Featured Member Brent Hansen

Posted on February 10, 2023February 16, 2023 by Jordan Thomson CPT

Working out was never a struggle for 52 year old Brent Hansen, but staying consistent and injury-free was. He took a chance on a non-traditional approach to exercise and three years later, it's become the thing he doesn’t want to ever give up. Here is his story…

“I was a professional baseball player, so I’ve always had that GO mentality. And I've always lifted – from high school on. But getting older and getting more fragile, you can't do things quite as hard as you used to be able to do so.

If I start doing free weights or if I start lifting too much, I start getting a lot of injuries after a while because my joints can't keep up.

My wife came to The Perfect Workout’s Carlsbad studio first. At the time I was hoping to get back into lifting. Once I tried it, I found that it was really easy to work into my schedule.

And over the past three and a half years, it’s helped me stay consistent… and helps make sure I'm not being lazy!”

A few factors to Brent’s success at staying consistent became apparent.

1. He remains injury free

“I've had shoulder and knee injuries from lifting, old sports injuries- I'm constantly battling old wounds.

But I find that I stay completely injury free when I do this workout.

It completely confines me into what my body's able to do now versus what I used to be able to do. And I get in trouble physically when I go outside of that box.

That's probably what has kept me here the longest- it allows me to work out, and not have consequences.

2. He gets accountability & support

“Having a designated time to come in makes it super easy and flexible with my schedule.

And the trainers, I've worked with quite a few of them, they're all fantastic! They're all very professional and I love the fact that they're organized. They're very supportive and fun to be around.

I've even kicked around the idea of doing this on my own at a gym. But I go back to having the workout and having an appointment- and for me mentally, those keep me that much more on track, as opposed to leaving it up to me and my will.

3. He continues to get results

“This definitely helps with strength and reshaping the body. I still see gains. I see my strength increase. I see my body composition change.

And over time, it's become easier and easier to stay consistent with it.

“To me, The Perfect Workout is the ability to get out of exercise what I need at this stage of my life. As I've gotten older, it's been more difficult to find something that I can be extraordinarily consistent with, whether it be running or hiking or cycling or swimming or lifting.

This workout has allowed me to stay consistent in fitness for the three years, more so than anything that I've done in 30, 35, 40 years of working out.

The Perfect Workout is something that I would have a really hard time replacing.”

—
Brent Hansen, 52
Member at The Perfect Workout
Carlsbad, CA

If you are new to The Perfect Workout, try a FREE workout with us.

We know strength training is important, but nutrition is also a huge piece of your wellbeing. If you'd like help learning how to implement these new habits alongside your workouts, schedule a Nutrition Intro session today! Email [email protected] to get started.

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Traded Local Gym Membership for Private Training

Posted on April 9, 2021September 7, 2022 by Jordan Thomson CPT

Why He traded his local gym membership for private training

John Gilbert was a long-time member of a local Orange County gym chain. When the pandemic hit, he had to stop.

But, when the chain was allowed to reopen, the thought of going back to the gym made him feel unsure and uncomfortable.

“It wasn’t staffed most of the time, and members could just badge in and out. And the hygiene program wasn’t super good there. I just didn't feel comfortable going back.”

Luckily, his wife had been training at The Perfect Workout’s Tustin studio for a couple of years, and she was a big fan.

So, he decided to take the plunge.

A Private, Safe Workout Space Curbed His Fears

Because the Tustin facility (and all 62 locations) follow strict CDC guidelines to keep the workout space clean and safe, John felt like it was time to make the switch from gym to private personal training.

“Everything's clean. It's only you and the trainer in the studio… So, it's very safe compared to a free-for-all, members going in and out, without any staff and without any control over who touches what.”

He isn't planning on going back to his old gym because The Perfect Workout, for him, is literally perfect! In just 20 minutes, he can get a good strenuous workout. Something which took an hour and 15 minutes to accomplish back at his old gym.

20 Minutes, Twice A Week With A Trainer And He Feels Way More Energetic Than Before

After barely two months, John already felt like he had more energy than before.

Each workout is a little different as Angela, his trainer, changes up the exercises and keeps the workout at an ideal intensity level.

Back at his old gym, he was doing the traditional way of weight lifting, doing three sets of 10 to 15 reps. Slow-motion strength training was completely new to him.

“This is a lot more strenuous.”

One thing that he really likes about the private setting is working out with the guidance of a trainer and the focused attention he gets on each exercise.

“Back straight, drop your shoulders, engage your core, feet planted!”

