Episode Transcript
[00:00:11] Speaker A: Happy Sunday, y'. All. You are listening to Fit to Be Tithe with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7 the capstone.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: It is 90.7 the capstone, isn't it? Cause sometimes I want to say 95.7jams.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: Well, when you said that, I was like, oh, man, you just called me out on having caffeine. Did I say the right way?
[00:00:26] Speaker B: Will you please tell our listeners, like, you're the coffee and the hair you asked me about as if you had caffeine or coffee. And you were like, yeah, can you smell it? And I was like, what do you mean?
[00:00:37] Speaker A: So I went through the drive through this morning to get coffee, and as the girl, she was a significant. She was a tall lady, and she was handing it to me, and I had my hand, like, raised, and when I grabbed the coffee, I raised it so high that it hit the top of my window, and then it just kind of, like, splattered in my bangs. So. So I had a bit of a moment. But if that's the worst thing that can happen.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: Did she freak out?
[00:01:03] Speaker A: She didn't even know, like, she was running around to get my little.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: No. And you really.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: Oh, I'm scalding coffee on me. So I just didn't know if I had this coffee aroma. But no, the fact that you can tell by the way that I was acting.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: Well, you're very giggly. It cracks me up because I can kind of tell because you get kind of excited and giggly, and I know that that's you on coffee now.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:26] Speaker B: What kind of coffee did you get? Like, what's your signature? If you're gonna go Starbucks or Dunkin
[00:01:30] Speaker A: Donuts or whatever, I go to Starbucks a lot of times. I like to get an Americano. Me, too.
So I do that. And then at home, if I'm doing it at home, I like the Starbucks Sumatra.
[00:01:41] Speaker B: We do, too. Yeah. Oh, it's so good.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: So, yes.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: Yeah. You asked me one other time if I was, like, a coffee or tea drinker, and I'll drink coffee in the mornings because I need that kick and I like it pretty strong. But then after that, if I drink coffee any other time of the day, it just. I'm, like, out. Like, it's something. Does something in my brain. So I'm definitely a green tea drinker about my three o' clock tea. I try to honor our friends in the UK and have my three o' clock tea time.
[00:02:08] Speaker A: So, yeah, no, I like that. And I think the reason I had so much caffeine today, I Actually stayed up this weekend, and I was watching the second season of Love is Blind.
I don't know if you've seen that.
[00:02:20] Speaker B: Is that where they find their person they're gonna marry or something?
[00:02:24] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: Is it good?
[00:02:25] Speaker A: They date through these.
[00:02:27] Speaker B: I thought about watching each other.
[00:02:29] Speaker A: I mean, let. Let me be honest. It's not a show that I would, like, walk into the kitchen and brag to my husband that I'm watching. It's one of those things where guilty pleasure. Yeah. Like, I'm sitting in the den and I'm just like, please don't ask what I'm watching. I'm just gonna stare at the TV and then. Or pretend I'm looking at my phone. I mean, there's. It's not that it's bad. It's just, you know, reality TV in general can get a certain.
[00:02:52] Speaker B: You know, I'm not gonna lie. I really like reality TV because I feel like I don't have to think at all. And it's just something to watch other people's chaos sometimes. I really got into catfish at one point. I was like, this is amazing. And then Max left, and it was just nev. And then he had a new person or, like, a few new people, and it just wasn't ever the same for me. But anyway, we're totally. I don't even know what we're talking about right now.
[00:03:13] Speaker A: Well, speaking of catfish, I'll say this really quick, and then, of course, we can go to more things of substance. Did you ever watch the episode that was filmed in Tuscaloosa?
[00:03:21] Speaker B: Yes, it was the very first one. And I found out where the house is.
[00:03:25] Speaker A: Did you?
[00:03:25] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's over there, like, behind.
Like on Hackberry, like, behind where the vape store is.
Don't ask me how I know that, but it's behind that area.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: I think I just like that they had their pow wow in Iguana Grill or whatever. Iguana Grill used to be.
[00:03:44] Speaker B: That's where we used to always go in college. Anyway, what are we talking about today? I don't even know.
[00:03:49] Speaker A: You know what?
We have kind of. We've gotten into this groove where we've been doing our shows independently, but then we also known when we want to bring in our friends. You know, we had Nico Morgan last week. We had the new dietitian from the student health center. And so for our listeners today, I know we'll be going to a break soon, but we're gonna have a guest. We are. That they've heard before.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: Well, yeah. And I wouldn't even really call this person a guest because I think that at one time when you were out on maternity leave, this person actually jumped in and was a co host on the show. So really, it's just bringing in our experts that know different things about fitness and wellness, and we're gonna talk about f. So I think on that note, let's take a little break.
