Bala Cynwyd 610-664-6464

Feasterville 215-355-2700

RADNOR484-840-4500

Bala Cynwyd 610-664-6464

Feasterville 215-355-2700

Radnor 484-840-4500

Free 30 Day Trial

First Personal Training Session


Have you ever worked out with a Personal Trainer?

When I decided I wanted to give this whole fitness thing a try, a recommendation that many people in the club made to me was to give the one-on-one Personal Training session a shot. I know a lot of personal trainers (obviously, I am surrounded by them all the time). They are all great people, but I’ll be honest, I was a little scared. Have you seen them? They are all super fit and know exactly what they are doing. So me, I was nervous. First, I didn’t know what to expect from a session – will I work out, is it mostly talking, a tour of the equipment? Then, what should I expected from the trainer – will they be nice to me, or are they going to yell at me for never working out before? Will they go easy on me, or are they going to expect me to be able to know how to do everything already?

So, after putting it off for a while (and essentially just procrastinating really working out at the gym), I decided I needed to go for it. Last Friday afternoon, I met with Nate Drain, over in our Feasterville location. Not only is Nate a Certified Personal Trainer, but he is also the Fitness Director. In addition to seeing his own clients, he does a lot of the initial training sessions that we offer to new members, so I thought he would be a great person to meet with.

Talking About Fitness

The session starts off with a conversation and a small health questionnaire. In addition to covering the basics – family history, current health conditions, etc., we spoke about my goals, my current fitness level and what I was looking to learn. I find that conversations like these with professionals (similar to my conversation with Jillian), really help. It helped me to figure out where I was aiming to go in terms of fitness, but also how I can get there. Nate was a great person to talk to about this – knowledgeable, but also very approachable and friendly. Big plusses while talking to him:

  • He genuinely seemed interested in what I had to say. He followed up my answers with more questions, and also told me why some of my answers were important in regards to a fitness regimen.
  • Not once did he tell me that what I had previously done was wrong. Rather than sounding judgmental or scary, he talked to me in a friendly, motivating demeanor. I didn’t feel like I couldn’t do anything that he was asking, and I felt like if I couldn’t – he wouldn’t have looked at me any differently.

Working Out

After talking for about 15-20 minutes, we went out on to the gym floor. We started off with a few minutes on the treadmill, to get me warmed up. When speaking with Nate, I decided that I wanted him to show me more exercises using my body weight and cables, rather than the new circuit. Why? Well, honestly, it sounded like I might get more out of it. Plus, almost all of our circuit machines have little picture instructions on them. I figured, I could probably figure those out on my own. So that is what we did. We went through seven different exercises around the gym floor, and ran through the whole workout twice. For each different exercise – Nate showed me how to do it, set me up with the weight and the proper form, and counted me through 8-12 reps. For each exercise, he made sure that the weight wasn’t too much for me, that I was comfortable doing the exercise and understood what I was supposed to be getting out of each exercise. He reminded me of my breathing and answered each question I had. This was a great workout – and that is coming from someone who hates to workout! It was a really basic way to get me in the gym, learn how to use a couple of things that I didn’t know how to use before and made me break just a bit of a sweat. I didn’t get too beat up that I felt unmotivated to come back, it actually left me wanting more.

What happens next? Nate schedules you for your second session, also free. That session will be going through an entire hour session that has been customized to you. Nate will take all of the background information, plus everything he learned during the first session (weights that you were comfortable at, the amount of reps you could do, etc.) and put it into a workout for you. After meeting with Nate once, am I going to be a pro at everything I do? Absolutely not. At least now I have a little confidence in a couple of exercises and pieces of equipment that I might actually take the next step and do a workout on my own.

DO IT, NOW.

Now look back at the first line…. Have you ever worked out with a Personal Trainer? If your answer is no – and you are currently an AFC Fitness member, here is what I want you to do. Reach out to your Fitness Director:

Feasterville – Nate Drain – ndrain@afcfitness.com

Bala Cynwyd – Kevin Schultz – kevin@afcfitness.com

Jenkintown – Tim Bodman – tbodman@afcfitness.com

Don’t be shy! Don’t be scared! Tell them a little about yourself, what you are looking to do and that you’ve never done your free sessions. They’ll get you set up with one of our staff trainers and you’ll get two sessions, just like what I did above. Honestly, whether you think you might want to work out with a trainer or not, these two sessions can be so helpful! You’ll get a little bit more information on equipment and exercises, a little bit of motivation from someone that knows what they are doing, and they’re completely free. Do it, do it now.