Personal Training Blog with Douglasville Personal Trainer David Hansey

Getting fit and feeling great is about more than just doing a bit of cardio in a group fitness class. And it is more than just showing up for a couple of personal training sessions. And it is more than just adding a few recipes to your diet.

It is about doing ALL of these things ALL of the time.

For personal training, you need to show up and work hard for your sessions (be on time, do the work — get the most bang for your buck) Also for personal training, make sure you are doing all the other workouts that you are supposed to. Like your cardio or strength training sessions that you are supposed to be doing between personal training sessions. Remember, the 1/2 hour or hour you spend with me is not enough

And for eating — find a way to control what you eat and how much. Do you need to keep a diary, do you need to seek out professional help, do you just need to learn a new way to cook, do you need to learn how to lighten up a favorite recipe. These are all things that you need to do to begin your journey to healthier eating. All of these things done together will seriously change your body and are WORTH IT!!

Group fitness classes can be fun. They can also be effective. BUT — for a lot of people, they are not enough. Fitness classes are designed to provide a workout (cardio workout) to a broad group of people. They cannot magically know all the things that make you unique. So you need to be careful when selecting one when you are a beginner to avoid injury or to ensure that you get an effective workout.

First step — go to your doctor to make sure you know that what you are considering is going to be effective for you.

Next step — pick a class that is ideal for beginners. I usually suggest spinning type classes because for most people, riding a bike is easy and you can just increase the intensity as your fitness level increases. Now that said, still might not be the right class for you so check with your doctor and take his advice.

Now, ANY class you are going to take — make sure that you show up early. This allows you to tell the instructor you are new – they should come over and introduce themselves — if not, be concerned!! Also, they should offer to help you make any special adjustments — for a bike class, this would be properly fitting you to a bike. For a kickboxing class, it would be showing you how to punch without hurting your elbow (or wrapping your hands if it is a gloved class). For a weighted class, it would be talking to you about what weights to use and anything you should watch out for.

IF your instructor does not come over — THEN APPROACH THEM.

It is your responsibility to take care of you so make sure you show up early and act like a sponge. And regardless of how you feel or what ANYONE tells you, do what you feel is right. If it feels wrong, it is. If it feels too intense, it is. Do what is best for you. If you need to modify your workout or slow down — DO IT. I tell people that if it feels too intense, then you should try just walking on the spot for a bit. But seriously — if it feels too intense or you feel weak or dizzy — STOP.

It will get easier and easier every time. So just what you feel you can each time and it will get easier and you will be safe.

I had an interesting e-mail recently from someone saying they were in their 50s and out of shape and asking if I work “with people like that”

It kinda made me take a pause. Everyone is unique and everyone is an individual. Fitness and personal training are not about living up to someone else’s ideal. It is about living healthy and being happy IN YOUR EYES.

I have clients who come to me and can barely (or not even) walk. I have clients who are very overweight and scared of the health issues they are facing. I have people who have never worked out before. I have people who are athletes and are looking to play professionally or improve their game.

Personal training is P-E-R-S-O-N-A-L. The reasons you do it are yours alone. How long you want to train with a trainer (or how often) are your choices. Many people know that they cannot afford a trainer 3 times forever. But they know that once a week (and doing their other workout sessions alone) keeps them on track.

So try not to assume that personal training is for someone else (or just for celebrities). It can be for anyone in some shape or form. You may not want (or be able to afford) a ton of sessions — so what. Do a few and show up to every single one on time, warmed up and ready to work out — and get the most bang for your buck.

I have had a lot of people asking me about nutrition. Nutrition is a HUGE part of a healthy lifestyle and I know it can be challenging.

But — Nutrition is a HUGE part of feeling healthy, being healthy and looking good.

If you have a terrible diet, you will be tired, you will have trouble losing weight, you will have trouble finding the energy to work out.

So, you need to find some easy ways to change your diet. I am talking about permanent change here. So first step is to identify some things in your diet that you can change. So keeping a diary for at least a week makes the most sense. Then identify how you can change a few things. Trust me — a few small changes will lead to big changes. Then look at how you can eat more fruit, vegetables and drink more water.

Those changes right there will make dramatic changes in how you look and feel so try these small changes for a bit and watch how they turn into big changes.

For a diary, there is an easy one on my 4 fit bodies site NUTRITIONAL DIARY FROM THE PERSONAL TRAINING BLOG (click to get the printable diary)

For ways to incorporate more fruit, veggies and water into your life, there are lots of ideas and recipes on my recipe site DOUGLASVILLE WEIGHT LOSS

It is that time of year!! Time to evaluate your life. Make those resolutions. Resolutions are very hard to keep for the simple reason that they are easier to declare than they are to commit to and implement. What is the #1 resolution — to lose weight.

You can decide to lose weight at any time without a resolution. But the thing that makes you lose weight is not declaring it. It is simple science. And a simple math equation.

CALORIES IN – CALORIES OUT = CALORIES GAINED

So if you eat more than you burn, you gain. If you burn more than you eat, you lose. SIMPLE

So you need to learn how to eat healthy meals. And you need to eat fruit and vegetables and drink water – SIMPLE

If you have no idea how to eat, then try my healthy eating site Douglasville Weight Loss to get started. It is free and gives you lots of ideas on how to eat better.

Working out is CRITICAL for weight loss. You don’t get there without cardio and weights — SIMPLE

So put in the cardio sessions, a few a week is all that it takes and do a couple of strength training sessions.

Weight Loss is not an easy road and it is not an instant thing. It takes work but it is not voodoo, you just need to apply the simple methods and do it consistently.

We support resolutions if they are achievable and you can quantify them. A blanket resolution of “I want to lose weight” is USELESS.

Make it something you can measure — like I want to drink 8 glasses of water a day — and you will be able to do it.

So here is one we suggest — I will do cardio for at least 30 minutes 3 days a week. On the days that I don’t feel like it, I will go to the gym and stand on a treadmill

Yep – that’s it!! On the days that you don’t want to or don’t feel like, you will go to the gym. Blowing it off completely is where you fail. So show up and commit to just standing there — I bet that makes you actually work out once you are there.

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE PERSONAL TRAINING BLOG — Wishing you a happy, healthy 2008!!