First on your mind is, WHO or what is Goldie's? Surely you have seen gyms with the caricature of a huge body builder holding a dumbbell over his head and the bar has so much weight that it's seriously bent. Goldie is not that guy, but more the type to which most people can relate.
I've been an artist all my life. No, not a professional. So I decided to create a "Mascot" for Garrison Body. Without further ado, here he is -
That was also my first attempt to create a drawing with a computer. Until that, I used pen and paper, chalk, oil pastels and many other methods of drawing. Hence the lack of smoothness in the lines. But because it is a caricature and not a picture, I liked the roughness of the drawing. I did not even attempt to go back years later to refine him. He's now 30 years old. Yes, I have been on the computer for 30+ years and so has Garrison Body.
Garrison Body was conceived in 1996 (only completed in 1999) while I was a Personal Trainer for Bally's Total Fitness in Olympia, WA. My friend taught me enough about HTML that I could put a Web site together. I'm not going to describe the site to you, but you can find it in "Way Back".
My background:
I was the youngest of 7 children. I'm now 1 of 3 left, and both parents gone. When I was in high school, I was addicted to the "rings" and other gymnastics. I began weight lifting in high school in addition to wrestling and gymnastics.
There were heart issues in my blood-line, as well as cancer. So by 29 I had decided that I was going to get very healthy, learn how to cook better, eat better and be more healthy, in addition to joining a gym. From that point through now, I have been studying health, nutrition and fitness, to the point of being able to guess body fat on other people within 2% just by looking at them. And today, at 6 feet, 170 lb. and just 5% body fat. I still workout at least 4 days a week, and I create a workout routine for a 12-week period for each of the 3 types of workouts (e.g. strength; size; maintenance). There really is no truth to the "wives tale" that you cannot lift heavy weights when you are over 60. Poppycock!!!
At 40 I started dabbling in Personal Training in a 1-off gym out in the middle of nowhere - Mason County, WA. A year later I graduated to Bally's Total Fitness in Olympia. I continued with Personal Training until 1997 when a "bounty hunting" computer company twisted my arm to manage retail outlets for them. That only lasted a little more than a year, at which point that company went broke - even though sales were better than the competition.
From there, I ventured out for the first time on my own as a Web developer. I opened my business in 2000 and, until 2025, I created a "LOT" of Web sites. That worked out well for me, for the most part, until the latter part of 2024. It was then that Google had made so many new changes for SEO that the average Web site owner could not afford to even consider being on the first or second page of search results. Today, you are "served" an A.I. result first. And the results generally do not answer your search as fast and "to the point" as A.I. It's the last part of 2025 and Google has made more changes that, for the most part, eliminated any small to medium size business from competing in their search results. It just made no sense for me to continue my business when nobody could afford the costs.
Side Note: In 2016 I was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. One of the few "gifts" I was given in life. I opted for surgery to remove my prostate. Today, I'm healthier than I have been in perhaps any part of my life. I'm back and very close to my condition when I graduated high school (nearly the same waist, too). But I'm 30 pounds heavier which is how much muscle I've put on since high school. This is all to say, it IS possible to recover from and be healthier than what you were before you had some serious illness or injury. And even if you are over 60! I'm 71. Do not let anybody tell you that it's "too late" to get into great physical health.
After closing my Web development business, I decided to put all my effort into Garrison Body. It just makes more sense since that's what I "know" best, and I don't have to worry about SEO anymore. And now, for the end of 2025 and beyond, Garrison Body is staged to help everybody who is willing to get in great physical condition by learning "enough" to be really healthy instead of following all those "diet fads" that do not work. In fact, I do not know of even 1 diet the works. A "working" diet is one that retains all of your muscle, and only burns fat. Since all those diets tell you to just eat a lot less food, that alone is going to make you unhealthy.
Do Not Diet!
Before you decide you are going to try that diet you have heard so much about, read the information about the diet and the business that is promoting the diet. Are they teaching you "why" you would reduce your calories? Do they provide accurate measurement of the calories you consume daily compared to calories you burn for the same day?