[00:04:30] Speaker A: Okay, that sounds great. You guys grab something to drink. Use the restroom. Do what you gotta do. You are listening to Fit to Be Tied with Sheen and Whitney on 90.7, the capstone.
[00:04:42] Speaker C: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: Welcome back. You're listening to Fit to Be Tied. And Sheena's on coffee, so it's gonna be a great day. Half of it fell on her, but she's been a trooper about it. Yes, but y.
We're in March now, and I think it's kind of interesting that, you know, at the beginning of the semester, we talked about New Year's resolutions and we gave everybody a timeline. Do you remember that? We said by the end of March or till March.
[00:05:10] Speaker A: The end of March.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: The end of March. If you're going to come up with a New Year's resolution, it's kind of not valid after March, but you still have time. So I wonder if some of our listeners have thought through. You know, we've kind of made it through some of the cold weather, had some nicer weather, and maybe we're getting outside. Maybe we're working out more. Have you changed any of your goals or resolutions?
[00:05:30] Speaker A: I have not, no.
[00:05:32] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:05:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:33] Speaker B: I don't remember what mine were, actually.
[00:05:36] Speaker A: So that's why I wanted to say I haven't changed anything because I don't
[00:05:38] Speaker B: know what they are.
[00:05:39] Speaker A: So case in point, we're just normal humans. Yeah, you should probably document those things. But no, Whitney, like you said, I think we had set that timeline. If you wanted to technically call somebody or call something a New Year's resolution, then it needed to be before the end of March.
[00:05:56] Speaker B: Before the end of March.
[00:05:57] Speaker A: But of course, we encourage you to set goals at any time of the year.
[00:06:00] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:06:00] Speaker A: So I want to make sure that we put that out there. But, Whitney, I'm gonna let you do the honors of introducing our correspondent.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: That's right, a friend to the show, our correspondent from the field of fitness. So once again, Charles Burrows is with us. He's our fitness services coordinator over at the rec center. I'm not really going to talk too much about him because he can talk about Himself. But Charles, thanks for being on the show.
[00:06:23] Speaker C: Yes, thanks for having me back once again. I always love to be here once again.
[00:06:26] Speaker B: Yeah, I was about to say so I feel like for a while there we were doing Zoom Recordings. Sheena was out. It was me and you just like talking about fitness stuff. And then I think last semester we might have had you on one or two times. So this is your first time getting on this show this semester. But for people just now tuning in, there may be like, who are these girls on the radio and what do they talk about? Fit to Be Tied is our show about wellness, fitness, nutrition. We like to just cover a variety of topics. So, Charles, tell us about you. Just remind our listeners, or for the first time listeners, you know, who you are, what you do at the university, and why you're relevant to this show.
[00:07:04] Speaker C: Oh, man. Yeah. So I'm Charles Burrows. I'm the fitness services coordinator over for University Recreation. I primarily oversee the personal training programs there. So I oversee our personal training staff. I help get our clients set up with their trainer and get involved.
I like to do in services and stuff with our trainers and clients. We also do some small group training programs as well. So for example, right now we're revving up for our mayhem program, Shout out, which is an awesome outdoor boot camp style program. And you know, we try to do something like that every semester. But that's what I do. I do all things fitness, especially in regards to training and working with some kind of personal trainer.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: Now, Charles, how long have you been in your position and what was your footprint prior to coming to Tuscaloosa?
[00:07:52] Speaker C: Sure. Yeah. So I have been here almost four years now. It'll be four years come I think.
So almost there. Not quite yet, but I've been doing that for almost four years. Before that, I worked in commercial wellness. Commercial fitness for about three years. And then before that I worked at a commercial gym for about two years. So I've been doing this. I was actually looking at the calendar other day. I got my certification just past eight years ago today.
Just a little past that. So I think it's been like eight years and a month.
And then I've been working out really only for about 10 years. So I got into fitness about two years before I got certified.
So it's kind of weird to think I was like, wow, it's been a whole decade since I started all this. But yeah, that's what I've done up to this point. A little bit of personal training, a little bit of corporate, a little Bit of academia, been all over the place.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: So just for our listeners, you said you, you know, you just started working out like two years before you got certified.
What prompted that?
