Setting Fitness and Health Goals with a Little Rock Personal Training Expert

July 30, 2009 by Susanna Patterson  
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A Little Rock Personal Training Expert Reports! When most people start a new exercise program, they have an idea of what they want to accomplish. People start exercising for plenty of different reasons, from wanting to improve their overall health to meeting a specific goal. Knowing what you want to accomplish through your fitness routine can help you focus on your goal and have something to work towards. A great way to focus on what you want to achieve is to work with a Little Rock personal training expert, who can assess your current strengths and weaknesses and help you reach your goal. In this article, we’ll take a look at three tips to remember when setting your fitness goals.

Be Realistic

“I want to lose twenty pounds before my high school reunion next month.” Unfortunately, setting a goal like this can be a recipe for failure. Sure, it can be done, but it will require a strict commitment to healthy eating and exercise every day for the next thirty days, and this could be asking too much of yourself. And then, what happens after the reunion? Will you set a new goal or go back to your bad habits?

Being realistic about the goals you want to reach and the time in which you want to achieve them is a big part of planning for success. Only having the one big goal at the end can make the path very difficult to follow, so try setting incremental goals along the way, and don’t be afraid to reward yourself when you’ve reached a smaller goal, like treating yourself to a session at the spa or that hunting trip you’ve been putting off. With the help of a Little Rock personal training expert, you can finally be consistent with your efforts, and be motivated to continue with your program!

Keep a Record

If you’re meeting with a Little Rock personal training expert two or three times a week, chances are that he or she is keeping a record of your progress, but if you’re meeting your personal trainer less frequently, you might see the benefits of keeping your own records. Don’t plan too far in advance, as you can’t predict how your body will improve over the long run, but try to plan in increments of eight weeks, by noting what you think you should be doing and then what you actually did. A Little Rock personal training expert can help you can also keep track of your measurements, weight (although weighing yourself is not always a reliable method of measuring the amount of fat in your body), or your BMI.

Don’t be Afraid to Make New Goals

How many people do you know that are still trying to get off that last five pounds? It’s true, the closer you get to your goal, the harder it is to achieve it. But this isn’t just true of weight loss goals; whether your goal is to run a marathon or to be able to lift a certain amount of weight, our bodies tend to plateau and it can be difficult to push through to the next goal. Don’t beat yourself up if you’ve gotten to a place that seems insurmountable. It’s ok to move the flag back a little, if it helps you to push on. This is also a great time to evaluate where you are and if your goal is attainable. Talk with a Little Rock personal training expert, and make a new goal to help you continue on your path!

Benefits of a Little Rock Personal Training Studio

July 30, 2009 by Susanna Patterson  
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There are many benefits to using private Little Rock personal training facilities, and top of the list is the fact you are able to work out without worrying about other people. This is just one reason why millions of people choose a private trainer in a private workout facility, but there are many others. Private facilities offer many advantages over large group gyms or health centers that are impersonal and way too public.

Nobody’s Business But Yours

Just think about how careful you are to keep your personal business just that – personal. You are careful about what you say to others about your personal life and you don’t go around telling everyone how much money you have in the bank. Yet you will go to a gym that makes you feel embarrassed and inadequate because there seems to be so many people watching. At Little Rock personal training facilities you can go at your own pace.

Private personal training in a Little Rock personal training studio can help you restore privacy to your workout life. It doesn’t really matter if you are a stay-at-home mother trying to lose post-pregnancy weight or a professional bodybuilder getting ready for a competition. Private training offers customized fitness programs that you don’t have to share with others.

  • Convenient session scheduling that fits your lifestyle
  • Equipment availability when you are ready to use it
  • Personal training advice which increases workout effectiveness
  • Customized fitness advice designed to meet your personal goals
  • Regular program adjustments as you progress
  • More effective workout sessions because you have dedicated attention of a personal trainer and no waiting for use of facility or equipment

But you also get many personal benefits when you use private Little Rock personal training facilities. For example, you don’t ever have to worry about being embarrassed working out in front of other people. You also never have to worry about how you compare to others, because your program is dedicated and customized to meet only your needs.

