“We’re not selling exercise here, we’re selling lifestyle. If you want exercise drop down and give me 30 push-ups.” — Tony Petz, owner of the Aerobitorium, from Steele Alive and Kicking
We watched the above episode of Remington Steele this past week. Plot was investigation of the murder of a fitness trainer celebrity. In the course of the investigation they interviewed Tony Petz, a friend of the deceased who was now opening his own fitness center. The theme of the Aerobitorium was to complete your workout in environmentally themed centers — the jungle, the moon, the beach, etc.
I thought that made a good segue into my report on my second workout session. My gym definitely isn’t the Aerobitorium, and my personal trainer is definitely more of a 30 push-ups type of guy. Actually he is more the I’ll give you a demonstration once and expect you to know just what I showed you. He does try to explain things, but he explains things in his way.
I try to translate him into me. He should be the one translating.
Last time he gave me exercises for the arms and shoulders. We reviewed them, and I found I had about 75% correct memory of what he gave me the last time. He was ready to move on to lower body workout, but I asked him about exercises for the lats, as they are one of the key muscles for the swimming strokes. So instead he gave me exercises for the lats: Lat pulldown, seated pull, lat flexor and pullups on the pullup assist machine.
I found that I am only good for pulling up about half my weight to get the number of reps I am going for.
I think he underestimates the amount of strength I currently have. My previous trainer helped me find where my 100% point was and pushed me toward it. This trainer I will have to try to push myself. I know my shortcomings there — which is why I went for a trainer in the first place. But at least I have a better idea of my max coming in this time, so I’ll push myself further than before.
I’m still training my trainer to get out of him what I need. We’ll see how much further success I have.
At The Rainbow 