Self awareness is a powerful thing. For instance, I know, and accept, that I have an unhealthy (and yet, guilt free) relationship with television. I'm a gal who loves new school supplies and kitchen gadgets. I'd rather stay in and cook dinner with my friends than hit the hottest bar in town. And, no matter how hard I try I will never ever ever get over my loathing of mullets, spiders and mushrooms. This is who I am, and I own it.

Every once in a while, though, I get thrown a curve ball. Take eating well and working out. A year ago I avoided both at all costs. My idea of healthy eating was adding cilantro to my cheese dip. My work out regime? Wii bowling. Nowadays, I have a new outlook. I'm actually a bit obsessed with healthy eats and new work out ideas. So much so, that I seek out people with information. So, when I heard that Jay-Z's trainer Marco Borges had a book called Power Moves: The Four Motions To Transform Your Body For Life, I couldn’t wait to pick his brain on everything from planks to portion control.


Stephanie Snipes: Marco, your book talks about an interesting approach to working out. Tell us about it.

Marco Borges: I thought if we teach people to use every machine out there that would be a very laborious process, because most gyms have different forms of equipment, different brands. So [I thought] if I make it really easy and teach people to use their bodies, it would empower them with all the knowledge they need to be able to work out with equipment, with minimal equipment, with no equipment. They can work out at home, in a park, with a friend. So, that is where I came up with that whole, “Which of the four major joints of the body basically innovate all of your muscle groups?" And that is the shoulder, the hip, the elbow, and the knee. Those four motions transform your body for life.

SS: One of the things I hear the most from people is that they're completely intimidated to go into the gym.

MB: That was one of the reasons for the book …I notice that people walk into a gym like they are completely lost. And, they look for the person that looks like they have the best body and looks like they know what they are doing, and they follow them around hoping that they get noticed. They say, “She looks like she has a pretty cool body. Whatever she does, I will do.”And they follow them around like a lost puppy. …

I always say my reason for living is to give people reasons where excuses are abundant. Because everyone always has an excuse as to why they can’t and shouldn’t work out and my purpose in life is to give you the reason’s you should. Everyone always has an excuse. “I can’t afford a trainer. I don’t know what I am doing…” So this book is to be the tool to empower you to walk into the gym with purpose and know exactly what you are doing. What muscle groups you should hit first and how long your workouts should be.

SS: You say in the book that in order to succeed you really have to change your mental outlook about your health. I couldn’t agree with that more. Do you have any tricks for people who need an attitude adjustment but don't know where to start?

MB: I think it's like rebooting a computer. You have to do something drastically different. I always say in order to accomplish something you have never accomplished before you have to be able to do something you have never done before. If just for one second you stop and picture yourself and say, “What I have been doing for X amount of days or X amount of years has not been working so I need a radical transformation. And the radical transformation is going to come, not because I want to look great in a bikini in the summer… [but because]I want to feel good about myself. I want to have the self confidence to be able to walk into any room and feel good about my health. I don’t want to be a statistic. I don’t want to be the, out of every two woman that die of heart disease, I don’t want to be that one who dies. I want to be the one who lives. I don’t want to be one out of every four Americans that has diabetes by the time they are past 40."

Then you have to think about what you are doing this for. I think health is something we are in total control of, but you have to be proactive about it. It can’t just be something you sit back and relax and wait for something to happen. … Doctors treat symptoms, they don’t treat disease. …We are looking at it from a completely different approach. We are promoting wellness by preventing illness. We don’t want you to get sick, we want you to stay healthy. If you think about it from the approach [of wanting] to be as healthy as you possibly can -- If you think about that -- you can’t help but to be very consistent in a program.

SS: Some exercise shows out there send a message that you have to be in the gym for 6 hours a day. That's impossible for normal people. What is a reasonable amount of time for the gym?

MB: It depends on what your goals are. I always take my analogies into the business world because it allows people to  visualize what I'm really getting at. If you say “Marco, I am going to stop renting and I am going to buy a house. I am going to save up for a house and I am going to start working overtime. How many hours of overtime do you think I should work a week?” Well, how quickly do you want to buy that house? Do you have an hour you can work? Work an hour. If you have two hours to work, work two hours. If you are someone who is morbidly obese, which is clinically defined by 50 pounds or more [over weight], then you should probably engage in some sort of physical activity for at least an hour a day, five days a week. Why? Because I have found in the 20 years I have been doing this that we are a society of instant gratification. Change doesn’t come about quickly. If change doesn’t come about quickly, all of a sudden [people think], “This sucks, this stinks, I was meant to be fat. I am big boned; I’m never going to loose weight.” And you start talking yourself down.

So, I like to say that when I am working with someone, I like to give you safe but quick results so you stay motivated. There is nothing better than me saying to you, “We’re going to get you that house. This week you’re going to work an extra 10 hours and by the end of the month, you’re going to have $10,000 to put toward the house. Wow!" Or, I could say by the end of two years you could have $2,000 saved up and you’re going to be like, "Dude, I am never going to get there.”  The same message applies. It depends how much you are willing to put forward.

What you have to always allow the person to understand is that this is not going to be forever. I’m going to kill you for the next two or three months but once you get there it’s going to be very easy to maintain. It’s going to be so easy to the tune of 30 minutes a day three times a week, 45 minutes a day three times a week to maintain a body weight. Then you’re like, "Wow I can do that". Obviously you are going to have to restrict your caloric intake and re-tweak your lifestyle but yes, you can maintain doing minimal work. Like I said, maintain. You can’t go out and splurge.

SS: And, what about food.


MB: Generally speaking, I tell people if you want to lose weight, I would more than anything monitor my caloric intake. That is the first and surest way to reduce your body weight. Why? Because it is much easier to cut back on 1000 calories than it is to burn 1000 calories. Conversely, it is much easier to consume 1000 calories than it is to burn those 1000 calories. If you went peddle to the metal for an hour, you might burn 1000 calories. You would have to have a really serious workout and you might burn 1000 calories in an hour. Do you know how quickly you can eat 1000 calories?

SS: I could eat 1000 calories in two bites.

MB: Yeah, exactly. The average American is consuming 4200-4500 calories a day, which is very scary. So, you can eat 1000 calories in two minutes. And it would take you over an hour to burn it. I think it's an education. … I will put it in plain English: If you worked for an entire week how much money could you make where you’re working now? How quickly could you spend it? Same goes for the health. Apply that principal to your health. You have to be savvy. You’ve got to be financially fit, you’ve got to be physically fit. Same exact principle. We need to not be all about instant gratification. We need to be a little more relaxed, a little more laid back and a little more realistic about our expectation so we can reach the success we want in every aspect of our lives.

SS: You say woman should eat between 1800 and 2200 calories per day. Is that for maintaining or for loosing?

MB: For me, that (1800-2200) is for maintaining and if you want to lose, you have to eat less. 

SS: How often do you recommend people eat?

MB: I say life is difficult as it is. When a nutritionist puts you on six meals a day, to me it just blows my mind.  … I don’t know if you sit at home and have a trust fund that you live off and you have time to eat six times a day, but I don’t. I barely have time to eat lunch and I do this for a living. … Eat three times a day and you are good, if you need a snack in between go for it, but three meals a day is more than sufficient.


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