Defining a Personal Trainer

According to the American College Sports Medicine a Personal Trainer is a fitness professional who develops and implements an individual approach to exercise leadership in health populations and/or those individuals with medical clearance to exercise. A Personal Trainer will increase your knowledge about many aspects of fitness, saving one time and reducing their risk of injury. 

Is the perception really true that only the rich can afford this type of training?
*Absolutely not! In today's world personal trainers have become much more affordable, as the demand for them increases. 

Who could benefit from a Personal Trainer?
*Anyone! These individuals have developed skills to help push anyone at any level, from teaching one how to work a machine to motivating one to squat a 400 pound squat. 

How do you determine the right Trainer for you?
*Many believe that picking your close friend that trains is the best way to go, but actually this can be harmful. By picking an individual that you know or have heard a friend speaking praises about them, is a much better alternative. This way you and your trainer can make the connection needed to train, but never taking it beyond that to ruin the friendship you already have. Let's face it, there will be times where you are hating every word your trainer says!

Are all Trainers certified the same? 
*There happens to be a wide variety of associations in which Personal Trainers can get certified through and determining which is the best depends on the person you talk to. One question to ask a contending trainer is to see what kind of schooling they have. Those fields that are related to the occupation of Personal Training is ideal as these individuals have learned a much wider scope than those trainers who just took the certification.

Other things to consider?
*Meet any contending Personal Trainer before you decide. This will allow you to get a feel for them and you can also express your fitness goals to assure that they are comfortable with them. Making sure that they can meet your needs is always number 1!

Therefore, for those of you that may be in a fitness rut, simply don't know where to begin or even just need that extra push of motivation contact a Personal Trainer today to see what they can help you accomplish!

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby Skinner

FITness Into A Lifestyle

Personal Trainer & Owner

19409 Blondo Pkwy 

Phone: 402-459-1541

http://fitnessintoalifestyle.blogspot.com/

  

*::*Putting it all together*::*

Now that we have your motivation elevated, goals personalized and some general knowledge of what one needs to know about making exercise their own, it is time to put it all together and get moving! As one knows workouts can consist of many things, but for beginners or those that are hopping back on the workout train should use those pieces that are easy to access and you know your body can tolerate them. To anyone that is starting up a workout routine once again, I recommend that you write down the workout, this allows it to be visible and can be a motivational piece as well. Therefore, below I have listed a few variations of workouts in which I may advise one to do. (Understand that these workouts are not for everyone and contacting a professional to make your workout specifically created is advised).

Level 1 (60 minutes)

Warm Up: Walk 5 minutes

Stretch: 5-10 minutes

Cardio: 20 minutes @ moderate intensity

Strengthening: 4-6 different lifts (1/2 legs & 1/2 arms) 2-4 sets of 15-30 reps

Cool Down: Walk 5 minutes

Stretch: 5-10 minutes

Level 2 (60 minutes)

Warm Up: Walk/jog 5 minutes

Stretch: 5-10 minutes

Cardio: 30 minutes @ moderate - high intensity

Strengthening: 4 different lifts (1/2 legs & 1/2 arms) 3 sets of 15 reps

Cool Down: Walk 5 minutes

Stretch: 5-10 minutes

Level 3 (60 minutes)

Warm Up: Walk/jog 5 minutes

Stretch: 5-10 minutes 

Cardio: 45 minutes @ moderate - high intensity

Strengthening: 3-4 different lifts (alternating 1 day legs & 1 day arms) 3 sets of 10-15 reps

Cool Down: Walk 5 minutes

Stretch: 5-10 minutes

Please contact me with any questions you may be having about your workout!

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby Skinner

FITness Into A Lifestyle

Personal Trainer & Owner

19409 Blondo Pkwy 

Phone: 402-459-1541

http://fitnessintoalifestyle.blogspot.com/

  

Recipe for the weekend!

Fruit pizza is one of my favorite summertime desserts, but one can accumulate a lot of calories in this deceiving sweet treat. This year I tried a few different ingredients to make it a healthier favorite! Always keep in mind those healthy substitutes to help shave away extra calories. Here is the recipe and hope you all enjoy!

