Personally Trained

So today I had my free fitness consultation at L.A. Fitness. I got up early enough to shower (I needed to shave - I know showering before working out is stupid) and eat some breakfast. I grabbed a towel and water bottle and then headed to the gym where I met with Brandon. 

We started out the session setting some basic goals. I said I wanted to lose weight, increase my energy, and feel more confident. We went more in depth of previous work out experiences I've had and talked about what made me successful and what barriers I had to overcome. Then we set some number goals and established our starting point. I already did all my weights and measurements this week, so we just did the body fat percentage thingy that looks like this:

If you've never used one of these, it's not rocket science. You input your age, weight, and height and then hold this thing straight out from your body. I couldn't tell you the exact science of it without googling and regurgitating, but when I saw my body fat percentage, i was bummed: 40.8%. I knew it wasn't great, but I was hoping I had a bit more muscle tucked in that fat. 

We headed to do a work out after the numbers game and let me tell you - I remember why I like personal trainers so much. Back in the day, I had a personal trainer (Mark for readers of old), and it was great! I had some accountability, was able to learn how to exercise properly, and I had someone rooting for me in my corner. Plus, it's nice to just go and do something instead of having to figure things out for yourself.

Anywho, the workout was great, though it was only about 20 minutes. We kinda did a few things to see where I was at. We started with push ups. Yikes. I could do 20 girl push ups, but I plopped down at the end of every push up, so I wouldn't really count that. Then we did planks and I was able to hold it for about 30 seconds. Next up was the wall squat. I could've held that longer, but he told me that obviously my legs were strong and I was pretty well set in that area. Then we did a few exercises just for funsies: medicine ball throws, sit ups, things where I hopped on and off a step, a bunch of arm and back exercises, and some other goodies I'm probably forgetting. By the end, I'd sweat quite a bit, but I was glad. Brandon was super encouraging.

Then we went back to this desk where he tried to sell me some personal training packages. I signed up for the 3x/month package. I would've loved to sign up for more, but it was pretty expensive. They promised that even if you only saw your trainer once a week or so that they would write up personalized work outs for you throughout the week if you wanted them. So, let's say I met with the trainer Monday and I said to him, "Give me 3 strength training workouts until I see you again." Between sets and reps, the trainer would write up something for me and then I'd just follow that on my own. Additionally, the trainer I'll be working with is a registered dietician, so hopefully he'll be able to help me on that part too.

I signed up for a year of training and hope to really make some positive changes. I can't wait to get going, feel stronger, and feel more confident!

Have any of you ever had a personal trainer? What are your thoughts?