Personal Assessment

Yesterday I had a 6pm appointment for a personal assessment. The e-mail reminder I received stated to wear comfortable clothes and shoes and take a towel and water. I was going to change there so I left work 15 minutes early to make sure I had enough time to change.

My second day at the gym and again, I didn't change clothes.

The trainer I had the appointment with saw me as I was talking to a former co-worker I ran into at the front desk and just led me to his desk. We went over some of the same things I had discussed with the sales guy on Monday.

In my street clothes, he did have me attempt to do a push up, plank and wall sit. I utterly failed. Well, I think I held the plank longer than he thought I would.

He laid out a plan for me and why he thought it was the best route for me. He was good...very nice, had me agreeing with him. And then I finally asked the question - how much is all of this going to cost me?

We came to a price that I was comfortable with for a certain number of sessions a month I would pay for and some complimentary sessions. We made all my appointments for August.

I'll have workouts 3 days a week and the days I'm not with a trainer, they'll detail what I'm supposed to do in my journal so I can do on my own at the gym. On the weekend, I can take Zumba or Yoga or an aquatics class, though he prefer I swim laps versus the class (I need resistance). The focus will be strength training to build muscle, with some cardio added in, and then later, an increase in cardio. So for now, no spin classes or aerobics.

I was against getting a trainer because of the cost, but it does make sense for me. As my friend said, it'll help build my confidence and get me started since one of the things I was most worried about going to the gym was the fact that I didn't even know where to start in terms of a workout routine.

The funny thing is that he kept talking to me about how much weight I would lose and other clients of his and how I could get super thin as long as I did it the right way. It's not about that for me. I don't want to be super thin. That's not me. I want to address some of my problem areas and get in better shape, but I don't need to be super thin.

Yes, I want to lose some weight, but I don't want to lose myself.