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American Morning

One of Most Common New Year's Resolutions to Lose Weight and Get Into Shape

Aired January 02, 2002 - 08:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, arguably, one of the most common New Year's resolutions is to lose weight and get into shape. but what can you do to help keep that resolution?

Well, from Los Angeles, very early this morning, personal trainer Jerry Anderson has some tips for us on getting fit and staying fit.

Jerry, good to see you.

JERRY ANDERSON, PERSONAL TRAINER: My pleasure.

HARRIS: Happy New Year to you, too.

ANDERSON: Happy New Year to you, too.

HARRIS: Listen, first of all, I saw -- I got -- I have to ask you about this.

ANDERSON: OK.

HARRIS: You said 12 minutes is all anyone needs to keep this resolution? This I got to see. What do you mean by that?

ANDERSON: Only 12 minutes a day. I got a 12-minute solution to your New Year's resolution. I designed this great program. It's so simple and easy to do. All you need is a pair of hand weights or a couple cans of soup. You'll be amazed what you can do and. What it does, it builds muscle and burns fat at the same time. You can do it in the comfort and convenience of your own home. It's truly amazing.

HARRIS: It sounds -- you know what it sounds like? It sounds like one of those deals where -- you know, those advertisements, where you plug up some kind of electrodes to you and you wake up the next day looking like some supermodel.

ANDERSON: Right.

HARRIS: Does this really work?

ANDERSON: It really works. And I'll tell you, I've taken the highest result producing exercises, put them into a package where you go from one exercise to the next without stopping. That allows you to build muscle, burn fat and turn your body into a fat-burning machine. You'll be amazed at the results. I'm telling you, you'll become a joy to the eye and pleasant to the touch.

HARRIS: OK, I'll take your word for that one. Tell me this, explain to me, or if you can show me, I don't know if you can or not, but what do you do with a can?

ANDERSON: What you do is, the key is, the can is to create the habits of exercise. Exercise doesn't start with results; it starts with a habit. Once you create the habit, you create the lifestyle, then you create progression. Most people want to progress before they even have the habit in place, so that's the key, is to fundamentally follow that, get the habit in place to the lifestyle, to the progression, and all you need is a couple of cans of soup to create the habit, and then you create progression. You can use a couple of bottles of water, put some sand in the water bottles, and then elevate to some hand weights. It's so perfect and easy to do; it's amazing.

Most people just go, wow, Jerry, that is impossible. But you know what, all things are possible.

HARRIS: But you know, the thing is, Jerry, if people had the discipline to make the habit in the first place, they wouldn't be making the resolution, right?

ANDERSON: Right, but most people, you know, we get out of balance, because most of us don't balance our health and wealth. We focus on wealth only. But I'll tell you, If you close the door to exercise, you have definitely opened the door to the hospital. So I'm telling you, get this program started, and there's no glory to being the richest man in the graveyard. You've got to balance your health and wealth, and you have to build it into your daily schedule.

Now this is what you have to do in the program. The first thing you do is the set the days of the week you'll going to exercise, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Set the time of the day, and a lot of the timing, you stick to it and don't let anyone change you.

And I'll tell you, one of the keys to sticking to a program is having the right mental attitude, changing it from negative to positive, and that's how you stick to the program. I recommend reading or listening to inspirational material at least five minutes each and every day, and that will keep you motivated to achieve your goal.

HARRIS: Listen, Jerry, hold that thought. Folks, stay with us. We're going to take a break. I want to hear how this man can make 12 minutes as good as the two hours I spend in the gym every single day.

Don't go away, Jerry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And we are back to continue our conversation with Jerry Anderson this morning. And he's joining us from L.A. You can take one look at him and guess what he does for a living. He's a physical fitness guru, and he'll try to give us tips this morning on how folks have made getting in shape and staying in shape resolutions for them this year.

Jerry, man, I've seen the guns right there. There's no way you did that with cans of soup, all right.

ANDERSON: Oh, man, you know, the key is not about the cans of soup. It's called progression, because as you increase from the cans of soup to the chunky soup to the free weights to the hand weights, you just keep progressing. So the key is to get started. If you don't get started, you cannot produce the results that I've achieved, because I've trained over 100 champion athletes, 15,000 personal training sessions, and I tell you, I don't kind of, sort of know what to do to get you in shape; I know exactly what is required. And I'll tell you, I don't waste your time; that's why I'm bringing you the 12- minute solution to your New Year's resolution.

HARRIS: I believe you. I believe you. All right, now, would you give women the same advice you're giving men with this 12-minute solution?