Private Confidences

If you have been to a large fitness center, you have probably watched people try to sneak onto the scale while they thought no one was watching. You probably have also had to participate in group classes that had too many people and made you do exercises you really were not interested in doing.

One of the primary reasons people enjoy using a private personal training studio is because they can keep their confidences to themselves. They don’t have to hide their weight and the time with the personal trainer is dedicated to personal needs.

Private Little Rock personal training works well for any type of fitness program including  weight loss, body conditioning, athletic performance enhancement, injury rehabilitation, and senior flexibility improvement to name a few. The private trainer will develop the ideal fitness program and be with you every step of the way as you master the equipment.

There’s a lot to be said for keeping your private business…private!

The Obesity Epidemic – Personal Training in Little Rock Can Help

July 30, 2009 by Susanna Patterson  
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Personal Training in Little Rock Can Help Cut the Fat! Research has shown that obesity in America has risen sharply over the last thirty years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity has increased from fifteen percent of the adult population in the late 1970s to a staggering thirty-three percent in 2004. Adults are not the only ones affected, as children as young as two are seeing an increase in obesity. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at obesity, how it can negatively affect your health, and how personal training in Little Rock is determined to help fight the obesity epidemic.

What is obesity?

Obesity is the term we use to describe an excess of body fat. When a person’s weight is twenty percent or more above normal weight, he is considered to be obese, while those whose weight is fifty percent or higher are considered being morbidly obese. Obesity is most commonly measured using the BMI, or Body Mass Index, which can be calculated by multiplying the weight in pounds by 702 and dividing by the height in inches twice. A person is considered overweight if his BMI is between 25 and 29.9 and obese if it is over 30.

What causes obesity?

Obesity normally occurs when a person consumes more calories than he can consume. While for most of us, this is due to overeating and little exercise, but there are other factors that should be taken into consideration. As we get older, our metabolism slows, which is why some of us may note that we can no longer eat or do the same activities at 40 than we could at 20. Gender also plays a role, as men have a faster resting metabolic rate than women, whose metabolism slows down significantly after menopause.

Genetics can also play a role. If our parents were overweight, chances are higher that we will be too, but this doesn’t mean that obesity is inevitable, just that we need to work a little harder to stay in shape. Psychological factors can play a role in the form of emotional eating in response to stress, sadness or boredom. Finally, some medicines can cause significant weight can, including steroids and anti-depressants.

Negative effects of obesity

There are dozens of diseases, disorders and other health concerns that are directly linked to obesity. The extra weight puts undue pressure on the heart and can lead to heart disease, high levels of cholesterol and blood sugar can lead to Type II Diabetes, as well as other problems like osteoarthritis, gall bladder problems, respiratory problems, and hypertension. Obesity also negatively affects us emotionally.

While obesity is a growing problem in the United States, it is still very much discriminated against in school, work settings, looking for a job or even in social settings. Obese people are thought of as lazy or gluttonous and can find themselves feeling depressed and rejected. Personal training in Little Rock can help anyone get out of a rut, and get people on the road to a healthy lifestyle.

How to make a positive change with personal training in Little Rock

If you’re ready to make a healthy start, don’t be tempted to make a quick fix with crash diets or fad exercise equipment. Don’t go on a diet – make a healthy lifestyle change! The best way to get on the road to better health is to consult personal training in Little Rock. Not only can personal training in Little Rock make a full assessment of your present health and take note of any medical concerns, s/he can design a fitness program that tailored to you and your goals, and will be there every step of the way, to make sure that you’re working out safely and to encourage you to reach your goal. If you are interested finding out how personal training in Little Rock can help you, please contact us today!

Adding Variety to Your Cardio Routine With Personal Training in Little Rock

July 30, 2009 by Susanna Patterson  
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With personal training in Little Rock you receive cutting-edge exercise routines with variety, and as they say, variety is the spice of life. Adding variety to your cardio routine not only helps you achieve a fuller workout but helps keep the routine from becoming boring. While some of us thrive on having consistency in our fitness programs, many of us are in danger of quitting because doing the same exercises over and over again quickly loses interest. In this article, we’ll take a look at why variety in your cardio routine can help you reach your goals, some easy ideas for incorporating variety in your fitness program, and how personal training in Little Rock can help you to find the variety you need.

