The Mariolis Method: Move - Think - Evolve

03/12/2025

02/12/2025

Why I Don't Promise Transformations in 6 Weeks

Every now and then someone comes to me and says, "George, I've got a wedding in 6 weeks… I need to drop a heap of weight. Can you help?"

And I tell them the same thing every time: "No. Not for that. But come and see me after the wedding."

Most don't expect that answer. They think 4–8 weeks is a long time.

It isn't. Not for what they're asking.

I've been doing this a very long time. Long enough to know what happens to a body when you starve it, dehydrate it, flog it, and hope it magically cooperates. It doesn't. It survives.

When you push that hard, that quickly, here's what really happens:
Hormones crash.
Testosterone dives (for men and women).
Estrogen shoots through the roof.
Metabolism drops its bundle.
And mentally… you're running on fumes.

Then the moment the event is over? When you finally "relax," have a drink, eat normally again… the body does what the body is designed to do: It overcorrects. Hard.

I've seen people gain back everything they lost — and more — in a matter of days or weeks.
Not because they're weak.
Not because they've "blown it."
But because their internal chemistry is swinging like a wrecking ball.

I saw this constantly when I owned my gym. There was a particular bodybuilding coach starving his female athletes before competitions. Afterwards, their bodies would go absolutely ballistic — bloating, rapid fat gain, hormones all over the place.

And do you know where they ended up? In my office. Sitting across from me, exhausted, frustrated, and confused. Trying to understand why their body had "turned against them."

It hadn't. It was doing exactly what it thought it needed to do to keep them alive.

So no — I don't offer 6-week miracles. Not because I can't "get results," but because I actually care about the person who's left standing after the photos, after the holiday, after the wedding.

The real transformation doesn't start in 6 weeks. It starts when you're ready to stop punishing your body and start rebuilding it the right way.

And that's when I say, "Okay. Now let's begin."

The Mariolis Method: MOVE.THINK.EVOLVE.
Not Another App. Real Coaching. REAL CHANGE!

27/11/2025

BALI, many years ago.

Thought I was booking a nice, relaxing massage.

Turns out, in Bali, "deep tissue" means they bring in reinforcements and you become both the table AND the client.

Pretty sure I lost 2kg just from being compressed.
My body made sounds I didn't know it could make.

Best recovery session I never asked for. 😂

Sometimes rest looks different than you expect.

And sometimes it involves two very determined Balinese ladies making sure you remember who's in charge.

The Mariolis Method: MOVE.THINK.EVOLVE
Not Another APP. Real Coaching. REAL CHANGE!

25/11/2025

Comfort keeps you safe—but safe doesn’t build strength, habits, or results.

Move, fuel, push yourself.

Small daily choices lead to lasting achievement.

Push your body.
Train your mind.
Build habits that last.

The Mariolis Method: MOVE.THINK.EVOLVE
Not Another APP. Real Coaching. REAL CHANGE!

24/11/2025

FITNESS IS EASY—UNTIL LIFE GETS COMPLICATED

You know, people think fitness is hard. It's not.

When life's calm, it's actually bloody easy. You train, you feel good, you get on a roll. No mystery there.

The trouble starts when life gets messy. And it always does. Something small knocks you around — the kid's sick, work runs late, wife asks you to do the shopping on the way home, someone needs you — and suddenly the training (your health!), is the first thing that gets pushed aside.

I've seen this for decades, literally decades. When I had my gym, the thing I could never understand was how many people would stop attending but keep their membership going. Month after month. They wouldn't step foot in the place, but they wouldn't cancel either. Oh how the franchises of today love this! In fact, that's the foundation of their business model.

Took me a while to understand that. It's not about the gym. It's about what the membership means to the member. As long as they're paying, they can tell themselves, "Yeah, I'll get back into it Monday." It keeps the guilt quiet. And they're still members of a gym! It keeps the goal alive.

Of course Monday comes and something else pops up, and there goes another week. But they never say, "I quit." They just drift. They need to keep the goal alive.

And the thing is, it's never about laziness. People love to call themselves lazy, but it's rubbish. What actually happens is they miss a couple of sessions and then this story kicks in — "Here we go again, I'm just not meant to get healthy." And once that story starts, they're done. Not because they can't train, but because they've convinced themselves life always gets in the way. Pretty silly really.

The people who end up doing well long-term? They're not perfect. Not even close. They miss plenty of sessions too. Life smacks everyone around (surprised right ... you thought you were special)! The only difference is they don't turn it into a whole drama. They don't wait for the stars to align. They just come back the next day or the day after and keep going.

Honestly, that's the real skill. Not motivation. Not discipline. Just getting back on the horse every time you fall off. And you know what? That horse stops bucking so hard once it realizes you're not going anywhere.

That's what I try to teach now. Because life's always going to knock you off that horse. The question isn't, "Will you fall off?" Of course you will. The question is whether you get back on.