Previously, without a trainer, John admits he would normally stop when muscles were starting to fatigue.

“It was difficult to continue and push myself.” But with the help of his trainers’ coaching and encouragement, he’s able to push more than he ever thought possible.

“It's amazing that you can do so much more with somebody there.”

At The Perfect Workout, you get the value of coaching and undivided attention of a Personal Trainer, whether you train in the studio or virtually.

You can expect to get:

Personalized instruction and guidance on how to do each exercise
Safe and challenging workout
Adaptations to the workout depending on your ability, environment, and desired intensity level
Accountability, expert coaching, and a friend throughout your fitness journey
Guaranteed results

Get help from a Personal Trainer…

Personal Training for Men vs Women

Posted on January 26, 2021April 15, 2022 by Jordan Thomson CPT

personal training for men vs. women

Everyone seeks personal training for a different reason. We surveyed some of our clients and found some trends for why men and women wanted to work with a Personal Trainer.

The MEN wanted:

Injury prevention
All the focus on them
Time efficiency
Personalized coaching
Evidence-based exercises

The WOMEN wanted:

Accountability to stay consistent
To be coached and led throughout the process
A customized workout tailored to their injuries or limitations
Someone/something to help improve muscle and bone strength

Though some of the initial reasons for them seeking a trainer overlapped, others varied. But this brought up more questions:

When men and women receive personal training, do their bodies respond to the exercises the same way?
Should personal training for men vs. women be the same?
Do men and women gain muscle the same way?
What should men and women look for in a Personal Trainer?

We uncovered answers below…

Are Men Stronger Than Women?

The average adult man is stronger than the average adult woman.

But it’s not an apples to apples comparison.

Size and weight correlate with strength. Larger people generally carry more muscle tissue than smaller people. This is true in the case of men versus women.

The average man is 10% taller and weighs about 24 lbs more than the average woman [1].

The average man also has about 40 to 48 lbs additional fat-free mass (muscle, bones, water, etc.) than the average woman [2].

One factor that helps men produce more muscle is testosterone.

Testosterone increases a little as a result of strength training (which helps in the process of adding lean muscle tissue), and men and women have similar gains in testosterone when factoring in their sizes.

But the average woman has half to two-thirds the amount of testosterone that men have.

As far as overall strength, women are generally about two-thirds as strong as men.

When adjusting for the differences in fat-free mass between men and women, overall strength is approximately equal between the two genders.

In other words, saying men are stronger than women is similar to saying three-story houses have more rooms than two-story houses.

So, short answer: Men and women typically have amounts of lean muscle tissue that are relative to their overall size.

Should Men & Women Train Upper or Lower Body?

Women’s lower bodies are proportionally stronger than their upper bodies. Lower body strength in women is about 75% of that found in most men, and the upper body strength ranges in women are 43% to 63% less than men on average.

On average, women are proportionally on par or are stronger than men when it comes to lower body strength. However, average upper body strength is lower.

So, it’s a good idea for many women to make upper body strength exercises an important focus of their exercise program.

And men should most definitely not skip leg day… or at least the leg press.

Muscle function wanes with age, so strength will only get worse for both men and women if strength training isn’t regularly performed.

This means you shouldn’t see your own sex as an advantage or hindrance to training. Train consistently with every set fatiguing to the point of “muscle success,” and you’ll see benefit relative to your own body.

Does Strength Training Cause Women to Bulk Up?

The vast majority of women should not worry about “bulking up” as a result of strength training.

Is it possible for somebody to get more muscular than they want to be? Yes, but it's highly unlikely that it can happen to you.

In fact, studies indicate that adults who don't strength train lose on average at least a half pound of lean muscle tissue each year starting at about age 25 (this part of age degeneration is called “sarcopenia”).

So women (and men) are battling muscle loss most of their adult life, if not actively strength training. This makes getting “big & bulky” with muscle even more challenging.

There are rare individuals who inherit the genetic potential for their muscles to grow excessively large from strength training (like professional bodybuilders do). However, inheriting those genetics is RARE.

Out of the tens of thousands of real life clients we’ve worked with over the years, we can count on one hand the number of individuals that we’ve seen even one muscle group get too muscular for their goals. (And in the rare case that a muscle group becomes too large, it's a super easy problem to fix – just reduce the intensity of exercise on that muscle group.)

What Should Men & Women Look for in a Personal Trainer?

There are a lot of myths floating around when it comes to male trainers vs. female trainers. Women are more caring, men push you harder, you should work with a same-sex trainer, etc.

