Welcome to Bucciachio Fitness & Counselling

Let me introduce myself - my name is Peter Bucciachio. I am a Certified Personal Trainer and Registered Social Worker. Although the two careers seem dissimilar, I assure you they're not.

This isn't your usual fitness or mental health blog. I don't believe in gimmicks, fads, political correctness, trying to sell to you, or giving you tabloid advice. I talk about and deliver information that provides results, not a bunch of bull shit. Everyone's time is valuable, so I provide information that works, that can be applied immediately, and that is backed up with science or logic. I write about fitness and mental health based on my education, research, training, certifications, and experiences. This isn't a fitness and wellness blog where I tell you to sit in a feelings circle and do yoga (although there is nothing wrong with yoga and it's more difficult than it looks!). I'm going to give it to you straight, unfiltered, and real. I'm going to give you the tools you need to make a positive impact in your life - whether that's to get in shape again for the first time since high school, or get through that messy divorce.

I've been working out since I was 20, and I've owned a fitness equipment store. I've transformed by body twice from being medically obese to fit. Now, I'm a personal trainer helping clients transform their own bodies and reaching their fitness goals, and I'm in better shape now than I was in my 20's. Every personal trainer's bio usually starts with "fitness is my passion" or something along those lines. Fitness wasn't always my passion - in fact, growing up, I hated exercising. Fitness became a passion and obsession for me later in life, especially once I realized its real value.

I've been in the social work field as a counsellor and case manager for the last 10 years, and I've worked with every issue and type of client you can think of. What I've experienced is that although no two people are the same, how people change is fundamentally the same - and so is why they don't change. I've also experienced that not every counsellor or therapist (or personal trainer) is created equally. Some are simply better than others. Some counsellors get paid to listen and agree to everything you say to them. Some fitness trainers get paid to watch you work out while they talk with everyone else at the gym. I'm not one of them.

My aim is to encourage, motivate, and guide people towards greater fitness and mental wellness. I believe that what you do physically impacts your brain chemistry (neurotransmitters and hormones). Science is showing that to improve your mood, you should exercise. If you want to improve your memory or concentration, yep, you should exercise. To change a problematic behaviour - you should do, think, and say things differently (i.e. change your overt behaviours and actions in tangible ways). Basically, expecting different results by repeating the same mistakes leads you nowhere. That's where my interest in fitness and psychology/mental health really had a eureka moment - the impact that good counselling and fitness advice can have on a person could be life changing. The key to changing from your current situation and thinking pattern is to physically start moving your bodies and changing your actions. Action is the key to results - move, think, act, speak differently. See, I told you that Social Work and Personal Training were related. Social workers are change agents, helping people, groups, communities and societies effect positive change. Personal trainers are also change agents - helping you change your lifestyle habits and body composition. Both elicit change - one for the body, one for the mind. I'm simply brining both together for optimal results.

I'll be writing articles and sharing information, and I also do private practice, from these very two different but closely related fields. I stand by my slogan - "Results. Not Bull Shit" - and I apply that to my philosophy of using what works, and leaving what doesn't. I hope you enjoy my content and learn something, and feel free to drop me a line.