(back)

Keeping Fit...with personal Trainer Kirk Matthews
Still hope for those who indulge...and bulge

So, it’s that time of year again: the time of year when holiday guilt sets in for all the treats you’ve nibbled, sampled and tried “just a bite” of…or, you’ve gobbled it all down with abandon since you won’t see it again until next year!  Hmm, isn’t next year only a few days away?

There you are, five pounds heavier, and New Year’s resolutions are just a heartbeat away—so, what to do?  If you’ve added five pounds to the five pounds from last year, and the year before that, don’t worry; there’s hope!

Many people try to lose weight after the holidays by joining a gym and slaving away for hours on cardio machines trying to burn off the calories, only to give up after making only minor progress in a short time. 

Or, they starve themselves, which is never a good way to lose weight since they’ll lose a lot of the precious muscle that helps keep the fat away. They’re missing a primary concept in body composition management: the more muscle you have, the more likely you are to stay lean, since muscle uses calories to maintain itself.

Consider this: for every year the average office worker sits in a chair eight hours a day with little demand on the muscles, a pound or more of muscle can be lost. Since each pound of muscle uses calories just to exist, you can guess where your calories will end up, especially if your diet remains the same. The same calories eaten per day with less muscle on the body makes for caloric excess, allowing fat to slowly accumulate over the years. Add to that the caloric indulgences of the holidays (or last month’s doughnuts), and you have a recipe for obesity, a challenging and deadly crisis in American society.

So how do you regain the muscle you’ve lost and restore your calorie-burning machine to its proper state, the state it was when you were younger?  Resistance training. You lift weights, progressing over time as your body adapts, adding muscle along the way, burning more calories 24 hours a day with the new muscle, and your excess fat is a thing of the past.

But there’s a right and wrong way to train. Luckily, you have nearby a virtual army of personal trainers, all waiting to show you how to do it, with a variety of torture devices to whip you into shape, sapping every ounce of energy from your body in a nightmare of painful and horrifying exercises you’ll be forced to endure.

Is this how you see trainers?  OK, some personal trainers are drill sergeants, but the majority aren’t, so if you’re serious about a change and want help from a pro, here are some pointers.

Ask prospective trainers about their qualifications. Some have certifications, for example, that require such intense study and advanced knowledge that a degree would be redundant.

Some take special courses to teach how to train throughout a pregnancy, provide rehabilitation for an injury, and so on. Major certifying organizations to look for:  American Council on Exercise (ACE), National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

Your trainer may also have a degree in exercise science or sports conditioning. Since a variety of certifications and degrees are available, take the time to talk with the trainer to get to know how their qualifications will work for you. How often will you work together?  How much emphasis is placed on proper exercise form?  How much guidance is given for flexibility training? Will nutritional advice or direction be given as part of the program?  Can the trainer be hired temporarily to design a program for you if you’re a quick study or on a limited budget? What results should you expect? 

You may have other questions as well. But the most important thing for novices to remember is: if it took 10 years to get in the worst condition of your life, don’t expect to be in the best condition in only 10 weeks. And in that respect, make sure not to overdo it, since your body and mind will react to that kind of stress the same way it does to other kinds: it will try to reject it.

A good trainer or training program will take a gradual approach and won’t push you too hard. So take it easy, take it slow, work harder when you can (not so hard that it hurts), and reap the benefits as they come. And if you can, try to get some friends or family members involved, because the support that comes from a group effort can help and motivate in many ways.

Good luck to you in your fitness journey. With best wishes for you all, have a happy holiday and a great New Year! 

And when you see a trainer eating chocolate or drinking eggnog and you feel the need to tease him, don’t be shocked when he tells you to drop and give him 20 pushups so you can indulge without guilt too!

Kyrene Corridor trainer Kirk Matthews, CPT is an ACE (American Council on Exercise) certified personal trainer and nutritional consultant.

(back)