There are a number of credentials you should expect from working with a trainer, which we will outline below; but none of those myths are true and are generalizations that could prevent men and women from working with an ideal trainer.

So, what should men and women look for in a trainer?

One of the most important factors in your decision to work with one should be your comfort level.

You should always feel comfortable with someone you work with. Being able to trust your Trainer is important and below is a checklist of things you should look for when shopping for Personal Training:

A Trainer who values safety. It’s easy to perform exercises incorrectly without someone watching your form or correcting bad habits. A Certified Personal Trainer should have extensive education on how to safely coach others through an effective workout.
Someone who is time efficient. A good Personal Trainer will help you use your time and effort wisely by putting you through efficient exercises, not just filling up your session time with any type of movement.
Effective sessions together. Too many of us know firsthand that it's very possible to workout - a lot- and see no results. One of the many valuable things about having a good Personal Trainer is they will coach you through exercises that have the potential to get you great results.
Someone who is detail-oriented. Believe it or not, there is a method to exercising safely and effectively. A Personal Trainer will analyze your ability and your performance to decide how to continually challenge you. This includes how to properly adjust your body to workout equipment, whether or not to increase or decrease range of motion on an exercise, to lower or raise the weight, etc.
A Trainer that pushes you to do your best. Any challenging workout, like slow-motion strength training, is a physical and mental feat. A Personal Trainer is the coach in your corner pushing you to give your absolute best. They become the voice you need when your own starts to deceive you.
An accountability partner. By keeping you accountable, they ultimately keep you consistent and consistency breeds results.
Someone who takes the time to teach you. There is science behind exercise and why it works. A Trainer should teach you how your workouts directly apply to your body, your health, and your habits. The more you know, the more opportunities you have to make changes you may need to reach your goals.
A non-judgemental space. A Personal Trainer is devoted to helping you look and feel your best. You shouldn’t have to worry about what you look like, how little you know about exercise, or how many times you’ve failed your diets in the past.
Someone who customizes your experience. A Personal trainer makes your workout personal. Everyone’s body, fitness level, and abilities are different.
Someone who cares about more than just your weight. When you hire a Personal Trainer you sign up for an overall transformation. Losing weight and gaining strength may be the biggest reasons why people start a new program, but gaining confidence, improving mental health, and learning to love their bodies are some of the biggest and best benefits of working with a Trainer.

What Have We Learned?

The principles of Personal training for men vs. women remain the same:

Exercise (for men and women) should be safe, efficient, and effective
Work with a Certified Personal Trainer to achieve the principles listed above
Men are generally stronger than women, but only because they are generally larger
Women’s lower bodies are generally stronger than upper body
Men average more upper body strength than lower body strength
It is rare for women to get bulky as a result of strength training because of low testosterone production
Both male and female trainers can help you achieve your goals, and you should always work with someone you trust.
Know your goals and the science we’ve outlined above

Thinking about working with a Personal Trainer?

Let us help.

References

Holloway, J. B., & Baechle, T. R. (1990). Strength training for female athletes. Sports Medicine, 9(4), 216-228.
National Strength and Conditioning Association (1989). Position paper on strength training for female athletes. National Strength and Conditioning Association Journal, 11(4), 43–55; 11(5): 29–36

Healthy Relationship with a Personal Trainer

Posted on January 23, 2021April 15, 2022 by Jordan Thomson CPT

what it takes to have a healthy relationship with a personal trainer

Have you ever worked with a teacher or a coach and felt like something was off?

Chances are something was missing in your relationship.

We sat down with one of our Personal Trainers from Chicago, IL to talk about how he’s helped people lose weight, gain strength and build confidence.

We uncovered two essential things he creates to be the best Personal Trainer for each client: Trust & Candor.

—

Naperville Trainer, Gabriel Ferrer began lifting weights in high school and bodybuilding around 24 years old when he became a full time police officer.

His passion for health and fitness hasn’t wavered for decades and motivated him to transition from police-life to being a Certified Personal Trainer.

Play Video

You Have to Have Trust

It’d be a little crazy to expect everyone to walk blindly into a workout with a Personal Trainer, knowing nothing about them or what they do, and trust them completely.

But trust is vital in getting results.

You want to be able to trust that what you are doing inside your workouts is going to yield results. If you’re new to slow-motion strength training, learn more about the science behind it.

And you want to be able to trust that your Trainer can safely and efficiently coach you to get the results you’re looking for.

One client Gabriel is particularly proud of is a woman named Leann and the trust they’ve built together. According to him, their personalities clashed in the beginning, making it a little tough to connect with one another.

