How PERSONAL Is Your Personal Training Program?
You hire a personal trainer. He or she gives you a canned exercise program. You don’t get results. Do you know how personal your personal training program actually is?
One of the qualities that sets us apart at Total Fitness—not only from other Atlanta fitness trainers, but from most medical doctors and even many alternative health practitioners—is how well we assess our clients. We get to the bottom of the REAL blocks to excellent health and fitness. One of my clients said to me, “You know me better than my best friend who has known me 20 years!”
Over the years, I have learned many systems of analyzing people and figuring out how to make anyone—anyone at all—better than they already are. I have integrated systems from Sue Maes, my mentor who is an expert on the brain, as well as Paul Chek, who trains the best fitness trainers in the world, along with techniques from Brain Gym, Touch for Health and many systems of exercise and healing.
If you are not getting results, ask yourself: Has my trainer assessed my physiological load? If you don’t understand how the combination of musculoskeletal stress, organ difficulties, hormonal stress and emotional stress play out in your individual body, you may never get results. Exercise is a continuum. Not all exercise is good for every body. You may be exercising too hard, causing your program to backfire and add to your hormonal and muscle-bone problems, or not hard enough, leading to boredom and lack of changes in your physique.
Has my trainer assessed my stress level and my blood sugar balance? To me, these two are like the game of Monopoly: You can’t pass go or collect $200 unless you really understand just how stressed you are AND how balanced your blood sugar really is. Once you go into Stage 2 of adrenal stress, you automatically become insulin resistant. Translation: The more stressed you are, the more trouble you have metabolizing carbohydrates. If you are either hypo or hyperglycemic, you won’t lose weight.
Has my trainer assessed my posture? To me, if a client improves their posture, EVERYTHING shifts—their state of mind, their pain level, their ability to move easily and gracefully in all manner of sports. If your trainer is giving you a canned exercise program (which is what happens in most cases), you could worsen your muscle imbalances, worsen your posture, have more back and musculoskeletal pain and never look better.
Has my trainer figured out exactly where I am in the progression of exercise? Should you start with flexibility, or core exercise, before you begin heavy-duty weight training? Can you really access your lower abdominal muscles? Many people never change the look of their abdomen because their exercise program has not been personalized. At Total Fitness, you know your eating and exercise program is JUST FOR YOU!
Case Study:
The Woman Who Wasn’t Really Depressed
Earlier this year, I received a referral from an excellent psychologist. The young woman she referred was tired and depressed, even though she was happily married, had a small child she loved and did not work outside the home. During the initial evaluation, I connected my new client — I will call her Mary Q. (not her real name) — to my computer program from the HeartMath Institute. Her resting heart rate — which we reviewed repeatedly — was over 100 beats per minute. Average is 72 BPM, and fit people generally have lower rates. I referred her immediately to a cardiologist and encouraged daily walking. By listening, I was able to determine what was really wrong and get her help.
Case Study: The Avid Golfer Who Couldn’t Win
My client John Bell loves to play golf. I like to tease him that when his schedule gets busy and he doesn’t train with me, he doesn’t win golf tournaments. When he trains with me, he wins.
Just this September, after a long hiatus in our workouts, John Bell came back.
Sure, he had been working out on his own. In January, he lifted weights on machines. He became so uncomfortable, the tightness in his body made it difficult to impossible to play golf.
John is an advanced exerciser. Although he is in his 60s, he has lifted weights and done all manner of athletics for years.
I took him back to the basics. Sometimes, to make someone better, you have to work on what they are NOT good at. In John’s case, although he passed most of the basic flexibility tests, his limitations in his golf game were in his ability to rotate and his ability to access his core. His diet interfered with his ability to use his transverse abdominis — the lower ab muscle that links to the gastrointestinal system.
We worked on his diet. John took a lab test that identified his food allergies. We devoted one hour each week to stretching. During our workouts, we worked on improving the rotation in his spine. We included exercises to improve the crucial range of motion that would allow him to swing and hit the ball farther. We corrected his mineral deficiency, which led to muscle cramps. Results: John Bell won his first tourney in 1 1/2 years. His friends paid him hundreds of dollars — more than making up the cost of his personal training with Total Fitness!
Case Study: Recovery from Brain Tumor
Joleen Nell, 43, had surgery for a brain tumor a year ago. We improved her balance, her back strength, her diet and her mental attitude. We used specialized kinesiology, yoga, corrective exercise and stretching.
“The problem with fatigue has improved tremendously,” she said. “I can get off the couch now.
“You have a lot of compassion and understanding for the individual that you won’t see in most trainers. You deal not only with exercise but with the whole person.
“Most people know they should exercise and eat right, but they don’t know how to do the right thing for THEM. I just learned the importance of sleep, exercise, proper nutrition and supplements for ME.
“A lot of people don’t know what’s appropriate for their body or their situation. That’s what you are able to provide for people.”
For more information about personal fitness training, yoga, Qi Gong or our complete list of services, please visit www.totalfitness.net or call us at 404-350-8581.