[00:08:54] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a good question. So that would have been, I think, my first or second year in college and I had gained a lot of weight and I had had a few health issues. So I had gone to see my doctor and he told me, hey, you've got the body of like a 50 year old and you're only 19, so it's about time to do something about it.
So I started researching some nutrition and exercise and started to experience results for myself. And I realized that not only one, I could do it, which was exciting to have that epiphany, that realization, but I actually really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the process of seeing progress and kind of pushing myself to a point I didn't think I was able to do before. So that empowerment of seeing change in myself made me realize that I wanted to help other people do it.
[00:09:37] Speaker B: Did you start with the nutrition first or did you start working out?
[00:09:42] Speaker C: Actually, they were pretty close together. I would say that the nutrition may have came first, actually.
We actually had a weight loss competition in the office. I was working at the time and I started started out eating better and then also at the same time I started exercising pretty close. So they were pretty closely tied up. I would say the eating was slightly first.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: Now, did you just. So like you just dived into information and we just started like researching and like finding out what you need to do for yourself. Did you ever like get help from a trainer, a personal trainer at that point, go to any classes, or was this just like a self like realization, I'm just gonna go in and do it myself?
[00:10:21] Speaker C: It was largely self.
Yeah. The closest thing to a trainer was Beachbody's P90X program.
[00:10:28] Speaker B: I remember P90X used to get a few exercises from that for my classes.
[00:10:34] Speaker C: I actually hurt myself doing that because I wasn't doing it correctly. But I tried a lot of it. There's some bumps along the road for sure. I didn't quite know what I was doing. I just knew that I need to do something.
So I think the most important thing was not that I found the right program, the right person, but it's just I just kept doing it and just kept doing it over and over again. And I learned from my own mistakes.
[00:10:56] Speaker A: Do you feel like, Charles, with your personal experience, that that has provided an opportunity to have empathy for new clients or those that, you know, have a lot of Self doubt. And sometimes you kind of self disclose, like your own story to say, like, hey, like, I understand. I really do understand where you are at this base point of starting.
[00:11:19] Speaker C: Absolutely. I think that that was huge. And that's actually something that I try to preach to all of our trainers on staff, is to learn to have empathy, even if you haven't gone through those situations yourself. Because I think that is so important for helping our clients. I think what makes a trainer successful is not necessarily their expertise in a certain workout methodology, but their ability to empathize with their clients and help them to navigate this transformation that they're going through. Because it's not easy. That's the hard part. It's not finding a magical workout, but it's being able to deal with some of the emotional stuff that pops up along the way.
[00:11:55] Speaker B: Yeah, it's kind of interesting to think about. I just recently did another training because I'm constantly wanting to learn and I thought about, like, for my personal journey, being a trainer when I first started out, like, how little knowledge I have. But I remember one reason why I think people wanted to come back to train with me is that I made them feel comfortable and I listened to their, you know, their issues or I tried to find the answers, and I didn't have a lot of knowledge, but I was still in able to give them an experience. And I think that's the same thing that you're able to do that you've learned with your clients. I know you've got some. That you work with that have some pretty serious health issues and, you know, the knowledge, I mean, you have a vast amount of knowledge, but still it's like you don't know everything. We don't know everything about everything. But it's like we have to be able to empathize with them and, you know, work with them and be, you know, I guess, open to change and open to changing up workouts. And I think that's pretty important with our clients. Making sure that, you know, we are very respectful. Also their time with us and just being knowledgeable. And even if we don't have the answers, we can just, you know, find those answers and go with it.
[00:13:02] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And I know, you know, we're about to go on another break, but Charles, for our listeners that are hopping in, when we talk about personal training and let's just put it out there, like, what would be just kind of a textbook, straightforward definition of a personal trainer.
[00:13:20] Speaker C: Yeah, a personal trainer is gonna be a guide to fitness. It's gonna be the person that provides the how to. When it comes to working out whether it's proper form, which should always be a component, the programming, you know, they kind of take the guesswork out and they make sure that you are not wasting your time doing something that's not gonna work, spinning your wheels, doing something incorrectly. So they are your all things guide. You know, they take the guesswork out and they make it happen.
[00:13:45] Speaker A: I love that.
[00:13:46] Speaker B: I think that's a great example.
[00:13:48] Speaker A: On that note, let's take a break because we're gonna continue.
You are listening to Fit to Be Tied with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7 the Capstone.
[00:14:02] Speaker C: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa.
