Workouts with Greg

Scott has been working out with a trainer for 17 years this month! It all started when he turned 50 and felt old and flabby. (He's actually never been flabby because of his tall, slender body type, but like anyone who neglects exercise, he was sort of out of shape.) So he decided the only way he'd really get to the gym is to have a trainer there waiting for him. And having to pay the trainer whether he went or not was a great motivator too.

So in these 17 years Scott has had 11 different trainers at the Sports Academy. They work Scott like crazy then move on in life and another trainer steps in. Scott's current trainer is Greg Panfiloff. Scott thinks Greg is awesome. So awesome that Scott convinced me to join the workouts. Greg balances my need for easy exercise with Scott's need for difficult as he works us side by side. It's amazing.

Scott says that Greg is the most creative, inventive trainer ever. He has hardly ever done the same workout twice...in five years! Greg comes up with such interesting things to do that Scott looks forward to Monday nights and Thursday mornings. I look forward to seeing what kind of weirdness Greg can come up with for us to do on the treadmills. Things like walking sideways without the power on. It's hard.

Scott loves being challenged and pushed - but not with boring weight machines or workout equipment. Greg has him do these crazy workouts that involve climbing and rope waving (?) and jumping up on big steps and, well, it goes on forever. Greg has more ideas than hours in his life to implement them. He has us stretch and stretch in addition to the weight bearing and aerobic exercise we do. He knows 50 ways to do sit ups and push ups. He's constantly pushing us to work on our core strength. He's big on balance because we're old.

This was our workout right before our trip to Europe that Greg titled, "The Don't Forget Greg on Your Trip Workout." Sure enough, sore muscles on the plane constantly reminded me of Greg.

Scott does hard stuff and I do easy stuff. That medicine ball weighs a ton and Scott had to throw it until I got to the top of the wall. Well, I never got to the top, but took forever trying. Meantime poor Scott just kept tossing that ball and Greg kept smiling his "this is so great" smile. This workout also included miles and miles of different varieties of lunges up and down the sidewalk. Greg likes to be outside because it makes us sweat even more. If you know me, you know that it takes a lot to make me sweat. My girl cousins and I agree that, "Halls don't sweat." (Hall is my mother's maiden name.) Well, after Greg's workouts I actually have a wet spot on my back. I've never experienced such grossness. I know, too much info.

 Scott can climb mountains like a twenty year old, hike like a teenager, lift heavy stuff, and walk the streets of any big city we're visiting for 14 hours without resting. He loves it because he's in shape. And it's all because of the trainers.

I saw a poster once that perfectly explained Scott's philosophy about the time and expense of having a trainer. It said,

"Those who think they have not time or money for exercise will sooner or later have to find time and money for illness."