Ultrafit: Letting them see you sweat

"Just three more," Cook assures. "Doing great."

We're in a walled-off studio near the back of Fitness Together, a tiny gym on E. Hennepin Avenue. Cook, a 26-year-old personal trainer, is putting me through the paces in a session he's guaranteed I'll still feel tomorrow.

"Push!" he repeats. "You got it!"

One-on-one strength conditioning is nothing new. Coaches and trainers have long combined drill-sergeant-like tactics with personalized workout regimens to motivate and produce results. But an increase in the availability of personal trainers, and a new emphasis on education and certification, have changed the landscape -- both for gyms and for people looking to get whipped into shape.

"You used to see a lot of former college athletes and weekend fitness buffs doubling as personal trainers," said Tom Manella, director of personal training for Life Time Fitness, an Eden Prairie company with 69 health clubs nationwide. "It's evolved from a side job for athletes to a full-time career pursued by college graduates with degrees in kinesiology and exercise science."

Health clubs such as Life Time -- which employs about 1,300 personal trainers -- also now require outside certification for most trainers from organizations such as the American Council on Exercise or the National Academy of Sports Medicine. The Fitness Together Franchise Corp., which counts roughly 3,000 trainers at its 384 worldwide locations, requires similar accreditation plus completion of an internal company certification program.

This kind of industry maturation has dovetailed with a new demographic of client who has pushed change in the past decade, according to Samuel Hirschberg, a vice president of the Fitness Together Franchise Corp. in Highlands Ranch, Colo.

"There's been a rise in everyday exercisers buying into these services," Hirschberg said. "It's no longer something perceived as being in the domain of the rich."

While cost perception might be debatable -- average trainers charge $50 to $90 per hour -- the populist tilt that Hirschberg notes is undeniable: Last year 6.3 million Americans paid for personal training services, according to a report by the trade group International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association. That's up nearly 40 percent from 1999.

A recent survey by the American College of Sports Medicine listed personal training as No. 3 among 20 fitness trends for 2008, noting that the profession is "becoming more realistic and accessible to the public."

Accountability helps

Among that new public are people like Theresa Gustafson, a 43-year-old mother and business owner from Chaska who in June 2006 signed up with a trainer at Life Time Fitness in Chanhassen. Her goal was singular and precise: to lose 100 pounds.

Gustafson, who was not athletic growing up and had not worked out seriously in years, began her program with a physical assessment, including cardiovascular and strength tests, a heart-rate analysis and a body-fat composition test. A nutrition specialist recommended dietary changes.

Gustafson weighed 236 pounds when she started working with trainer Julie Amack, who prescribed a once-a-week strength workout to get her going.

"I needed to start somewhere, and I needed to be accountable to someone for my fitness," Gustafson said.

Her workouts soon accelerated to a three-times-weekly routine that she kept up for eight months straight. With Amack hovering, she lifted weights, worked on balance and core strength, and went through cardio routines for 55 minutes each Monday, Wednesday and Thursday morning. Amack helped build Gustafson's endurance and continually tweaked their workouts together to maximize fat-burning efficiency.

"Theresa was losing a consistent 1 to 2 real pounds per week for several weeks straight," Amack said.

My session with Danny Cook last week at Fitness Together was less about fat-burning and more about feeling the burn. As a runner and an aerobic athlete, I've let upper-body muscle strength slip in recent years. A trainer like Cook could help realign my fitness priorities.

Our session started with 15 push-ups, simple and straightforward. Next were lat pulldowns, then the arm-tingling triceps pushdowns, 15 of each with little rest between them.

Cook gave a brief demonstration of each technique, then got out of the way as I went down a list including pull-ups, the bench press, crunches, leg extensions, curls, ball crunches, heel touches and finally a leg press loaded with 250 pounds.

"Sweating yet?" he asked after round one.

We went through the repertoire three times, my strength slowly failing under barbells and cable weights.

Cook's job, I came to realize, was twofold: He provided knowledge of what regimen would best work my body, and -- equally important -- he motivated me with verbal encouragement: "Come on!" "Do it!" "You're great!"

Eyes on the prize

For Jill Lloyd, a 38-year-old business owner who occupied the studio next to mine at Fitness Together, personal training has been the only fitness regimen with staying power. "I had joined health clubs and paid dues for years, but didn't regularly go," she said.

"Here [at Fitness Together] they give you a time slot and you're responsible to show up."

Lloyd signed on with a trainer two years ago to prepare for a trip to hike Peru's Inca Trail. She's still at it, working out two to three times a week with a trainer for strength. She also is following an independent cardio plan.

If you miss a session at Fitness Together, you're billed anyway, up to $80. Lloyd said she likes that accountability, as there's physical and financial motivation to make it to every workout.

"For me this is the only fitness thing that's worked," she said. "I was the first one to the top of the Inca Trail."

Theresa Gustafson's journey to lose 100 pounds continues to this day. She still sees Amack twice a week for strength and toning and she runs and does Pilates on her own.

So far, Gustafson has lost 90 pounds. She dropped from a dress size 24 to a size 6. Her whole physical being, Amack said, has changed.

"My confidence in self has improved; I feel strong and healthy," Gustafson said. "Physically and mentally, I feel literally transformed."

Stephen Regenold is a Twin Cities writer and author of the syndicated column www.thegearjunkie.com.