[00:14:09] Speaker B: Welcome back, friends, to Fit to be Tied. And we are talking about personal training.
I think sometimes that can sound a little scary, getting a personal trainer, and sometimes it can sound super bougie that you're getting a personal trainer. And there's different names. I think that we are, we can refer to ourselves as. I know that we're both certified personal trainers through nationally recognized organizations that have vetted through the information and the testing, and it's legit. And there's liability insurance that can come with it if you're not covered and all that good stuff. And Charles on the other side of the break told us a little bit about what a personal trainer is. And you said that it was a guide. And I think that that's a perfect, it's a perfect definition, which I don't even know if that's in the textbooks, but if you decide to write a book, maybe you should put that in there.
But I do kind of want to talk about what should somebody look for if they want to get a personal trainer, the components of it. We kind of talked about the empathy side of it, but then there's a lot of other things. So when you're hiring people, I know we do deal with a lot of new people with becoming trainers because we are in higher education, so we focus on training students, but let's just strip that away. Let's not look at higher education certification. Let's look at the world.
Let's look at commercial fitness. I mean, what do you look for when finding a personal trainer?
[00:15:29] Speaker C: Sure. I would say the first notch that has to be filled, that has to be met, is they have to have a certification.
Any nationally recognized certification will typically do. But there is kind of the big three that are in the field, which are acsm, which is the American College of Sports Medicine. There's nasm, which is the National Academy of Sports Medicine. And then there's also ace, which is, is the American Council on Exercise.
One other one that's also really big, but it's more generated or I guess focused towards athletes and the athletic field. Sports in general is gonna be nsca, which is the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
That certification is usually called cscs, I can't remember for life of me right now it stands for. But those are really the big ones. So you're usually gonna see one of those three, one of those four when you're looking for a trainer. And that's always a good sign that they at least have that base knowledge they need to be effective.
[00:16:23] Speaker B: Yeah, and you know, working out, like anybody can do it. Anybody can go into a gym. I know we have very strict policies on instruction, like personal training instruction.
And it's not that it takes business away from us, but it's that you're in our facility and if someone's putting you through a workout and they're calling themselves a trainer, they're not, they might not be covered. But let's talk a little bit about why the certifications are important and the legitimacy. Because, I mean, people like to sue.
People get hurt. Exercise is a high risk activity.
So I know, you know, we're kind of covered under UA's umbrella, but let's talk a little bit about liability insurance. Like why should someone, a trainer, have liability insurance?
[00:17:09] Speaker C: Well, they need to have it because accidents can happen. I think that's an important thing to understand is that obviously if a trainer is negligent, you know, if they do something wrong, that's on them, regardless, there's nothing that's going to protect them from that. And it shouldn't. You know, if you're not capable of doing your job correctly, then that's a problem. But I would say it's important to have insurance and just to protect yourself in that way, because sometimes accidents happen.
Exercise by its very nature is risky because you're putting your body through stress, you're putting your joints through stress, you're putting your heart through stress. Everything is being stressed upon.
So you need to have that protection just in case.
It's that simple. You know, just accidents happen. And so for that reason, any trainer should have that and any client should be looking for a trainer that has that as well, because it also means that they're going to be protected if something were to happen.
Because then it's not just their own insurance paying out if something were to go wrong, heaven forbid, but also that trainer's insurance would be there for their benefit as well.
[00:18:08] Speaker A: You know, thinking about this and the certifications that are out there. And of course, you know, really anyone can get the certification as long as they pass every.
But as far as being a successful trainer or one that does work well with their clients, what kind of personality traits are we looking for in a good trainer? What makes a good trainer just in terms of, like, general affect?
[00:18:28] Speaker C: That's a good question, Sheena. I think a lot of people, when they think of trainers, they think of what they see on tv, where it's this person in their face and they're
[00:18:35] Speaker A: yelling and screaming this Jillian Michaels. That's what I was trying to say.
[00:18:37] Speaker C: Jillian Michaels. You know, and what I'll say is that I think what makes a good trainer is not what you're gonna see necessarily at face value. It's not gonna be the loudness of their voice. It's not gonna be how strong or ripped they are. Although those are definitely nice things that can tell you something. But I think what really makes a good trainer is someone who is patient, someone who is empathetic, like we already talked about, and someone who is able to adapt and problem solve. I think problem solving is one of the most important attributes of a good trainer, because our bodies are so complicated that a lot of times we're not going to do exactly the right thing the first time around. And so a good trainer is going to be able to reassess you midway through a workout and say, okay, I recognize that after a certain amount of weeks, this isn't working like we had planned. Let's adapt and change and overcome. And so you need a trainer that is willing to adapt and change and a trainer who is humble enough to recognize that maybe what they try to do the first time didn't work. I think that's really important.
