Barely a year old, FitZone Nation is already taking Utah's gym scene by storm with workouts aimed at giving clients "Biggest Loser"-like results. Trainer Neil Anderson helped FitZone Nation founders Chris Armstrong and Darin Toone develop the FitZone Nation Method, which focuses on what Anderson calls "optimal health," aka mastering the 10 aspects of fitness (cardio, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, coordination, balance and accuracy). FitZone Nation also has a weekly health and fitness talk radio show -- FitZone Nation Radio, Saturdays at 11 a.m. on 570 AM and simulcast on 99.1 FM -- as well as workout videos, supplements, and a Web site (www.fitzonenation.com) that hosts free workout tips and more. This is all in addition to a physical gym in Bountiful ("Soon to be more," says Anderson) that the Utah Jazz Dancers call home twice a week.

Why did you become a trainer?

I like helping people. I originally wanted to become a physical therapist and help people recover from injury. I worked my way through college by working in physical therapy and cardiac rehab, but didn't like the focus on acute care. It made more sense to me that by the time you are rehabilitating someone, it is too late. Over the years I learned that many who find themselves in rehab situations could have prevented their conditions altogether. This was fascinating to me and it became my life's work.

What training/certifications do you have?

I don't list them anymore. I stopped counting after I received my twelfth certification. This included my BS in exercise science from USU. I no longer believe that certified professionals are experts. Nor do I believe that someone toting a certification can help another become healthy simply because they spent a weekend taking a course and passing a fairly easy test.

What are some of your brag stories and accomplishments?

My brag stories and accomplishments are based around my clients' success. This year I have been blessed to help hundreds of folks lose thousands of pounds and become healthier than they ever expected. Matt D. for example lost 115 pounds in just six months. Brent J. lost 90 in 4 months. I could go on and on about the hundreds that have lost 30 or more pounds in only several months. It is an honor to be a part of it all.

How did you come to work with the Jazz Dancers?

Training the Utah Jazz Dancers has been one of the highlights of my professional career. These girls are incredible athletes and they are INCREDIBLY fit. I would put my Jazz dancers up against any dancer/cheerleader team in the nation. There are few people on earth who could hang with them on one of their workouts. We do hundreds of pounds of squats, cleans, jerks, presses, dead lifts, kettlebell swings, pull-ups (yes, real ones), pushups, situps, sprints, distance runs and rowing every week.

2 years ago I began training Jan Whittaker who is the Jazz Dancers' leader/choreographer. She is an amazing person who is very gifted and talented. She is also incredibly fit, ripped and buff. Despite her physical prowess and amazing physicality, I was able to help her dramatically improve her fitness and her body.

Dancers are amazing athletes. To be a great dancer you must be incredibly lean, strong, flexible and you must possess all 10 aspects of fitness. I think Jan understood that what I do has a direct application for what she and her dancers do. We started working with the dancers at a three-a-day boot camp in Bear Lake, Ut. They have achieved incredible results and we have never looked back.

What exercise/routine do the dancers always complain about?

Stadiums. Occasionally we take them to the Energy Solutions Arena and run stairs. "Running stairs" doesn't really cover it. While there, they sprint stairs, hop up stairs, do squat jumps up stairs, sprint stairs, hop one footed up stairs, grapevine stairs, do stair switches, sprint stairs, do stair jacks, do stair lunges, do upside down situps on stairs, sprint stairs, jump backwards up stairs, sprint stairs, do pushups on stairs, sprint stairs and I even had them bear crawl up the stairs backwards -- feet first using their hands to push themselves all the way up the stadium. Then they go and dance for two to three hours.

Is it true that you've made 27 workout videos?

I've made more.

My first five videos came out in 2005. They were called, "the BodyWave." These were released world-wide and are no longer in circulation.

The next 12 called "the Full-Spectum Fitness Method" were made in 2006 for a specific corporation only.

The "FitZone Nation Crash Course" consists of 15 workouts on 3 disks. These workouts are completely comprehensive, increasing a person's fitness level across all ten aspects of fitness. They offer three weeks of workouts designed to help you get into shape enough to begin following the FREE workouts online at www.fitzonenation.com. It is my opinion, through my experience, that there is no faster way to reshape your body and completely improve your health.

What are you in addition to "trainer?"

I am a family man. A husband to a wonderful wife (Amber) of 15 years. And I am a father to three amazing kids (Zachary, Kohl and Adelaide).

What's unique about FitzZne Nation vs. other gyms?

It is unlike ANY other gym. Delivering optimal health is all we do and we are VERY good at it. We are not concerned with body-building, or Yoga, or Pilates or with what you are wearing (you'll be too tired to notice others).

We have defined what fitness is and what it means. No other gym can say that. This is because other gyms are not concerned with your health. In fact, other gyms are counting on you to NOT become healthy in their facility. They cannot afford you to do so. Their very business plan is for you to join their facility and never show up again. If you show up, it depreciates their (very expensive) equipment, scares away potential customers (can you imagine if all 10,000-plus members of these mega-gyms showed up every day?), and creates a staffing nightmare to serve you, if you and all who have memberships were to show up daily. If all who have memberships did show up, the Fire Marshal would have to shut that gym down for safety reasons, not to mention the fact you couldn't get a workout due to lack of space and equipment.

