Personal trainers working to keep everyone healthy

Getting personal while exercising has never been easier. \nThe Student Recreational Sports Center (SRSC) offers not only a student friendly exercise facility, but classes, information on fitness and personal trainers to incorporate exercise into student lifestyles.\nCara McGowan, program assistant for personal training, said the personal training program has been established to customize an exercise plan for clients based on their needs and individual goals.\n"The personal trainers are here for clients to maintain safety and to learn the proper forms of exercise. The trainers go through the workouts with clients and help to educate them on exercise, nutrition and daily habits," McGowan said.\nAccording to McGowan, all personal trainers are certified through the American Council of Exercise and have a specialization that personalizes them in order to fit their clients needs and wants. Each trainer has a personal biography that can be accessed through the SRSC website, in HPER 290 or SRSC 115. \nGetting started with a personal trainer is easier than the actual workout. McGowan said each trainer begins the initial program with a fitness assessment and works with the client to form a workout that meets their personal goals. Whether a client is looking for nutrition education, weight lifting technical help, weight loss programs or sports preparation; there is one or more personal trainers that have a specialization in that area.\nPersonal training is not only a benefit for the client, but the trainer themselves. Senior Kurt Walden got started in personal training after working as a consultant at the SRSC and HPER.\n"I worked as a consultant, but the supervisors are always pushing you to move on to the next level, and I have always been interested in fitness so I moved on to personal training and got my certification," Walden said.\n"There are so many rewards to working with people," Walden said. "And to see them improve and reach their goals is the best thing about the job."\nOther personal trainers' goals are to share the knowledge that they have learned through their experiences with others that have similar goals. Continuing studies student Margie Kobow worked as a trainer for runners participating in charity runs for the leukemia society. After training as a runner and working with other runners, Kobow began to work for Rec Sports and the Bloomington YMCA. \n"The number one goal is to get people who have never exercised to be able to build it into their daily lives," Kobow said. "Exercise is very important to your daily life. The benefits to personal training are that people get to set goals and make a plan that they can incorporate into their daily activities. \n"I want to be able to give them the motivation, and I hope to give them a proper plan to keep them interested with a versatile program that is exciting and accomplishes goals"