Fruit Pizza:
- 1 Box of Light Graham Crackers
- 1 Medium Banana
- 1 Tbsp Honey
- 6 oz. vanilla Greek yogurt
- 2 c light whip
- Your choice of fruit

1. Crush the graham crackers
2. Place banana within crushed graham crackers and blend like you would a meatloaf
3. Place the ball of graham crackers on a non-stick cookie sheet
4. Pre-heat oven to 350° and roll out the dough working from the center outward
5. Place honey evenly around the dough using a spoon
6. Bake the crust for approximately 20 mins
7. Combine the light whip and Greek yogurt together. Place it in the fridge to firm for 20 mins
8. Allow crust to cool down and once cool place the whipped topping to the center of the crust and spread evenly
9. Using your cut up fruit decorate the top however you wish!
10. Enjoy!

Nutrition facts: 135 calories per slice (12 slices per recipe)

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby

FITness Into A Lifestyle

Personal Trainer & Owner

Phone: 402-459-1541

fitnessintoalifestyle@gmail.com

Bootcamp

Above: pictures of all stages of bootcamp

This week my family and I happen to be in Long Pine, Nebraska on a yearly vacation where lots of eating, drinking and relaxing occurs. With a few requests and some motivation they were all very excited to try FITness Into A Lifestyle's personalized bootcamp! By using elements such as nature, body weight and equipment that was available we came up with a challenging course fit for all skill levels.

Bootcamp Workout: (x2)

Walk/run upstream approx. 30 yards

Once out of stream: 20 burpees

Alternating legs lunge back to the starting line

20 crunches

Tube overhead walk/run up hill approx. 100 yards

20 crunches

Repeat

Contact us today for your very own personalized workout to help you obtain your fitness goals!

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby

FITness Into A Lifestyle

Personal Trainer & Owner

Phone: 402-459-1541

fitnessintoalifestyle@gmail.com

Testimonial Tuesday

Meet Taylynn! Taylynn and I first met as roommates our sophomore year, here our on going journey began. Many of times as I was headed to the gym I would encourage her to come if not drag her along from time to time.  This routine took place for many months, until December of 2010 we along with a few others took part in a personal Biggest Loser competition where things became a little more serious and daily workouts were occurring. During this competition Taylynn worked very hard and completed it finishing as number one by losing 20 pounds  within a three month period. Unfortunately, this way of life did not become a habit at this time and she gained it all back very quickly. Knowing Taylynn I knew she wasn't happy with herself and her on going comments made it very clear that this way of life was not what she wanted for her future. From here Taylynn and I began to train again on a weekly basis, as this became a harder task as we were not living together. Luckily her new roommate Jen, helped push her as well and this combined effort of family and friends has brought her to this point of happiness which you see above (23 pounds down total). As she is not completely satisfied with the results Taylynn continues to train on a daily basis and has become very aware of her calorie intake and portion sizes. 

A specific individual could take complete credit for this transformation, but the only individual that deserves the credit is Taylynn herself as she is now doing it for the right reasons! I am personally so proud of her! Her motivation and determination this time around will do nothing but aid her in accomplishing more than her goals! 

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby
FITness Into A Lifestyle
Personal Trainer & Owner
19409 Blondo Pkwy 
Phone: 402-459-1541
fitnessintoalifestyle@gmail.com

Sharing Your Workout Photos

Awesome scenic morning run in Long Pine, NE! Vacations can be great times to explore the unknown outdoors and to make your workout new again. What are some of your workout pictures? Share them with us on our Facebook page FITness Into A Lifestyle or via email.

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby
Personal Trainer/Owner
402-459-1541
fitnessintoalifestyle@gmail.com

.::.Confession Sunday.::.

Being a fitness guru many would suspect that I do my daily workouts in a fancy gym, spending a good chunk of money on a monthly membership. As I have nothing against gym memberships, I do believe that their monthly fees are outrageous and quite frankly I can't afford these. This place is where my daily workouts take place and I have all I could ever need to meet my fitness goals. A treadmill, an array of free weights, open floor space and an exercise ball gives me a wide variety that I keep the workout ever changing so I keep improving! Please don't get caught up in thinking that you can't improve your fitness with what you have at home. Consult a professional to get your at home workout program rolling today!