The Mariolis Method: MOVE. THINK. EVOLVE.
Not Another APP. Real Coaching. REAL CHANGE.

21/11/2025

TWO PEOPLE. SAME DECEMBER. DIFFERENT OUTCOMES.

Person A: Parties hard. Makes big promises January 1st. Crashes by February. Laughs it off. Repeats next year.

Person B: Parties hard. Built a system in November. Executes the plan. Comes back stronger. Earns respect.

The difference? Person B didn't wait for the "fresh start."

They prepared BEFORE the chaos.

Which person do you want to be?

Three weeks left. Message me. Let's build your system now.

The Mariolis Method: MOVE.THINK.EVOLVE.
Not Another APP. Real Coaching. REAL CHANGE

20/11/2025

WALK. JOG. LIFT SOMETHING. THROW SOMETHING. CHOP WOOD. GARDEN. GO to the GYM.

It doesn't matter HOW you move.

JUST MOVE

The Mariolis Method: MOVE.THINK.EVOLVE.
Not Another App. Real Coaching. REAL CHANGE!

18/11/2025

THE FEBRUARY FADE

Every year, the same cycle:

The December blowout.
The January 1st promise.
The absolute certainty that this year will be different.
Then the inevitable February Fade.

I’ve obsessed over why we keep repeating this loop — and I think I’ve finally cracked it.

If I told you right now that your New Year’s resolution would 100% fail, would you still indulge over the holidays?

Yes!! Of course you would. Which means the resolution was never about change.

It was a receipt for the party.

I call it The Clean Slate Fantasy.

The indulgence happens. Guilt hits.
So you make the big promise — not as a plan, but as a way to wipe away the shame.

Instant emotional relief.

The failure? Quietly waiting for February.

But here’s where it gets serious:
This isn’t just about fitness or weight.
This cycle reveals something about CHARACTER.

If your word to yourself means nothing, what does that say about your reliability to others?
Your employer? Your partner? Your kids?

Every broken promise teaches your brain the same lesson:

Your word doesn’t matter. So what’s actually missing?
Not willpower - Not knowledge - Not motivation.

What’s missing is this: You’re planning for success instead of planning for stress.

Real change doesn’t happen on January 1st when motivation is high.
It happens on February 12th when you’re exhausted and someone brings donuts.

Success isn’t built on dramatic promises — it’s built on small, boring systems that work even when you don’t feel like it.

Don’t wait for January 1st to repeat the cycle.
The February Fade is coming — again — just like last year.

But here’s what most people don’t understand: This isn’t about avoiding the party.
Party. Enjoy yourself. Go hard.

This is about partying without the guilt - Without the shame - Without the predictable, “I knew I’d fail anyway.”

Imagine partying harder than everyone else — no holding back — with zero guilt.

Why?
Because you prepared before the festivities.
Because you have a bulletproof plan for after.
Because you’re not relying on desperate January promises — the system was built weeks ago.

While everyone else scrambles with doomed resolutions and slides into their February Fade, you’re already back on track. Stronger. Proving it’s possible.

That’s what earns respect. Not the person who parties then fails and laughs it off.

The person who parties and wins.

So here’s the real question: Is that the person you want to be? Someone whose word means nothing?
The annual joke?

Or someone who shows their kids, friends, and coworkers that you can enjoy life and maintain integrity?
That strategic preparation beats desperate promises every time?

If you want to be that person — start now. Before the indulgence.

Build the system before the party so you can party without consequence.

Message me. Let’s prepare you for the holidays so you can go harder than everyone else — with zero guilt, zero shame, and zero February Fade.

Not another fragile promise. A bulletproof system that lets you win. The February Fade is coming for everyone else.

But not for you. Not this time.

The Mariolis Method: MOVE. THINK. EVOLVE.
Not Another App. Real Coaching. REAL CHANGE!

17/11/2025

We're Teaching Theory to People Who've Never Done the Work

We're certifying trainers after a few weeks in a classroom.
We're letting academics with no practical experience teach people how to coach.
We're producing technicians who know exercises and sets but have never felt what it means to truly train.

They can name every muscle.
They can design a program that looks perfect on paper.

But they can't tell you why their client quits after three sessions.
Why someone keeps blowing their diet every weekend.
Why that shoulder tension never goes away.

Because they've never done the work themselves.

You can't teach from a textbook what can only be learned in the trenches - with real people, real struggles, real breakthroughs.

That's why most trainers lose clients fast.
That's why people give up and think "training just isn't for me."

It's not them.

It's trainers who were taught to program exercises but never taught to understand humans.

I've been doing this for 40+ years. I have clients I've trained for over a decade. Three generations of the same family. Why do they stay?

Because I train THEM.
Not bodies.
Not "fitness goals."

The actual human in front of me.

That's the difference between a technician and a coach.

And the industry desperately needs more of the latter.