[00:19:44] Speaker B: I was just thinking about that because you, you know, the empathy is great, but, like, you're gonna have some clients sometimes that are going to, you know, not be super happy because they're not seeing the results that they're getting. They have kind of a different mindset. Maybe they're trying to lose weight, but it's not happening at the pace that, like, you thought that it would happen. And, you know, I think it's kind of interesting. Like, we have have to deal with so many different personalities, and we have to be, like, on our toes and available to quickly respond to something if a workout isn't working for them. I think when I was training, I was training this student one time, and her mom kept wanting to call and check on her progress. And that wasn't, it's not. Her mom might be paying for it, but unfortunately that was between me and her. And the mom put pressure on the girl that wanted her to look a certain way. And it was just, you have to deal with a lot more factors psychologically when you're training and the nutrition sometimes, although we're very limited on what we can give out. So I don't know, you have to be a very well rounded person to be a trainer and to put up with stuff.
[00:20:52] Speaker A: Yes. And I feel like you need to like people or like interacting with people.
I feel that way sometimes just in the area that I work in with nutrition. You know, certainly there are some types of, types of dietitians, like those that work in the hospital, in the ICU setting where they're not going to have like so much frequent people interaction. But anything where you're dealing with, I think human behavior, nutrition, physical activity, those are very emotional experiences on a lot of levels. And so I think again, we keep going back to that word, empathy, but I think just reading that person and understanding what are those intrinsic motivators that they have, you know, what are the things that are driving them in this
[00:21:31] Speaker B: process, you know, And I think too, Charles, if you kind of want to talk a little bit about, you know, after you get a certification, it's not over. Like your learning never ends. I mean, we have to get continuing education. I don't, I think you're acsm, right? So like how often do you have to get continuing education?
[00:21:49] Speaker C: Every three years I've got to recertify, which is actually pretty unique. Usually it's only two, but that's one thing I really value about being able to work here at the university is, is there's always this focus on continuing education. And that's something that managing our personal trainers here is try to establish that early on to establish that culture and that idea that as trainers your education doesn't end at your certification. If anything, that's where your next phase begins and you really gotta dial in and pay more attention because it's easy to get a certification and just stop. And so for our listeners who are wondering, well, what's the best certification I should look, look for, for a trainer to have, I would say, and this is bad, but like none of them are more important or better than the other. The fact of the matter is it comes down to that person and being willing to continue to learn and progress their knowledge. That's so important in this field.
[00:22:41] Speaker B: I feel like that's why it's such a red flag. If you meet somebody that maybe they look super fit, but they're not certified. It's like, if you're knowledgeable in what you do, why don't you get certified? Because you should be wanting to elevate yourself. Just another red flag, because I know there's a lot of people that will kind of pose as a personal trainer, and they're kind of secretive about it. I mean, that's like a big red flag.
[00:23:03] Speaker C: I always say. One good sign of finding a trainer, though, is someone who you see in the gym themselves. And that's not to say they have to look a certain way. But I've always noticed that the trainers who are the most knowledgeable are the ones in the gym doing that themselves. They're the ones experimenting around with different movements and ideas and concepts.
[00:23:21] Speaker B: Feeling it. Yeah, exactly.
[00:23:22] Speaker C: And they legitimately just enjoy doing this. That's such a good sign of a good trainer, because it means that they're willing to take that time to learn more outside of just working with their clients.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: Yeah, I love that, and I love this conversation, because I think, again, it boils down to not only making sure that this personal trainer has the knowledge base that they need and the personality, but really these certifications.
I feel like it is from a consumer standpoint. It's that consumer sign that. But I know what I'm talking about,
[00:23:53] Speaker B: and I'm professional, and you can trust me.
[00:23:55] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. But we've got more to talk about, you guys. But it's time for a break. You are listening to Fit to be Tied with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7 capstone.
[00:24:07] Speaker C: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa,
[00:24:13] Speaker B: and where Vacula seemed to fit to be tied. And we're gonna get y' all set up with a personal trainer. It sounds like.
[00:24:19] Speaker A: Yes. You know, and we were. We talked a little bit about this during the break, and we wanted to make sure that we mentioned it on air. You know, Charles, one of the things that I was thinking, for those that are thinking about hiring and utilizing a personal trainer, you know, we joked at the beginning that maybe someone might have hesitations because they had perceived it as a bougie service.
