Fitness trainers help folks meet exercise goals Published May 2, 2008 By Holly Birchfield 78 ABW/PA Robins Air Force Base, Ga. -- Finding the right exercise to burn fat and tone muscle and tallying the right amount of exercise to meet one's goals can be enough to make someone call it a day before ever getting through the gym door. Personal trainers in the Fitness Center in Bldg. 826 and Fitness Center Annex in Bldg. 301 East Wing, Bay H, at Robins make getting on track with fitness goals easier. The Fitness Center has four personal trainers on staff and two contracted trainers on hand to help people get on track with their fitness goals. Before people can hit the workout floor, they must put pen to paper, said April Gray, a certified group fitness and spinning instructor and contracted personal trainer who has been at Robins since 2001. "With personal training, I start people out with an assessment where we sit down one on one in a closed office and we (find out) what their goals are," she said. "We get their height, weight, and measurements. (I take their) body fat composition with calibers and do a flexibility test (and) a strength test." Mrs. Gray said after people have been cleared by their physicians to start an exercise routine, she determines how she can help people meet their goals and designs workout plans to get them there. Each personal trainer has his or her own approach to helping clients meet goals. "I concentrate more on body weight, free weight, and flexibility exercises versus the machines," said Kim Wilson, a contracted certified personal fitness trainer who has worked at the Fitness Center and Annex for a year and a half. Training can be one-on-one or couples can tackle it together. Either way, personal trainers have the expertise to help their clients take their workouts to the next level, Scott Peavy, a recreation assistant at the Fitness Center, said. "It's great to have a trainer because a trainer can teach you so much above and beyond what you don't know," he said. Mr. Peavy uses his background in exercise science and expertise as a weight management consultant to help people improve their health. "We know how empowering it is for them to actually reach a goal,' he said. "It makes a profound change in their attitude, the way they handle life, (and) the way they tackle issues. It all kind of ties together." Mrs. Wilson said there's a "personal" side to personal training as well. Clients tend to open up and talk about more than fitness when on the workout floor, Mrs. Wilson said. In the end, trainers often get personal satisfaction from seeing their clients reach milestones. "Nothing's better than to see someone get a better life," Mrs. Gray said.