One thing that Marco Borges' new book Power Moves (Celebra Trade, 2010) makes clear is that he came from behind, like so many others with stellar fitness achievements. A youth spent in Miami became an interesting journey into discovering healthful eating and exercise. Nowadays, his work as a personal trainer has evolved into a list of celebrity clients and a non-stop traveling schedule. At the same time, his programs respond to the challenges faced by ordinary people in developing fitness and nutritional strategies that really work -- whether living in one city or traveling between many. Here he touches on some of the highlights of his book.
Developing the Moves
Suite101: How did fitness and health in the Miami area provide you with insights for your book?
Marco Borges: Well, really the catalyst that sort of sparked the interest in creating this program was because on a daily basis, people in Miami and south Florida are pretty health-conscious and are very physically fit and active. I was constantly getting requests from friends, family members, clients and people in general -- everyone wants to start a new exercise program, or at least engage in some sort of regular exercise, they just never really know how to get started. And finally I thought to myself, why not teach people how to use their body? Maybe if I taught people that by activating certain joints they would essentially be working different muscle groups, then that would allow people to understand how the machines work a bit easier. So I broke it down into the four major joints of the body that control all major muscle groups.
Suite101: Your programs are sophisticated but also very minimalist in terms of what you need beyond your natural body weight .
Marco Borges: You really don’t need a lot, and the truth of the matter is I think exercise really needs to be fun. At the end of the day, we all should be doing some sort of exercise, some sort of physical training on a daily basis, or at least three to four times a week. Most people don’t want to become trainers, they don’t want to become exercise physiologists, they just want to empower themselves with the knowledge necessary to create workouts for themselves, so they can go on with their daily activities. If you make it too difficult and complicated, yes, you’ll engage them for a day or two because of that wow factor but after a couple of days, everyone falls off – because in the back of their mind, they have so many other things that they really believe they should be thinking about instead. That’s the one thing about running or walking that people love the most – you don’t have to be thinking about the next exercise, you don’t have to think about piece of equipment, you don’t need to stand by a machine, you just put on a pair of running or walking shoes and just let your mind be free. I thought if I could take that approach to resistance training, which is very necessary, then I might be able to have something – and I believe that we nailed it.
Fitness for the Road -- or your Living Space
Suite101: It also just works very well to have a program and workout that is portable and adaptable, whether you're on the go and in a hotel or staying at home.
Marco Borges: Yes, I was looking for just that. And I think because of the fact that I was born and raised in Miami but my work takes me also all over the world and I spend a great deal of the year in different continents. I spend half of my week in New York City every week, so I’m on at least two planes a week. I live in Miami, and I don’t understand why people want to run on treadmills when it’s beautiful outside, but then I also live in New York where it’s freezing for a large portion of the year. So yes, that portability is essential in having a program that if you’re looking for permanence, you have to have something that is extremely portable, that’s extremely easy to do and that’s very effective in a very short period of time – that is exactly what I try to do with every single one of the workouts, from the NoExcuse Workout to the Maintain/Stay in the Game even to Warrior Workouts that are geared toward more to the fitness enthusiast, I’m still conscious of the fact that these guys might be die-hard but they might want to work out at home just with a fit ball and a set of dumbbells. So I try to keep it as simple and bare bones as possible while producing the biggest results.
Hal W. Peat - Hal Peat is an independent journalist on fitness, exercise, health and sports personalities. He has contributed for over 12 years to a ...
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