AN ONLINE PERSONAL TRAINER IS ALWAYS THERE FOR YOU
STORY BY Martha Thomas PHOTOGRAPHY BY André Chung
When Sarah Curnoles decided to become a personal trainer, her first client was her mother. “She’s seen some bone loss lately, and her doctor was worried,”
says Curnoles, who, along with her stage managing duties at local theater companies, recently launched a personal training business.
Training your own mother can be complicated. “The big challenge was establishing myself as an authority,” says Curnoles, who is certified as a personal trainer by the International Sports Sciences Association and has additional training in kettlebell workouts. “Sometimes it backfires because my mom doesn’t feel like she needs to be accountable to me.”
Accountability is, of course, why many sign on with personal trainers. Missing an appointment can be not only inconsiderate, it can be costly, with trainers charging upwards of $60 per hour for their time.
Curnoles’ clients have run the gamut, from her 60-something mother who needed to build bone and muscle to a former runner in her 20s who had never lifted a weight in her life. One client, Amanda Smit, who lives in Baltimore’s Highlandtown neighborhood claims she has no time for exercise (although she walks to work every day). Curnoles organized a series of strength training routines Smit can do while watching TV. “Game of Thrones was a little hard to work out to,” admits Smits.
Last spring, Curnoles spotted an article about an online training website on a professional exercise forum she belongs to. At around the same time, a friend who had moved to Colorado “was complaining that she was feeling sluggish and unattractive,” Curnoles recalls. Curnoles decided to take advantage of the site’s offer of a one-month free trial to help out her friend. The format worked beautifully, Curnoles reports.
Curnoles set up a workout plan for her friend from a distance, giving her a mix of stretches, strength training exercises using weights and some cardio work. Curnoles would send specific workout plans a few days a week for her friend to follow. By logging into the Trainerize site with her smart phone or iPad, the friend could follow the workout and track exactly what she had accomplished on a given day.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, fitness and personal training is a growth industry, with employment expected to increase by 24 percent in the next decade – a much faster rate of growth than other occupations. Personal trainers generally visit their clients at home or meet up with them at a gym. They hover over the client as she struggles to lift weights or jog on a treadmill, offering encouragement and occasionally demonstrating the proper form for a tricky move – ‘pull the weight like starting a lawnmower,’ they may tell you, or ‘keep your back straight and torso strong in a plank pose.’ Some see their trainers once or twice a week (or more) and follow assigned workouts on off-days.
When Curnoles launched her virtual training business, she offered initial clients an early sign-up deal: $42 a month. “I like the idea of making it affordable to most people,” she says, though she admits the fee may rise as she gains more experience. Even so, clients need not join a gym to follow the plan, she says. Curnoles has set up workouts that employ makeshift weights like heavy book bags. Smits keeps weights and a yoga mat in her Highlandtown TV room for her evening workouts.
Curnoles’ monthly fee includes several emails per week with workout plans that she reviews when completed, as well as an optional weekly phone call to discuss any issues and keep the client’s motivation – and accountability – going.
Curnoles also sends clients emails that read like blog posts, with tips to keep energized and recipes for healthy eating. Trainerize, she says, requires a bit more client motivation than a date with a personal trainer. “It’s a good fit for someone who wants to go to the gym but doesn’t know what to do when they get there. I send an email in the morning on days they have a scheduled workout. I get an email the following day telling me what they’ve done.”
But while there isn’t any actual face time, Curnoles personal style is a big part of her virtual training business. The Trainerize site offers a library of premade videos that demonstrate specific exercises, but Curnoles has opted to make her own series.
Standing in a park, or in a room at a gym, Curnoles, a 30-year-old with a cheerful girlish demeanor shows how to hoist a heavy kettlebell or drop into a s
quat push-up, all the time explaining what her arms and legs and torso are doing, when to exhale.
I contacted Sarah soon after she’d set up her Trainerize business – our paths have crossed over the years in various contexts. In fact, I had mostly known her as the bespectacled, black-clad stage manager running around during Chesapeake Shakespeare shows. I asked her to set up a plan for me, knowing that I might be a tough customer. Parts of my personal life were in upheaval, and while I’m no stranger to the gym, things felt a little out of control and I needed some extra prodding.
I had set a goal: to do a fairly strenuous hike in Maine later in the summer, and I had already embarked on a couple of training hikes nearby – Sugarloaf Mountain, Annapolis Rock, the Maryland Heights overlook at Harper’s Ferry.
She jumped right in, setting up a mix of strength and cardio, sensitive to my various complains (achy hips, stiff neck), knowing that my joints needed attention – for the hike and also because of my age.
Curnoles believes fervently that exercise is a means for recovery after a loss. “It is the number one thing you can do to boost your confidence,” she says. Exercise increases endorphins and can take your mind off your troubles. It helps with sleep and can actually curb appetite. Incorporating exercise, even in a small way, she says, “will give you a sense of reclaiming control of your life. Anytime you are making a change, it’s important to pick one thing and build on it.” As a result, she says, “the bright areas begin to get bigger.” *
