About me
I wasn’t always a big proponent of a healthy and fit lifestyle.
When I was younger, I was a very heavy and out of shape child. I ate whatever I wanted and would frequently eat until uncomfortably full. I also did a little physical activity as possible. And I didn’t care what most people thought. People would frequently tell me that I needed to lose weight, eat better and move more but I would just ignore them. I even had a sweatshirt with Garfield on it that read,’ If I was any lazier, I would slip into a coma.’ I wore it with pride.
Mine was in white and had Garfield in a hammock.
Then came the faithful day that changed everything.
Someone close to me told me exactly what I needed to hear. ‘Your stomach goes one way and your butt goes the other. You’re starting to look like your father. Perhaps you should think of losing some weight.’ After years of not caring what other people thought, this really hit home.
So, after 2 days of feeling sorry for myself, I started doing something about it. Even with (when looking back on it now) doing everything wrong, I managed to lose 70 lbs in about 18 months. I was much thinner but I still wasn’t in very good shape (the term we use now is skinny fat) and I knew very little of proper nutrition and exercise form. But I didn’t know what I didn’t know.
At this time in my life I was at that age where you think you are immortal. I thought I was a god and nothing could harm me. Boy was I wrong.
While working at my first job, I managed to really injure my back. (I later came to realize that this was due to poor lifting technique and weak core muscles.) The pain was severe and constant. Unknowing I would keep reinjuring it which caused me about 18 months of chronic back pain. I would wake up a ‘spry’ 17-year-old and go to bed a broken 70-year-old man (as my mother so eloquently put it). Most of my afternoons/evenings were spent lying down in bed as I couldn’t comfortably do anything else.
Fast forward a year and a half. I am now a sophomore in college and I am introduced to the field of exercise science. The class was Nutrition for Exercise and Sport and the professor was Dr. Pricilla Clarkson. Whether it was Dr. Clarkson’s teaching, the subject matter or both, I was hooked. So, coming toward the end of my sophomore year I went to my advisor and told him that I wanted to change from computer engineering to exercise science and never looked back.
Fast forward another 20 years or so.
I have been a certified personal trainer for about 19 years. All of this time has been working as an in-person personal trainer for the Boston Sports Clubs, Wellesley facility. During my time there I have helped numerous people reach their goals. I would love to say hundreds but when people start training with me, they usually stick around for the long hall. My newest client and I have been training together for 3+ years now.
When I started my career as a certified personal trainer, I mainly dealt with people that had some sort of pain (usually back) and were looking for an alternative to surgery (or had tried surgery previously and it didn’t work). I still love to help people become pain-free but over the years I noticed that I had another specialty: helping busy people get the most health and fitness results in as little exercise time as possible.
Let’s face it, it is a busy world and most people don’t have (or want to spend) a ton of time to exercise. They want to spend time with their family, enjoying hobbies or even working more.
And with the new normal, people want to spend even less time in the gym (if they want to go at all). And I, like a lot of people, had to move my business to a more virtual setting. At first this was awkward for both myself and my clients. But then we both started noticing something.
My clients were seeing better and faster results than when we trained in person.
How could this happen with all the stress and uncertainty of the times? For one, my clients were training more often. Working out from the comfort of their home or office and not having to travel to and from a gym made it so they didn’t need as much time to ‘fit in’ a workout. And there was no more wasting time waiting to use or set up equipment. They could just change into their workout clothes, look at the minimal equipment workout I designed for them and start working out no matter where they were with or without me ‘there’ to guide them.
This gave me an idea. If I can help my current clients get better result than they have in the past, in less time and with less equipment I could help others. So I started the online training business you have discovered here.
So, if you are a busy professional looking for a way to get in some quick workouts at the office, a busy mom who has very little ‘me time’ to focus on herself or just someone who doesn’t feel safe going to the gym right now, click on the set up a success session button below.
We will set up a time to chat to see how we can get you to a healthier, fitter you in the time you have where ever you are. Chat soon.
Your friend and trainer,
Paul F Sweatt CPT
Train smart. Train hard. Train Safe. Train to Sweatt.