The Los Angeles Health and Exercise Club always recommends working with a personal trainer. Personal Trainers can help you push yourself to achieve goals that you may not be able to reach on your own. By correcting form and technique a personal trainer can also ensure that you exercise safe and effectively. There are lots of personal trainers out there, that's why the L.A.H.E.C. interviews different trainers with different philosophies.
Christopher Toscano is a trainer relatively new to the area, but in a short time has already started to create a big splash in health and fitness in Los Angeles. In a few short months he has already started a fundraising campaign for the CCFA (Crohn's and Colitis Foundation for America), uploaded a fantastic health and wellness website, and has already begun training tons of clients trying desperately to get fit. We picked his brain a little bit to see what makes Christopher Toscano tick.
LAHEC: You talk about how important it is to educate people on health and wellness. Why do you think it is so necessary that we all have knowledge of this?
Chris: Having a general idea of how the body works is very important. I think a lot of us arejust not in touch with our bodies enough to even know how to get fit. As a personal trainer I am answering questions to clients all the time about health and nutrition that should be no brainers. It's not that people are stupid. It's that unless you have gone out of your way to take a nutrition class or take a physiology class then you may be clueless as to how exercise and diet affect your body. I always said they should make nutrition classes mandatory in school so we are forced to learn about the food that we eat.
LAHEC: You've said before that the fitness industry are some of the biggest liars in the world.
Chris: The fitness industry is trying to make money just like any other business. If they have to bend the truth a little at the expense of selling their product then they'll do it. I actually don't blame the consumer. Just turn on a TV infomercial some time. There are so many different magical weight loss pills, super secret diets, and abdominal blasting exercise equipment out there that don't actually work. The problem is these commercials lie to us and tell us that with this stuff we will get the body we have always wanted, when in actuality the products they are selling us are based on lies anyway.
LAHEC: Tell us about the work you are doing with the CCFA
Chris: The CCFA is a really amazing charity. They are raising awareness for a truly serious health condition. People living with Crohn's, Colitis, have not had a real foundation to back them until now. As a result, people aren't likely to give to a charity if they don't know what Crohn's disease is. I myself have friends and family who suffer from Crohn's. I have also met many people who also live with the condition every day of their life. It can be very rough. I am running a half marathon to help raise money and awareness for Crohn's and Colitis research. Hopefully we will be able to find a cure for a disease that affects over 2 million Americans. You can donate to my fundraising page here.
LAHEC: You recently published dynastyfitness.com.
Chris: Yes! dynastyfitness.com is a health and wellness website. I started this site because I wanted to be able to reach out to as many people as possible in order to educate them on health and fitness. Dynasty Fitness will have thousands of pics videos, articles, recipes, and more. I want to cover every aspect of fitness and nutrition. My goal is to have it all represented on this site.
LAHEC: What do you tell your clients who want to lose the weight, but have failed in the past?
Chris: Anyone can lose weight! It's not hard. We tend to overcomplicate weight loss. It's not as hard as it sounds. All you have to do is burn more calories than you consume on a daily basis. This can be accomplished with exercise and nutrition. Working with a trainer can really help you hit your weight loss goals!
