ABOUT STEVE

HI, I AM STEVE GROGAN

Steve Grogan is many things: a husband, a father, a writer, a musician, a Wing Chun practitioner, and a firm believer in the idea that High Intensity Resistance Training (HIRT going forward) is THE best exercise protocol ever invented. He is also a Certified Personal Trainer and Fitness Nutrition Specialist, having received certification in both from the National Federation of Personal Trainers (https://www.nfpt.com/).

Steve's Journey

Steve’s journey on the road to better physical health has been a long and hard one. For a long time, he did what everyone does: he went to the gym and made weights move up and down for three sets of 10-12 reps. There was no rhyme or reason to it. It wasn’t until late 2000 when he was exposed to an actual training protocol, which finally gave his workouts some structure. In his case, it was a method known as “circuit training.”

The routine was simple: on any given day, he picked two muscle groups. Then he would do three exercises per muscle, aiming for 10-12 reps per set, followed by two minutes of cardio (usually running on a treadmill). Once recovered, Steve would do this for two more sets.

At the time, Steve was eating according to a high-protein, low-carb approach as described in a book called Protein Power. He did in fact wind up dropping weight, going from over 200 pounds to around 160. Sadly, his improvements plateaued. When that happened, it wasn’t long before all that weight (and more) came kicking and screaming back to his body.

Fitness coach Steve training with clients

Steve’s devotion to exercise waxed and waned for the next decade. In 2010, he got the drive to commit to it again, but there was one small problem: he worked 12-hour days, AND he had a 45-minute commute to and from work. How could he fit exercise into a schedule like that?

That was when a friend introduced him to a DVD workout program (distributed by a company called Team Beachbody and created by a gentleman named Tony Horton) called 10 Minute Trainer. The program was exactly what its name implied: a series of exercise routines that lasted only 10 minutes. (Well, more like 15 if you include warm-up and cooldown.) It also came with a training schedule that told you which DVD to do on which day. There were even instructions on how to do longer workouts.

In his first month, Steve did only 10 minutes. Then in month #2, he bumped it up to 20 minutes. When that didn’t tax him enough, he moved to 30 minutes. By month #3, he was ready for a bigger challenge, and that was when he invested in Beachbody’s flagship exercise program, Tony Horton’s home-workout-game-changing P90X.

After that, Steve ran through several other Beachbody workouts: Insanity and its many iterations, Rev Abs, Les Mills Combat. Then he started combining them into hybrid programs. (For example, the odd-numbered days of his workout were “strength days,” so he did P90X. Even-numbered days were “cardio,” so he popped in Shaun T’s Insanity. You get the idea.)

However, there came a point when Steve hit a plateau. Not only did he seem to no longer be losing fat, but he wasn’t gaining muscle either. The lowest his weight got was 199 pounds. Plus, the whole six-days-per-week, 60-75-minutes-at-a-time schedule started to wear him down. Eventually, he quit, and once again the numbers on the scale started to rise.

In late 2018, Steve started to make a go of the Beachbody workouts again. However, he was more realistic about it: if the program called for six days per week, but he could manage only four days, then he did four days. All it meant was that a 90-day program took him longer to complete.He continued to do the Beachbody programs into the year 2019.

Then fate stepped in. Steve came across a book called Tao of Wing Chun which was co-authored by Danny Xuan and a gentleman named John Little, whose name Steve recognized from Tuttle Publishing’s “Bruce Lee Library” series.

In this book, Sifu Xuan mentioned that his co-author did an exercise program where a person worked out only once per week for 30-60 minutes tops. Steve chuckled but, when Sifu Xuan suggested a book called Body by Science, he hopped on Amazon and ordered it.

When the book arrived, Steve eagerly tore through it. He was in awe. The science behind the program made so much sense! Steve thought, “If what they are saying here is even 50% true, this blows every other workout program out of the water!”

Steve went to the website for Body by Science author Dr. Doug McGuff and was delighted to see a “Find a Gym” feature. After plugging in his zip code, Steve discovered there was a facility in Albany, NY (not far from Steve’s home, which is the often-filmed city of Troy, NY) that taught HIRT; it was called BioFitNY, and the head instructor was a gentleman named Jay Vincent.

In August 2019, Steve made an appointment for a free trial lesson with Jay (who you can find on his official YouTube channel). Jay ran him through a series of nine exercises. Steve could tell how effective this workout method was right after the first move. When he got home and realized he could barely make it upstairs to his second-floor apartment, that was when he knew this methodology was the one for him.

Due to certain circumstances, Steve had to postpone going back to BioFitNY until January 2020. However, once he did, he was one of the most dedicated clients that any personal trainer could ever hope to have. Even when he wasn't at the facility, Steve was always thinking about the exercises and emailing Jay questions.

Of course, a person can’t lose weight (regardless of what workout they are doing) unless they eat right. It took another month, but in February 2020 Steve got his eating under control, and that was when his results from HIRT really took off.

He hasn’t looked back since.

What is it that makes Steve so fanatical about HIRT?

Well, it might have something to do with the fact that plateaus are pretty much a thing of the past. (On those rare occasions when his weight loss reaches a sticking point, it doesn’t last long.) How effective has HIRT been? Just look at his “Before and After” pictures. If those don’t tell you enough, here are the numbers. When he began HIRT in January 2020, Steve was 241 pounds. As of June 2022, he is at 164, and falling. These numbers are even more impressive when you consider the fact that Steve is in his mid-forties, so his results kind of squash that whole “your metabolism slows down in your forties so it becomes harder to lose weight” myth.
Do yourself a favor: click the button to sign up for your free trial lesson, and let Steve make a fanatic out of you too.