Personal Training

John Spencer Ellis. Gunnar Peterson. Bob Green. Do you recognise these names? You might if you were a celebrity, professional athlete, or Janet Jackson. These guys are personal trainers to the Hollywood stars and the rich and famous. OK, so celebrities also get a lot of help with surgery and weekly Zone diet deliveries, but many can afford personal trainers who work with them for months, or even years at a time.

So I've got a personal trainer, but I'm no celebrity. My only 5.5 minutes came ten years ago on a SBS TV special in Seoul, Korea. If I'm being honest, I didn't understand fully what was going on that day in the studio. It seemed to be some national adoptee telethon/orphanage documentary. Cue SBS's sentimental violin soundtrack here...

In any case, I've just completed a grueling ten sessions with a personal trainer of my own! Personal trainers are those perpetually fit men and women you see at the gym. I used to think they were like drill seargents or the captain of the basketball team with a whistle.

Thankfully, I've found a trainer with an impeccable bedside manner, similar to the manner of many IT technicians. You know, those who know a lot but don't make you feel bad for what you don't know or can't do. Billy is exactly that kind of a personal trainer. His clients are all across the board: hefty AC Transit drivers, housewives, boxers, college athletes, and me. He is able to get results with each and every client he has because he knows how to push people without "pushing" them, you know what I mean?

Here's why I decided to sign up with Billy:

As you know, I spend my days in a cube farm. Though I'm fully ergonomic in a Herman Miller Aeron chair, I don't get up and around that much. The last time I invested in exercise was Boot Camp at Lake Merritt. Doing crunches with flanked by geese droppings wasn't really my thing --at 7.15 a.m., no less. Indoor soccer is too frantic and all about conditioning, but not toning. And left to my own devices, I'd run for 35 minutes and lift a few weights here and there and call it a "workout."

I thought it was time to take this fitness thing to a whole new level. Rather than dish out a blow-by-blow account of each session--and the rancor, pain, and obsession of it all--I thought I'd write out a list of the best parts.

Top Ten Reasons Why Personal Training Rocks

1. I could/would never put myself through an hour of what Billy puts me through
2. I had no idea what my "core" was or how important it was to strengthen
3. All the different weight machines used to intimdate me
4. As stated above, I used to think running for 35 min. and crunches was a total "workout"
5. I need TONS of motivation and encouragement. On my own, it just wasn't happening
6. I never thought it possible to have toned arms, especially in six short weeks
7. A good trainer understands how training brings total physical and emotional fitness
8. I've never slept better and I am in a much better mood most of the time
9. The rewards can be immediate and noticeable
10. It gives you an overall foundation of strength, perfect for cross-training

If you live in the Bay Area and would like to know more about personal training with my man Billy W. just let me know!