My Trainees: A Snapshot

[Dreamliner]

Just wanted to pass along a snapshot of those I'm currently working with, people from all walks who have answered my call to be my 'guinea pigs' as I study to become a personal trainer:

A young couple from Tokyo: the woman is a dancer who wants to learn how to do pullups. Her boyfriend has a nasty case of kyphosis and forward head posture. So, I've designed a pullup-progressions program for the young lady and a postural correction program for the young man.

A 45-year-old woman in Orlando: She wants to lose 88 lbs. by Jan. 1 of next year. She has some significant movement impairments also and I've prescribed a very basic bodyweight exercise program for her. Some of the exercises I've prescribed for her would be easier than the exercises that many perform merely to warm up for exercise. She is also very excited about wearing a pedometer so we can track her average daily activity.

A young man in Toronto: he is quite thin and would like to add strength and appreciable muscle mass. Given his training inexperience I have him doing three total body workouts a week. He initially found the idea of barbell squats and deadlifts daunting. So, I started him out on a dumbbell program. And as I had hoped, making some rapid early progress, he's caught the bug and intends to transition to barbells soon. And in his case he's quickly learning that grip strength is a limiting factor in heavy legwork. Thus, the need to transition from dumbbell step-ups to barbell squats and such.

A 48-year-old woman in Orlando: she has a probable meniscus tear, favors the knee in question, has beaten herself up running and neglected proper strength training. I have her on a bodyweight program designed to address muscle imbalances and take stress off her knee. She recently reported that her husband has begun to join her in her workouts.

A 37-year-old man in Dubai: he's marginally overweight but is weak and experiences general knee pain when squatting. So, we're simultaneously in information-gathering mode and also working into some very basic movement patterns. For example, I have him squatting to a chair with the aim of establishing a bit of hip-drive so as to relieve stress on the knees. And apart from that, various bodyweight and dumbbell exercises.

A young man in Mexico City: he's a bit of a 'cardio-rexic' who wants to gain strength and muscle. Currently, we're butting heads just a little bit as I make the case for reduced cardio and increasing strength training, all in a manner of sorting out his conflicting goals.

A young man in London: he's a runner and has ask me to help him with both his running and related aches and pains. I've prescribed a bodyweight program and have him backing off the aggressive stretching he's been doing, prior to running which, I suspect, has been contributing to his aches and pains.

Also, several on GC have inquired and are in various stages of getting started.

Finally, my own nineteen-year-old son is my pride and joy. He has made TREMENDOUS progress over the course of slightly more than a year. This week he's been down from college and we've together taken the step of cutting back on both volume and frequency to facilitate still more progress. Less than eighteen months ago, at roughly 6-0 160, he could barely deadlift 115 lbs. Since then he's lost nearly 15 lbs. of fat, gained nearly, I would guess, 20 lbs. of muscle and increased his deadlift to 405 lbs. He's a little beast! His ultimate deadlift goal is triple-bodyweight.

Thanks to the forum and all its encouragement. And I'll continue to share the progress of these people and am eager to get your feedback as I strive with them to help them to attain their goals.

NOTE: yes, some of my trainees are currently in various states of pain. Just to assure you, I am NOT AT ALL shy about referring out to medical specialists. However, thus far, it's playing out about as I expected. When people are in pain they just don't run to personal trainers first. And the folks in pain that I'm training have seen medical specialists, have not found relief, and in certain cases, have received advice which is unduly conservative. For example, the woman with knee pain was told by her doctor to do leg presses with FIFTY pounds. So I had to explain to the woman that she exerts far more force than that simply stooping to pick up her husbands dirty socks!

[ATL_Gator]

Congrats man. Sounds like you are really getting the word out there.

I am on the verge of taking a break from the original 5/3/1 for a while. Thinking about going to a M-W-F-M-W plan (I have every other Friday off), or even a 2 day a week plan.

[LeafUF]

Pretty interesting range of individuals there. Where did you find them all? Minus your son of course I can guess how that happened and don't need details.

I need to get my mom on some sort of exercise routine and she has a bit of a problem when it comes to listening to me. Maybe I need to put you two in touch.

[maxgator]

That's awesome. You are working hard. Good luck.

[Dreamliner]

Thanks, guys. And again, I welcome your feedback.

Found my trainees locally, on GC and on a skyscraper discussion forum that I used to be active on but rarely post on anymore.

[Dreamliner]

I've been fortunate enough to have picked up clients number 9, 10, 11 and 12 this week: a young woman who wants to lose thirty pounds and do pullups, her best friend who is alarmed by her cholesterol numbers and a mother and daughter who want to lose weight.

[G8rChuck85]

You have your own site, or belong to a fitness site of some type? Let me know if you get any hot babes you need help with!

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by G8rChuck85

You have your own site, or belong to a fitness site of some type? Let me know if you get any hot babes you need help with!

Not yet. I just go to womens' homes.

[Daltongator]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

Thanks, guys. And again, I welcome your feedback.

Found my trainees locally, on GC and on a skyscraper discussion forum that I used to be active on but rarely post on anymore.

Dream-

What is a skyscraper discussion forum?

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by Daltongator

Dream-

What is a skyscraper discussion forum?

Dalton, it's basically where skyscraper and architecture and urban development afficionados hang out:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com

[G8RBrave]

Dream I have to ask - are you just doing sort of an online consult with these people, or have you visited with any of them? I imagine, given how spread out they are geographically, that you certainly can't be "seeing" them all.

And, sort of tacky but....are they paying you or are you doing pro bono just to build up a client base?

