2009 - What a year!

The best part of 2009 I able able to train people, and make a living doing it! When I decided to leave the corporate world and train people full time, I was very nervous! It was very hard at first in 2008. 2009 has been much better. I really do have a great time training and coaching people. Not many people can say that about their job. I am very thankful that I can do this! I have several clients that made really great strides over the past year. I have clients that are a lot of fun to train. I have clients that give me grief for the entire hour I train them. It is all really fun and a challenge.

I talked about Annette one of my clients in one of my first blogs. Annette lost around 25lbs and looks amazing. She has not trained with me for a few months but is still maintaining the weight loss. Below is a picture of her before and after. She looks great!

I just returned from the gym training several clients. Karla and Sandra both train with me and have become workout partners. They are a lot of fun to train. Karla has made some really great improvements. She has not lost weight but has gotten stronger. She still struggles with the diet part. She usually calls me the "demon trainer" (all in fun). She refers to the stretching area in the gym as the torture area. We rarely if ever stretch there. That is the place for a lot of core and balance work. She clearly does not like it! Sandra is great to train. She has never given me any grief about doing any exercise! Her and another client I trained tonight Jamie both do whatever I say without complaint! That is a rare thing in my business. Karla mentioned to me yesterday when I trained her that she made cookies for Sandra! I just about lost it! WHAT! Of course Sandra did have some. You guys are supposed to be workout partners! AND Karla you are trying to lose weight so why are you baking! I told her today to throw away her baking pans. I don't have any, why would I want to bake a dozen cookies to tempt me. OR better yet why would I want to give someone who is trying to lose weight COOKIES! Ok you get the point but I do really like training them. As much as a challenge as they are they are great! Karla will get the diet part, one day. Sandra gets it she just needs to do it and get back on track with it. They both put the time in training with me in the gym. But we all know that is not enough.

Mark is a client I train a few days a week. He is going to retire soon, so he is not working much and golfing a lot. He did his first half ironman triathlon this year and did really well. In training for the race he lost some weight and was feeling good. What I have not mentioned is how much Mark likes two things! Wine and brownies on a weekly sometimes daily basis. So once the triathlon was over it was back to the wine and brownies. Thankfully he does still ride his bike, so he is not obese. In fact we ride together sometimes on the weekend. He is pretty good on the bike. A month or so ago Mark came to workout. I noticed that he smelled like alcohol. I said, did you drink a lot last night? He said, "well actually I had some drinks this afternoon with a buddy". I must admit this is the first time someone drank and then came to workout! OK so one time no biggy, right? Well the other day as I was walking into the gym I saw him. He said, "just so you know, yes I have had some drinks" I said great this is going to be a great workout! So I took it easy on him and didn't give him anything too complicated to do. Mark is now in Hawaii for a few weeks most likely drinking wine and eating brownies. Wow what a life! Hopefully he will keep riding so he doesn't gain too much weight! He is supposed to bring me back Hawaiian coffee! Yum!

Alan is another client that is a super nice guy. Alan is not retired like Mark, he works a lot. He is usually at least a half hour late for his training appointments. His assistant calls me to cancel when he can't make it. Usually I can talk people into coming but in this case I can't! Alan always asks me if he is my most wimpy client. I tell him that he is not and when he does come in he works hard. That is unless he is training with other clients. Like my client Anne he tends to try and distract everyone by talking to them. He is such a nice guy and really likes to socialize! Alan thinks he eats healthy but he really doesn't. He like most people does not have health at the top of his priority list. Work is much higher on the list. I am not saying work is not important but there are always things you can eliminate to make working out and meal planning a priority. I have known Attorneys, CEO's, Vice Presidents, that all make it a part of their daily life and some how make it work. If Alan would do this he would be able to be healthier, feel better, have more energy, and not feel wimpy!

I train Andrea and Pam two days a week. They train together. They are in the black shirts in this picture. Andrea refers to me as the punisher. She is not a big fan of doing anything new, kind of like my other client Mark! I did get her to start doing some running and work on the bosu ball this year! This was a big step. Pam is as sweet as can be. She has the same or maybe more love for animals that I do. She actually bought Christmas presents for my 3 dogs. Tigger destroyed his in about 30 minutes. Spec wasn't sure what to do with his. He just watched it so nobody else would get it. Daisy was the only one that actually played with it like a normal dog would. When Tigger destroyed his he tried to get hers. Pam and Andrea are a lot of fun to train.

Anne is also in the picture. She is fun to train too. She has the best personality and is so outgoing. It makes it a challenge to train her because she tries to distract everyone else that is training...... AND she is good at it - talking that is. So usually I have to put her on a machine away from everyone else or make her run a lap. Sometimes I make her do burpe's with weights because then she can't talk because she is breathing so hard! She was the client that ran her first half marathon this year. We are also going to both run the Huntington Beach Half in February. She has suddenly decided she wanted to be a vegan. I warned her that this could be a bad thing for weight control. People tend to eat too many carbohydrates and not enough protein. Don't get me wrong I thing eating a vegan diet can be very healthy. But very few people can do it right. It takes a lot of work to cook and prepare foods so that you don't grab processed foods. I hope it works for her. She said she is just trying it out. She refused to give up her fur or leather so I am not sure she is a full vegan. Robert one of my other clients said she is vegan curious! Just checking it out! She may go back, who knows!

Robert started training with me a few months ago. He is very funny. He has not ever really worked out in his life so that alone is a big change. He is very dedicated to the workouts and recently had to cancel for one of the first times since he started. He said he was more scared to tell me he couldn't make it then calling his boss as work! He was sick so I didn't give him too much grief. I did give him grief the day he came and worked out really hard and then went home and ate a frozen pizza. He claimed the dogs ate some of it but I have my doubts. If he could only begin eating better he would see amazing results. For some people it is about small changes and hopefully the small changes will come for him. I suggested small changes such as eating more vegetables or opting for salads rather than fries at the drive through. Most anyone can do these things and in some cases they lead to other changes.

Unfortunately I can't talk about all my clients or this would go on forever. I really enjoy what I do and the clients I have. Several clients that stopped training with me over the year, I really do miss them! As a trainer you get to learn a lot about people during the short time you are with them.

In my next blog I will talk about some really great programs I will be involved with for 2010!