Now, she’s one of his superstar clients.

“I’m there to challenge her every day, constantly being kind and cooperative. I like trying to make it a teamwork thing every time she comes in. I always say, ‘What are we going to be able to do today?’”

By taking this approach to their 20-minute sessions together, Gabriel was able to earn her trust and show up for her, every workout. He has continually challenged her to make progress and meet her goals.

“I would never say just trust me blindly. I want people to challenge what I'm doing, because hopefully, I'm good enough at what I do to where I can explain it or show you and get your buy-in through actually experiencing it.”

One of the advantages of working with a Personal Trainer is we are aware of how it feels to be in your workout shoes. And we're aware of the exact moment in a workout when it becomes challenging, when the body wants to cheat its way out of an exercise and when it's crucial to keep pushing.

Gabriel’s clients feel good knowing that somebody they trust is watching them go through that challenge, and keeping them on track safely.

“I think anybody who wants to be good at something is always going to be learning from somebody else. Having that objectivity of somebody that's not you, assessing the situation and guiding you, is invaluable.”

Just like Gabriel, we don’t expect you to trust us blindly either… Don’t just take our word for it. Hear what a few of our clients have to say about trusting their trainers…

Candor is Key

Another key piece of Gabriel's ability to build trust with clients is using one of The Perfect Workout’s core values: Candor.

Our trainers value speaking openly and honestly for the best interest of the client.

And we aren’t going to promise what we can’t guarantee.

This is a vital component of the trainer-client relationship and achieving results in a realistic and sustainable way.

There is thought behind how we train you and how you progress. Being able to have an open dialogue about how that works and what it takes to meet each goal is important.

“One thing I always ask my first-time clients is, ‘Are there any questions, comments, concerns, or anything you want me to know?’”

One of Gabriel's clients had recently been trying to lose weight.

Each week the scale showed incremental progress, about ½ to 1 pound down at a time.

All she could really see was the slight changes each week and didn’t seem too thrilled with the results. What she didn’t realize was from November 2020 to January 2021 she went from 160 lbs to about 145 lbs.

She lost 15 pounds.

Having a candid moment with this client, Gabriel was able to help her shift her paradigm and educate her on healthy, sustainable weight loss.

By the end of the conversation, she was actually very happy with her results and was excited to share the good news with her boyfriend.

“Having somebody there that you trust to coach you through this is invaluable. Which is why I'm a coach.”

We encourage you to ask questions, do your research, and challenge your trainers to be the best they can be! We are here to guide you, educate you, and help you get results.

Strong Bodies Are Built in 20 Minutes (age 66)

Posted on December 18, 2020April 15, 2022 by Jordan Thomson CPT

this 66 year old proves strong bodies are built in 20 minutes

Bob Jones, 66, was recently crowned “Client of the Month” at the Long Beach studio and the progress he made during 2020 (the craziest year ever) says it all.

Bob was referred into The Perfect Workout by his friend Cathy, a fellow client in November, 2019.

He came in with a vision to live a healthier life.

And the Long Beach team made that vision a reality through accountability, support, and a science-backed workout: slow-motion strength training.

Bob has been fully committed to his 20 minute, twice a week workouts. When his studio temporarily closed down during the first wave of the pandemic, he pivoted to Virtual Training with his trainers, never risking his health or his progress.

When the Long Beach studio reopened its doors for In-Studio Training, Bob hadn’t lost any progress. In fact, he was able to lift heavier on some exercises and his range of motion improved on others.

Bob joined The Perfect Workout to get healthier and improve his quality of life. Although there’s nothing stopping him now, we’re happy to say he’s hit some major goals in just one year:

he’s physically stronger
he’s lost 12 pounds
has better endurance hiking and bicycling
has better posture and balance

“I owe this to my personal trainer Ray. He pushes and encourages me to do my best. I highly recommend The Perfect Workout.”

Living Longer Stronger: with Matt Hedman (Part 3)

Posted on June 8, 2020June 12, 2022 by Jordan Thomson CPT

Living longer, stronger & smarter with founder Matt Hedman PT. III

Patient: “I need something that is going to help me live longer, get stronger, become healthier, remain injury-free and help my brain stay sharp as I get older. Do you have something for that?

Doctor: “Yes!”

Patient: “Great! What’s this magic pill called?”

Doctor: “Slow-Motion Strength Training.”