Why we need variety

There are several reasons why variety is important in our fitness routines. It’s important to remember that there are over 600 muscles in the body, so it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be using every one of them in one single cardio exercise. With personal training in Little Rock the main purpose of cardio training is to raise the heart rate and improve energy and stamina, but cardio can also work on different muscles groups at the same time.

Another reason variety is so important is that it can help you push through the inevitable fitness plateau that you’ll run into from time to time on the way to reaching your goal. The body reaches a plateau when it is working at its optimal capacity at any given exercise. This happens most often when the same exercises are repeated over and over again. Changing up the routine with personal training in Little Rock can help push through a plateau and even avoid reaching one altogether.

Daily, weekly, monthly

If you like rapid change and need variety to keep you motivated, you can vary your cardio exercises in the same thirty minute session by changing the exercise every ten minutes. Others prefer to concentrate on one exercise per session, but may do a different exercise every day. There are also those that like the consistency of following the same routine but realize that changing the exercises is beneficial in the long run, so will change every four to six weeks.

Change as you feel comfortable, but remember that part of working towards your fitness goal is pushing your body out of its comfort zone, so it’s not a bad idea to at least try an exercise you previously would have avoided it. You may find that you need assistance, and that’s where personal training in Little Rock can help!

Getting help

If you feel like you’ve done every kind of exercise you can think of and are at a loss for what to do next or just need some advice on the best ways to vary your cardio routine, you may find that personal training in Little Rock is the best way to go. A personal trainer can design a routine that helps you reach your goals as well as keeps you interested with cutting edge exercises. After all, personal training in Little Rock is the best way to spice up your fitness routine is to make sure it has plenty of variety.

Working Out Post Pregnancy Do It Safely with Personal Training in Little Rock

July 30, 2009 by Susanna Patterson  
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Personal training in Little Rock understands that many women are anxious to regain their pre-pregnancy bodies after the birth of a child, but find the wait excruciating. Many factors go into when you can start exercising again and how easy it will be to lose that baby weight. It doesn’t help that we often see celebrities shed their baby weight in a few months after birth. Feeling fit and healthy after a pregnancy is important for every woman, and personal training in Little Rock can help. In this article, we discuss why some women have to wait longer than others, what you can do while you’re waiting, and how personal training in Little Rock help if you don’t know where to start. When you’re considering hiring a personal trainer, think about the benefits that in-home training could have for you and your child.

Every body is different

Sure it’s frustrating to see celebrities shed their baby weight in a matter of months, but there are two reasons this happens. First of all, being in good shape is a part of a celebrity’s job, so they likely were exercising regularly before and during their pregnancy, which will help the body regain its previous shape after the pregnancy. Also, celebrities can often afford to have a nanny to look after their children and have the time to work out several hours a day. Most of us can’t afford this luxury, so don’t be discouraged to find that it takes you a little longer to get back in shape.

Even if you’ve been exercising regularly before and during pregnancy, some women will have to wait as long as eight weeks before exercising again. Much of this depends on the method of childbirth. Women who gave birth naturally with no complications can start doing light exercises shorting after the birth date, while those that have Cesareans will have to wait the longest. Even then, women may have episiotomy stitches that need to heal before working out. Recovering from a Cesarean birth can take as long as eight weeks, as this requires the most amount of tissue healing before strenuous exercise can be done.

Baby steps

Even the fittest mother isn’t going to hop out of bed and run a marathon the week after birth, because the body naturally needs time to recover from the event. Those that have had an uncomplicated birth can start with some non-stressful exercises, such as leg stretches and Kegel exercises. When you feel up to it, you can even try some light walking, but the most important thing to do is to listen to your body, and never push yourself. It is always wise to get the green light from your doctor before starting any kind of increased activity. In addition, personal training in Little Rock can help you safely and effectively get fit without straining your delicate body.

Breastfeeding Moms

Women that are breastfeeding may find it more difficult to lose the baby weight, but they shouldn’t be concerned, as this is completely natural. Breastfeeding mothers need to keep their calorie intake high in order to ensure that enough nutrients are being transmitted to the milk. Breastfeeding mothers should also consider when they breastfeed if they’re already exercising. Some babies find the milk after a work out session to be sour, thanks to an increase in lactic acid, so you may want to consider feeding or pumping before working out.