But, you know, when somebody's thinking, okay, I'm interested in personal training, but how frequent do I need to see this person for it to be beneficial?
Can I afford to see someone four or five times a week? Is that even necessary? Is one time a week.
Is there an industry norm or is it really just dependent on the person and their goals.
[00:25:04] Speaker C: Yeah. So it's dependent on a few things. Now, I would say that anyone could certainly benefit from meeting a trainer every day of the week, right?
[00:25:11] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:25:11] Speaker C: But that's not necessary.
A good trainer is gonna be able to work with whatever got. Whether it's once a week, twice a week, three times a week. I would say twice a week is a great starting point that's gonna make sure that not only are you getting the programming you need, but you're also getting that accountability aspect.
A good trainer is gonna make sure that you can be successful at once a week because what they'll do is they're gonna create programming for you to do on your own. I will say that working out once a week is probably not enough.
Twice a week is gonna be better. And usually we say that twice a week is sort of the baseline to see consistent results.
But what I would say in terms of meeting with a trainer, you can get by with once or twice a week and still get great results. Because that trainer is going to say, okay, when you're not with me, here's what you're going to do. You're going to do cardio this day. You're going to repeat some of the same exercises we did in our session this day. So they can really work with you to make sure it works. And I'll go ahead and give a quick shout to the rec. We do have some most affordable sessions out there.
So really, even someone that's trying to ball on a budget, you know, they can do that here because really it's only about $25 a session, which is really cheap for personal training.
[00:26:20] Speaker A: That's great.
[00:26:21] Speaker B: It's pretty low.
[00:26:22] Speaker A: Well, and you know, for those that are interested in utilizing the personal training services at urec, I know you guys do a fantastic job of taking some baseline assessments on your clients. What would that baseline assessment look like for the individual?
[00:26:37] Speaker C: Sure. So that's gonna depend a lot on their goals.
You know, if someone comes in and says they want to learn, they want to run a marathon, one of the first assessments I'm going to have them do is a cardio assessment to see what their current cardio levels at.
Personally, as a trainer, I'm always going to do some sort of movement assessment.
So that's going to be movements that are important to exercise. So something involving the lower body, something involving the upper body, what we call push, pull. So I'm going to see something that uses the muscles on the front side of their body, something that shows me the backside as well.
And then I'm going to take all those different movements and figure out what they're capable of moving forward. But a lot of the times the assessment is just going to depend on what their goals are. If it's strength related, we're going to do something that tests that strength component.
But really my goal is to make sure that throughout the assessment we kind of hit all aspects of fitness at least a little bit. Something that tells me a little bit about their cardio, that tells me a little bit about their strength and helps me identify any issues that we need to address early on. But again, it's very much dependent on the person that comes in.
[00:27:38] Speaker B: Okay, that was a great question. I was sitting here again thinking about my training days and how every client was so different. How I'd have the ones that would come in twice a week, maybe three times a week. They were very consistent. They'd come in for their full body workouts and on the opposite days they would do focus on cardio, maybe go do yoga, Pilates. And then I have the ones that I would meet with once a week, maybe once a month. And we would work on like a workout plan. And so I think that's what's great about personal training because you have that person that's going to guide you through fitness. We essentially want our clients to like be able to do this stuff on their own because I mean, our trainers come and go, especially working in a university setting. We always have students that are graduating and leaving. And you know, it is a job with a high turnover with employees, just the nature of it. So I think it's important too that, you know, with those assessments and with the really good workouts and kicking their butts and stuff like that, that's always fun for us to do. We're also giving them the tools so that if we're not there to do it, they can feel comfortable to go into the weight room. They have the right movement principles and they can do their own workout.
[00:28:43] Speaker A: So as we've talked about either becoming a personal trainer or getting one, you know, as far as the length of time it takes to become a personal trainer, what does that certification process look like? I didn't know if there's like so many hours somebody needs under their belt before they're eligible to sit for an exam, is it learning course materials and then passing an exam that way? What does all of that look like typically?
