A lesson in strength

1. How long have you been involved in fitness instruction?

I've been teaching since I was 22 years old. I've been teaching over 20 years. With personal training, I've been training for over nine years. I was more into classes and things, but we didn't really have a lot of personal trainers around here, and then we [the YMCA] decided we wanted to go down that avenue, because it became so popular, so that's when I decided to do that.

2. What made you want to be a fitness instructor in the first place?

I was always active in high school, so I didn't want to stop after high school. I found I liked aerobics. Back over 20 years ago, that's when the aerobics all started, and I just started right along with it and just kept it up to stay healthy. I found out I enjoyed teaching it and found out I liked lifting weights and getting into that part of it, too. I wanted to pass it all along to other people and teach them how to do it the right way. Being a personal trainer, you'll be in the weight room and see people lifting weights and doing it the wrong way and getting hurt. I like teaching people how to do things the right way.

3. What things does a personal trainer need to know?

You have to know parts of the body, the muscles of the body, how the muscle works and kinesiology. You have to know the social aspects of personal training, the legalities of personal training. It's a pretty wide spectrum of things you have to familiarize yourself with to be able to train. You have to be aware that people have certain things like high blood pressure or joint problems. You have to make sure you're aware of those types of things, too, when training and be able to zero in on those types of things and know how to treat them when it comes along. Sometimes you may have to refer to a physician, or a lot of times we've had people come in who are seeing physical therapists, and after they're done with them maybe the therapist has a list of things we should work on with them. The more knowledge, the better.

4. Do people have a wide variety of attitudes when they come to see you?

There are different personality types. Most of the people who come to personal trainers don't want to do it on their own, so you have to motivate them and be a big motivator. A lot of times people come to classes because don't want to exercise on their own, so they come to class for motivation. As far as personalities, everyone that I [train], I think it's their outlet. I think they're happy to be here. I've never had problems with people. That's why I love my job.

5. What else do you enjoy about personal training?

The hours are great. I work great hours. I get to meet a variety of different people. They like to come and see me so they're happy, so that makes me happy. Seeing the results, too. Have someone come in here who has no muscle mass at all, and then you work with them for a month, a month and half, and you're starting to see results. That's awesome to be able to see. If you have overweight people start to see them get excited about losing weight and becoming healthy, that makes me feel really good.

6. Why do you think personal training has grown in popularity over the years?

I think a lot of people realize they don't know what they're doing and they feel they need guidance. I've gotten phone calls before from members and from new members, like last week I just got one, a gal who just joined and said, "I'm a new member, and I really need some guidance. I need a trainer. I have no idea what do. I have no idea what do for cardio, I have no idea what do for weights." So I think they realize they need the help. I'll have some people stay with me for 10 sessions, and then they'll leave being comfortable with what been taught, and I have other people who have been with me for three or four years that need that motivation.

7. Why do we need extra motivation in our lives to be healthy?

Time constraints, I think. A lot of people I talk to out on the street that see me know I work here say, "I've got to get back up to the Y and exercise, but I have no time." I think they need to put it down like an appointment, like a doctor's appointment: exercise for one hour at 10 o'clock on whatever days of the week. With a trainer they know they have an appointment, or with a class they know class is at a specific time, so it makes it easier on them.