Where to start

The most important thing when starting a fitness program after pregnancy is to be sure that you have your doctor’s permission to exercise. As frustrating as it can be to wait, the doctor has your overall health in mind and will prevent you from forcing your body when it isn’t ready. When you are ready, you should seek the advice from personal training in Little Rock on the best fitness regime for you. A great idea is to consult a personal trainer, who can assess your present fitness, map out your fitness goals, and help you achieve them in a safe and effective way. If you are ready to being your post pregnancy workout, consider personal training in Little Rock to get your on the road to a fit and healthy lifestyle!

Finding Your Motivation With Personal Training in Little Rock

July 30, 2009 by Susanna Patterson  
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An important part of personal training in Little Rock and starting on the path to better health is having goals to reach along the way. The reasons we choose to improve our lifestyles are as varied as the ways to improve our health, whether they are as simple as wanting to wear a favorite pair of jeans again to less concrete goals of living a longer, healthier life. Knowing what you’re working towards can not only help you reach goals along the way, but can also help your personal training in Little Rock goals. In this article, we’ll take a look at just a few of the motivating factors you can adopt to lead you along the path of better health.

Simple Goals

Are you still hanging on to a favorite pair of jeans that no longer fit, but are loath to give away because you have the vague idea that you’ll be able to wear them again someday? Why not make this your fitness goal? Your goals don’t have to be huge elaborate plans, but simple goals such as fitting in your favorite jeans or a dress you love that’s been hanging in the back of the closet for years.

Events

Sometimes, the invitation to a wedding or a high school reunion is all it takes to prompt us to get in better shape. The trick with setting an event as a fitness goal is to be realistic about how much you can improve your health in the time allotted. The best way to improve your health is through diet and exercise, so you’ll have to resist crash diets that promise to help you lose an unreasonable amount of weight in a short amount of time and focus your energies on your personal training in Little Rock. This is exactly why working with a personal trainer is so valuable, as he can help you make a realistic goal to looking your best in the amount of time given. Plus, once the event is over, who’s to say that you have to stop trying to reach your original goal?

Keeping up with the Kids

Young children have so much energy that it can be a challenge to just keep up with them everyday! A healthy diet and exercise routine can help increase your energy and be able to keep up with even the feistiest three-year-old. Plus, starting the good habits of healthy living while the children are still young is a great way to ensure that they will pick up your healthy habits as they grow.

Longer Life

While having the goal of living longer doesn’t necessarily have the same concrete goals as other kinds of motivation, it is still a powerful tool to keep in mind when starting personal training in Little Rock. A healthy exercise and diet routine can help prevent a host of diseases, from heart disease to osteoporosis, and people can start on this path at any age, as exercise not only helps prevent disease but can also help control and even slow it. Now that you are ready for personal training in Little Rock, contact a trainer today!

Staying Fit in a Small Room with Personal Trainers in Little Rock

July 30, 2009 by Susanna Patterson  
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Sometimes when working with personal trainers in Little Rock, you don’t have a lot of room to exercise in and so must be innovative in order to still achieve results. A personal trainer can show you how to stay fit even in a small room. People who live in small apartments or travel a lot can benefit from the fitness advice.

When Space is a Problem

It would be great if you always had access to big gym equipment and fitness classes that provide both aerobic and strength training. But many people find themselves trying to figure out how to stay fit even when they don’t have a lot of room or are unable to leave the home to spend time at the gym.

Fortunately you don’t need a lot of room to exercise when you know what to do and how to do it in order to get the maximum benefits. You have to do your exercises correctly and you also have to do the right combination of exercises, but there are plenty of ways to stay fit with personal trainers in Little Rock.

Staying fit in a small room requires an innovative approach, because you can’t make big moves or accommodate large equipment. Personal trainers in Little Rock can show you how to either stay fit in your small room or apartment or in a hotel room when travelling.

Some of the ideas for staying fit in a small room include the following.

