Jerry Farr has the body of his realistic dreams. OK, it's not Arnold Schwarzenegger's, but Farr didn't want Schwarzenegger's body.
He wanted to feel confident in a swimsuit and he wanted less back pain.After five years of trying, Farr finally hit on the approach that worked for him. Not a weight-loss program or diet pills. Not a gym or a spa.
A personal trainer.
That's right. That Cadillac of fitness trends - personal trainers - has at last swept into the Salt Lake Valley.
The passion for trainers started with Hollywood's body-obsessed stars. It became a movieland trend when ex-Marine Jake Steinfeld opened "Body by Jake," resculpting such notable bodies as Madonna's and Harrison Ford's.
First the stars wanted them. Then the yuppies. Now everybody. Personal training can be a full-blown career for people with fitness expertise and impressive bodies.
Personal trainers captured the pocketbooks of young professionals on the East Coast a few years ago. They responded to it with the slavish devotion reserved for their careers and their bodies. They might cringe at the cost of Perrier, but they still wrung the hundreds of dollars from their budget needed to hire a personal trainer.
Now the trend has come to Utah, and middle-income Salt Lakers are finding that they, too, can somehow come up with cash wads necessary to finance a sure-fire workout.
It's the "sure-fire" part that makes personal trainers so popular right now. Farr had been working out at a Nautilus gym on his own since 1985, but he never really had achieved the level of fitness he wanted.
"I couldn't get my weight down to where I wanted it or achieve the kind of muscle tone I desired," he said. "I was going into the gym not knowing what to do, deciding to try this machine or that one. The guys who worked at the gym didn't have a very high skill level. I would ask them a question and they didn't really know much more than I did."
Farr's workouts didn't seem to be doing much for his bad back, either.
Then a friend suggested a personal trainer. That was in June. Now, nearly a year later, Farr is a new man.
The cost of a trainer can run from $15 to $50 an hour. Some offer a variety of package deals. Farr paid trainer Jeff Barkley $250 for a one-year program of exercise and diet.
Barkley met with Farr for the first six sessions to assess Farr's needs, develop a program Farr was comfortable with and make sure Farr knew how to do all of the exercises correctly.
After that, Barkley assessed Farr's progress every month or so, helping him solve problems and upgrading the overall workout to further challenge Farr.
Farr works out four times a week for an hour each session. "I got my fitness to where I wanted it in six months," he said. He lost the 10 pounds he had been trying to lose for years and his back feels great, he said.
Women are equally delighted with personal trainers. Trisha Stanley hired Barkley on the recommendation of a friend 15 months ago.
Stanley, 37, had been working out since she was 25. Like Farr, she hadn't gotten the results she wanted. At the time she hired Barkley, she was considering a tummy tuck. Now the procedure is unnecessary.
Stanley followed Barkley's instructions diligently. "I worked out five to seven days a week for 1 1/2 to 2 hours each time," she said. "I've gotten fantastic results. I was in good shape already, but I got more definition to my shape." Her arms and legs had been too thin. She has developed both while whittling her waist and flattening her tummy.
Barkley showed her the correct way to use weight machines she had been using on her own and he taught her more effective exercises for the areas she wanted to tone, she said.
Stanley also hired Barkley for her then-husband and her teenage daughter. When her son is old enough, she will ask Barkley to work with him as well.
"I think a personal trainer helps you throughout your life. Once you have the knowledge, you can always use it. You don't have to keep paying for it."
Some clients are in pursuit of brawn that would rival Sylvester Stallone's. But most, Barkley said, are like Farr. They want to feel pleased with their bodies and look good in their clothes.
Like most dieters, Lynn Crayk discovered the hard way that losing weight didn't guarantee a beautiful body. An office manager at a linen supply company, Crayk lost 60 pounds two years ago. His diet left him thin, flabby and discouraged.
"I wanted to get into shape and I didn't know how to go about it," he said. Someone suggested a personal trainer. Crayk, apparently not one to do things by half measures, has been meeting with his trainer 11/2 hours a day, six days a week for nearly two years.
"It's costly," Crayk acknowledged. "But at this point I don't regret the expense." Friends who haven't seen him in several years don't recognize him, he said. "Even people who knew me well don't know who I am until they really look at me. I've toned up my legs, chest and arms.
"It took a long time," he acknowledged. But Crayk was highly motivated. "My father died of a heart attack at 47. I decided I didn't want to go through that."
Crayk and other clients cited "motivation" as one of the primary pluses of a trainer. Crayk meets his trainer at the gym every morning at 5:45 a.m. When the warmth of his bed seduces him on those early mornings, "I remind myself he's there waiting for me and I have to be there."
A lot of trainers keep that motivation high by charging clients full price for appointments they fail to keep.
Like many trainers, Crayk's designed a diet to complement his workout program. No magic. "You have to cut out sugars," Crayk said. "Eat more fish, poultry and rice. He just gave me pretty much a well-balanced diet."
Exercise is really no easier with a trainer than without - just safer and better focused. "You drag for the first two or three weeks and you are sore as heck," Crayk warned. But now, "It's fun! I've been sick this week and could only work out a couple of times. I'm going crazy because I miss it so much."