[00:29:07] Speaker C: Yeah, so it's mostly a self study process typically. And then there's going to be an exam. But what is nice is there are a lot of preparatory courses or classes, classes out there. In fact, we do one every fall at the rec. And it's a personal training prep course for the certification. So if you attend that, then you're going to learn everything that you need to pass a certification. There isn't any kind of like clinical hours or observation hours, anything like that. But I know for us specifically at the rec, you know, any new trainer coming on board, I'm going to have them shadow a certain number of sessions. I'm going to make sure that they've gone through the certification process, which. Which, depending on how eager you are, how much free time you have, can take anywhere from three months to a year's worth of study, just depending on your previous knowledge and again, how motivated you are to study.
But it's very accessible to anyone wanting to become a trainer if you're willing to take the time to study. I think anyone can become a trainer if they're willing to.
[00:30:07] Speaker B: And it's kind of cool, too, to think that you would think all of our training staff would be all kinesiology students, but it's really not the case because we find that we do have kinesiology students, but we find that a lot of students have a love and a passion for fitness. And so they want this to be kind of an escape and like, we call it a side hustle, something to do that can keep them motivated as well, keep them learning. So it's. I mean, yes, kinesiology students are getting, you know, their certifications in training, but we actually see a lot of the opposite.
[00:30:38] Speaker C: Yeah. One of our most knowledgeable trainers on staff is studying accounting, which I wonder
[00:30:43] Speaker B: if that has some kind of correlation. Has to be with maybe numbers and statistics and stuff. But.
[00:30:48] Speaker C: So I do know he's on top of his tracking.
[00:30:50] Speaker B: Yeah, I bet it's like, perfect.
So, you know, for us, Charles, like, when you're hiring, kind of go through the steps like that you actually do to hire on, because it's more, in my opinion, than most. Most people do at other facilities. Because a lot of times they're like, you know, depending on facility, it can be a contract job, it can be you're employed by them, but what do you do to hire our staff?
[00:31:15] Speaker C: Yeah, so any job is going to require at least a certification. That's a given. So at that point, that's not even a big part of the hiring process because, honestly, if you didn't have it, then you wouldn't be considered right but after that there's a multi step process. One of them is they've got to complete a case study. So I'm going to give them sample client with, hey, he's got these issues, he's got this going on, make me a program for him. So I'm going to give the interviewee some time to create a program. They send it to me and then I review that and make sure it makes sense and that it's going to be good for this client. If they pass that step, then I'm going to have them come in, we're going to meet, I'm going to get to know them, get to know their personality and then we're going to do a mock session, which I got to admit is actually pretty intimidating from their standpoint, I admit, because it's not easy, easy to take your potential boss through a workout. But basically I pretend to be whatever client I gave them and then I'm gonna have them take me through some exercises, I'm gonna pretend to mess it up, I'm gonna butcher the form, I'm gonna do all these different things to trip them up and then they're gonna correct me and make sure that I'm doing it correctly. And if they can go through all those steps successfully, then usually I'm gonna bring them on as a trainer.
[00:32:20] Speaker B: Have you ever had one of the mock sessions happen and they not correct you, thinking that maybe like, oh, this poor guy probably, you know, I've had
[00:32:31] Speaker C: a few that were just like, they're like, I don't know if there's something wrong with them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that definitely happens. I think they get a little bit nervous, but I try to make them, you know, comfortable with me and let them know that like, hey, right now I'm not your potential boss. I'm this guy that needs help. And so I need you to correct me and don't be afraid to do so.
[00:32:49] Speaker A: That's great. No, I love that. Just the fact that you are so diligent with making sure that your staff are prepared. And I know that you guys frequently do in services for your staff for personal training for the group exercise instructors, because you guys have pulled me in for that. But you know, I think one of the reasons I had asked about the assessment piece early on, I remember utilizing some group personal training with some other faculty staff members a few years ago. And on that first day I was like, oh my Lanta, I'm gonna have to run around this track. And they were like, we're gonna time you and see how long it takes. And I was like, I really don't want to do this.
[00:33:24] Speaker B: This is terrible. Yeah.
[00:33:25] Speaker A: But then at the end of our sess months, we had been doing it and then we were running around the track again. I was like, I shaved all this time off. Like, I was so proud of myself. And so I always have to remember, like, it's good to have that baseline so you have that point of comparison.
[00:33:42] Speaker C: Yeah. And I think a good trainer is going to make sure that they teach you to enjoy fitness outside of what your goal is. Because a lot of times people come in and their specific goal is, you know, I want to fit this dress, I want to lose this much weight. I want to, to get us to look a certain way. And a good trainer is going to help you enjoy the process and enjoy all these other little things. To enjoy shaving that mile time down or getting a little bit stronger and to actually take pride in the fitness part of it. I think it's so important that we teach people that part of fitness because you're much more likely to stick with it. Right.