  • Use small equipment such as free weights and balance balls to do strength training
  • Use resistance training in order to build muscle
  • Learn how to get aerobic benefits from exercises you can do in place or by doing activities such as walking outside
  • Learn exercises you can do without any equipment that are effective for body conditioning such as push-ups
  • Learn effective exercise programs such as pilates and yoga moves which build core muscle strength while relieving stress

Determination is the First Requirement

When you want to stay fit, it takes determination and effort. Determination is actually the first requirement when talking about staying fit in a small room. You have to make a decision that fitness is important enough and nothing can stop you even when space is limited.

It is often difficult for people to develop their own fitness programs under any circumstance, but it can be especially difficult when space limits range of movement. Personal trainers in Little Rock can help you develop an effective fitness program that utilizes your current fitness equipment and the space you have available. You can take this information and use it at home or on the road.

Getting and staying fit is important in order to live a healthy life free of disease. It doesn’t matter if you live in a mansion or an apartment when it comes to the need to exercise. But when space is limited, personal trainers in Little Rock can show you how staying fit is possible under and circumstance.

Personal Trainers in Little Rock Stress That Stretching is Important

July 30, 2009 by Susanna Patterson  
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News From Personal Trainers in Little Rock! You’ve managed to make time in your busy schedule for a workout session, but even so, you’re running late. In order to make up time, you’ve decided to skip over your stretching exercises and skip to the meat of the workout. After all, stretching is just a small part of the warm up anyway, right?

Personal trainers in Little Rock say…Wrong! Skipping over the stretching part of your warm up exercises or even during your cool down is not only a bad habit to start, but could also be dangerous to your body and lead to injury. Stretching is a very important part of your work out routine, whether you’re walking or preparing to lift weights. In this article, we’ll take a look at why stretching is such an important part of your workout routine and why you should always stretch both before and after a workout.

Why Stretching is Good For You

There are a whole host of reasons that stretching is good for you. Muscles that are tired are have not be in use are usually tight and constricted. Stretching helps keep the muscles flexible, not just for work out routines, but for everyday tasks. Stretching promotes good posture, helps protect your joints, and leaves you feeling relaxed and free of tension. In fact, stretching has so much going for it that even those that stretch on days that they do not work out can reap the benefits.

However, overdoing it can be just as harmful as not stretching at all. Personal trainers in Little Rock stress that stretching should never be painful! Every body is different so don’t judge yourself against the person stretching next to you. If you’ve stretched to the point of pain, back off a little and hold the new position for twenty seconds or more.

Stretching During Warm Up

It is important to remember that stretching is an important part of the warm up, but it is not all there is to warming up! Recently, personal trainers in Little Rock have started recommending that a ten minute warm up period should precede any stretching. This is because the muscles shouldn’t be stretched while they are still “cold,” or before any physical activity has taken place. The warm up period of movement helps encourage the blood to flow to the muscles, sonovial fluid to “grease” up the joints, and get the heart rate increasing. Stretching before the body has had time to warm up a little can cause strains or tears in the muscles, which is exactly what you’re trying to avoid by stretching in the first place!

Stretching During Cool Down

Personal trainers in Little Rock stress that just like during the warm up period, stretching is integral to the cool down period. All of the blood that is pumping through the muscles during the work out can pool there if the muscles are not stretched; stretching encourages the blood to return to the body’s organs. A good stretch after a work out can also discourage lactic acid from building up in the muscles, which can help promote the feeling of soreness the next day. Most importantly, stretching helps relax the body and relieve tension, which means that you’re likely to feel much better after your work out than when you started!

Are You Too Busy to Exercise? A Personal Trainer in Little Rock Can Help!

July 30, 2009 by Susanna Patterson  
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A personal trainer in Little Rock understands that among all the excuses one can make about avoiding exercise, claiming that you’re just too busy has to be the most often heard excuse. The truth is that this excuse just doesn’t cut it anymore. Everyone can find a way to incorporate an exercise routine into their busy lives, even if their lives are scheduled down to the last minute. Here are a few tips on how even the busiest among us can bring a little fitness into our lives.

