Heroes Fitness AMA #1 (Ask Me Anything)
I am, unfortunately, our current social media manager, and I'll be the first to admit that's a bit like hiring a golden retriever to do your taxes; enthusiastic, well-intentioned, occasionally chews on something important.
We genuinely do want to hire someone for this. The holdup is we haven't figured out whether it makes more sense as a part-time employee or contract work, so for now, it's still just me and some questionable font choices. If you (or someone you know) actually knows what they're doing here, email me directly at connorblackmon@heroesfitness.org with a resume and a quick pitch on how you'd handle our socials. Bonus points if you can pitch us without making me feel personally attacked.
Q. Why 40 minutes? Is that truly enough time for an effective workout?
Fair question. 40 minutes doesn't exactly scream "serious gym." But it wasn't a random number I pulled out of a hat.
About four years ago, I started testing different session lengths and frequencies with clients, and 40 minutes kept winning. It's enough time for a quick cardio warmup, six exercises done properly (3-4 sets each), and a cardio finisher, without tipping into what I'd call "junk volume" — extra sets and exercises that leave you more sore without actually building more muscle. There's real research behind that idea, which I'll get into more below.
It's also just realistic. Most of our clients have jobs, kids, and a house that needs cleaning, and zero interest in spending two total hours (drive there, workout, drive back) to get results. 40 minutes is designed to maximize what you get out of the time you're actually willing to give.
Q. What's the future hold? Any big plans?
The last two years have been an equipment-and-facility era for us — new flooring, new dumbbells, the hamstring curl/leg extension machine, the InBody, and upgraded software for tracking and displaying workouts. All of that needed to happen, and I'm genuinely relieved it's done. I don't think I could survive another spreadsheet comparing dumbbell brands.
We're still finalizing the 2027 roadmap, but the focus is shifting away from "buy more stuff" and toward other kinds of growth. Here's what I can say without getting ahead of myself: we're planning to bring on our next team member soon, most likely in an admin/support role, though we're still working out exactly what that looks like. We're staying quiet on details for now, but that might end up being our next real "big" move. We're also testing some partnerships and software to level up the nutrition side of coaching, and some of that is already in beta.
Q. While increasing the amount you're able to lift is one measure of progress, how do you stay motivated when you feel like you don't see any visible changes to your appearance?
Honestly, getting stronger feels great, but I'm not going to pretend that's the whole answer. At the end of the day, most people want to see the scale move or their clothes fit differently, and that's a completely valid thing to want. I'm not in the business of talking anyone out of caring about that.
What we do instead of just saying "trust the process" is run an actual controlled check-in. For 2-4 weeks, we have the client log food in our tracker, do daily weigh-ins, and cut back on the "it doesn't count if no one saw me eat it" cheats. That way we're looking at real data instead of vibes, and we can figure out what's actually happening and what needs to change. Sometimes it's calories, sometimes it's consistency, sometimes it's genuinely just water retention lying to you. But guessing helps no one, data does.
Q. Any new features coming to the app?
Sort of a two-part answer. Our current app, the one you use for scheduling, viewing workouts, and messaging us, isn't changing. It's mostly run by a third party and does its one job well.
The exciting part is that we're building a companion app in-house: a food logger similar to something like MyFitnessPal, plus a workout tracker. Pieces of it are already being beta-tested behind the scenes, and we're very excited about it. I'm not going to oversell it before it's ready, but consider this your official heads-up that something's cooking.
Q. What do you think works with this training structure and what would you improve?
Our whole approach is built around "less is more," which is a pretty unpopular opinion in an industry that loves to sell you exhaustion. We're heavily inspired by guys like Mike Mentzer, along with research on training volume showing that a lot of what gyms call an "effective" workout is really just junk volume; extra sets and exercises that leave you sore and tired without actually building more muscle.
Boot camp-style workouts feel productive because you leave wrecked. That's not our metric for success. Our goal is strength and muscle, not burning the most calories possible in a session, because we believe fat loss is mostly a diet conversation, not a workout conversation. Heavy cardio can technically torch a lot of calories, but it can also crank up your appetite enough to undo the deficit anyway.
What would I improve? Honestly, communicating this philosophy better before someone's very first session. A lot of new clients show up expecting to be exhausted, then feel confused when they're not totally dead when they leave. We're getting better at setting that expectation upfront, but it's still a work in progress.
Q. Will there eventually be additional time slots added, i.e. a lunchtime workout slot?
Yes, funny you ask that, actually. It has been logistically difficult to add that slot. But after talking with Zach recently, it is something we are ready to test out. Starting Tuesday, September 1st, we will be hosting 1 hour lunchtime sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12pm-1pm. The slot will host four people, instead of three, and will be an extended session. We are running the session as a test for 6 weeks, and if people like it, we will run it Monday through Friday.
Q. Can you please dive into recovery to assist with weight loss/muscle gain?
Our 3-day split is basically built around recovery first. Instead of doing something like 20 sets per muscle group in a week, we typically land around 5-8. That's enough to properly stimulate the muscle without digging a hole you can't recover from before the next session.
As for deload weeks (which is taking a week to lift very light or not at all), some trainers swear by them, and they can be useful, but most of our clients naturally get their "deload" from vacations or busy weeks. So we don't force one into the program for most people.
