Disclaimer: That’s not me on the elliptical (I wish!) but that is the elliptical I own.
These days it seems like everybody has a trainer and a fancy gym membership to get the most out of their workouts. Having somebody right there in your face to “motivate” you (yell at you, push you, kick your ass) can really make a difference in your workout, there’s not doubt about it. There is just something about being accountable to somebody besides yourself that makes you give a little more.
The problem with me and actual trainers is that (a.) I don’t have a gym membership and (b.) even if I did, I’m anti-social and (c.) working out (when I do it) is my “me time” and I do not really wish to share it with anybody. I’m the type that’ll totally give you a dirty look if you jump on the treadmill next to me and try to strike up a conversation with me. Hello! I can barely breath here much less talk about whatever non-sense it is that you’re saying. And besides - STRANGER DANGER!
A couple of years ago I read about virtual trainers in Women’s Health magazine and decided to give the one the magazine profiled a try. What I liked about PlusOneActive (besides the magazine recommendations) was that they actually show you the available trainers with their picture and their bio so that you can pick somebody whose expertise and/or style matches your fitness goals.
Jeannie Buckman was my trainer for nearly a year and with her help I achieved many of my fitness goals. (then gardening came into my life and my workouts have since gone down the toilet)
The way that this site works is that you choose a trainer then complete a very detailed fitness profile including telling them what your fitness goals are (weight loss, flexibility, cardiovascular etc…). After that, you complete a survey of the equipment you have access to (none, some home equipment, gym membership etc…). Your trainer will then use the information you provided to come up with some benchmarking exercises to really assess your physical fitness prior to developing a targeted workout for you. Your workouts are loaded to your calendar each day and they even provide a video of how to correctly perform each one. You log your workouts along with rating how easy or hard they are for you and the trainer comments and tweaks your workout along the way based on your feedback. Jeannie is also a Wellness Coach so I was able to email her about all sorts of crap and she was great to respond with her advice.
So I’ll be trying this for the next 3 months in an effort to get into just-in-case-I-decide-to-have-a-baby shape.
If you decide to jump on the virtual trainer bandwagon with me, be sure to let them know that I referred you. My username is ginag1 and my email account is gina6779 at gmail dot com.
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