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by G8RBrave

Dream I have to ask - are you just doing sort of an online consult with these people, or have you visited with any of them? I imagine, given how spread out they are geographically, that you certainly can't be "seeing" them all.

And, sort of tacky but....are they paying you or are you doing pro bono just to build up a client base?

Fair questions. Yes, the purpose of all this is to amass some heartfelt testimonials so as to be armed and ready when I get my certification. Of the 12, 6 are receiving online consultation, most of that involving tweaks and modifications to existing programs. I correspond with these, on average, once a week to gauge progress and to troubleshoot. With these I'm getting something along the lines of 'before' and 'after' shots and benchmark references and anticipate featuring some of their stories on my upcoming website.

The other 6 are local. I do go to their homes, conduct a two-hour consultation and movement screen, as I will with future clients. I then prescribe an eating strategy, if need be, and also personally demonstrate the movements that I want them to perform. I do have them sign a release form.

Depending on the trainee, I follow up with them by phone and email and also go back to their homes, at least a time or two, to gauge progress on their movements. Some are keeping stringent food journals. All are keeping stringent exercise and activity journals.

Trainees 11 and 12 came by way of referral, are wanting more intensive guidance from me and are insisting on compensating me. So, I'm probably going to ask for a something significantly below standard rate.

As for compensation in the future, I will likely start out at a modest rate and 'work up' to standard rate. I envision a per-session rate and also significant discounts for longer-term commitments. Additionally, I'm thinking about a very modest one-time fee for access to an insider forum, on my upcoming website, so as to provide timelier and more personal attention than would be practicable by email.

Of course my son (and his progress) will be prominently featured. He's my pride and joy. Maybe I should get him to use a fictitious last name.

[G8RBrave]

Of course I'll get a fully comped membership to your new site, right? Right? RIGHT?

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by G8RBrave

Of course I'll get a fully comped membership to your new site, right? Right? RIGHT?

*hand being held behind back*

Okay! ALRIGHT!

[Dreamliner]

Update on a couple of trainees:

45-year-old woman who wants to lose 88 lbs. by the end of the year: have her wearing a pedometer. A three-day average showed her getting 3,000 to 4,000 steps a day. We immediately upped that to 5,000 and will be increasing to 6,000 in June. Minor tweaks to diet, mainly less snacking. Exercises are very carefully chosen as just about any strenuous activity is stressful for her joints. She's lost 6 lbs. in the first ten days.

My son: since he's incredibly busy with school I've pared him back to three days a week on a four-way, upper-lower split. We eliminated all redundant exercises and he now does only two exercises per session, a primary movement and an accessory movement. Some months ago, before falling off the wagon a bit, he had his deadlift up to 405 at 6-0 170. He now has it back up to 365 at 6-0 162 and is aiming for 425 by year's end. He's squatting 235 now - and he considers the squat his week lift - but he does squat DEEP, several inches below parallel. He also does feet-elevated pushups with two 45 lb. plates on his back and I've weaned him off of pulldowns and is now doing pullups. He's eating two meals a day and says he loves the time he saves by restricting his training to the big, bang-for-the-buck exercises.

[Dreamliner]

So, anyway, I demonstrated a chinup, neutral-grip pullup and a pullup for my trainee tonight. She asked, "So which one is hardest ?" I told her pullups, to which she responded, "That's what I want to do!"

She's got a ways to go but she got a 45 second hang tonight. Thought that was pretty darned impressive.

[Dreamliner]

Update: I set up my two newest trainees, 29 and 49-year old women, just last week. We got one workout in together and then both went out of town for four days. However, they stuck to the bodyweight routines I prescribed and got in plenty of walking and both lost two pounds in less than a week. I'm proud of them because going out of town is where so many fall off the wagon. They're both en fuego about achieving some very specific goals and that makes my job a lot easier.

One of the aforementioned women will be the subject of a "Follow Me" feature on my upcoming website.

Also: my heaviest client, the woman who wants to lose 88 pounds by Jan 1, has been diagnosed with a fairly large but (thankfully) benign tumor in the neck. It may explain why she experienced dizzyness during certain movements and is scheduled to have it surgically removed July 1. She is a study in grit and determination as she has continued to adhere to her diet and activity goals and has lost close to ten pounds the first month, in spite of the adversity, after having been stuck at a certain weight for months.

It's a privilege to have a ringside seat to watch people like this take their lives in hand and progress toward goals they'd previously imagined were unattainable.

[Dreamliner]

My 'pullup girl' has just reported that she's lost seven pounds roughly two weeks we've been working together, this despite going out of town for several days and having to do the best she could in terms of workouts and eating.

She has reduced from 7-8 feedings a day to 3-4 feedings a day during an eight-hour window and reports that she feels great and that the rather significant adjustment in eating patterns have not been a titanic struggle.

[Dreamliner]

Pullup Girl reports that she's lost an aggregate 10 inches in three weeks, this despite being out of town for several days, during that period, and having to do the best she could on diet and exercise. Amazing woman!

[Dreamliner]

My son: he just called to inform me he'd squatted 7 reps with 235. That works out to about 275. He's 5-11 162. He's shooting for a 315 squat and a 450 deadlift at roughly his weight.

A woman I'm training turned in a food journal I'd asked for that showed her getting between 500 and 800 calories a day ... and she hasn't lost any weight after a week of training. Further discussion revealed that she was leaving out entire meals ... including a foot-long Philly cheese steak sandwich one day! This is the kind of thing that has people convinced that calorie counting doesn't work.