About Me

Thursday, June 10, 2010

why i believe in personal training

Before I jump into the goodness of my love and adoration for my personal trainer, I just have to give a big WOOHOOO because I am finally feeling better! I'm still a little congested but my energy is picking up and very little coughing still left, thank goodness! In fact, I was feeling so good last night that I decided to hit the gym for some light cardio. Well apparently, my "I'm feeling better" hormones kicked into overdrive because I started off with a 20 minute treadmill run and finished it off with a 35 minute "bike blast" spin class... aka how much can you sweat in 30 minutes of fast and furious spinning. I tried not to push myself too hard, and could definitely tell that I hadn't been in for a few days but I still burned  918 calories! I was really hoping to hit maybe 400 total so I was thrilled to see this number. I'm headed in again today for some much needed strength training, but I'm going to wait until this afternoon when my energy seems to be better.

Another bonus, the cracker binge of 2010/ being ridiculously pitifully sick helped me lose another 3.5 lbs! Which means that I am exactly 1.6 lbs from my lowest weight ever! Pretty excited about that, I never thought I would be able to get down that low the healthy way :O)

Which leads right into my post topic of why I believe in personal training. My super amazing trainer is directly responsible for how great I feel and look today.... However, I haven't always had the best experience with trainers.

When I was going to college, I joined a gym nearby the restaurant I was working in. I thought it would be easy and convenient to hit the gym there since I was working so much that I wasn't making use of my free membership to the campus gym (stupid mistake!!!) So I signed up for a membership with Oz Fitness. I was sweet talked into a pretty expensive membership with a very expensive training package by a tanned, heavily muscled, sweet-talkin sales rep. I started working out there and it was a really nice facility; I actually enjoyed working out there. I started on with a trainer who was very nice and genuinely cared about my goals. He put me through workouts so rigorous that I nearly passed out on several occasions. Keep in mind that I hadn't been working out regularly or eating very healthy at this point; I didn't really know how to do either very well. No matter how nice the trainer was, the workouts were so intense, that I physically couldn't get through them on my own. I really wanted to get healthier but he gave me no tips on what to eat, how to workout on days when I wasn't doing the strength routines of torture. Ultimately I spaced out my sessions further and further to put off the torture and ended up not using half of my sessions when I canceled my membership (I was moving out of the area).

Fast forward about 6 months later, I was even more overweight and unhappy. I still didn't really know how to workout effectively. Actually, I wasn't working out at all. I was in the midst of a stressful internship for the last part of my degree and didn't think I had the time to exercise. My wonderful parents intervened and offered to pay for my membership at Gold's Gym where they had just started working out.


I loved it, everbody was so welcoming and supportive! Plus I had both of my parents by me for support. I took this quote to heart every single time I walked into the gym...

Because for me, my journey started there. I tried group exercise classes
Pictured above is BodyPump but my favorite was a brutal Functional class and Zumba :O)

And sweated my way through many hours of cardio (not all at once!) I dropped about 5 pounds instantly, but I was nowhere where I wanted to be. Enter super trainer #1... He came along and listened to my frustrations, understood and took to heart what my goals were, and gave me strength routines that helped me push myself. He was gentle and caring, and very concerned with my progress. It was the first taste of exercise success that I had and I loved it. I did ST #1's workouts for a couple months but eventually stagnated and didn't know what to do next.  

Enter Super Trainer #2 :O) He saw me working out one day and walked up to me and just said "hey, I saw you working out the other day and I think I can help push you to the next level, are you interested?" I said yes (not knowing AT ALL what I was getting myself into) and said that I was frustrated and if he could promise me results I would do whatever he told me to do. He looked at me and told me "good, that means you're ready and if you do what I say, I will promise you that I will get you into the best shape of your life." And I never looked back. His workouts were intense. More intense than Oz Fitness Trainer's were but he told me every step of the way how each exercise was working my muscles and why it was beneficial for me. He told me exactly what to eat and why it was good for me. He told me food to avoid and why I didn't want them in my body. He gave me homework assignments to research food, make my own meal plans, research exercises that I wanted to try, find fitness inspiration. He didn't just give me killer workouts, he armed me with knowledge about my own body. He empowered me and showed me how strong my body could be. He pushed me harder than I've ever been pushed, but saw when I went from exertion to failure. He kicked my butt when I was slacking, motivated and encouraged me when I was defeated, and supported me in every way possible to make sure that I met my goals. With him I gained 11 lbs of muscle and lost 15 lbs of fat in one month. Results I never thought possible.

Since then, he convinced me to do a bootcamp class that I never would have even contemplated before. I tried it, and loved it. It pushed me in ways I never though possible. He's taken me and 2 other badass chicas on for group training in the kinesis room-- a lot of smooth functional movements.


Looks unassuming doesn't it? I can assure you, it's not :O) It's about 1000 calories an hour brutal. Full of enough rows, lunges, plank crawls, bear crawls, burpees, pushups, ab moves of death, and squats to make you want to puke. But I love it.

My experience with personal training has empowered me. I feel like there is nothing I can't do, and that is all because of my personal trainer. Even though I'm in great shape now, I keep going to him because he keeps pushing me. He told me until I can do one legged kettlebell swings on an exercise ball (yeah try to picture that! Craaaaazy!) that there is always room for improvement. I now know how to push myself harder even without him, fuel my body with the right foods for me, and enjoy a healthy lifestyle.

So if you're thinking about personal training, try it! Don't be discouraged if the first one doesn't work out, it's like the perfect pair of jeans... sometimes you have to go through a few duds before you find the perfect one. Believe me, it's worth it :O)

2 comments:

  1. Just found your blog, our posts and eats are very similar! A new blog friend...

    ReplyDelete