I love being a personal trainer. Pretty sure I’ve mentioned that before, but it bears repeating. I seriously spend my entire day thinking about exercise! Every client I have is like a puzzle that I get to figure out: what’s going to work best for losing weight or keeping them motivated or gaining muscle or getting faster? I love watching my clients work harder than they thought they could – I actually joke that if they’re not swearing at me, I must not be working them hard enough! Of course, it’s also hard to watch them struggle when I know they are giving it their honest best.
When I was losing weight, it was much MUCH easier to get my butt out of bed for exercise than to eat right. I still have to work at eating right! For a lot of my clients, though, the whole reason they hired a personal trainer is because they’re not super motivated to work out on their own. And many of them either can’t or “don’t like” to run, which boggles my mind. (And, yes, I put it in quotes, mostly because I think everybody should love to run.) To get them moving, then, I have to get creative. Frequently, I sneak in some cardio with their strength training so they get a good burn while building muscle.
Before I got certified, cross-training meant biking or swimming and the occasional core work. Emphasis on the word “occasional.” Of course I understood on some level that strength training was important, so I’d throw in a push-up here and a squat there, but I didn’t really love it. For me – and probably for most people – enjoying an activity motivates me to do more of it. That’s why I try to make workouts fun for myself and fun for my clients, so everybody wants more!
I know there are lots of resources out there for exercise ideas, but I’ve started making videos of some of the more interesting workouts I do with my clients and thought I’d share them with you, too. This one, for example:
Even though I would almost always rather go for a run, I really have learned to love strength training, too. It’s challenging. It’s not boring. It can make you an even better runner – yay! And if you put together a good workout, every inch of your body can have that super-jelly-just-went-for-a-great-run feeling, and what’s not to love about that??
Do you make strength training part of your fitness routine?
The Green Girl says
Love this! You go, girl!
I’m really bad at strength training so I’ve hired a personal trainer that I see twice a week to help me with this.
CautiouslyAudacious says
You are so lucky! I miss being a PT. I try to always incorporate weights into my training but it gets harder to find the time during triathlon season, so I have some small weights at the office I try to fit in during lunch!
Alma says
Great workouts! I am REALLY appreciating the strength training more and more lately. Certainly seeing the need for it as I age.
Johann says
You are super woman! I do upper body and some core work 3 or 4 times per week. The rest is all running. I find the strength training is especially good for long trail races.
bobbi says
LOVE this workout – I’m definitely going to give it a try!
Kate says
I did a lot of strength training last year (well, “a lot” = 3x week…a lot for me) until I fell and hurt my shoulder. Then I just kind of got out of the habit. Now I do basically none, which needs to change.
ratherthecouch says
Once upon a time I was pretty into strength training…and then I came to my senses! I would SO much rather run or do yoga! I know I should do more, but oh we’ll, at least I don’t just sit on the couch, right??