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Monday, October 11, 2021

The Personal Trainer

The first question I got from some of my friends was, "why bother engaging a personal trainer when you can just check out YouTube?" Then I told them that it wasn't that simple. I simply lacked of motivation in exercising, hence I was never able to bring myself to do what they suggested. It'd be very different if I had people breathing down my neck. In other words, I literally spent money to pay a trainer to tell me off, haha.

Truthfully speaking, I didn't look for a personal trainer (PT). My wife attended an online course and one of her classmates happened to be a PT. She asked if I was willing to interview him and I didn't mind, so I met this guy named Quek. As I sat and talked to him, I realized that it made more sense to try it out myself. I mean, rather than writing about he said, I reckoned it'd be easier to write about my experience instead. 

Then I signed up for a package of 11 weeks and the training schedule would be once a week on Saturday morning. Quek came over to the fitness corner near my place and he brought with him the training equipment such as resistance band and suspension trainer. He was a punctual man. That must be lesson number one!

With the personal trainer.

The training would begin with notes taking and body fat measurement. The workout then started after the warming up (jumping jack, stretching, squat, etc). We'd do three sets and the routines comprised of shuffle lunge, inclined pull up, mountain climber, burpee and many more. Then we closed each set with few minutes of jogging. Before we called it a day, we'd wrap it up with core and arm exercises, such as plank, crunch and biceps curl.

I'd always remember the first week. Not only I made a rookie mistake by skipping breakfast, I was also so spent that I got cold sweat and felt like vomiting. It was embarrassing, but that's where Quek's experience as a personal trainer made a difference. He didn't say things I wanted to hear as a client, which I respected, but yet he managed to encourage me to continue. He made it okay for me to have a weak start as he ensured me that it'd only get better.

But of course exercising once a week wouldn't make any difference if I didn't practice diligently throughout the week. Quek expected a certain level of commitment and I agreed to train on my own twice a week. Frankly speaking, I disliked this and forcing myself to do it reminded me again why I never exercised in the first place, haha. But since I said I would, I did it the best I could. I'd start with drumming as a form of warming up, then did few moves he taught me before wrapping it up with stair climbing. The HDB flat I'm staying in has 17 floors and for the first few attempts, I'd stop at level 7, 11, 14 and 17 to catch my breath.

Outdoor training.

It was only after the fifth meeting that I could tell there was an improvement. I wouldn't say that I was impressive, but at least I didn't feel like fainting anymore. Yes, I was still panting, but I did feel like I could do it. And Quek was good in mixing the routines accordingly. He could tell when I pushed too hard for the first two sets, then he'd swap some of the moves to less taxing ones, let's say from mountain climber (I hated this one) to burpee.  

11 weeks went by and all good things must come to an end. When we had our last session, we switched to indoor training in my living room so that I had a better idea of what could be done at home when I didn't feel like going outside. We missed out the training experience at the gym pod (it only allowed one occupant in the time of corona), but I guess we covered most of it. And being a good trainer he was, he left me a set of exercise instructions and a parting gift: a resistance band!

I'm never a sporty person, but from little that I know, it's been great to train with Quek. Not boring, as he's a talkative person, but yet he's focused on what he is doing. He's also knowledgeable (heart rate became part of my vocabularies now) and is able to explain what he means in layman's term. Best of all, I had no injuries, which means he knows what he's doing. So, yeah, if you are new to this and wish to have a good start, you should contact him at @strengthelements on Instagram!



Pelatih Kebugaran Jasmani

Pertanyaan pertama dari teman-teman saya adalah, "kenapa pakai pelatih pribadi, padahal bisa cek sendiri di YouTube?" Saya lantas jelaskan pada mereka bahwa permasalahannya tidak sesederhana itu. Saya senantiasa tidak memiliki disiplin dan motivasi untuk berolahraga, jadi saya tidak pernah bisa melakukan apa yang mereka sarankan. Beda ceritanya kalau ada orang yang mengawasi. Dengan kata lain, saya perlu mengeluarkan uang untuk diomeli, haha. 

Jujur saya katakan, saya tidak mencari pelatih kebugaran jasmani. Hanya saja kebetulan seorang teman sekolah istri saya memiliki profesi ini. Dia kemudian bertanya apakah saya berminat untuk mewawancarai temannya ini. Saya tidak keberatan, jadi saya pun menemui pria bernama Quek ini. Setelah berbincang dengannya, saya merasa bahwa lebih masuk akal bila saya mencobanya sendiri. Jadi daripada menulis tentang apa yang dia sampaikan, akan lebih mudah untuk menuliskan pengalaman saya sendiri. 

