Muscle Rx: Your Prescription for the Ultimate Physique (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781419679865)

In 1997, James was certified as a personal trainer by the National Academy of Sport Medicine and has since worked with an eclectic clientele base of various fitness levels for over 14 years, including-executives, lawyers, entrepreneurs, housewives, doctors, actors, fitness enthusiasts, and high-school and college athletes. He's also a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, a fitness professional credential requiring a four-year degree in exercise science, a requirement that James fulfilled with his Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and surpassed with his Master of Science in Kinesiology from California State University Northridge. There, his research centered on core muscle activation patterns using electromyography. His thesis study was later published in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. James also taught university-level health and fitness courses at CSUN and continues to teach courses at UCLA, including Advanced Concepts in Personal Training, Resistance Training Fundamentals, and The Human Body: How it Functions. He serves as an Exercise Physiologist at the California Health & Longevity Institute and operates his own independent personal training business, Fitness Rx. Over the past 14 years, James has helped hundreds of people transform their bodies, decrease body fat, gain lean muscle, increase strength, and feel healthier, regardless of their life situation or fitness level. But James himself is the best testimony to the efficacy of his fitness approach. Since 1999, James has competed in eleven bodybuilding competitions, including national level shows. In 2005, he won first place in the drug-tested Musclemania World show, which earned him a coveted pro card in bodybuilding, an honor that he also won from the NGA with the overall title of Mr. Natural California in 2007. A training documentary, Sculpted by Choice, follows him as he trains for the bodybuilding event in 2007. Although James has an extensive bodybuilding background, his fitness philosophies currently lie in a more balanced fitness lifestyle-- including hiking, running and martial arts. He understands that achieving a high quality of life is not only attributed to cosmetic enhancement, but to functional movement capabilities and well-being. James enjoys sharing his fitness strategies, which includes a realistic approach to integrating elite fitness components into one's lifestyle.