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I Spent 1 Day With a Trainer and She Basically Just Changed Everything For Me

Published on 4/18/2016 at 6:00 AM

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POPSUGAR Photography

I've been a gym rat since I was a kid. The sound of sneakers scuffing up a glossy basketball court, the smell of a heavily chlorinated pool drifting around the halls of a tired neighborhood gym, and the feeling of a good butt kicking from a coach are moments I remember fondly. I seek them out as much as possible now. As I've gotten older, however, my body hasn't been able to keep up. A shoulder impingement from 20 years of swinging at a volleyball and an angry knee that, despite a successful meniscus surgery, still swells up on me when I run and jump are just some of the ailments I battle with when working out.

As a result, my fitness routine has become confined. Because I am so focused on avoiding injury, I only train the muscle groups that are already strong. I've ignored activities like yoga because my body only seems go front and back, resembling gestures that are more robotic than human.

But I recently had an opportunity to meet with Kit Rich, an LA-based celebrity trainer, who encourages all of her clients to put in 30 minutes or three miles every day. She created a personalized routine for me, and it was a challenge. I'm used to doing the same high-intensity bootcamp-style workouts, and she asked me to integrate low-intensity moves that would improve my flexibility. Nonetheless, I was sold on working with her.

Up ahead, find out how we mapped out the workout, get a glimpse at some of the moves, and hear how I felt after doing it for just one week.

The first step: Identify my objective and create a workout plan

My main goal was to figure out how to properly mix high- and low-intensity workouts that don't end in injury. Because I'm so inflexible (see image above for proof), I end up tweaking and pulling my weaker muscles all the time. Kit came up with a workout that would keep my heart rate up but also help me strengthen and elongate my muscles.

Here's a summarized breakdown of the workouts:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Circuit 1: 3 moves focusing on core strength
Circuit 2: 3 moves focusing on dynamic hamstring stretching and mobility
Circuit 3: 3 moves designed to get my heart rate up

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday

Part 1: Jog for 10 minutes
Part 2: Yoga-inspired circuit (7 moves in total)
Part 3: Pilates-inspired circuit (12 moves in total)

Have faith and jump right into the workout

One of the first moves Kit and I tackled was Walk the Plank (with option to push up). The move engages your core while also firing the muscles in your arms, back, and shoulders. Since Kit knew I wanted to feel the sweat, she challenged me to do Walk the Plank — and all moves from the Monday/Wednesday/Friday circuits — for a full minute.

To do it correctly, you bend down at the waist and walk your hands out to a plank position, keeping your legs straight the entire time. The biggest struggle was keeping my legs straight because my hips are so tight.

Don't skip the moves you don't know

Anytime I wasn't familiar with an exercise, Kit jumped in to demonstrate. Here, she's doing Rolling Like a Ball, a move that massages your spine and works your core.

The yoga- and Pilates-inspired circuits felt great, especially after a run. Ordinarily yoga and Pilates moves would deter me because they feel too slow and I can't get my heart rate go up, but because Kit told me to do them after a 10-minute jog, I was able to sustain a good sweat throughout, which was super important to me. I wanted to feel like I was doing something really hard — which I was — but I also need the sweat to show for it.

The move I was most affected by was a Pilates one

While this week-long experiment was incredibly varied — it included everything from a warmup jog to a yoga circuit — the Saw move (seen here) was transformative. The starting position required me to sit up straight with my legs out to the side. I sensed the tightness in my hips immediately as I tried to ground them into the floor. For a normal person this starting point might be simple; for me it was agonizing, mentally speaking. Don't forget: I have robot legs.

But because Saw was the hardest move, I spent the most time perfecting it. I knew intellectually that the move would trim my waistline, yet after a week, I ended up being more excited about the idea of it strengthening my weak hamstrings and spine than anything else.

Flexibility might be more important than strength (might)

Kit's well-rounded 30-minute plan was designed to improve my overall quality of fitness, but I've been most affected by the way it integrated restorative work as well.

There was no reason for me to avoid low-intensity work, because Kit found a way for me to keep moving so that I could get the flexibility I needed while still maintaining a burn.

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