A new year, a new you

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January 19, 2007

By Kenneth Chambers The Cullman Times Fri Jan 19, 2007, 02:00 PM CST

With the New Year comes many resolutions. We all make resolutions to become smarter, healthier, or even wealthier.

Every year millions of people make these resolutions only to watch them fall by the wayside and the goals never come close to being accomplished.

People resolve to go back to school to finish up that degree or quit that go-nowhere job and open their dream business. But the most failed resolution is the one that is quite possibly the easiest to accomplish: “I want to lose weight, get stronger, be more flexible, or just lead a more healthy life.”

Here in Cullman we have the luxury of having several fitness centers just waiting to help all of these people live that healthy life that they want. In each of these fitness centers there are several fitness professionals called personal trainers. All of these trainers are eager to help all of us lose that weight, build the extra muscle, and help us with one on one instruction achieve our fitness goals.

So maybe you are wondering what exactly a personal trainer is and how this person is going to help you lose the weight that you want to lose.

A personal trainer is a health and fitness professional who is hired for private fitness instruction. A trainer will help his or her client develop and maintain a level of physical condition by designing a specialized exercise program for the client. The goal for a trainer is to enhance the basic fitness components of the trainee. Muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance, and flexibility should all be incorporated into a complete fitness program. The trainer will take all of these components and prescribe them as needed for the individual client to help them achieve their goal.

Choosing the right trainer can be a difficult task but there are a few criteria that can make this task very easy.

First, the trainer should be certified by a nationally recognized agency. There are so many agencies out there so just doing a little research can go along way in helping you find a well educated trainer. There is even an accrediting agency to help clients choose the best educated trainers out there. So you may want to look for a trainer with a certification that has NCCA accreditation.

Second, talk to a few trainers to check out their different personalities. Find a trainer that you think will push you just the right amount to help you reach a little farther. Some people might like the trainer who is screaming at them to run 10 miles an hour on the treadmill for 30 minutes. While some other people may just need someone there to hold them accountable for their workout. You may even want to watch a trainer work with a client so you can see how the trainer interacts with the client.

Now that you have chosen your trainer here are a few things to expect from your trainer. When you first meet with your trainer much of the first session will be a question and answer interview to establish your short and long term goals. The trainer will take all of the information and use it to construct your program. During your first session most trainers will want to do a body composition test. This test is used to check the percentage of body fat on the client. Knowing this number can be very helpful in checking progress because most of us want this number to go down. Your trainer can tell you what a healthy body fat percentage is and how long it may take you to reach your body fat goal. Some clients are more interested in keeping up with inches and your trainer can keep track of this also. During this first training session the trainer is going to want to get some kind of idea of what your fitness level is currently so be ready to go through a good cardio and weight training workout. Knowing where your fitness level is will help the trainer develop a program suited specially for you.

SportsFirst Fitness offers knowledgeable fitness professionals who want you to know that there is absolutely no reason why we all should not be able to keep our resolution to become stronger, leaner, and more flexible and in turn lead the healthy lifestyle we want.

At SportsFirst Fitness, we are dedicated to providing quality health, fitness and recreation programs for our members. Our courteous staff of professional offers individualized instruction and advice, making your workout both safe and effective. For more information, call 256-737-1951.

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