Beyond that, recovery mostly comes down to boring basics: eat enough protein (we tell people to aim for about 1.6g per kg of bodyweight or more), sleep like it's your job, and don't overthink the extras. Cold plunges are fine if you genuinely enjoy them, but skip them if you're only doing it because you think it's required. It's not.
Q. I'd love to hear about Connor's bodybuilding competition — what he had to do to prepare, how many times he competed, and where he placed.
This one ages me. My last show was 8 years ago, so buckle up for some nostalgia.
I competed twice, both at the Europa Games in Orlando: once at 19, where I didn't even place (humbling), and once at 23, which is the one I actually remember, so that's the one you're getting.
EG isn't exactly a beginner-friendly show, but I coached myself through it anyway, partly to test myself as a bodybuilding coach. (Turns out my actual skill set is way better suited to helping moms and dads get healthy, which is a big part of why Heroes Fitness exists today.)
My prep was 15 weeks, and it was 90% a diet game. I started at 225 pounds, tracking every single bite. The first 8 weeks were pretty easy; a 20% deficit, weekly weigh-ins, lifting Monday through Friday with 30 minutes of cardio after each session. Then, every couple weeks, I cut carbs lower and lower, from 225g a day down to a brutal ~40g in the final week, swapping the difference for protein (which is an insane amount of protein). I never cut calories directly, just adjusted as I lost weight, and I dropped 1.5-3 pounds a week like clockwork.
This is around where things got a little weird. My go-to treat became a cup of liquid eggs blended with chocolate protein powder — and I promise you, at that stage of carb depletion, it tasted like a milkshake. Cottage cheese and almonds became my emotional support snack. I didn't cheat once. I also wasn't fully sane by week 12.
Final stretch, I added an extra cardio day, then spent the last few days "carbing up," cutting water, and taking a diuretic to dry out for the stage. By show day I was down to 182 pounds; lean enough that without the muscle, I probably would've looked like I just left the hospital.
Show day itself went well: I placed 5th in my class and actually got a trophy this time. Genuinely one of the hardest things I've ever done — tied only with starting a business, which funny enough, happened during this prep.
Then came the part nobody puts on the trophy shelf. I'd spent the whole prep watching way too many "cheat day" videos, and once it ended, I ate like it was my job; an entire deep dish pizza (or was it two?), a dozen donuts the next day, and that doesn't even scratch the surface. Total Binge Eating. I gained almost all the weight back in 72 hours, and my stomach genuinely held a fingerprint for a few seconds if you poked it. Not my proudest biology demo. But it was kind of funny.
That whole experience is exactly why I'm careful with how I coach nutrition today. What worked to get me on a bodybuilding stage isn't a template for anyone trying to lose weight and keep their sanity intact. Extreme works for a stage under bright lights for one weekend. Sustainable is what actually works for real life.
Q. How do hormones affect body composition?
Big question, so let's start with an honest boundary: we are trainers, not doctors. If you suspect something's actually off with your hormones, thyroid, PCOS, menopause-related changes, that's a conversation for a physician, not your coach. What I can talk about is the stuff in our lane: the hormones that respond to training, food, and lifestyle.
Testosterone and estrogen play a real role in muscle building and fat storage, which is part of why men and women often respond differently to the same program. Insulin matters too, basically the carbs conversation from a few weeks back (see "The Truth About Carbs"), since it's the hormone that shuttles energy into your cells based on what and how you eat.
But the one nobody asks about, and probably should, is sleep. Poor sleep raises cortisol, which affects appetite and fat storage. It also spikes ghrelin (hunger) and drops leptin (fullness), so you're hungrier and less satisfied, exactly why a bad night's sleep turns into a bad day of eating. Even testosterone takes a hit with chronic sleep deprivation. You don't need a lab test to notice this one: bad sleep, worse workout, hungrier day, harder to stick to the plan.
So when someone's training hard and eating reasonably but still stuck, sleep is one of the first things we look at, right alongside stress and consistency. Not glamorous, but often the missing piece.
And again, if something feels genuinely off, talk to your doctor. We're great at programming and accountability. We're not equipped to diagnose a hormonal condition, and we'd never pretend otherwise.
Q. If someone comes twice a week, how many days should they supplement with regular gym sessions, or does it depend on goals? Thanks for all you do :)
We consider two sessions a week with us to be the sweet spot. Some research suggests training a muscle twice a week versus three times gets you around 80% of the same results, assuming the programming is solid (which, obviously, we'd argue ours is). So adding a third day of strength work would get you that last 20%, if you want it. All of our programmed workouts are visible in the Heroes Fitness app under the "Tracking" tab if you want to see exactly what a third day would look like.
If someone wants to add something on their own, our recommendation is usually LISS cardio (low-intensity steady state, like an incline treadmill walk) for about 30 minutes, 1-3 days a week.
And hey, thank you for saying that. Seriously! Answering these was fun, keep the questions coming for the next one.
About the author
Connor Blackmon is the owner of Heroes Fitness, a private personal training gym in Valrico, FL. He built it for the people who feel weird about gyms; the ones who've thought about canceling their membership before they even used it once. No mirrors full of strangers, no guessing what machine does what, just a private space and a coach who actually explains things instead of just barking reps. His goal is simple: help men and women get stronger without the anxiety that usually comes with it.