As a member of the AFFamily, you receive a complimentary fitness consultation with a certified Personal Trainer. Whether or not you use this free session is up to you, and I’m sure you may have thought that this is just another thing that you’re being sold on. But I REALLY want you to think about using it if you haven’t already.

Why? Because this is your golden ticket to achieving your health and fitness goals.

After years of teaching Group Fitness classes and seeing results (I lost 37lbs during the first 2 years of teaching), I thought I had it all figured out. For me, classes were the way to success. I lost that Freshman 15 and gained strength, friends, and confidence that I didn’t have before.  Not only did I get feel good about myself by teaching classes, I was able to share it with others and inspire them to achieve similar success.

Fast forward 8 years – I still love leading classes and still teach whenever I get the chance, but I’ve hit a plateau. I haven’t been feeling my strongest or my most energetic or my most confident. I tire more easily, and I’ve put some weight back on. I know this happens with age, but you know what else happens with age? Wisdom. I realized, Oh…maybe I DON’T have it all figured out.

I am still fully dedicated to teaching Group Fitness, but I had reached a point where my body had acclimated to what I was doing.

I started doing my own workouts in the weight room, slowly incorporating different weights and strength training machines as I felt comfortable. But I still never really felt comfortable in the weight room – I jumped whenever someone dropped hundreds of pounds in bumper plates on the platforms, and I definitely stayed away from the heavy weights. While I saw some initial change in my strength and energy levels, I plateaued again. I wanted to feel stronger, but I let my confidence dip when I wasn’t getting there on my own. And my constant scrolling through Instagram fitness accounts that showed women my age moving HEAVY weight made that confidence dip a bit steeper. I just felt too tired and not strong enough to ever be able to do that on my own.

In case you didn’t already know, scrolling through Instagram and wishing you could do something that a stranger can do is not how you get stronger. I needed someone by my side who would push me out of my comfort zone in progressive, gradual steps so that small achievements added up to big success.

It was then that I decided to redeem that Personal Training consultation. And I am grateful that I did.  I knew I wasn’t going to get strong in a day, but by having my trainer assess various movements of mine in that initial consultation, I knew this was just the starting point of a commitment that I was making to myself to achieve my goals of getting stronger, and I needed to remain committed to see results. 

Over the course of my first 5 months training, I worked my way up to a deadlift PR of 155lbs, my conditioning improved as my heart rate now recovers more quickly, and I gained three pounds of muscle – read that again – THREE POUNDS OF MUSCLE in FIVE MONTHS. Like…what?!
Gaining muscle and hitting PRs aren’t the only reasons to work with a trainer, though.

My day-to-day life became easier. As my strength and conditioning improved, my classes suddenly became easier for me to teach. I could move heavier weights while teaching because I was able to move heavier weights PERIOD. I was able to tell more jokes on the microphone because I recovered more quickly and could talk more easily. (And I know my participants benefit from this too 😉). Grocery shopping, which I REALLY don’t enjoy doing, became more manageable because I could carry more bags at once. And as a cat owner, those heavy boxes of cat litter? Not so heavy anymore!

My confidence increased. I’m going to be really honest here – when I experience a dip in confidence, I become extremely depressed. I sleep all day and all night. Before I was working with my trainer, I would use my weekends to sleep. I didn’t feel like going out with friends because I didn’t feel comfortable in my own skin. This was amplified by a few unpleasant life experiences that happened, and it was starting to take a toll on my mental health. Having someone push me to try new things and believe in my ability to successfully accomplish those things brought on a new level of confidence that I didn’t think I could have. And after hearing that I had gained three pounds of muscle after five months of training? I was ready to crush heavier weights without a second thought. (I’m still not going out at the moment due to social distancing, but when the time is right, I am ready to get back out there with friends!)

My knowledge of strength training and fitness has grown. Coming from Group Fitness, I have specific knowledge and skills related to strength training groups of people. But what about training myself to reach the goals that I wanted to reach? I looked to my trainer to educate me specifically on utilizing powerlifting techniques to get me to lift heavier. I now better understand the nuances of performing a Conventional Deadlift versus a Sumo Deadlift vs a Romanian Deadlift, for example, all because my trainer coached me to do all three of these.
 
I have a renewed sense of purpose. On days when I have sessions scheduled, I get out of bed willingly (as opposed to my typical begrudgingly…I’m not a morning person). I know I’m going to go to the gym and do some amazing stuff by lifting, pushing, pulling, and carrying heavy things. I can put my newfound strength to work and have fun with it. I am excited to wake up and take on the day! And this trickles over in to days where I’m not training – I use my time on the weekends differently now and get housework and continuing education for my Group Fitness career done. (But I still take a nap from time to time when my body needs it!)

So, if you’re reading this wondering if you should use your Personal Training consultation, consider this a sign – YES, use it. If you want to see changes, if you want to feel stronger, if you want to feel better about yourself, I encourage you to find yourself trainer. Commit to improving yourself with the help of someone knowledgeable. Yes, there are days where I still get tired and when I don’t feel like working out and don’t feel good about myself – we will always experience those moments at some point. But with increased confidence in yourself and strength, you can handle those moments better.