Ask a Trainer
Two elite 24 Hour Fitness Trainers tackle your most burning in-the-gym questions.
I come to the gym with friends, but people look at us like we’re doing something wrong when we talk. Should we stop talking while we work out?
-- Samantha Thomas, Austin, Texas
If you’re doing cardio and you can talk, you’re not reaching the right intensity. You want intensity, and that’s what’s going to get lost in conversation.
I believe in intensity, but still, I talk to friends while I’m doing cardio. I’m just conscious of the volume. The gym is downtime for a lot of people—a place to be social, where you’re not at work, you’re not at home. People meet friends there, they even meet future spouses there. So I think it’s fine, just be cordial to the people around you.
I think it depends on whether you’re getting anything done or not. And if you’re out there circuit training, no way. The guidelines say that you can rest anywhere from 30 seconds to one minute between sets, which isn’t going to give you a lot of time to sit around and chat.
But you also have to think about what time you’re going to the gym. If it’s not a busy time, it’s not going to be a problem.
I do think having friends at the gym is worth a lot—people who are like-minded and willing to bust their butt with you. That’s the advantage of having a trainer—you have someone to push you to achieve goals, and not just chat with you. Overall, though, I’d tell you to quit your yappin’, and get to slappin’.
Meet the Experts
Two trainers, both with impeccable credentials but very different styles.
Brandy Bachmeyer, 28, a former Olympic weightlifter, is a rare amalgam of brains, brawn, and perkiness. Sort of like a cross between MacGyver and a local TV weatherperson. In a good way. An elite trainer at San Ramon Supersport Club in California, Brandy regularly puts in 12-hour days, sometimes joining them as they train for half-marathons—even surveying the contents of their sub-Zeros.
Scott Nunes, a trainer at the 24 Hour Fitness in Escondido, California knows firsthand that getting fit doesn’t just happen. “I used to be a bona fide couch potato,” Nunes avows. When Nunes was in his mid 20s, he had back surgery, developed arthritis, and found himself weighing in at 260 pounds: “When my one-and-a-half-year-old son raced me to the top of the stairs and beat me, I started doing pushups and sit ups that day,” he recalls. Nunes, 37, got in great shape, which helped him raise his son, who’s now 14.
COMBINED WISDOM Don’t dissect your entire weekend during a long, slow ride on the elliptical—but a quick catch-up session with friends is cool.
