Four weeks ago I decided to use a personal trainer to try to help me knock my body into shape. I have never used a personal trainer before because I always thought that I could train well by myself. This year after six years of broken New Year’s resolutions and hundreds of pounds spent joining gyms, I decided I needed some help. Searching the internet I came across Christina and decided to enroll in a course of training sessions.
I should add that having been an exercise oriented person for most of my life, I retired at 55 years of age determined to really get into shape. Instead I packed on the kilograms and at 61 years old I was in terrible shape and have developed diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure….so much for getting into shape. One New Year’s Day I tipped the scales at 93kg, which wouldn’t be so bad if I was 6 feet 6″ tall, but I am only 5 feet 7″. I take size 40 trousers, having been a size 36″ when I left work 6 years ago. I enrolled in yet another gym in January this year fully committed to working out every day and changing my shape, which has become so bad that I no longer feel comfortable looking in the mirror. Enrolling with Christina has proved to be absolutely the right step for me, and 4 weeks later I feel like a new man. Don’t get me wrong, I have a long way to go yet, but even after 4 short weeks I feel better about myself, my belt is two notches tighter and I have lost some weight. Also my shape seems to have changed with my shoulders, arms and chest seeming bigger and my waist smaller. I look in the mirror now to see improvement. My weight is down modestly, about 2 kilograms, but when you start to train you lose fat and gain muscle so you might even gain a little weight when you start even as your fat belly starts to shrink.
It is not an exaggeration to say that Christina has turned me around and changed my life. Firstly she has corrected my exercise ‘form’ and now I do my exercises much more efficiently, isolating key muscle groups. Secondly, she has pushed me to work much harder and longer than I ever did when I exercised by myself. Thirdly she has explained the methodology and science behind exercising so that I understand what I am trying to do. Finally she has motivated me so that I now look forward to going to the gym, rather than seeing it as a chore to be got through.
When you first contact Christina she will ask you what your objectives are and what you are trying to achieve by starting to train. She then designs a program for you to exercise different groups of muscles on different days, giving adequate time for each muscle group to recover before it is worked again. Additionally she designs in different exercises on the same group of muscles so that the program does not become boring and formulaic, but there is always some new exercise to perform….this keeps the training session fun and fresh. Christina will also push you to push yourself….this means that you do more reps with higher weights than you would dream of by yourself. This is very motivating as you feel a real sense of achievement at the end of each session and you can measure your progress week by week.
I also had some unexpected benefits. My knees have started to ache carrying so much weight around and it was difficult for me especially in colder weather. After training the pains in my knees have disappeared because I have strengthened the muscles supporting my knees. A similar thing happened with my shoulder pain, which has also gone away.
Christina is qualified to instruct people suffering from diabetes and obesity and she has in depth knowledge of the diseases and their causes. She is also very helpful when it comes to nutrition.
Overall I have found the last four weeks to be foundational as I continue to turn my life around, and I have to thank Christina wholeheartedly for this. I feel that she was committed to helping me with my training and understood the problems that I was facing…her commitment to me made me feel committed to ensuring that I worked hard so as not to let her down. Many people will rightly question the cost of personal training. All I can say to this is rather than look at the cost, look at the value….you can waste lots of money on joining gyms and not achieving the desired results…whereas investing money in a personal training program will give you the knowledge and the motivation to get results which are meaningful to you. For me, I will never be Arnold Schwarzenegger, but I feel that, with Christina’s help, I have taken charge of my life and that I can look forward to a better quality of life as I get older. I am very grateful for this.