If you have any desire to age with strong bones and muscles, feel healthy and alive, add more enjoyable years to your life… and get smarter along the way… You have to do slow-motion strength training, and here’s why:

—

Matt Hedman had a relatively severe shoulder problem that caused him a lot of pain prior to starting slow-motion strength training, and his knees were just sensitive.

“I was never able to do strength training and work my leg muscles as hard or as effectively as they could have been.”

Many of our clients come to us with a pre-existing injury, chronic joint pain or have been avoiding exercise in order to avoid further injuries.

One huge benefit of our exercise method is it allows him (and many others) to train all of his muscles, including those muscles that involve his “problem area” joints, the shoulder and knees.

Slow-motion strength training is safer than other methods for the joints and connective tissues because it minimizes the impact forces on the joints.

Newton’s 2nd Law helps to explain this: Force = Mass x Acceleration

How this applies to exercise:

Mass: the amount of weight you’re pushing or pulling
Acceleration: How quickly you’re moving the weight

Because Slow-Motion Strength training essentially eliminates momentum during lifting speeds, it slows acceleration and ultimately reduces force- or impact on the joints. Making it one of, if not the safest way to exercise for healthy and injured bodies.

Living with stronger bones

Matt’s grandmother passed away from the effects of Osteoporosis. (Read More about this story) So, Matt continuously encourages his own mother, and any other woman that is concerned about Osteoporosis, to do strength training because of the power it has to improve bone strength.

There are studies showing that effective strength training can have significant positive benefits on bone density, osteoporosis and osteopenia (a precursor to osteoporosis).

All adults, particularly those in their middle age or older, want to maintain their bone density because when you have too little, it's easier for bones to break.

Some studies actually show strength training reverses bone mineral density loss and over the years we’ve helped a number of clients to reverse their osteoporosis and normalize bone density levels.

Many of our clients who have been diagnosed with osteoporosis also get prescribed medications and that's not something that they necessarily want to do. It often becomes a goal to either not have to take Fosamax (or other medic medications related to osteoporosis) or to get off of those medications.

Strength training makes you smarter?

We know that strength training produces a lot of physical benefits such as increased strength and building bone density.

But what if it could actually improve your cognitive health? What if lifting weights made you smarter?

One study (1) done in 2017 looked at adults at least 55 years old, and had:

One group doing strength training
Another group doing some computer version of brain training (puzzles, sudoku, etc.)
Another group doing stretching, or something that hadn't been shown to improve brain function. (control group)

After six months, strength training by itself was the most effective intervention in all the major areas, including improvements in memory and improvements in Alzheimer's disease score- which predicts the risk for developing Alzheimer's.

You would think “brain training” would have been the winner, but strength training beat it. If you look at the evidence, it probably makes you a little smarter and, and less likely to develop Dementia.

And it only takes 20 minutes twice a week to be effective for this.

Living longer

“One reason why a lot of people exercise is because they think they're going to live longer. And, and with strength training, we may have some evidence for that.”

Penn State University did a 15 year study (2)on people 65 years or older who did strength training at least twice a week.

30,000 people were observed over 15 years, all 65 or older, and at the end of the 15 years, the people who didn't strength train twice a week were almost twice as likely to be dead at the end of the 15 years compared to the people that did strength training twice a week.

That’s a big deal.

Strength training was also shown to have significant impacts on some of the major causes of death. It was associated with preventing one in five of every cardiovascular deaths like heart attacks and every two out of every five cancer deaths.

That’s 40% less likely to die of cancer and 20% less likely to die of heart disease!

More healthy years of living longer

If you live longer but the end of your life is spent feeling sick and miserable, what’s the point?

If strength training can make your lifespan longer, we're even more confident it's going to make your healthspan longer. In other words, more healthy years of living longer.

How so?

Strength training improves a lot of disease markers, including for:

Alzheimer's
Cardiovascular disease
Risk for Diabetes

Therefore, strength training not only improves your strength, it improves your overall health. So you can live a longer, healthier, more fruitful life.

How could you say no?

Not only do we have 20+ years of anecdotal evidence at The Perfect Workout with our own clients, we have some plausible evidence showing that slow-motion strength training is a resource for people that will:

Help you live longer
Reduce your likelihood to have a heart attack or die from heart disease
Reduce likelihood to die from cancer
Reduce likelihood to get Diabetes less likely to die from, you know, other factors as well.
Increase the healthspan and lifespan, giving you more enjoyable years of living
Probably make you smarter

“How could anybody say no to a longer and healthier life only takes twice to 20 minutes, twice a week?

The benefits are enormous.”

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