Health and Fitness from a Personal Trainers perspective

Interview with Spartan Training's Owner/Personal Trainer, Robert Leasure.

When it comes to losing weight or getting in shape for the New Year.

Robert, in your opinion, when it comes to losing weight or getting in shape for the New Year, how much is wishful thinking for people and how much tends to be truly possible?

Well you could say it all starts with wishful thinking…I always say…think it…feel it…see it…be it… Yes it is true, the biggest failures with New Year’s resolutions are in weight loss and fitness…however that doesn’t mean you cannot fulfill your weight loss and fitness goals… as a fitness expert I have used some extremely effective strategies that have helped hundreds of my clients, lose weight, get in shape and sculpt the body that they have always desired…

What do you see as the biggest challenges with people right after the start of the year? For example, would it be unrealistic expectations, or maybe that they start out all gung-ho and then lose steam?

The hardest part is just getting started and sustaining your motivation until fitness becomes habitual...Once you develop the habit...which can take as little as thirty day...your whole life will change for the better...

The biggest mistake which creates the biggest challenge quite simply, the setting of unrealistic goals…Setting realistic and attainable goals are crucial for success...You must have tangible short-term and long-term goals for your weight loss and fitness program…

In-order for you to gauge your progress and stay motivated...It’s crucial to have a “baseline” before you begin so that you can measure your success...If you don’t have a personal trainer…Spartan Training, offers a free fitness analysis and nutrition plan…that will aid you in developing a personalized fitness program which addresses your particular needs…Having goals...particularly short-term goals...allows you to track your progress and keeps you motivated when times are tough and you don’t feel like exercising.. Keeping a journal of your cardio and resistance training workouts...as well as tracking what you eat is a major step in your weight loss and fitness success… Just remember that your goals should be realistic and attainable...The best way for you to understand what is realistic and attainable for you is to talk to a fitness professional...please do not buy into the “hype” of infomercials or diet and fitness products that blatantly mislead...

What is the best way to lose weight for most people? A special diet, certain exercises, or a combination? In your opinion, is losing weight more important or overall fitness? (Or maybe it varies from person to person?)

I always say: “the best prescriptions for health care are exercise and nutrition…It is by far much more important to focus on optimal health…than any one specific area such as just dieting for weight loss…or just cardio for weight loss…or just resistance training for weight loss…a balance of proper nutrition combined with resistance training and cardio training…are the most effective way to reach optimal health…

What is the most important thing for people to understand about getting/keeping in shape with help from professionals such as yourselves rather than trying to do it all on their own?

One of the most important things to understand is the fact that, most people who lose weight and get in shape…fail when it comes to maintaining their fitness level and weight loss, long term…Here at Spartan Training we teach our clients how to intergrate health and fitness into their lifestyle in a way that exercising and eating healthy, simply becomes a part of who they are... The body is designed to be healthy, strong, flexible and full of energy...Being physically fit affects every single aspect of your life, you sleep deeper, eat healthier, love stronger, overcome stress easier, work longer, communicate clearer, and definitely look and feel happier...

How has the economy affected the fitness world in general, and your business in particular?

From my current level of understanding, I think that the fitness world in general is affected by the economy to the degree, we as individuals allow ourselves to be affected...For some the ecnomy has negatively impacted the indivdual business owner to the degree that it has negatively impacted their business...You can always look at the economy from a negative perpsective or you can look at it from a positive perspective...The negative perspective always creates more negativity and the positive perspective always creates more positive experiences...For me as a business owner...Vicki and I opened the Spartan Training personal training studio May 1st 2009...Just to give you an example of how much our business has grown...Our first month of business we did 120 training hours...and have continued to increase every month...our monthly training hours are now well over 300 and we are signing up new clients every week...So business is great and we are enjoying helping people lose weight and get in shape... Truely with a passion we are 100% dedicated to health and fitness...we live the lifestyle that we teach and we get results for each and every one of our clients...Vicki and i have some of the greatest clients ever...we enjoy training each and every one of them...

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