reps! Or give you HGH. But, anyways science will probably never win, people will keep reading US Weekly and looking for the new fitness fad instead of just working out; or will they? NY Post reports on the 15^th of this month that the Paltrow and Anderson’s gym is still not open and struggling to get members, does this mean everyone knows this lady is a con-artist or that it’s a ridiculous idea to open a $900 a month gym during these “tough economic times”. Sadly, probably the latter.