The Best of New York!

I found David Janik through a very fit and fabulous friend of mine, Goce Zojcheski (a brilliant MIT physicist, hedge fund investor who still has a great job in this market, looks as if he strictly consumes protein, and forced my friend Yanni and I to go to one of the only gym on Mykonos to work out in between beach time).

Dave is a former fitness model and has appeared in several National and International magazines including Men’s Health and Maxim. He used to be a football player (American football that is!) and once believed that training was all about weights and running. Over the years, Dave has developed a unique and tailored program that blends the best of cardio, strength training, weights, yoga/pilates, kettle bells, boxing, core training, etc. Dave’s philosophy is NOT to follow trends and fads but to develop a balanced workout that also integrates nutrition, good sleep and a healthy mentality. He has always been extremely picky with his clients and works very closely with all his clients to give them the utmost personal attention to really achieve great and measurable results. Dave would often send me text messages when I was on vacation to make sure I was eating properly and exercising… Over the years, he has become one of my best friends and I miss him dearly in Stockholm!


I was slightly skeptical at first when I met Dave because I definitely didn’t want to be one of those hard-core muscle types. I asked Dave for references of other women he had trained with similar fitness goals as mine (get more toned, slim down, etc). He shyly mentioned that he has been training Nicole Kidman for several years. In fact, I lost him for almost 2 years when he moved to Australia to train Nicole for that movie (see picture below). I won’t comment on the movie but her body looked great!

When I first started training with Dave, I was super skinny from running about 8 miles a day, had very little muscle tone and suffered from the Asian girl “flat butt” syndrome. I wanted to work on building muscle in the right places without bulking up. I am sharing a video that I filmed last week when I was deported in New York of what I call “How to be Asian and get a Brazilian Butt” (I’m not there yet, still working at it!). I hope this inspires you to get off your butt and work out! Trust me, this routine seriously works if you do it about 2-3 times week, with a well-balanced and healthy diet and other exercise of course!

I am wearing Casall Basic Cotton Tank in Yellow (I like that they are longer in length than other brands and also more fitted), and Casall Wide Jazz Pants (I have four pairs of these btw, because they are so versatile for all types of training and I’m not always on top of my laundry). Also, if you don’t have Dave Janik to provide you resistance, these wrist and ankle weights are amazing and definitely do the trick to increase your workout.

For more information and to inquire about training opportunities with Dave, please visit: www.manhattanmuscle.com