Your weight fluctuates based on Hydra. There's so many other factors that can, can influence your appearance. And a lot of times it's not always healthy. And so I really encourage our trainers and our clients to enjoy the other parts of fitness, actually being in the gym or outside or whatever physical activity you're doing. And I think when you can learn to create that enjoyment or passion for the process, it's going to result in long term success.
[00:34:45] Speaker A: Charles, that's why we pay you the big bucks, AKA get you to come on, because you are amazing. And just thank you so much. I know we've got our last five minute segment. We may pull you in for that. But for now, you guys, we've got to take a quick break. You're listening to Fit to be tied with Sheen and Whitney on 90.7 the Capstone.
[00:35:07] Speaker C: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa.
[00:35:14] Speaker B: Welcome back. We've had an awesome show and we're in March and we're working out. We're getting a personal trainer. And next week I think we better talk about nutrition.
[00:35:22] Speaker A: Yes. Because it's National Nutrition Month.
[00:35:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:35:25] Speaker A: And so this month or this year in particular, so every year the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics does a different theme for National Nutrition Month. And it is celebrate a world of flavors. So really encouraging folks to try international things. So I feel like. So I know you are super excited about that.
[00:35:44] Speaker B: I'm so excited because, like all of my flavors, like, everything is in a different language. Literally in my fridge.
[00:35:51] Speaker A: Fridge.
[00:35:51] Speaker B: It's like we have Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Indian. I mean, all kinds of stuff. Anyway, I'm very intrigued. Yes.
[00:35:56] Speaker A: So I'm excited. And of being a Filipino heritage, you know, it'll give me a reason to share some different Filipino dishes. Yeah. But anyways, so, Charles, we're gonna ask you questions that we've been asking lots of our guests lately. What does self care look like for you?
[00:36:13] Speaker C: Ooh, yeah. Self care. Okay. So I guess getting away, unplugging, that kind of thing, I guess for me, it's gonna probably be art. I love painting. I love drawing. I love anything art related.
That is definitely my coping mechanism, I guess. My chance to get away from the gym and get away from the office. Usually I'm gonna be painting or drawing. Very good chance of that. It's something I've done since I was a little kid. And then really with the start of the pandemic, that kind of reignited my passion. Cause I had zero distractions. And so I got a lot more into painting and drawing. And, you know, whether it's digital or acrylic or whatever it is, I love doing that. That's probably my go to.
[00:36:53] Speaker A: Man, I just would not have pegged you as an artist. And I love that about you.
[00:36:56] Speaker B: And let me tell you something about Charles. He's legit. Like, I remember one time, I think the first thing I saw you draw, it was when Chelsea was still working with us. And it was like, I can't remember, it was like animated, sort of, kind of. Not like some kind of guy. I can't remember exactly who it was, but she was like, y', all, look at this. And I was like, wow, that's cool. She was like, Charles Jewett. And I was like, what?
And he can do, like, picture. You have friends send you pictures. I want you to, like, do these life size drawings of like, you know, kids and that kind of stuff, like, for families. And it's really, really impressive. And so for people, I mean, I don't have any kind of talent in that respect at all. But like, people that can do that type of stuff and see it, it's very inspiring. But you'll have to get him to show you some of his stuff if you haven't seen it already.
[00:37:47] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I'm totally interested. So now I'm going to completely peg you as a renaissance man. This just like Jack of all trades. Very well rounded. I love that. That was not the answer. I was expecting.
[00:37:59] Speaker B: It was funny. We were talking about hobbies the other day because I was like, yeah, I don't know if I like, Besides, like, watching YouTube and eating, like, ramen noodles because I love culture and different things. I don't really have, like, a hobby that I do, I guess, besides dance. And so Charles was like, you should pick up painting and follow some videos. And I was like, you know what?
[00:38:16] Speaker C: Bob Ross.
[00:38:17] Speaker B: Bob Ross. I might do that. We'll see. We'll see if I have the patience, but yes.
[00:38:20] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. Well, I love that. I know that I'm now curious in your artwork, Charles, so you'll have to show that to me sometime. But you guys, end of a show. End of an afternoon. Charles, thank you again so much for being with us today. And thanks to all of you for listening. This afternoon, you have been listening to fit to be tied with sheen and Whitney on 90.7, the capstone.
[00:38:45] Speaker C: Wvuafm tuscaloosa.