Your Motivator and Companion,

-Gabby

Stretching 1 on 1

One of the last components needed to complete any workout and likely the most forgotten. Everyone should always set aside the right amount time within a workout to get a beneficial stretch. To begin with, there are two important times that one should stretch, at the beginning and end of each workout. Through my personal experiences many individuals, even coaches get timing of the first stretch all wrong. Recent studies have shown that stretching before warming up your muscles does more harm than good. Think of your muscles as a rubber band, when taking a new rubber band from the box (before our muscles are warmed up) it appears to be stiff or much less elastic. Then after stretching it back and forth for a few minutes (after our muscles have been warmed up) the rubber band is then more "limber" or elastic. Therefore, our muscles have the same concept that after a proper warm-up, where the blood flow is rushing through those muscles we are working, this is the correct time to stretch before continuing on to the strenuous piece of your workout. Let's take my workout for example, I begin each workout with a five minute walk on a slight incline, after this five minutes I then take the time to preform my stretches. Doing this the proper way you will also see much more rapid improvement in your flexibility! Then finally, after the workout be sure to conclude it with that last stretch. 

Recommended Amount of Time to Stretch:

*Should be done to each major muscle group, specifically those that you will be using in your workout*

Hold each stretch 15-60 seconds

Total time stretching 10 minutes

At least 2-3 days per week

Your Motivator and Companion,

-Gabby

*Strength Training*

As a follow up to yesterday's blog, we cannot forget about strength training! Just like cardio, there are a lot of choices/options to be made here as well. All of these choices can be overwhelming and understanding which form is best for you is critical in helping you achieve that optimal performance. Once again, below I list some of the most popular forms and what/who they are best for. 

Forms of Strength Training/Equipment

Free Weights: nearly always mistaken as the body builder weights and with that usually comes the intimidation factor, because many times buff guys/gals are in this area of the gym. Although this image may be true, there are a lot of benefits that come with using free weights. Not typically recommended for beginners, unless using them with a professional, simply due to the ability to lose form very quickly. This form of strength training can also be very good for most, when form is correct, since it is using gravity it then becomes most similar to those movements done in our everyday lives. 

Weight Machines: typically thought of as the beginner/old person form. This form of strength training is a very good place to begin for those that are not familiar with weights in general. The machines allows your muscles to define the movement through repetition, at the same time keeping it within the relative range to help eliminate injury. When using the correct weight and form these machines can take you a long way and at times they can do things for you that free weights cannot (i.e. inner thigh workouts). When not using these machines daily, they will work muscles other workouts do not making them beneficial for everyone! Don't be surprised if one day you see one of those buff guys on a machine. 

Personal Body Weight: known as the "what will I ever get from that!" form of strength training, but to me this form is free and extremely beneficial! It also strives to make people creative in trying to come up with something new. At times it can be too hard for some when first starting out, but each exercise always has a way to improvise, it is just knowing how to correctly improvise to aid your specific implication. For example, a push up can only be done by a few on their first time, so if a full push up is not the answer one can do knee push ups, inclined push ups or even wall push ups. These specific improvises are where the professional comes into play and you should always consult a doctor if your implication may be risky or life threatening.

To conclude, now that we have a better understanding of some of the different forms of cardiovascular work as well as strength training, everyone should know that to lose weight we must be active and burning calories, but to do it effectively and the healthy way, an adequate amount of both cardiovascular and strength training exercises should be combined in your workouts to assure healthy bones and a stronger you! If you combine these the results could be endless and you might be amazed at how well the one helps you perform the other. 

Your Motivator and Companion,
-Gabby

Cardiovascular Work

Committing and understanding the time needed to make this lifestyle change is not a secret anymore, but now we must understand which form of exercise will be right for you. This, like much of exercising, is dependent upon the preference of the individual, which can further be influenced by a lot of different variables such as interest, injury, type of workout one is desiring and so on. Hence why the fitness industry is forever a phenomenon! So, what is the best form of cardiovascular work for you? Below I list some of the most popular forms and what/who they are best for. 

Forms of Cardiovascular Work/Equipment

Walking: usually mistaken for the beginner form of cardio work, but can at times be better for you than running. This form is great for your joints and is the first step to getting back into everyday shape as well as running shape. Begin here to strengthen those correct muscles needed for everyday use. If in need of more of a challenge go find those hills around your city or increase the incline on the treadmill. (This form can also be free when not looking to spend the money on a gym membership)

Running: a passion for some and hated by others! This form of cardio is great for the heart and can really get the heart rate elevated to see optimal results. Fully understanding where you are at physically is very important for this form of exercise, as it can become too much too fast. Before starting day one with a jog, I recommend a brisk walk to assure that you can keep up this brisk pace for at least 10 minutes. Getting discouraged with running can happen very quickly, but remember it is a process that takes time and each step you take is one towards a healthier heart regardless! 

