Michelle asked me to write a blog post documenting my experience from a client’s perspective and since I am a freelance writer who loves writing about my journey through life, I thought it was a great idea. This is part 1 of a series of posts that I will write – honestly – about my experience working with Michelle.
After I reached out to Michelle to see if she would consider taking me on as a client, I didn’t expect there to be work to do before our first meeting. She didn’t just want to know about my height, weight, body fat and exercise history, she wanted to know details. I had to answer questions about:
- My measurements: Height, weight, circumference of various areas
- Exercise history: What was my knowledge base in terms of exercise and gym experience
- 3-day diet record: What had I eaten over the last three days (I did this poorly)
- Kitchen/pantry situation: Was my kitchen equipped for healthy meal preparation?
- Social support: Did those closest to me support my desire to change my fitness and nutrition habits?
- Detailed health history: Was there anything Michelle needed to take into consideration when designing a plan and was there anything a physician should check out before I started working with Michelle?
- Before photos: Taken from the front, the back and the side… in a bathing suit. Yikes!
Filling out these forms was really a test of readiness and willingness to change in itself, a lifestyle change. Once I surmounted the technological difficulties with a faulty scanner, I managed to get all the paperwork over to Michelle in anticipation of our meeting several days later.
I sent her the photos by Facebook message as well. It struck me as comical that I was sending revealing photos of myself to someone I had never met before. I told Michelle as much, but she said she had never thought about it like that. This is just another sign that she is clinical and focused.
I knew at that point that this was not going to be like any personal training program I have had in the past. I have had not-so-good, good and great personal trainers before, but this was different. I sensed from the start that our work together would be goal-oriented and specific. The final objective was to make significant changes to those before photos. I told Michelle that I wanted to look great on the beach, and that I could not wait to get started.