No.
Do they measure your body fat so you can monitor the fat loss?
No.
Do they tell you how much protein you should eat daily?
I'm going to say no, but I'm also following that up with this. If they tell you that you should eat "about" 80 grams daily of protein, RUN! That is WAY too much! If they tell you to at least get 20 grams daily...same response. If you only eat 20 grams of protein daily your body is eating your muscles. If you eat too much, it is stored in your body - as FAT!
Your body does not store anything other than fat. So regardless of how well you eat, if you eat over your calorie or protein totals, you increase your fat.
And, sadly, if you eat "too little" of either, then you force your body to eat your muscles, which lowers your muscle volume and increases your fat volume. Your body will "always" do what it needs in order to survive and that includes eating your muscle for protein or calories because muscles have everything your body needs.
How do you know? Use the Garrison Body Proprietary Calorie Calculator. Write down "every" activity you do for 1 day. It should be a typical day for you and not something "one-off". Measure and write down "every" bit of food you eat - including snacks, no matter how small. It all adds up.
Who to Trust Today?
So what makes Garrison Body the "expert"? I don't claim to be one. But I do know what "science" says. I go into a lot more detail with the "why" information so that you can easily learn what to do and why. I've studied with R.H. Garrison, Jr., PhD, (my brother) for many years before he passed. I went much farther than studying nutrition and health. I documented a great deal of information from my Personal Training clients, myself, and the thousands of people with whom I have come into contact in the last 30+ years, and with whom I have discussed their fitness and nutrition.
Put all that together and you have an on-going study of health, nutrition and exercise. It's the "real-world" information that is part of all the proprietary calculators in the site. Instead of just a formula, I've seen how the formula alone works and how far off the results are, then changed the formulas to provide accurate and "realistic" results for everybody instead of just a few who "fit" into the formula.
Case in point. The USDA daily calorie recommendation is 2,000 calories. WAIT! Do not write that down and attempt to work that into your own diet. 2,000 calories is way too much for most people. That 2,000 calories daily was something that was the result of a formula. But the base subject for the formula was a 23 year old male (that leaves out half the population), who is a seasoned athlete - which you are not (more than likely). So how many calories "should" you eat daily?
Why Garrison Body?
I have always been the type of person to "help" others. When I knew how much I had learned and how much I had "debunked" so much of the calories and protein volumes recommended and exercises that people were performing which provided very, very small results, I wanted to share that knowledge. That is specifically what Garrison Body is all about - sharing / teaching what is proven to work.
You should also note that I have personally communicated with hundreds of general practitioners (GP doctors) who all admitted that they do NOT get any training for health, nutrition and exercise. Some said they got 1 week worth of training. But that was the most I heard from any doctor. So do not ask your GP what you should do for exercise. Do not ask your GP how many calories you should eat. Do not ask your GP how much protein you should eat. Why? Because they do not know!! They are not trained for that and, if you ask your own GP, they will tell you they did not train for that. This is, perhaps, the most significant reason I created Garrison Body. Studying with my brother was how I got involved in talking to GP's. He told me that there are very few physicians who know anything about health and nutrition...sadly.
I actually wrote a book - which remains unfinished and only in draft - titled "Why Weight?" I didn't follow up on the book because this Web site is, well, better. Perhaps, one day, I'll put all of this into a book. Until then, you can come here and learn at your own pace, then practice what you have learned to see the amazing, quick results.
Ask questions. Post in our forum. One of the most important things I try to impress upon people is this. Just because there is a book that's popular, or a diet that "everybody" is using, does NOT mean it's any good!
Here are the critical parts you usually will not find in diets or books. Garrison Body has calculators to prove to you what your daily calorie consumption should be based on your weight and daily activities. Not some generic calorie count.
Protein is critical and you have too low - as well as - too high limits. Knowing your calorie consumption limits as well as your protein limits are 2 of the 3 most important parts of your health success. Calories - Protein - Heart rate. If you know all of those, you have the vast majority of the "secrets" that will allow you to attain whatever your goals.