ANDERSON: Most definitely, women especially, that this workout is built on 20 repetitions per exercise. It's so simple and easy to do. And I'll tell you, I have a workout for men that's only built on 15 repetitions and it only takes nine minutes to do it. It will turn your body into a fat burning machine. It's truly amazing. But women, I tell you, it's great for them to exercise, and it will give them more shape, tone, sex appeal, and you'll have more curves than a Long Beach grand prix.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: I like the sound of that.

Most women have qualms about working out, because they think they'll turn into some big -- you know, they'll look like Apollo Creed when they're finished, but that doesn't necessarily happen, right?

ANDERSON: To the contrary. Most women think if they work out, they're going to build these big muscles. No way. What you're going to get is more shape, more tone, sex appeal. I'll tell you, and your energy level will just go crazy. You're going to get your smile back, your energy back, your confidence. It's totally amazing.

HARRIS: Listen, you've got give to us a little more on this 12- minute deal. I mean, we can't -- you probably can't give us everything. We don't have 12 minutes right now.

ANDERSON: Impossible. I can't give it all to you that quick.

HARRIS: Give us a couple of tidbits from it.

ANDERSON: It's a simple, easy program. It's the highest results-producing exercise. What you do, you'll go from the bench press to the bent over roll, to the shoulder press, to the curls, and to triceps and go right into a lower body workout nonstop. That's how you keep your body burning fat at the same time. And when you progress, when you go from the cans of soups to the Chunky Soups to the hand weights, you are going to create more lean muscle mass, and that's how you turn your body into a fat-burning machine.

The key is, as you increase lean muscle mass, that's the part of the body that burns calories, and you're going to automatically increase your ability to burn fat all day long for 24 hours. It beats out doing pure aerobics, because it's only burning calories. But when you combine aerobics and strength training goodness, you get the bulk of both equations.

HARRIS: Well, let me ask you this, though, you starting out talking about upper body stuff. The guys I work out with all start off with lower body workouts, so that's where you start doing all the fat burning first, and you do more of it when you start with the lower body stuff?

ANDERSON: When you work out, especially when I designed the workout for the women, I start with the upper body to the lower body.

For men, I start with the lower body to the upper body. So it gives you more symmetry, balance and proportion. So it depends on your physique. My goal is to give you symmetry, balance, proportion and sex appeal. It's truly amazing, and that's the key to a beautiful, healthy body.

HARRIS: What about diet? Doesn't diet play as big a role as the working out does?

ANDERSON: Nutrition is very important. What I recommend, the foods you eat should have less than 20% fat in them. That means you get 80 percent nutrients to keep your body nourished properly. It is very important. All you have to do is learn how to read food labels, and you'll have that slim, healthy body you always wanted. And I tell you, stop eating high-fat foods.

And I'll tell you one thing, most people eat too much fat and on meats especially. I always ask people, where would you be, how much will you weigh 10 years from now if you keep doing what you're doing today? You have to make a change; 85 percent in the country today don't exercise and 65 percent are overweight. We have to make a change. You got to realize, you don't only exercise for yourself, it's for your family, your friends and your country, because you never know when you need to be in shape.

HARRIS: Good point. What about these low-carb diets? The low- carb diets that so many people are on? The low carb diets, what's your take on that?

ANDERSON: The body is such a magnificent machine, and the body needs six components to function properly, carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, mineral, and your main one, water. So when you eliminate carbohydrates, that's your main energy source, your brain function, your heart functions, and it builds your muscles up for peak contractions during your exercise. So I don't recommend a low carbohydrate diet at all.

HARRIS: Really?

ANDERSON: I recommend balance.

HARRIS: How do you attribute the success of so many people have with that diet, though?

ANDERSON: A lot of what happens, sometimes, the goal is to reduce the fat and increase the muscle mass, because you are looking at, if you lose water weight, the goal is not to lose water. The goal is to reduce the fat and increase the lean muscle mass of the body. So that's specifically what you have to do. There's so many different programs out there. But I tell you, that if you get on my program, you follow it, you will soon have that trim, healthy body you always wanted. I'm telling you 22 years to get like this, this is no joke, baby.

HARRIS: You had to go there.

ANDERSON: I had to.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: I know. You wouldn't come all the way in here and get in front of a camera and not do it.

ANDERSON: No way.

HARRIS: Real quick, real quick, man, how do people find this 12- minute solution?

ANDERSON: You can pick it up at 1-800-247-6553, or amazon.com, turn your dream into a reality. Don't put it off, because I've got the solution to your New Year's resolution.

HARRIS: Let us know when you run office. Thanks very much. And happy new year to you, man. Good luck to you.

ANDERSON: Thank you. Have a great day.

HARRIS: Take care.

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