I first went to a PT named Sue who was good but I felt like she just looked at me as another mark on her timesheet so she could get paid. So when my second set of sessions was up I didn’t renew — and at that time I didn’t know discipline and if work butted in, I let it and cancelled my session — she charged me fully each time.

I started working with Betsy about a year and a half ago — in person at first and then after she moved to Cincinnati by email. She does cardio workouts and a meal plan for me and more on her in a sec. When she moved I first started working out alone — cardio and resistance — but I didn’t know half the resistance exercises that Betsy told me I should be doing and I found resistance to be really boring, so I started going to Scott, probably the best PT I will ever experience. He is an athlete and knows the body and how it works incredibly well. I’d be exhausted after working with him but not aching … until the next night — there were times when it took a long time to figure out how to get out of bed in the morning and a couple of times when I crawled across my office to get to a chair that was low enough to help me get up — it was less pain to push up than it was lifting up. And while he’d work on full body circuit training, where my legs were sore one week was completely different than where they were sore the next week. He taught me the “form” I’d need to be able to work on my own — and would explain what was being worked and how so I understood what he was doing and the effect it would have on me. When I developed a problem with my IT Band that pretty much stopped me from the cardio I was doing 5 times a week, he worked to strengthen my glutes — which was the actual reason my IT Band was acting up. Within 2 months I was running again and when I went back to the Orthopedist for follow-up (he had said my option was surgery) he rated my leg A+.

Betsy is a Godsend — she and Scott worked together so their exercises complemented each other — they both figured out that it’s the intensity of the workout that keeps me moving forward. Before I started working out my BP was 135/90 and my resting pulse rate was probably 120. My BP last month was 116/64 and my resting pulse rate was 62. Betsy does these incredible cardio workouts for me. She also believes – and it’s true – that eating frequent small meals keeps your metabolism working so that weight loss occurs — I’m not sure how much weight I’ve actually lost because there’s been a good deal of muscle built along the way. She has changed the entire way that I eat so that it’s healthy, fresh, filling beyond belief — and she works with my palate so that I actually like the stuff she has me eating — she makes sure I get more than enough carbs (complex only) as that is my true addiction — if I have a no carb week, which I did at one point, I called her in tears after 3 days — she’s never done a no carb week since then — but all carbs are eaten before 2 in the afternoon. Sugar is gone as well. It’s lots of lean protein, vegetables, whole grains. I sneak a piece of dark chocolate every so often and a couple truffle fries at Rockit Bar and Grill to keep me human She’s also acted as an amazing support system when my mother died recently – I should have gained about 20 lbs through it as I’m a classic stress eater — instead I lost 2 – which amazed both of us and we both credited the workout-to-relieve-the-stress regimen we both had me on.

Now I’m still working with Betsy but am taking 2 Muscle Conditioning classes per week – with Hector and with Joe — I’m as exhausted as I was with Scott with Hector and as aching a couple days later with Joe — and need both classes to notice the same physically as I’d noticed with one session/week with Scott but figure I’m getting the classes for free so I’m not necessarily going to get the same in such a short time.

Everyone should have a PT — even temporarily — just to learn proper form, to learn how different exercises work together to provide the best workout — Scott used to, in 3 sets of 25 crunches, provide me in one week what it takes 20 minutes of ab work (10 minutes 2 x per week) to do now. When you get a PT and you plan to stick with it — it’s going to be a much more positive experience if there’s a personality click — I’ve watched people with a trainer that they don’t necessarily have a click with and it isn’t a relaxing session. You’re there to do all this stuff that is at times a stretch — it’s important that you trust this person and that he/she is on your wavelength. Both Betsy and Scott knew — without my having to say — when I was close to the edge of my endurance. And they both picked up on what kind of workout was going to be what I liked as well as what would have me coming back for more the following week.

It costs a fortune, but I really can’t imagine how I can do all this stuff right way without a professional who develops the training plan and controls the way I do exercises. The body can make unconscious ‘tricks’ while exercising – slight change of pose while lifting weights can make it much easier (and useless). That’s when you need the professional who can correct you.

Emphasize quality over quantity, and remember that recovery is as important as the exercise itself. That means if you are going to pay somebody to stress your body and rip your muscles up, you need to pay yourself back with the rest it takes for overall recuperation, and for your muscle fibers to heal.

If you have a really busy schedule, and if you are over 30 or so, too much lifting/exercise can actually be counter-productive – you may find yourself feeling great in the morning, but exhausted by evening. The only antidote I am aware of is being able to take a nice afternoon nap – so if you are in your office snoozing all afternoon, disregard the above.

You may also want to do a mid-morning and mid-afternoon protein snack to keep your insulin levels constant, and have nutrients consistently available to your cells.

Avoid refined sugars because those can get you into cycles of insulin reaction which are counterproductive to the strong balance and vibrancy you seek from physical training. If you have a sweet tooth, try agave syrup, which is versatile (put it in coffee, on cereal etc.) and from my experience, elicits less of an insulin reaction than other sweeteners. Read the book THE ZONE if you want more information on insulin reaction and how to manage it.

Definitely avoid getting yourself into anaerobic states, at least for extended periods. Depriving your cells of oxygen is a really bad idea. Your cells (not to mention your brain) need oxygen. Making sure you are breathing with your belly can help. For some reason a lot of people start breathing with their chest when they are working out – consciously making sure you are breathing with your abdomen will both increase the efficiency of your oxygen intake, and improve your stamina during the course of the work-out.

A combination of L-arginine, french maritime bark and horny goat weed can open-up you circulation a bit, and might be helpful. I am not saying I recommend that, just that it might be worth checking-out, as it can increase stamina. Sloan-Kettering has a great site on herbs if you are interested. Be aware that this combination raises libido, which can be a plus or a minus, depending on your situation.

Core training IS great for overall fitness, good posture and balance etc., and if you ever watch an aikido master at work, you will see clearly how much energy resides in, and can be generated by the physical core. But if you have never done any core training, be especially careful not to let the trainer work you too hard too fast. In the typical person, the muscles used in core training are in a state of quasi atrophy, and you really need to be careful not to allow yourself to be pushed into injury, exhaustion or both.

I have worked with a number of personal trainers. Some of them will want to push you to get fast results in terms of the poundage you can lift, the reps you can do and so-forth, as quantitative evidence of the good they are doing you. They figure this will inspire you to keep coming back.

Forget that. While you should be willing to accept an initial period on muscle soreness as inevitable when you start or increase the intensity of a physical program, the long-term bottom-line question is HOW DO YOU FEEL. If you feel good physically and mentally throughout the day, and feel that your thinking is consistently lucid, then you are engaged in a good practice. If you are feeling tired and mentally drained by evening, being able to lift a building will not be much consolation.

At one time I got obsessed with working out and made it my goal to go from 170 pounds to 200 by lifting. I got to the 200, which was rewarding, but once I reached my goal I realized I really did not feel all that great. By late day I was shot. That just means I had sacrificed balance and common sense in pursuit of a goal. It happens.

Sometimes less is more. I have know people who look at exercise in a binary fashion, and if they can not do everything they imagine they should be able to do, they quit working out. This is called “the perfect being the enemy of the good,” and is really unnecessary. Any amount of exercise is better than none, so if the amount you are doing is stressing you out and making you miserable, just do less.

Good luck!

That’s really cool. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for sharing.

Merrill

I do about 6 exercises. Each rep is a slow count of ten each way and you want the weight to be such that after 6-8 reps there is no way you could do another rep. I can definitely tell a difference in my muscle tone and body shape even though I have only lost 4 lbs.