Tonight, I did my one-on-one consultation with Trevor at LA Fitness. I really expected a more hard-sell, but it wasn't high-pressure at all. We started with some discussion about my goals and my nutritional habits. I explained that I really just wanted to maintain my cycling fitness through the winter and be in mid-season form come spring - regardless of how many times I get to ride outdoors. Trevor seemed to know what he was talking about when he explained that I'd be better off building a bit more muscle mass based on my current body fat % and the amount of cardio work that I already do. I'm not entirely sure how accurate he was about that, but it seemed logical. Oh, my BMI is 23.5 and my body fat is 19%. I'd like to get that body fat number down a bit.
When we talked about nutrition, he had very little to add. I told him that I eat about a cup and a half of dry cereal between 8 and 10. Then, I munch on trail mix consisting of almonds, cashews, peanuts, raisins, and M&Ms throughout the day. I often skip lunch, and I have a regular dinner often consisting of chicken and salad or fish and broccoli or asparagus. For evening snacks, I usually have pretzels or tortilla chips. He said I shouldn't eat carbs after dinner; eating protein will keep my metabolism up as I sleep. He also indicated that I should eat a protein in the morning.
After our chat, he told me to go warm up and then he would take me through a full-body assessment/workout. I warmed up on the bike and then went back down and got Trevor to take me through the workout.
We spent most of the time on the TRX Suspension system, which is exactly where I wanted to do my workout. He showed me about a dozen different exercises - most of which were not part of the TRX system, but done in that general area. We did two different exercises with the kettle-bell, one with a medicine ball, and one with a free-weight. Oh, there was one other one we did with a weight called a Bulgarian bag that I put across my shoulders. He also did a couple exercises where he provided resistance as I pulled against his strength. This was the only part of the workout that I would need him for in the future. When we were done, we'd spent about 20 minutes on the workout. After that, he took me back downstairs where he tried to sell me on the personal-trainer program. It amounted to $45 per week for a once-a-week workout. There was no way in hell I was spending that kind of money to get someone else to kick my ass. He offered a couple other programs that were $60 per month or $90 per month. Still, I remembered that I swallowed hard to make the decision to spend $60 a month on this gym membership (for myself and Jenna and guests). Again, I wasn't going to spend $60 more a month to get someone to tell me to push harder.
I finished up with 10 laps in the pool - slower and more controlled than in the past - and then 15 minutes in the sauna.
I'm glad I resisted. When I got home I looked up TRX Suspension System workouts and found several that I could do - with enough different exercises that I can rotate them in/out as needed to maintain muscle confusion - like the P90X program suggests. Here is one that's specifically designed for cyclists!
