How does a Personal Trainer keep fit?

The funny thing about being a PT is that many people assume that you are superhuman and are somehow just naturally fit. I can assure you that all good fitness professionals work on their own fitness, behind the scenes. How do we do it?

I train clients for up at 16 hours a week, and anyone doing my sessions will agree that I take an active part in demonstrating exercises and keeping the general energy level up. After all, humans work best by imitating. I’m not sure about you, but there’s nothing more demotivating than a PT standing around with their hands in their pockets. They need to up their game and walk the walk, so to speak.

To be fit you need a combination of cardiovascular, strength and flexibility exercise. Much of my job as a PT is helping clients work on their weak spots to attain optimal fitness. In other words, we naturally like doing what we’re good at, but need encouragement and guidance to do the exercise we’re not naturally inclined to. Many runners do no strength training (and get injured), many yogis cannot lift heavy weights, and ask a bodybuilder to go for a run if you want an earful.

So as one of Edinburgh’s longest-running PT’s I take my own fitness very seriously. If you run your own fitness studio, you can’t afford to take time off for injury or illness. So staying fit is super-important.

Usually I look at what my week involves - how many runs with clients, bike rides to meetings, how many strength sessions I’m teaching, and then figure out what’s missing. I don’t drive a car, so I cycle or walk most places, that’s an easy win fitness-wise.

I stretch with all of my clients at the end of each session. This sets a good example and it’s easier to show someone how to optimise a stretch when you can visually demonstrate. It also keeps me injury-free and supple at the age of 50. At the end of my day, my phone goes to sleep mode at 9pm, that reminds me to do some floor stretching, with occasional foam roller work too. A good way to unwind. I also do leg stretches in my kitchen in the morning when prepping the studio flask of Pure Leith mint tea, but If I’ve not had enough of my own stretching I might book in for a Yin Yoga / restorative yoga class locally. Holding poses for a super long time (3 to 5 minutes) allows the muscle fascia to stretch as well as the bulk of the muscle fibre. I also book in for regular massage, at least once a month, with a select few massage therapists.

It is my policy to be fitter than my fittest client, so if a client if building up their weights, I’ll also work on heavy lifting. I’ve got dumbbells up to 12kg in the studio, however if I want to do a hefty leg press (good for knee strength) or some Lat pulldowns for back strength, I’ll use ClassPass and may actually visit a gym. You may notice that the Griffen Fitness studio is open Mondays to Thursdays. On Fridays I do additional strength and cardio, and catch up with admin. Quite often on a Friday morning I enjoy a swim, front crawl, for as many lengths as my body likes. It’s a great way to get the heart rate up when one has tired legs. Swimming stretches out my back and shoulders, brilliant after a busy week PTing. See my blog post on swimming.

Sometimes I’ll go out for a weekend run or bike ride for extra cardio. I am quite partial to ParkRun too, but I do like to have one day off exercise a week. On my days off, I usually walk around 3 miles with Coco the fitness pug, and do some gardening. I have a massage gun that I use for recovery as well, as well as a nap most afternoons (sometimes in between PT sessions). I have been known to add ‘do press ups’ to my daily work to-do list. In addition to naps, I’m a big fan of microhabits, that I also share with my clients.

By challenging my body in as many ways as possible, it’s helped me stay fit and strong and continually running Griffen Fitness for 20 years. I can teach you how. Drop me a line!