The FZN is a facility based on a unique fitness concept, which it delivers in a very safe, effective and efficient manner. Period. We exist to make you healthy and we deliver this to you through our expertise.

EXTENDED INTERVIEW ON HEALTH AND FITNESS

What's your workout philosophy?

My workout philosophy is about maximum efficiency. You shouldn't do ONE simple rep of ONE simple set of ONE simple workout that isn't DIRECTLY related to your specific goal of optimal health. I don't understand these people who exercise for exercise's sake. It makes no sense to me to have ultra large muscles. It makes no sense to me to spend long hours on treadmills or in the gym. Many have got the wrong idea about fitness. They have become such a slave to exercise that they workout so that they can simply do more workouts. I think you should take your health and fitness and use it. You should use it to enhance your life and the life of those around you. This cannot be done if you are spending your whole life training.

FZN workouts are mostly 20 minutes long. Make no mistake, they are grueling. Short, grueling workouts are the trade-off for hours spent in the gym. Our intense workouts are amazingly effective for making you look and feel as never before.

I believe that the healthy needs of all humans are universal. A human is only as fit as he or she has balance across the ten aspect of fitness. Those who have imbalances (strength only, or cardio only) are less healthy. What most do not realize is that there are HEALTH benefits to all 10 of these fitness aspects. Every individual aspect has a health benefit that cannot be attained by participating in ANY other aspect of fitness.

I believe that the word "exercise" is too general of a term and that general "exercising" isn't specific enough to help you become healthy. For example, a person who walks is exercising, however walking alone is not enough exercise to provide for your optimal health. It takes the other 9 components in combination to do that. This is a very misunderstood point among general exercisers.

Do you recommend that even skinny people work out?

The FZN believes that the healthy needs of all humans are universal. In other words, all humans should exercise specifically for optimal health.

You go by the statistic that 65 percent of Americans are overweight. What qualifies a person as "overweight?"

Tricky question. Mostly (with rare exceptions), Americans are pretty good at qualifying themselves as overweight. If they have a problem with this, I am pretty good at putting the point across when needed.

When the CDC published this finding, it used a BMI calculator, which is basically a height/weight chart to make this determination. The BMI classifies any adult between 25 and 29.9 on its scale as "overweight." Any adult over 30 is considered obese.

The thing is, there are very few accurate ways of measuring human girth. Most methods we are aware of (ht/wt charts, BMI, scales, circumference measurements, and even bodyfat percentage) are often flawed in one way or another and are hard to rely on for accurate, consistent information that tells the whole story of a person's health.

As I said earlier, Americans are pretty good at qualifying themselves as overweight and unhealthy. Most folks you know, realize that if they have quite a bit more girth then have had previously and have done little or no exercise on a consistent basis -- they are unhealthy. No number on a scale or chart is needed here.

What's the biggest myth about exercise, in your opinion?

The biggest myth is that exercise is exercise and it all counts. Too many people have failed to become healthy simply because they were told that one type of exercise was best. Your body has many different systems and each of these systems has specific needs in order to be healthy. Unfortunately, using one type of exercise to the exclusion of others is incomplete and ultimately unhealthy.

How much of weight loss is physical, and how much of it is mental?

To be successful at healthy weight loss you cannot separate the physical from the mental or vice versa. You should embrace and expect the challenges that come with both. If you become successful, you will have put just as much time and effort into correcting both of these aspects of human behavior.

What are your thoughts on surgical procedures for weight loss vs. diet/exercise?

I'm not against a person having bariatric surgery. The problem is that it doesn't always address the problem(s) that made them unhealthy in the first place. Unfortunately, there are deep-seeded problems that make people behave in ways that are destructive to their health. Unraveling these deep-seeded problems is a very manual task. It takes time perseverance, education, integration and understanding to undo what has been done through years and years of abuse. Bypassing one's stomach or blocking it off doesn't teach a person the skills they need to overcome this abuse. Many relapse. What I have come to learn is that many who become healthy over the long term do so despite the surgery. This makes the surgery seem less necessary, to me.

How does one join FitZone Nation?

The easiest way to join the FZN is log on to www.fitzonenation.com, click on the "Workout of the Day" tab and begin rocking workouts with us. It is FREE. Make sure you are posting your results in the comments section.

It is more effective if you buy a Web site membership for $29.99. This allows you access to all of the content including: Articles (nutrition, exercise, motivation and troubleshooting), recipes, podcasts, videos of exercise and workout demos, meal plans, diets, and trouble shooting ideas.

It is ultimately more effective to join our physical facility. The FZN is a workout facility like no other. We conduct nine group-training workouts per day. Each workout builds on the previous days, weeks and months. At our facility we take you from where you are to optimal health quickly, safely and effectively. We build you a meal plan, keep track of your progress and plug you into a community of like-minded individuals who are striving to get the most out of life. This ensures that your likelihood for success is much greater.

Rates are 10 per session or $100 per month unlimited. We are opensix6 days per week. Our workout times are: 5am, 5:45 a.m., 6:30 a.m., 7:15 a.m., 8:45 a.m., 9:30 a.m., noon, 5:45 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Saturday times are 6:30 a.m., 8:45 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.