I get asked all the time about “cardio” exercise. My personal training sessions specific to “cardio” exercise are always looked upon strangely. It’s actually fun setting them up. Just as an example, I will ask the person to meet me for a 9:00 am to 11:00 “morning session”. “Two hours?” “Yes”, I reply in a serious tone. It’s really easy to add to the drama by saying stuff like “We’ll see if you can tough it out!” Folks then show up in their workout gear, expecting heavy doses of pain, suffering and endurance.
They are always pleasantly surprised to find instead a table waiting with some really good coffee, and some comfortable chairs. We sit side by side, facing a large computer monitor. I pretty much always ask if they want cake with their coffee. I know, I know, it’s not a part of the human evolutionary diet. I do make sure it’s made from mostly natural (Paleo) ingredients. I offer it for a reason. I think it’s a great symbol to reflect the idea that exercise should not be equated with pain.
And so the training session begins. It will focus on the most important part of the body for a lifetime of exercise success – the brain. We sit down and start by chatting. Specifically, about friends, family, growing up, who they admired, sports they both liked and loved. We talk about their favorite movies, entertainment and leisure activities. We discuss games and sports they played as children. Our conversation centers on physical activity and my ears prick up regarding any hint of excitement I can detect. Any spark of interest, even slight is duly noted. The computer monitor displays images of every conceivable type of physical activity.
Between the conversation and the visuals it doesn’t take too long to get an idea of what this person is really interested in and excited about doing. From there we simply refine their core interests. These core motivational drivers always expose themselves. They could be rhythmic – involving music, competitive, team oriented, or the outdoors. Water may be a common theme, or adrenaline, or speed. Everyone is unique. Once these underlying motivational drivers are identified, it’s easy to consider a plethora of activities or sports to match them up with. After this training session we should have a great list of physical activities they will love to try.
My experience is that this session and maybe one more like it would be responsible for more future fat loss than any training session they had ever experienced. If fact, I submit that this initial session – combined with the right dietary philosophy (provided in detail!) – would give them complete control over governing their own weight for the rest of their lives. This is where we would remove the whole idea of “going to the gym” as the panacea to their fitness problems. These sessions have two themes: love and logistics. Finding out what physical activities they would truly love, and then how, where, when and with whom they could begin enjoying them for the rest of their lives.