In the last five years, I've made a real effort to integrate exercise into my daily routine. I've been able to motivate myself successfully to get my cardio workouts in. But weight training is another story. All my life I've been afraid of lifting weights. Over the years, I've tried and failed to make weight training a regular part of my workouts. Every time I went to the gym resolved to lift weights, I would find an excuse to skip the weight room. I'd say a good deal of this fear has been psychological, going all the way back to having grown up as a short dorky kid. I've never found weight rooms to be terribly inviting spaces. Suffice it to say that I've never felt comfortable with this very important dimension of physical fitness, despite the abundance of research that extols its virtues and benefits as part of an integrated exercise regimen. Last summer (summer of 2013), however, I hit a plateau in my workouts. I realized that I wouldn't be able to achieve more ambitious fitness and aesthetic goals if I continued to leave out weight training. I finally decided that I needed professional assistance to overcome my longstanding fear of weightlifting.
I found Joanna Hoch through the DIAKADI studio where she trains her clients. When I came in for our initial consultation, I was so nervous that I think I was actually shaking. I'm not sure what poor Joanna must have thought about me, but I was definitely close to freaking out. She had an uphill battle: in our first few sessions, when everything seemed new and overwhelming, there were a number of whiny and/or emotional moments. I kept insisting that Joanna give me long, very detailed explanations about why we were doing this exercise instead of that, what muscle groups such-and-such an exercise was working, etc. But we made it: The fact that I've worked continuously and successfully with Joanna twice a week for the past six months says a lot about Joanna's skill as a trainer.
Joanna is an extremely knowledgeable trainer: we've done a huge array of different exercises targeting different areas. But she doesn't allow her knowledge to get in the way of the teamwork that is the essential foundation for a good training relationship: she checks in regularly with me so that we can identify and set achievable, practical goals. One of the things I noticed immediately in the first few weeks was that while Joanna quickly identified those weak areas I particularly needed to work on, she also made a special effort to let me know the areas and exercises that I excelled at. When you're feeling unsure about yourself, it's extremely encouraging to hear that you have great hip flexibility or that you got a high score on a particular exercise in the evaluation. From the beginning, Joanna displayed and maintains a very calm, laid-back demeanor that puts me at ease and helps me to get into the mental and physical space that I need to be in to get the most out of a workout. She never gets impatient, even when she has to repeat a reminder for the ten millionth time (i.e., not to let my head drop on this or that exercise). She lets me know, in her friendly, gentle yet firm way, that she knows I can complete those three extra reps, often with just an encouraging statement like "you've got this." When your trainer says you've got something, you can't really let her down, right? She's also very good at seeing past all my (sometimes unconscious) attempts to get out of doing the work and doesn't hesitate to call me on it (with a smile of course.) When you're getting into weight training, you really need someone who is going to hold you responsible and motivate you to stay honest with your workouts and with yourself.
Joanna also has a knack for being able to identify just how much I'm able to take on at a particular point. She increases the weights and the reps at regular intervals, but never to uncomfortable or overly-challenging levels. At some point most people have had the experience of overdoing it with weights, to the point of major discomfort. I have never had that problem with Joanna. After our sessions, I always feel energized, not exhausted. We work hard, but never to excess. Afterword, I usually experience a feeling of what I call "pleasant soreness": that is, I'll notice some mild tenderness in the muscle groups we worked that reflects the effort I put in. But with Joanna I have never experienced the kind of debilitating, aching, I-can't-lift-my-hands-to-shampoo-my-hair-because-I'm-in-so-much-pain soreness that I had feared.
Joanna is a great trainer and beyond that, a great person. We have a lot of fun together and I look forward to every session. I've made huge progress in my fitness and aesthetic goals thanks to her professionalism and skill. She has my highest recommendation. read more
