No Gym No Problem

I have been personal training for almost 13 years now and one of the things that has become very clear to me is although my work revolves around the gym, most of my clients don't. Many often travel out of town on work related business. It always seems to happen as we are making headway. A little discouraging? Sure. However even the busiest of schedules can accomidate a workout from time to time. Now I don't expect my clients to travel with a kettlebell in their suitcase.(amazingly some actually do) Nor do I expect them to call me in hopes of motivation.(yes some do) What I would like everyone to do is what I like to refer to as a "Fitness Daily 1" . No gym in your hotel? It's snowing outside so you can't run? I don't understand the hotel gym machines? I have heard it all. What it all boils down to is.........................I'd rather do something else. I'm with you on that. So my "Fitness Daily 1" programs are designed for people that don't haver much time (10 min tops) when they are traveling. It doesn't take long at all. Take a series of exercises that you can perform with no weight. Just you and the floor. For the most part if you ever see a "boot camp" that has millitary calisthenics , these are the exercise they are alluding to. I was in the Navy and can tell you that at no time did we ever get physical training with any type of machine. It was just our bodies and some space(and not always much of that). It's very doable.

Take the exercises that Karen is doing. Very simple. For this demonstration Karen is doing 10 reps of each exercises. Take that numer and increase it to 20. Do these exercises 3 times through. That should take about 6 min(maybe longer). Remember "It's your only body. Take care of it." I know, kinda Cheesy.

Ahhhhh The hill. Every once in a while I drag Austin Fitness Extreme to the "ToysrUs" hill. Aptly named because it is located behind ToysrUs. It's about a quarter mile long. Pure misery. We start the morning off with a few exercises(pushups,squats,curls,crunches,jumping jax) and then work our way down to the hill. First we do a few short sprints. We culminate by doing suicide runs up the hill. I'm demented. As I videotaped this I kept wondering what is it that makes some people push themselves and others not. Is it desire? A heightened need for torture? Maybe it's guilt over the pizza they had yesterday? Or maybe it's the fact that they don't want to waste the 200.00 they plopped down for the workout. Who knows. I do believe that misery not only loves but needs company sometimes.

Group fitness classes have increased so much over the years. In the beginning they were "aerobic classes" then "step classes" then "tae bo" and last but not least "boot camps". Living in Asutin, I've watched as bootcamp classes have increased significantly over the years. There used to be only 2 or 3 outside of the gym sponsored camps. Now when you go out to town lake it looks like a asylum for fitness enthusiasts. I see group t-shirts, kettlebells, Gillberts Gazelles,rubber bands, a few tires, sprint groups,triathlon groups, mommy workouts, mommy with baby workouts, I see it all. And the truth is ......I love it. While they may not all want to workout with me , it's good to see so many people taking an interest in their own personl fitness. At the very least get in shape so you can chase after your kids.

I look forward to the months and years ahead where I can motivate groups of people as well as individuals. Misery does need company sometimes. It's helpfull to look to your right and see someone who hates the instructor just as much as you.

Ps. I saw Inglorious Basterds. Loved it.

All you men out there watch Shakira's new video La Loba. Need I say more.