I love having a personal trainer. Love it.

I don’t think I will ever go back (to not having a trainer). I want Ashlee to train me for the rest of my life. I’m serious. On several occasions in the past I had contemplated getting a trainer but always ended up making excuses and never going through with it. One of my excuses was that I couldn’t afford it… What I have come to find over the past couple of weeks is that all of the money I am saving from eating healthier is adding up very quickly. It’s great! All of this money that I would be wasting on junk food could EASILY get me 2-3 personal training sessions a month. 

Some quick math …

• Starbucks 3-5 times a week @ $4 a trip = $48 - $80 a month (scary but I have the bank statements to prove this)
• Chipotle at the VERY VERY LEAST twice per month. I will admit that in one week not all that long ago I had three chicken burritos (IN ONE WEEK!! Terrible).  So . Very modest estimate of 2 burritos per month = $11.90 
• Chinese – At the very least three times per month - $25
• Miscellaneous (campus vending machines / chips & candy bars at work / sodas from gas stations / popcorn @ movies / alcoholic beverages / meal out at nice restaurant with friends / ice cream cone / other fast food) – Another modest estimate of $40/month.

This brings me to a grand total of about $130 per month just on junk food. Although I will say that my Starbucks addiction was a little out of control and that the average person probably doesn’t drink as much Starbucks as I did before… I think a lot of people would be shocked at how much money they spend on junk food if they actually kept track of it for a month.

Okay so back to my point (got a little bit off topic there) having a personal trainer is awesome and is totally worth every penny and I will tell you why.

First of all, when you find a trainer whose company you enjoy (in my case with Ashlee she is really cool and super hilarious) working out doesn’t seem like such a chore. Although I highly encourage working out with friends for the same reason, let’s face it, friends can be flaky when it comes to working out (especially with inexperienced “worker outers” who like you really don’t want to be there either). With a trainer, they will always be at the gym waiting for you; they force you to be there (force in a good way though).

  

Having a trainer is great because they push you to do that extra crunch – lunge – push up – lifting of heavy object – which on your own you would never do. At least I would never do. It’s the “extra” in your workout that’s going to get you results. Ashlee isn’t like a boot camp instructor – she doesn’t stand there and yell at me telling me I’m pathetic and not working hard enough – what she does have though is this sneaky ability to know exactly what my limit is. She knows when I can do an extra few pushups and when I’m just slacking because I don’t want to do them. She also knows exactly the point at which I really feel like my muscles can’t do anymore - when my “muscles are fatigued” as Ashlee says.  

Having a personal trainer is great because they are like this great big book of workout knowledge. Not only do they know like every single work out for every single muscle in the body but unlike magazines and articles online, they are there right next to you showing you EXACTLY how to do the workout. One of the most important things I have learned from Ashlee so far is that form is just about everything. If you aren’t doing a workout properly, not only are you increasing the chance of hurting yourself, but you are NOT going to get the results you are looking for. I’ve noticed that exercises feel totally different when I am doing them the “right way” versus the “wrong way”. Ashlee is constantly telling me to flex my toes or that I’m bending my wrists too much or not leaning forward enough etc. etc. I am the type of person that has to see something several times before I can remember it / get it right; this is a huge reason why having Ashlee next to me during my work outs is so great.   

Yes, I still have more reasons… So I think as we have established, I care too much about what people think about me. In the past, one of the reasons why I wouldn’t use the weight machines at the gym is because I thought people would look at me and think I was dumb for not knowing how to use a machine properly. (Now that I am typing this I think it’s dumb I even thought that in the first place… I really would come up with any excuse not to work out though). Nevertheless I would be the girl trying to figure out for a good five minutes how to move the seat. Having a personal trainer is great because they move the seat for you / show you exactly where it should be for your height, they pick out the perfect amount of weight for you and as I said above, they make sure that you are using the machine properly. Ashlee picks out my free weights and then even puts them back for me, she puts the weights on the bars with the clip things, and she even carries my water for me sometimes. Okay now Ashlee is starting to sound like my slave so I am going to stop haha.

Anyway, so I think you get the point. I am having a really great experience with my personal trainer and I think that for those people struggling with weight loss / getting the results that they want, personal training is one of the best investments you could ever make.   

Oh and one more thing. Personal trainers are GREAT motivation too… This leads me to what some of my future blog posts are going to be about… Ashlee and I had a discussion during my workout yesterday (at least I tried to have a discussion with her, I was doing cardio and had to spit out a few words between gasps of air) about where my motivation went last week and what we could do to get it back - she suggested we start doing weekly weigh-ins / taking measurements for me to post to my blog, she also suggested that I start to blog more about what I am eating and the workouts I am doing each day… all of which I/we are going to start to do…