The Mariolis Method. MOVE.THINK.EVOLVE.
Not Another App. Real Coaching. REAL CHANGE.


MOVE.THINK.EVOLVE.

14/11/2025

WHICH SIDE DO YOU TRAIN?

Every personal trainer can name these muscles.
Sternocleidomastoid. Deltoid. Pectoralis major. Re**us abdominis.

They know the origin points, the insertions, the functions.
They can design a program that hits every muscle group with perfect balance.

But here's the question that matters:

Can they tell you why their client keeps quitting after three weeks?
Can they tell you what's really going on when their client says "I'm too tired" or "I don't have time"?
Why that shoulder tension never goes away no matter how much they stretch?
Why they eat perfectly all week then blow it every weekend?

Can they tell you why their client feels disconnected from their own body?
Why they carry weight in places that won't budge?
Why they're so hard on themselves?

Can they tell you why, despite having the "perfect program," their client still isn't making progress?

We're taught to train the left side of this image.

Muscles.
Movements.
Sets.
Reps.
Periodization.
Progressive overload.

It's all important. I'm not saying it isn't.

But transformation doesn't happen in the muscles. It happens in the HUMAN.
The person on the right side of this image? That's where the real work begins.

That's where "I always start strong then quit" lives.
That's where "I hate how I look" keeps repeating.
That's where "I don't know why I can't just stick to it" comes from.

That's where old beliefs about yourself create limits no program can break through.

You can have perfect knowledge of anatomy and still completely fail the person in front of you.

Because training muscles is easy.
Understanding humans is hard.

So I'll ask again: Which side are you training?

If your answer is "both," you're rare. And you're the kind of coach people stay with for years, not weeks.

The Mariolis Method: MOVE.THINK.EVOLVE.
Not Another App. Real Coaching. REAL CHANGE!

13/11/2025

They're Getting Rich. You're Getting SCAMMED.

Let's talk about supplements. Because the industry has gotten completely out of control.

First, let's start with the basics. The word "supplement" means something you take IN ADDITION TO something else. In this case, food.

Here's what they don't tell you:

Eating terrible food and supplementing with anything - protein powder, fat burners, pre-workouts, miracle pills - is a complete waste of money. You're polishing a turd.

THE REAL PRIORITY ORDER:

Exercise FIRST. Get moving. The human body is designed for movement. Without it, circulation suffers, metabolic rate drops, and nothing else works optimally.

Good food SECOND. Fuel the machine you're building. Exercise creates the demand, nutrition fulfills it.
THEN - and only then - we can talk about supplements.

Here's something that'll upset people: Exercise + average food + no supplements is STILL better than good food + supplements + no exercise.

That's not my opinion. That's physiology. Deal with it. Not interested in your opinion on this!

NOW, HERE'S WHERE IT GETS UGLY:
Social media right now is absolutely feral with charlatans and frauds promising the world.
Drop 10kg in a week!
Gain muscle overnight!
Lift twice as much!
Look like a superhero in 30 days!
This is the only magnesium you will ever need!

It's all rubbish. And people are buying it.

Even the most common supplements - WPI (Whey Protein Isolate) and WPC (Whey Protein Concentrate) - are being diluted and watered down with cheaper single-strain amino acids just to make up the "protein per serve" numbers on the label.

Regulations are so slack that unless you do some deep research, you actually have NO IDEA what you're getting.

A FEW MORE UGLY TRUTHS:

Artificial sweeteners with side effects that should terrify you are being let through without proper scrutiny. Sucralose? In years to come, we're going to look back at the gut damage and wonder how we let this happen.

Protein per serve has quietly dropped from 30-35 grams down to 20-22 grams. And somehow that's acceptable now.

The supplement industry is a multi-million dollar empire built on people who trust manufacturers and sales pitches without doing ANY research - despite having the entire internet at their disposal.

I'M NOT SAYING ALL SUPPLEMENTS ARE BAD. Far from it.

If you're eating well, training or just exercising consistently (there is a difference), sleeping properly, and managing your stress - then yes, there are supplements that can make a difference. Over time. Not overnight. Not in a week. Over months and years of consistent use alongside everything else.
But you need to do your homework. Read the research. Check the ingredients. Understand what you're putting in your body. Why?? WHY ??? WHY do people not bother to look at the labels???

Most of the companies making these products don't care about your health. They care about your wallet.

Bottom line: Start EXERCISING. Fix your food. Get the basics right. THEN - if you want to add supplements - do your research and choose wisely.

Don't believe the hype. Don't make them rich at the expense of your health.
And don't hesitate to ask for help. Usually, it's a 2 minute discussion to set you right, so reach out ...

Or just cough up your shrinking savings on useless, worthless supplements because you are desperate for that short cut.

Reach out. Don't be embarrassed to admit you don't know!

The Mariolis Method: MOVE.THINK.EVOLVE.
Not Another App. Real Coaching. REAL CHANGE.