The Chairman's Fitness Challenge Blog

So, I gave in and had my "assessment" done by a personal trainer (PT) at my gym today. She was nice enough, went through the standard questionaire on goals, fitness habits, and medical history, then did a three-exercise "assessment" based on push-ups, body squats and the plank pos'n. Oh, and I weighed in about seven pounds higher on their scale (not too surprised) but it also measured my BF% at 27%, which I figure is at least 5% too low. Odd.

I have to wonder how valid the assessment was, given that I'd just busted a 1-hour fitness class and did an upper-body resistance training session before that. Honestly, I was pretty bored with the "plank" and pretty much just dropped after what I thought was a respectable time because of lack of interest. I'd probably be a fitness trainer's worst nightmare.

I got the lecture on RT cranking up the metabolism and how, if we did three sessions a week (at a cost of approximately $600/month based on my in-my-head calculations) I'd get great results. I don't doubt that, I've seen the trainers working around the gym and they seem to do some good stuff with certain clientele, who I've figured out to be either people just getting into the routine with limited knowledge, or advanced fitness buffs looking to get to the next level. Odd, though, that there was nothing in the way of specifics, no mention of how my workouts would change, or even of any nutritional component to the program. She was horrified, though, at the thought that I had a "program" I was following that in all actuality sounds identical to what she was describing - focused on large and core muscles, free weights, and 3-4 cardio sessions a week. I didn't have the heart to tell her it worked once before, and was based on Men's Health routines ripped out of a magazine (and not dissimilar to the HardBody plan published a few years ago).

With someone like me, a subject who has read voraciously on nutrition and exercise, with the short-term objective of maintaining muscle through a prolonged weight-loss phase, I'm not sure the value is there for more than a session or two to check form and solicit pointers once in a while. And given that I'm currently focused on studies/unemployed/looking for the next opportunity, the asking price is a little out of reach. I am considering it as an option for "the next phase", after I get out of the reduction mode 45 pounds from now and start focusing on building strength.