I’m a nationally certified Personal Trainer. I’ve been training people for over 7 years. I was certified by the Aerobic and Fitness Association Of America (AFFA) for 6 years, and recently became certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM).
I started exercising for the same reasons most women do; my jeans were getting tight. Afraid to join a gym by myself I talked a friend into joining with me. We took step aerobic classes twice a week, spending our first clumsy month in the back of the class, trying to be as inconspicuous as one can be when one is wearing Lycra.
I don’t know if I lost weight that first month; I didn’t weigh myself back then, but my jeans fit better, and the class was fun. The instructors name was Snowflake, gyms and health clubs attract “colorful” people (I’m colorful myself in a earthy way, earthy as in down to earth; not earthy as in not wearing deodorant).
As a part our membership, the owner of the gym showed us how to use the weight machines; like most women we were enamored with the thigh machines, and the Butt Blaster; we used them everyday. At the end of three months I could crack nuts — walnuts that is, between my knees.
It soon became clear to me that working my butt and thighs this hard was only advantageous for . . . cracking nuts — walnuts that is, between my knees, a skill that made me the life of a few bad parties.
Working my thighs and butt out like that made them bigger instead of smaller; and all the crunches I was doing . . . I had abs of steel all right, a six-pack you couldn’t see, buried as it was under a layer of fat.
So I worked out harder, and with weights thank you very much, but it was all for not. I didn’t know spot training didn’t work, and I didn’t know you can’t get rid of the fat on your abs by doing crunches, and neither did my mother who (God love her) got a kick out of grabbing and pinching my stomach fat.
“Yeah you look good, but what about this,” she asked laughing, my flesh in between her fingers. “If you can’t do it,” she said seriously “as hard as you workout there’s no hope for the rest of us.”
Working-out Hard vs Working-out Smart
I knew how to use weight machines and free weights, but I knew nothing about changing the shape of my body until I became a Personal Trainer.
Yes my jeans fit better as a result of my hard work, and I was more toned, but my body wasn’t changing like I wanted it to. I learned the hard way that a whole lot of exercising doesn’t amount to a whole lot of results unless you know a whole lot about your body, and its response to exercise, diet, and your lifestyle. This is what personal training is about.
Setting the number of sets, reps, and choosing specific exercises, anyone can do that. Setting the number of sets, reps, and choosing specific exercises based on the science of exercise is what a trainer does. Science hasn’t been this interesting for me since building an erupting volcano in the seventh grade.
