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4A Daily News ��� Tuesday, December 25, 2012 Vitality health & fitness 8 tips for hiring a personal trainer By Joe Miller The Charlotte Observer (MCT) CHARLOTTE, N.C. ��� Trying to get in better shape? Maybe it���s time you asked for help from a personal trainer. ���If you���re in need of a personal trainer, it���s probably because permanent changes are overdue and need to start happening immediately,��� says Taylor Carpenter, with TaylorCarpenter Personal Training in Charlotte, N.C. A personal trainer can fill several vital roles ��� tailoring a workout regimen to your needs, making sure your form and technique are good. Perhaps the biggest advantage: a personal trainer provides accountability. Dennis McGarry of Charlotte succeeded with the business he started 32 years ago but could never duplicate that success with exercise and health. ���Unfortunately, while I am extremely disciplined in my business endeavors I just couldn���t do the same in a fitness and diet effort,��� he said. Easing into retirement a year ago at age 67, overweight and out of shape, he enlisted the aid of Jonathan Avalos with Shape Up Fitness and Wellness Consulting. ���While I am still overweight, my fitness has improved dramatically,��� says McGarry. ���I still have a ways to go ��� but I���ve come a long way in just one year.��� Wouldn���t mind sounding like McGarry a year from now? Here���s some advice, from personal trainers and those who employ them, on how to hire a trainer of your own. 1. Qualifications. A trainer with a four-year degree in a related field is preferable. ���A person with an actual degree in exercise science or physiology carries a better understanding of how the body works, how muscles work,��� says Melanie Dean with Gateway to Health & Performance in Cary, N.C., who holds a master���s of science. Look for personal training certifications; especially look for certifications that require continuing education, which helps keep a trainer current on trends Strap helps keep alignment during stretch MCT photo A strap helps keep alignment during stretch. On an exhalation, keep your spine long as you hinge forward from your hips. Stop and hold once you feel the stretch in the back of your left leg and right hip. Be sure to flex both feet. As your muscles release, bend forward a little more and hold for 30 seconds. By Karen Voight Chicago Tribune (MCT) MCT photo Carol Richter, left, works with personal trainer Michael Anders, Dec. 3, at Shape Up Fitness & Wellness Consulting in Charlotte, NC. and research. 2. Experience. While formal education is important, experience with clients is vital as well. Ask to speak with a couple of clients for references. 3. Area of focus. Some trainers focus on specific clients. If, for instance, a trainer specializes in helping high-performing athletes tweak their performance and you simply want to lose some weight and increase your mobility, maybe it���s not a good fit. 4. Curiosity. During your interview, the trainer should ask you more questions than you ask the trainer. ���A big part of the process is listening to where they are right now, what limitations there are, what their goals are ���,��� says Dean. Knee issues forced Pamela Bennett of Charlotte to abandon her longstanding martial arts practice. She���d fallen out of shape but wasn���t a fitness novice. She was skeptical when she first met Michael Anders, a personal trainer and owner of Shape Up, because she wasn���t sure he���d pay attention to her goals. ���I needed someone to listen to me and work with the goals I wanted to achieve, not try to define goals for me,��� says Bennett. That was seven years ago; she continues to work with Anders. ���You should feel a comfort level immediately,��� says Jessica Bottesch with Empower Personal Training in Durham. ���Are they taking my goals seriously and not just prescribing a cookie-cutter program?��� 5. Commitment. Most trainers suggest working with a trainer two to three times a week, at least initially. This is especially true if one of your problems has been motivation. The frequent visits can help establish a routine. Once you fall into that routine, you can cut back your visits. 6. Team player? Because healthy living isn���t simply about working out in the gym, check to see if the trainer works with and will refer you to other health care professionals. If you���re diabetic, for instance, the trainer should bring in a nutritionist or dietician to consult. If you have muscular dys- trophy or fibromyalgia, you might want a masseuse. ���A good trainer should have no problem crossing over lines,��� says Dean. 7. Cost. The trainers we spoke with said to avoid anyone who requires a long-term commitment. ���I work on a month-to-month basis with a 30-day money-back guarantee,��� says Anders. Most personal trainers charge by the session. A one-hour session in a gym will run $45-$65. (Less experienced trainers may charge less.) A trainer with a related degree will run more, perhaps: $60$65. And if the trainer comes to you, expect to pay $60-$100 or more. 8. Flexibility. ���Maybe you don���t need three times a week,��� says Empower���s Bottesch. ���Maybe once a week or even once a month is good. The trainer should be willing to show you things you can do on your own.��� Another option: group fitness. ���It���s not quite the same tailored approach, but it is a much lower price point and you still have access to a trainer.��� Here���s an excellent way to stretch the muscles in back of your legs and your hips. Use a strap to help you maintain a straight spine, and if you have sensitive knees or tight hips, place your foot against your inner knee instead of your inner thigh. 1. Sitting on the floor, straighten your left leg in front of you. Bend your right knee, placing the sole of your foot against your left inner thigh or knee. Holding the ends of a strap with each hand, wrap the strap behind your left foot. Inhale, lift your chest and lengthen your spine. 2. On an exhalation, keep your spine long as you lean forward from your hips. Stop and hold once you feel the stretch in the back of your left leg and right hip. Be sure to flex both feet. As your muscles release, bend forward a little more and hold for 30 seconds. To come up, let go of the strap, walk your hands back toward your hips, then lift your torso up. Switch legs and repeat on the other side. Aerobics beats lifting weights for shedding pounds, study says By Mary MacVean Los Angeles Times (MCT) People who want to lose weight are better off running than lifting weights ��� or even than doing both, researchers at Duke University say. The researchers compared people who did aerobic exercise ��� running, swimming, walking, for instance ��� with those who did resistance training such as weightlifting and with people who did both kinds of exercise. Those who got up and moved burned the most fat, they said in the Dec. 15 Journal of Applied Physiology. ���Given that approximately two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight due to excess body fat, we want to offer clear, evidence-based exercise recommendations that will truly help people lose weight and body fat,��� Leslie H. Willis, an exercise physiologist at Duke Medicine and the study���s lead author, said in a statement. It is the largest randomized trial to look at how the three modes of exer- cise in overweight or obese adults ��� 119 people by the end of the study ��� without diabetes changed body composition. The news might be disheartening to a whole trendy cohort of exercisers who have become enamored with resistance training, often in combination with aerobics. Resistance training does have bene- fits. Research has shown it improves glucose control, for one thing. And then there���s the look of those six-pack abs to consider. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: resistance training of three days a week or about 180 minutes; aerobic training of about 12 miles a week or about 133 minutes; or both. The groups assigned to aerobic training and aerobic plus resistance training lost more weight than those who did just resistance training. 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