Fitness Evaluation

Today I had my "Fitness Evaluation" at the gym. It's something they do for new members - set you up with a personal trainer, they identify any weaknesses you might have and recommend a training program.

The guy actually screwed up my scheduling. When I talked to him last week I told him evenings work for me, and he said he would check his schedule and call me back a day or two before my scheduled session. Well, the call I did receive was on Monday at 6pm, which was him leaving me a voicemail asking me if I was showing up to my 6pm session. Um, you never told me I had a session at 6. And I'm not going crazy, my husband heard the whole conversation and confirmed that this was the case. The trainer was cool about it though, and rescheduled me for today.

So I got in there and filled out a questionnaire. It was like 5 pages long and mostly talked about goals, but there was also some stuff about my current "stats", medical history, and eating habits. Once I was done with that he put me on the treadmill for about 10 minutes (Walking, not running) and get this - he apologized and said he had to "diffuse" a situation where 2 members got into a fight. Lolwtf?? I thought it was rather humorous. Guess once the testosterone gets flowing there's no telling what those guys might do. We went over my worksheet - where I had mentioned that I am training for upcoming races and he asked which ones in particular. I said Spartan and he said "Oh, those are no joke" so I say "I know, I've done 3 Sprints. I'm training for a back to back Super and Beast" and I think he was kind of taken aback by this. Lol. So he says "I'm going to show you how to get a good workout in 20 minutes using your own body weight" Ok.

The first thing we did was wall squats on a ball, 3 variations. First one was regular, second was toes turned outward, third was toes turned inward which is a variety I have not seen before. He said "That's the lowest I've ever seen someone squat during one of these" Ha. And that's WITH my legs still sore from yesterday! Next was some kettlebell swings, he gave me 10 lbs but I felt like it was too light. Then I did some jumping exercises. We moved on to the Bosu ball - this trainer was kind of nuts about the Bosu ball. Did squats on it and then more KB swings. I had to take these a little slower to be able to control my movements but they weren't too bad. Again with the Bosu ball I did a plank with my hands on the flat end of the ball, then did leg lifts from a plank position. Now we were done with the Bosu and moved over to an area of the room where he had a rope ladder laid out on the floor. The goal was to do push ups down the entire length of the ladder - put your arms on either side of a rung, do a push up, then move down the line and repeat, then come back the other way. He said I could take a break at the other end before coming back. Did I? Hell naw. He said "I've never seen a female do that many in a row - Well ok I did see one, she was in the Army and training for Airborne - she was a beast." Shoot, I'll take that! I did a second set, and I actually started to get pretty worn out towards the end of it. The last exercise was what really kicked my ass. Sprint as fast as I can to a cone, shuffle around the cone, then run backwards to the point where I had started. Sprint all the way to the other side of the room, then turn around and do "jumping burpees". That's really the only way I can describe them. Jump out as far as you can, then drop down for a push up and come back up. I got really worn out halfway through. But once I got to the end I was surprised to learn that 20 minutes had gone by and the workout was over.

It was a good workout - it probably could have been a little intensified for me since it's meant to be a HIIT style total body workout done in a short period of time. I wasn't really worn out until the end of the pushup segment and the jumping burpees. The trainer was not "my type", he was friendly but the whole thing felt very rushed and I feel like he generalized me. He definitely gave me a "fat loss" style workout, and while that is a goal of mine, I feel like this is probably the workout he gives to most women because the majority of them want to lose weight and do 20 minute workouts. I do like to train with these methods - one of the best workouts I've ever done was a HIIT body weight session here at my house - but I can't reach my goals using only this method. I have alot of goals and I don't exactly fit the mold. I do crazy endurance races that most people don't. He also kind of implied that females should do different workouts and he told me a story about his wife asking him to train her and he advised her to see a female trainer. I'm so glad I have a husband who believes women should train no differently than men :)

Anywhoo - I'm glad I had this experience. He said my form was great, that's a good thing coming from a trainer. I guess I don't have any weaknesses because he didn't say anything. I learned some new things and it kind of reminded me that I should maybe add some plyometric training here and there. I can take away some things from today and apply them in the future. Plus it left me sweaty and feeling good, and that's how it should always be!