Gender: Female
Height: 5’7″
Weight: 68kg
Age: 71
Occupation: Retired
Client Pastimes/Hobbies/Lifestyle: Maribe is a 71 year old housewife, she lives with her husband and pet dog. Maribe often has family and friends to stay which keeps her very busy catering and entertaining them. She walks her dog twice daily for a minimum of an hour each time at a brisk pace. She has ongoing back trouble which she sees a physiotherapist for regularly.
Goals: Maribe would like to manage her back pain through exercise by strengthening her core and would like to maintain a good level of fitness, suppleness and strength.
Exercise History: Maribe has always led a very active life. She was a dancer when she was younger and participated in horseriding at a good level. She has been a member of the gym for many years but her back problems have meant that she is fairly limited in what activities she can participate in.
Action Plan: Maribe has been given an exercise plan from her Physiotherapist which involves many exercises using a stabilty ball. She wants assistence to do these correctly and would also like to slowly increase her cardiovascular work. We will begin sessions with mild cardio and concentrate on her core strengthening exercises. Once the physio is happy with her progress we will begin to increase the intensity of her cardio work and introduce some light weight bearing exercises using bodyweight and freeweights.
Progress: Maribe has dramatically improved her core strength and now no longer needs to take painkillers on a regular basis. She now attends Pilates classes 1-2 times per week and does 30 minutes of light to moderate cardiovascular work twice a week. We have included squats, press ups, bicep curls, tricep extensions and overhead press. We have had to pause training sessions for the time being due to visiting guests but will resume sessions soon. Maribe is continuing to squeeze in the odd gym session when she can through the week and is continuing her Pilates class attendance.
Gender: Male
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 80kg
Age: 61
Occupation: Company Director
Client Pastimes/Hobbies/Lifestyle: Michael is a 61 year old husband living with his wife, his children have all grown up and left home. Michael is a non smoker and enjoys drinking socially. He works hard and plays golf frequently as a way to relax.
Goals: Michael wants to lose weight and tone up, he is aware of the effect that age can have on your body as you get older. He is particularly aware of his chest.
Exercise History: Michael was exercising under his own steam but realised that if he was going to make this time effective, he needed to know how far he could push himself.
Action Plan: Michael is going to have 1 45 minute training session per week, as his work schedule is quite restrictive. He will train 3-4 times per week on his own using the knowledge and exercises he learns whilst training with me.
Progress: Michael has been a client for 12 months, he has increased his fitness and strength dramatically. He works very hard in his sessions, to the point that he quite often calls me a demon or tells me that he dislikes me a lot. I see this as a sign that he is working to his maximum effort and is getting every benefit from the time he spends with me!
Gender: Female
Height: 5’4″
Weight: 60kg
Age: 40
Occupation: Government Researcher
Client Pastimes/Hobbies/Lifestyle: Emma is a 40 year old woman, living with her life partner Nick. She is a non smoker and drinks socially. Emma has a healthy diet as she has followed weight watchers diet plans to lose weight in the past and utilises what she has learnt to follow a healthy balanced diet to maintain her weight. Emma works full time in London.
Goals: Emma wants to lose a small amount of weight and tone up, focusing on her legs and bottom.
Exercise History: Emma does not particularly enjoy exercising but is aware of it’s importance if she is to achieve her goals.
Action Plan: Due to work commitments, Emma is going to have 1 60 minute training session per week, and if able she will try to come to the gym on her own a further 1 or 2 times in the week, this is work permitting. During Emma’s sessions I will limit the time she spends doing long boring stints on a piece of CV kit. Instead we will do short bursts of higher intensity cardio combined with resistence training in a circuit format that is quick moving and leaves no time for boredom!
Gender: Female
Height: 5’7”
Weight: 74kg
Age: 38
Occupation: Housewife and Student
Client Pastimes/Hobbies/Lifestyle: Amna is a 38 year old mother of 3. She has 3 sons 18, 15 and 8 years of age, she lives together with her children and husband. She is an occasional smoker and regularly drinks alcohol. Being of Pakistani origin rich foods play a large part in her social circle. Amna goes to college once a week, studying to become a counsellor and is a full-time housewife and mother.
Goals: Amna wants to lose weight and tone up, she particularly wants to focus on her upper thighs, bottom and abdominal area.
Exercise History: Amna has employed personal trainers in the past but has not found the right personality to train with. She has a firm idea of what she wants to achieve from her exercise plan but finds that social and travel commitments can get in the way of her goals. She requires patient understanding whilst needing someone to be firm with her to keep her on a narrow path of self control and positive choices.
Action Plan: Amna is going to have 3 60 minute training sessions per week. We will focus on calorie burning exercises, combining cardio, resistence and abdominal exercises.
Progress: Amna has been a client of mine for 3 years, she has continued to have 3 sessions per week throughout this time. She often has large breaks in training when she travels to see family abroad, often 4 weeks at a time and usually 3 times a year. When she is on a good run, Amna loses weight and tones up well, but her lifestyle choices can be a bit of a roller coaster. When she is abroad, Amna does not participate in an exercise regime, in spite of being given easy to follow programmes, the discipline is just not there. As a result she often takes 2 steps forward and 2 steps back but she is aware of this and is determined to get back what has been lost as soon as she returns from her travels!