Transcript for Celebrity trainer shares how faith informs his approach to fitness and health

Many of us are resolving to get fit. We are joined now by Alec Penix. He has worked with SHAWN Mendes, to gabby Douglas. He has a new book out, where he talks about faith and fitness. Thank you for having me on the show. I appreciate it. When I was younger, I was actually bullied a lot in school and it was because I was diagnosed with a learning disability unfortunately. So growing up, I didn't have a lot of faith or confidence for that matter. So I turned to exercise as a tool to shape my body and that led to be me to be fulfilled ultimately. Going back and looking at it, I lowed the opinions of other people to shape my mind and to shape me, and one day it all changed and that's when I found god. It was because of my faith that I was able to break free from that identity and start walking it into my destiny ultimately. I don't say you have to be religious in order to be fulfilled, but I think it's important to have some type of faith. I ask people, what is your why? Ask yourself, why do you want to embark on this journey, and once you're able to identify that, that's when fitness changes from something that you have to do, to something that you want to do. Having a larger purpose can keep you on track. Absolutely. Absolutely. So you talk in the book about some diets you don't like, especially crash diets or fad diets. Yes. Why not? I want us to throw away the crash diets for 2019 and incorporate that balanced diet of protein, fats and carbohydrates. We overlook the fact that our bodies are meant to thrive and in my experience, I'm a witness of client that is go on and off the crash diets and they don't realize they have conditioned their body to survive and what I mean by that is that the body will store unnecessary fat and prepare itself for the famine or the crash diet. They are training their body to work against them rather than for them, and that's why I love a balanced diet. Let's talk about specific foods here. Yes. Breakfast, oatmeal with a nut butter. I love -- oatmeal is, like, my favorite choice here. It gives me that energy to sustain me throughout the day, and the most crucial part of my day. I'm not worried about food. I'm focused on what I have to do, and you can see the nut butter on top to give you the balance. And energy bites here? Yeah. You can really just take what you have made here is then put it into a ball, but the only difference is you have cocoa powder and honey, and this is perfect for a snack before your workout or in the middle of the day when you need extra energy. What do you think about a doughnut before working out? Where are you on that? If it works -- no. Don't do it. You don't have to answer it. Trainers love tricks. I'm a firm believer. Don't eat after 7:00. The thing that we do the most is that we eat after 7:00, right? We're in front of the TV. We're eating whatever, and so one of the tricks that I love to do and I incorporate this with my clients is I do uncarbonated water into their diet and it makes you feel full so you're not turning to a bad source. Put lemon or lime in it. Also a doughnut. Great. You have workouts you want to show us. Yes. Ignore me. Keep going. I love doing circuits. I do this twice a day to keep my heart rate elevated and burn those calories. The first exercise we'll do. Are you ready? When you say we -- I was hoping you would join me. Show me first and we'll see. This is the way I like to work out. I watch my trainer do it. So what I'm going to do is get on the ground here and we'll do a bicycle crunch. I'll let you guys down here. Open the hands behind our head and keep your feet on the ground. We'll move our opposite knee to the elbow. Are you joining us? I'm grading you. Bring it here, boom. Go right into the next movement like this, and as you can see, it's not just -- it's in a cadence. It's not just an exercise, but it's cardio as well. Show us as well. Now we have the bicycle, which is the opposite -- I'm sorry. It's the mountain climber which is the opposite. We'll do this on the other side, guys. Same thing. One two three, one, okay. Keep it going. As you're ready. Are you ready to go some squats? Everybody's standing up. Get the feet and hands in front of you. Drop the butt. Right before your butt hits the chair, go right back up. Are you guys ready? Here we go. Three, two, one and go. Woo! How's that feel? There you go. Keep it going. Hold on. Hold. I think I just broke my

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