In the Media
2006-03-13, The Edmonton Journal
New Year, New You: Week 8
Chris Zdeb; journal staff writer, Edmonton
Two-thirds of the way through her 12 weeks of personal training, Bobbi Robbins looks like a workout pro – someone who knows what to do in a fitness studio and looks good doing it.
Her improved exercise technique and body awareness have increased her confidence that she will be able to continue working out effectively once she’s finished her free sessions with trainer Alexandra Senkow, she says.
Senkow has no doubt that Robbins will do well: she can tell from her pelvic floor muscles. No, Senkow doesn’t have X-ray eyes. The pelvic floor muscles and the transverse or deepest abdominal muscles are one and the same and she can see Robbins engage them every time she does a stability ball work out.
Robbins’s abdomen used to hang down and she used to have a sway back when she first started doing this exercise, Senkow remembers. Since she’s learned to engage her transverse abdominals, her abdomen no longer hangs and her back is straight, making her look very thin when she does that exercise, Senkow says.
“Bobbi has only lost six pounds on the weight scale, but she looks like a completely different person. She doesn’t just feel confident when she does an activity, she does it with confidence because her body can interpret what it’s being told more accurately. She says she doesn’t’ even think about it, it just happens now,” Senkow says.
What happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas, the city’s slogan goes, but what happens in the gym you want to take with you out into the real world and Robbins has done just that.
Listen to your body
Having learned how to sit properly and to take stretch breaks has reduced the neck pain she often experienced after sitting hunched over a computer at work for an extended period of time.
This is what body awareness is all about, Senkow says, knowing when something doesn’t feel right or feels misaligned and self-correcting it. Teaching proper technique and body awareness to a client is the equivalent of teaching a man to fish s he can feet himself for a lifetime versus giving him a fish which will only feed him for one day, Senkow explains.
“Bobbi not only looks better, she sounds like she’s really into a routine and looks forward to her exercise sessions. She isn’t looking for ways to get out of them, which is great,” Senkow says.
A bout of illness involving chest congestions resulted in Robbins rescheduling her first workout to later into the week. She followed a modified program Tuesday, but by Thursday she was back exercising at a higher intensity and interval training on a cross trainer.
Next week, what Robbins is eating will go under a microscope. Her homework, Senkow says, is to write down everything she eats, when she eats it and why she eats it for a nutrition assessment.
Starting weight: 199 pounds. Week 8: 193 pounds.
Bobbi Robbins won 12 weeks of personal training with Alexandra Senkow, fitness director at Defining Eve personal fitness studio, in The Journal’s New Year, New You contest.
