Your First Two Sessions At Our Studio Are Always Free - Here's What Happens The basic idea is for us to get to know each other, and for you to get a feel for what it would be like to work with us. Free Session No. 1: We'll ask you a bunch of questions about your health and fitness background, discuss your fitness objectives, and then lay out an overall program to get you where you want to go. The procedure goes something like this: We complete a Medical Health Questionnaire. This helps determine: a) whether you should get a doctor's clearance before beginning a serious exercise program, b) whether there are problem areas we should work around, and, c) whether there are old injuries or weaknesses that we can help with therapeutic type exercises. Next comes a Lifestyle and Activity Analysis. We'll start by gathering some basic information such as your height, weight, and so forth, calculate your BMI, and do a body fat analysis using electrical impedance. The rest is mostly a history of your exercise patterns. Most relevant is what you've been doing recently, but everything counts. If you were very active 10 or 20 years ago, it will be much easier to get back in shape than if everything is brand new. We then discuss: "What do you want to get out of an exercise program?" There will probably be some give and take here because we want to insure that your goals are challenging but realistic. For example, we want any weight loss to be permanent, not based on water loss or unhealthy eating patterns. At this point, it is up to us to use everything we have learned about you to lay out a balanced, healthy exercise program, and, if you wish, make some recommendations on your diet. Most programs will include elements of cardio, strength and flexibility work. Everything we've learned about you will be grist for the mill. We will probably expect you to do part of the recommended program on your own, and other parts with us. Usually that means doing your cardio work on your own and strength and flexibility work with us. We will establish your cardio program and monitor your performance, but we will generally not stand there and watch you walk on a treadmill, for example. Free Session No. 2: Working our way through the "Exercise Recommendations" form we'll take you through an actual workout. Starting with the Aerobic Exercise section, we'll put you on the treadmill or other aerobic device, and determine which settings are necessary to get you into your "training heart rate zone". We'll then explain the importance of this training heart rate zone concept and recommend the type of exercise (treadmill for example), frequency, duration, and intensity level, that you should use in your aerobic exercise program. The Strength Training portion of your program typically involves 12 to 14 different exercises, designed to get all of the major muscle groups of the body. We will demonstrate, explain, and then ask you to perform each exercise. The twin goals being to 1) teach you how to do each exercise, and 2) to determine the level of resistance needed so that you can perform between 10 and 15 repetitions. The mix of exercises will largely be determined by your objectives and exercise background. Addition movements may be recommended to rehab or preventive maintenance purposes. Flexibility work is often overlooked but is extremely important, particularly as we age. We will describe and demonstrate some basic stretches useful for everyone, and then those that are especially good for your individual circumstances. If you chose to work with us, at this point you will start talking about scheduling future appointments. If not, you can just take our recommendations and go off and train on your own. In either case, you will have received two valuable personal training sessions from a highly qualified fitness professional. Give us a call, and we can set up convenient time for you to come into our studio and see what it would be like to work with us. Go Back