The Next Level

I started to become a little dissatisfied with just going to exercise classes or hitting the gym solo-style. The workouts were great and I was still having fun, but sometimes you just want that extra push to go to the next level.

So what about personal training? How does that fit in and when is it a good idea? It’s an expensive choice compared to just flying solo, so is it really worth the investment?

Well, I decided I needed to find out. Today marks day one of a 30-day fitness and nutrition plan I’ll be experimenting with YBY Nutrition and Fitness, a new personal training company in Prince William County.

I’ve been pretty impressed already. Before we even started I’ve had two sit-down meetings with Kristin Quinn, the founder of YBY and my new personal trainer for the next month. First we talked about my goals, fitness background, expectations, and things I liked or didn’t like in exercise routines.

Quinn made it clear that her philosophy was to help people meet their goals (be it weight gain, weight loss, muscle building, etc.) with a slow and steady pace to achieve long-lasting results, not just quick fixes.

Next came what could have been the “worst part” but ended up being a fascinating learning experience: doing a body composition analysis and nutrition plan. YBY uses professional equipment but in the comfort of your or your trainer’s home. I didn’t have to stand on a scale, get measured in awkward places, or—horrors!—get a body fat “pinch test.”

Instead YBY uses a Futrex 6100 machine, which looks a little like an office adding/receipt machine and it analyzes your body composition in a completely un-invasive way. Fist Quinn entered my personal data into the machine and then placed the scanning part onto the middle of my bicep, pressed it down for all of a few seconds, and that was it. The machine used infrared light to scan my arm and read my body composition. No pinching, pain or awkwardness.

The machine then gave a read-out of three categories: weight of essential fat, weight of reserve fat, and weight of excess fat. The first two categories are good fats and it is only the third that leads to all the health issues that we attribute to “fat.” In giving this breakdown, you now have a chance to make accurate goals for your own body. Instead of being about “weight,” you can now make goals based on body fat percentage and how much fat to just lose and how much to convert to lean muscle and how much you really need to keep to be healthy.

The read-out also estimates your water retention so you know if your body tends to hold water or not and whether you are drinking enough water regularly.

Now with this information in hand, the fun is just getting started. You know where your body is currently and have an idea of where it needs to go, so YBY’s next step is to create a nutrition plan to fuel your body for its daily tasks and revamp your metabolism and get it going in the right direction.

So we talked about my daily life activities: do I move a lot during the day, or does my job keep me more sedentary? How many times will I exercise this upcoming week and for how long and at what intensity? We even talked about my personality and what level of energy I usually function at (i.e. an intense, high energy personality, or a more laid-back, calm personality, or somewhere in between), since that effects your normal metabolism. Who knew?

Finally, with all this information, Quinn set out to build a personalized nutrition plan, trying to find my body’s perfect protein vs. carbs balance, but in a way that I could tweak and change to fit my own food likes and dislikes.

It was the most encouraging nutrition plan I have ever seen. I don’t have to be stuck eating the same food every day, and I don’t have to agonize over my choices. The plan lists various amounts of proteins and carbs you are supposed to eat throughout the day (over three meals and two snacks), but then lists dozens of food options for you to choose to fill that requirement.

For example, if it lists a protein requirement, there is a drop down menu that lists multiple food options that could fill that, from meat to cheese to yogurt to eggs. Then once one you select one, in another section it will tell you what your portion size should be. It also lists vegetables, fruits, breads/starches, and fats as categories spread throughout the day with food choices for you to pick. Easy, understandable, and versatile.

What’s more, if there is a food you just can’t live without (say, dark chocolate), they figure out how you can incorporate that into the plan with modified proportions so you are not feeling deprived. “Options are the key to long-term success,” Quinn said.

Talk about a personal plan: everything designed to not only fit your body’s makeup and needs, but also your personality, preferences, and just what makes you feel good in the afternoon slump.

We haven’t even begun the exercise part of this 30 day experiment, but if I’m this excited over the nutrition plan, I can’t wait to see what comes next.