Congratulations to Lisa!   7-28-12

On behalf of the entire staff at Classic Personal Trainer, I would like to congratulate Lisa R on her successful weight loss. She is down 26.2 pounds thus far. How long has it taken? She has been working out with us and paying attention to her diet for just over two months now. Why was it important to Lisa to lose this weight? Because a couple of years ago, a perfect storm occured. Lisa got married and stopped smoking at around the same time! The two newlyweds fed each other cake and pasta and every other delicacy that came across their plates. Poor Lisa was deliriously happy, but up 40 pounds! He said he did not notice the extra pounds, but Lisa's catwoman suit (it's a Halloween thing) had become very, very tight. She was determined to wear it again. We were determined to see her in it. Incidentally, after losing 23 pounds Lisa was promoted to manager at her bank...the Big Cheese, the Head Honcho, the Boss. How coincidental that soon after working out with a trainer at Classic Lisa gets the promotion she has been seeking for some time.... Does everyone who works out at our studio get promoted? Well no--not the retired people. But at the rate that Lisa is climbing the ladder, I would expect to see her as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve before too long. The next time I write about Lisa, I will pass along what she meant when she confessed to "misbehaving" in the Catwoman suit.   

Have I reviewed pics of Lisa in the
Catwoman suit? Why, yes I have!

Integrity 7-22-12


At Classic Personal Trainer, it is no secret that we do not work out continuously for the entire hour. There is some down time between sets. During that downtime, I hear some of the most interesting things imaginable from my clients. Some of it is just venting of course, but some of it affects the way I see  the world outside of the studio. One such incident happened last week. I was working out with the retired CEO of a very, very large lingerie company. I will not name names at the present, but let us call the company Mark's Secret and the clients name "Clyde." One fine morning, the CFO that reported to Clyde was bursting at the seams. He had just purchased a home the previous day. At the closing, the CFO had devised a plan to save himself many thousands of dollars. Knowing that the seller of his new home intended to go from the closing directly to another in which he was to purchase his dream home, the CFO sprung his surprise. He loudly announced he would not pay the agreed upon price! He wanted to pay less...much less. The condition of the home had not changed. The appraisal came back fine. The CFO had merely decided that the seller was in a vulnerable spot and ripe to be taken advantage of. The CFO had intentionally finagled a very low deposit that could be left on the table if need be. The seller, desperate now and watching the minutes until the second closing tick away, caved. 
The gleeful CFO could not wait to share his triumph the next morning with Clyde. He recounted the major points of his coup. He waited until Clyde could absorb all of the cleverness of his manuever. But all Clyde could do was think about the bottle of mouthwash in his excutive washroom. The vile taste that the deal left in his mouth was rising. It was too late for Clyde to help the hapless victim of the previous day's home closing, but there was something he could do that morning. 
Clyde fired the CFO on the spot. No million dollar salary. No severance package, and to Clyde's way of thinking, no financial scandals down the road initiated by a morally-impaired CFO. I found myself wishing that we had more executives like Clyde before the banking and real estate world crashed down around us in a cloud of greed and we wound up bailing them all out with taxpayer money.

Celebrating the Holiday  7-4-12


Several clients have inquired as to our plans to celebrate the 4th of July. The astute reader may recall that last year we were guests at Marina Towers overlooking the Bay. We had an 11th floor vantage point courtesy of the property manager for the condo tower. The view of the Bay from the balcony was nothing short of spectacular. We even brought guests and no, I did not charge them. What a difference a year can make. It turns out the manager (whom we shall call Brian) was not allowed to throw 4th of July parties in vacant condo units. In addition, the board was visibly upset to learn that Brian had embezzled $56,000 for "personal expenses" over a three year period. Oooops. He has proven elusive, and is not yet incarcerated as of this writing. But the fact that Brian is still on the run puts a complete damper on our chances of a repeat invitation. 
We will not be setting off fireworks in our neighborhood either. How were we to know that the roof of the church behind us was so darn flammable? My position on that situation remains the same...either go with the tile roof in the first place or DON'T put your garden hose away on the 4th!
 Out of necessity, our plans this year are scaled down dramatically. As of this time, we intend to stay at home with a microphone and a powerful amplifier. Due to a recent large shipment of protein drinks, we have ample quantities of bubble wrap on hand. Low key? Undoubtedly. But I would also like to point out this will be an economical and extremely green, low carbon-footprint way to add some "pop" to the holiday. Sue says I am just being cheap.  Happy 4th!