Swimming: an excellent form for those that experience muscle or joint discomfort on land. Working in the water relieves this stress enabling one to work at a higher intensity once again. Do not be fooled by this! Swimming is also very difficult for many, as it uses completely different muscles than those used everyday, therefore one would expect to be very sore after their first swimming workout. It is also very good for one's heart health if not better than running, at the same time it completes a full body workout, as the resistance of the water does that for you naturally.

Elliptical: thought of as the easy and good for your joints kind of machine, but in all reality both of these can be false. Studies have shown that these machines can actually be quite dangerous if not used correctly and this is specific to any parts from your hips down. With that in mind please be careful when opting to use this piece and I advise you to ask an expert before using it your first time, as it could lead to further injury. If all safety measures are taken this machine can be very beneficial and can help target those lower body areas as it is good for toning calves, hamstrings, glutes(butt) and thighs!

Please stay tuned for tomorrow's post as we will discuss the different strength equipment!

Your Motivator and Companion,

-Gabby

Once You've Committed

Now that you have decided to commit, the next step is to figure out what amount time your schedule will allow or more specifically what amount of time your willing to sacrifice. You may be thinking that your no expert and have no idea what time would be adequate, but that's what I'm for! Therefore, as a beginner, intermediate or expert anyone that has taken a few weeks or months away from a routine workout they must get back into that habit slow and easy to assure no injury or burnout occurs. The amount of time recommended is as follows (one must remember that there are many ways to go about a workout routine and doing it specifically for each individual would be most adequately defined by an expert):

Beginner: 10-20 minutes 2-3 days a week

Intermediate: 15-25 minutes 3-4 days a week

Expert: 20-40 minutes 3-6 days a week

From this assure that your commitment was true for the right reasons and if so, take that next step to set aside the right amount of time that will work best for you! Very soon we will all be working at our goals and setting new one's to achieve!

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby

Cheers to the weekend!

As everyone could testify, the weekends are one of the worst times for thinking about what you eat or drink (on a diet or not). On top of this, the summer can make it twice as difficult with the inspiration to celebrate with visiting family and friends. My challenge to you this weekend is not to be a party pooper (not literally) but to have a memorable time while still thinking about your intake of food and beverages. It becomes so easy just to shove in everything that is seen before your eyes, but it takes will power to think about it mentally and to consider what it could do to your performance and energy tomorrow! 

Your Motivator and Companion,
-Gabby

At The Beginning

I will be the first to admit that this beginning part is and could be the hardest piece of the entire process. Usually the first few days are a piece of cake, but then one tends to begin to fall off the track. It starts with a "I deserve a day off" or "One day out of routine will never hurt." As once stated before, each day, week, month, meal, drink and exercise will matter until you find that ritual routine when things don't seem so hard anymore. 

Therefore, first one must be able to commit for themselves. First and foremost! This step is very important because many days you will be in combat(generally taking place mentally within so others have no idea it is even happening) with yourself and not with others. 

So are you able and ready to commit for yourself? 

To find out/aid this process, write out some pros and cons of why you even had this mindset in the first place. This will help you rationalize if the continuing process will be worth it in the end or not!

Your Motivator and Companion,
-Gabby


P.S.  Please feel free to comment and/or ask questions as they arise, I am more than willing to help or request your wishes! 

What is FITness Into A Lifestyle?

My name is Gabby Skinner and I am currently a full-time student at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. I am studying Exercise Science and intend to have my degree in hand in December of this year. After obtaining this degree I will be a full-time personal trainer (self-employed), but this training has a slight twist compared to those ordinary trainers. More on this later, because now I would like to focus my time on what I intend to do with this blog. As one can see from the title of my blog FITness Into A Lifestyle, I would like to help individuals take their fitness goals, dreams, expectations or whatever they may be into a reality. Not only this, but make them a part of your daily lives! Too many times people go into a fitness goal with the lone idea of wanting to lose weight to look great to/for others, but what people don't understand is that they must do it for themselves first with the hope that other people will notice and care. Therefore, on a daily basis I will be posting some new and improved or simply a tip of the day to help each and everyone of you make this lifestyle change. It will become the difference when you partake on that family ski trip, with your children, instead of watching them ski from the bottom of the slope to skiing right along side of them to potentially even conquering the next most difficult slope. In order to do this one must understand that it will take more than a week to notice results and each drink, meal and activity will count towards something positive or negative! 

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby