I went to my first personal training session today, and boy! was it exciting. Okay, I sound like a little boy, but it really was a lot different than I had expected.
First, I want to say, I'm really glad I opted for the Fitness Plus package that allowed me 5 sessions with a personal trainer.
Second, I'm super excited I had heeded the advice of the guy who signed me up for my membership. He recommended a guy named Andrew Jung, and all I knew at the time was that the guy just came back from Thailand, and was a professional in Thailand. Really, it was the fact that he said "I'm looking into a personal trainer, too, and I'm thinking of getting Andrew as my trainer", so that won me over!
So let's begin.
I was really skeptical about personal trainers, although I have a really ripped girlfriend who works at the same gym as a personal trainer. I thought that because I am slim, and jog most days, and eat more healthy than most of my friends, it was enough to keep me in tip-top physical condition. Another girlfriend had joined the gym about two months ago, and had raved about how effective and successful her personal training sessions were... but even then, I was not especially keen to the idea of having someone tell me how to exercise. Way to be open-minded, right? Yeah.
I have to admit, I was thoroughly uneducated about the benefits. I'm not raving about it, really, I'm just really glad there is someone there to educate me about how to eat right, and the myths about using various mechanisms for exercising.
I have five sessions with this Andrew character, and let me tell you! He is fun! He divulges a lot of information, sometimes more personal than I care to know, but maybe that's why some people develop feelings for their trainers, because they feel that their really making a connection with someone, when really, their making connections with every one of their clients.
I had first taken notice of my trainer when I had walked into my Friday night workout session with my girlfriend, it was a little past 9:30PM, and well, the place was deserted, it left the gym with mostly gym buffs, arms the size of my thigh, or bigger. I was going in for the first time, and had assumed that my trainer would be there only on weekdays during the day, so when I caught a glimpse of this Asian male, relatively built, without realizing it, I searched for his name tag, and then it dawned on me. He was my trainer.
I was pretty much really intimidated because he's really built, and looks like he trains seriously. Possibly the reason why he was recommended with such esteem! I pretended in later workouts at the gym that I didn't really know who he was, even though I knew perfectly well. I saw him every time I went, no matter the time, 9-11PM on a Friday night, early Saturday morning for Yoga, after work hours on a Tuesday afternoon, and each time, he and I would make eye contact, and each time, I thought, how wonderful it would be to see the expression on his face when he realizes that this random slim character was really to be training with him for the first time, ever!
So it was just like that, he was very charismatic, and very friendly. Joked, and acted a fool every couple of seconds, introduced me to other trainers at the gym, and briefly mentioned that he had recognized me from my previous gym sessions. After the warm up period, he finally divulged some pretty intimate details of his life, etc, 24 years old, born the same year about 5-6 months before myself, randomly drives out to gyms just to check out the gym, and how he's a fitness nazi when it comes to his clients. It was all in good fun. He measured my body to see what my body fat mass was, and laughed when I said I had back fat.
The best part was when I found out my body fat is at 31%, which is right at the higher end of the threshold. So my goal is to be in between 20 and 31, somewhere at 25%. He also wanted to check my posture, so he had me raise my arms above my head sitting next to my ears, and to have my feet spread, shoulder width apart, and to squat. After a little instruction, I squat to my comfortable position, and raised myself, feeling self-conscious, I asked how many more he wanted me to do to check my posture. He commented on the depth of my squats, and then told me he wanted me to do about 10 more, which seemed odd to me, but I did as he asked. When we finally returned to the desk, he said, the reason he asked me to do so many was that he didn't see any noticeable mistakes, and he didn't really believe it, so he wanted me to do more, in case he just wasn't paying enough attention. Apparently, I am the only client of his that has had perfect squat posture. Good news! =)))))
After all of this, he is going to be watching my diet, and will work me super hard, mostly because we both have a lot of energy and because I can joke with him on the same scale... he will ensure that I reach a long term goal of 112 lbs, increasing muscle mass, and decreasing about 6 lbs of fat mass, to reach the 24.25% body fat.
All along I thought I was too slim to have to seriously work on my body, but BOYYYYYYYYY was I wrong.
I think I may really enjoy my sessions, we'll be working to target my waist, and my arms, but also my overall health. This sounds like a true beginning.
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