Make Exercise a Priority

It seems that we can always miraculously find time for the things we really enjoy, like meeting a friend for drinks or catching our favorite team play on television. The trick with fitting in exercise is changing your attitude about it, and making it something that is important enough to warrant taking a second glance at the schedule. Sure it means that you may have to get up an hour earlier or sacrifice an hour of your precious evening leisure time, but think about how much better you’ll feel, not to mention how much better you’ll sleep! You may want to hire a personal trainer in Little Rock to ensure to stay on track!

Make a Schedule

Penciling exercise into your busy schedule is a great way to help keep you motivated and make time for fitness. Planning your fitness schedule a week in advance may be all you need to make sure you have time for all the responsibilities in your life. But sometimes even the best laid plans fail, so don’t beat yourself up if something comes up and you have to cancel one day. The most important thing is that you get back up on the horse the next day! Also, don’t forget that there are two days during the week that most of us don’t even consider when scheduling exercise – the weekend! If you are determined to meet your fitness goals, there is no better way than to hire a personal trainer in Little Rock.

Incorporate Exercise in Your Daily Routine

Just because you can’t fit time to go to the gym in your schedule doesn’t mean that you can’t incorporate exercise in your daily life! There are dozens of ways that you can get a short workout throughout the day. Some examples include using the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator, parking at the other end of the parking lot when going shopping, and when you get home, bring in your shopping bags one at a time. You could even permanently lose your television remote and get up out of your chair from time to time!

You Don’t Have to Do This Alone

Your secret weapon may be one you didn’t even realize that you had – your personal trainer in Little Rock. Let a personal trainer know what your goals are and you’ll be surprised at how easily they’ll help you reach them. If you’ve never considered working out with personal trainer in Little Rock, you’ll be surprised at how difficult it will be to cancel when you know you have someone waiting for you at the gym.

Don’t be afraid to seek out professional advice. A personal trainer in Little Rock can help you think of new ways to incorporate exercise into your daily routine, even if you can only get to the gym a few days a month.

What to Look for in a Personal Trainer in Little Rock

July 30, 2009 by Susanna Patterson  
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You’ve decided to improve your health and lifestyle with a personal trainer in Little Rock. Congratulations! You’ve already made an important first step. The next one is to find a personal trainer that can help you achieve your goals, but where to start? Don’t make the mistake of hiring the first personal trainer you come in contact with, because he or she might not have accredited certification and make you dread showing up for exercise sessions. In this article, we’ll take a look at three important things to keep in mind when looking for a personal trainer in Little Rock; certification, your comfort level and how your potential personal trainer looks.

Certification

Thanks to the rise in popularity of personal trainers, more and more inexperienced fitness enthusiasts are seeking out certification from unlikely sources, such as the internet. Don’t be fooled by a fancy looking certificate or an impressive sounding certification body. There are a handful of accredited certification bodies that offer personal fitness certification and it is worth the time to learn about them before your search – not only because you’ll be able to separate the good from the bad, but because each certification has a different focus on fitness.

Any personal trainer in Little Rock worth his salt will also be certified in first aid and CPR, so be sure to ask about these issues as well.

Comfort Level

Just as every personal trainer in Little Rock is different, everyone seeking a personal trainer has different needs as well. The idea of a drill sergeant as personal trainer may be what you need to keep motivated, or it might ensure that you never show up for a session again. The purpose of hiring a personal trainer is that he or she will push you to work harder than you would by yourself, but the way they intend to push you will make all the difference in the world.

Even in the interview stage, don’t be afraid to ask the personal trainer in Little Rock how he or she intends to encourage you to go on. Also, is this a person that you’ll feel comfortable asking questions to in the middle of a session? Don’t disregard your initial feelings on meeting a potential personal trainer, because if you don’t feel comfortable with him or her, the less likely you’ll be to continue showing up to work out.

How Does the Trainer Look?

Just like the old saying goes, you should never judge a book by its cover, but let’s be honest – don’t you want a personal trainer that practices what he preaches? While you may never know for sure that the trainer achieved a healthy looking body by following a healthy diet and exercise program, you’re more likely to respect and follow the training if he looks like he does. He doesn’t have to look like he just stepped out of last week’s fitness magazine, but wouldn’t you find it difficult to respect a personal trainer in Little Rock if you looked better than he did?