Saya mendaftar untuk paket 11 minggu dan jadwal latihannya adalah seminggu sekali setiap Sabtu pagi. Quek akan datang ke pojok fitness di dekat rumah saya dan dia membawa serta berbagai peralatan seperti resistance band (semacam pegas dari bahan karet yang bisa tarik-ulur) dan suspension trainer (peralatan yang bisa diikatkan ke tiang dan dijadikan tumpuan untuk pull up). Quek sangat tepat waktu dan ini pastilah pelajaran nomor satu! 

Bersama sang pelatih.

Latihan dimulai dengan pencatatan berat badan dan pengukuran lemak tubuh. Setelah itu ada pemanasan (jumping jack, stretching, squat dan lain-lain), kemudian diteruskan dengan tiga set gerak badan yang mencakup shuffle lunge, inclined pull up, mountain climber, burpee dan masih banyak lagi. Setiap set lantas ditutup dengan lari beberapa menit. Selanjutnya kita melatih otot perut dan lengan dengan plank, crunch dan biceps curl.

Saya selalu terkenang dengan minggu pertama. Saya dengan ceroboh menunda sarapan dan beraktivitas dengan perut kosong, akibatnya saya kelelahan dan merasa mual seperti akan muntah. Sungguh memalukan, namun di sinilah peran Quek sebagai pelatih yang berpengalaman membuat perbedaan. Dia tidak berkomentar yang muluk hanya karena saya adalah kliennya, tapi dia bisa meyakinkan saya untuk terus berlatih. Dia jelaskan kepada saya bahwa meskipun ini bukan permulaan yang baik, tapi latihan secara rutin akan membuahkan hasil.

Akan tetapi tentu saja latihan seminggu sekali tidak akan membuat banyak perbedaan. Oleh karena itu Quek ingin agar saya meluangkan waktu untuk berlatih di kala senggang dan saya pun setuju untuk berolahraga sendiri dua kali seminggu. Jujur saya katakan bahwa saya harus menyeret diri saya untuk berolahraga sendiri, tapi karena saya sudah menyanggupinya, mau tidak mau saya harus melakukannya. Biasanya saya memulai pemanasan dengan bermain drum, setelah itu saya mengulang gerakan yang diajarkan olehnya, lalu saya tuntaskan dengan menaiki tangga. Saya tinggal di blok setinggi 17 lantai dan ketika saya melakukannya untuk beberapa kali pertama, saya sering berhenti di lantai 7, 11, 14 and 17 untuk memulihkan napas saya yang terengah-engah.  

Latihan di luar.

Saya baru merasakan peningkatan setelah pertemuan ke-5. Perubahannya tidaklah drastis, tapi saya jadi merasa lebih bugar dan tidak lagi terasa seperti hendak pingsan. Stamina saya kini lebih baik dari sebelumnya dan di satu sisi, Quek juga pintar membaca situasi. Jika dia melihat bahwa saya terlalu menguras tenaga di dua set pertama, dia bisa mengubah rangkaian di set berikutnya dengan gerakan yang lebih sesuai kondisi, misalnya dari mountain climber (saya tidak suka gerakan yang satu ini) ke burpee.  

11 minggu pun berlalu dan tidak terasa bahwa latihan pun akan segera berakhir. Di pertemuan terakhir, kita mencoba latihan di rumah supaya saya memiliki gambaran, apa saja yang bisa saya lakukan di ruang tamu. Kita tidak sempat mencoba di gym pod (semacam gym di ruang container di tengah taman) karena hanya bisa digunakan oleh satu orang di musim korona. Dan ketika semua berakhir, dia memberikan instruksi latihan dan hadiah: sebuah resistance band!

Saya bukanlah orang yang gemar berolahraga, tapi dari apa yang saya jalani, saya senang berlatih dalam bimbingan Quek. Tidak membosankan, karena dia sangat aktif berbicara tentang apa saja, tapi tetap fokus dengan perannya sebagai pelatih. Dia juga berwawasan luas dan bisa menjelaskan dengan baik dalam sudut pandang orang awam. Yang lebih mantap lagi, saya tidak cedera dan ini berarti dia tahu apa yang dilakukannya. Jadi bila anda baru di bidang ini dan ingin uji coba, anda bisa menghubunginya di @strengthelements lewat Instagram!

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