Accountability: One picture at a time

So far this month, I have dropped 10 pounds.  I am excited and it is really helping my goals... but I need to keep going and I needed a next plan of attack. Today I decided that I need a little more accountability in terms of workouts. As I was working out today, I came up with this idea!

I always have my cell phone on me, so at the end of every workout, I am going to snap a picture! When I am around a computer, I am going to post the picture along with a short description of the workout and if I had to modify it at all, etc.

This serves in two purposes: 1- accountability 2 - tracking my overall progress!

So... onto Day 1:

Today I hit it hard with a 14-minute video from the Sparkpeople.com fitness page: a Bollywood Burn workout!  OK, I know that it sounds CRAZY, but I was really into it! For me, if I am going to do a workout video, it really has to keep me engaged and entertained. It is just too easy to press the "off" button and walk away... which unfortunately enough that is something I have done!

Anyway, in terms of the video, it was really fun. There were bits of stretching, fast cardio and lulls of slowdown too! I did need to modify some things, especially the hopping and doing 30 other things at once. Frankly a 350 pound girl should never be asked to hop 2x/second... ever.

If you are interested in checking out the video for yourself, click here!

I definitely recommend the video, so check it out the next time you need to switch up your cardio - or you are trapped inside in a blizzard!

Personal Trainer... Advice Needed!

I can't believe I haven't blogged since NOVEMBER!  Let's light this fire back up, shall we?

Last time I wrote, I talked about some frustrations I was having with my trainer. I wanted to continue with that topic... so here goes a rant! I apologize in advance for the venting, but I want to see if I can get any feedback.

Unfortunately, this hasn't gotten much better.

Truth: He was getting better and not rescheduling as often, but now he will not make an appointment with us until the morning of the day we want to work out - and all of his other clients have put in their time requests!

For example, if we have a training session on a Monday evening, at the end of the session he will ask us when we can do our next session. We generally say Wednesday evening and find a time that works for the both of us. For this example, let's say 5pm like we did this week. He will reply with "that should work, I will text you for sure."  We will not hear from him until Wednesday morning, and by then his schedule is full from 4:00 through 7:00.  That might work for other people, but he knows that I like to get my workout in right away after work, with a little give or take with timing... but at the same time I am a mom and my daughter's nighttime routine is extremely important to me.

We have pre-paid for 20 sessions and last night was our 13th.  I really wish that he would be committed to us as much as we need him to be... we pay him $39 per 30 minute small group session (2 people instead of just 1).  It's not like he is a FREE trainer! He has also cancelled on us last minute to go drinking with his girlfriend and/or go workout with his buddies at a different gym. Basically, I find him quite unprofessional and he isn't living up to my $39 payout!



This is a picture of my trainer that hangs in our gym - advertising his services.



Maybe it's just me, but I get annoyed that I am paying someone to text his friends and barely pay attention to me while I am paying him to push me and make my workouts more efficient and increasingly difficult! I have noticed that Nicole and I do almost every exercise from our circuits differently - but he never corrects either of us... and isn't there only a certain way to do a push-up on a bar? Oh, and when I keep pushing myself to the place where I am so dizzy I almost fall off of the stepper? He laughs and says "If you would have fallen, I would have put you on YouTube!" Yeah, that really happens.

Last night during our workout, after he said that crazy blackmailing of YouTube line, I asked my trainer if he actually has ever posted a video of a client on YouTube. He starts laughing and said "Yeah! This guy was on a yoga ball and was doing chest presses..." I knew what was coming next when he continued "The ball popped underneath him and he fell flat on the floor." I was stunned but he just started laughing uncontrollably.

Just like I said, he is lacking professionalism.  I understand that not everyone can be "right there" with their clients for the entire 30 minutes, but I would like to think that he actually cares about my fitness and health... instead of just collecting his profits.

At this point, I wish that my gym had another trainer I could switch to, but he is the only trainer at the gym, which makes it that much more difficult.  Nicole seems to like our trainer - they talk like buddies while we train, but I am at my wits end. What do you all think? Am I over reacting? Should I look for someone new? If so, how?