Disruptive Women welcomes Personal Trainer Morris White as our February 2010 Man of the Month.

A personal trainer for 22 years, Morris White has both men and women – and even children as young as 12 – as clients. He helps them with basic fitness, sport-specific fitness and self defense. He also trains people with special needs, including those with disabilities and eating disorders, and those recovering from a stroke and heart attack.

In his own life, he is a power lifter and a practitioner of Kung Fu, Yoga, desert hiking and survival quests and sustainable healthy living. He is currently working on a fitness community site.

I can vouch for his impact. I’m now in my third year with him, with regular work outs at 6 AM. The benefits have been worth every trek to the gym in those before-dawn hours.

Morris, I’m pleased to have the chance to talk about fitness with you. It’s an important topic, but rarely addressed in this blogspace. How did you get started training?

There were three very influential men in my young life. It was the 1970’s. My Father was a pharmacist and successful businessman who took me to monthly Toast Masters meetings and had me working in the pharmacy on weekends. He taught me the importance of physical poise and presence. One of his business partners was a Physical Therapist who mentored me in anatomy and exercise, from him I learned about anatomy and body mechanics At about that same time, I was introduced to Kung Fu by my best friend’s Father who was a Master of the art.  Kung Fu combined all the earlier lessons and helped me to develop my personal philosophy on holistic personal training.

Those were the years of my greatest lessons.

I attended Temple University but my advisors could not grasp what I wanted to become and what I wanted to do with my life. The usual response was, “So, you want to teach phys ed?” No.

From there to the gymnasiums I went, working under different titles until personal training evolved and became popular.

 What about fitness and training makes it your passion? 22 years seems a long time.

Seeing my mother die at young age and my father debilitated primarily by an unhealthy lifestyle, has made me even more intent to give meaning to my existence by living and enjoying life to its fullest and helping others to do the same through fitness.  The bonus is that by helping others achieve their personal goals, I get to meet great people that, in turn, enrich my life through their collective experiences and wisdom.

How do you approach training?

My philosophy of training is:

• Safety first. You should never be harmed or injured in the course of training.

• Strict, proper form. The best form produces the best, most efficient results.

• Keep moving. A body in motion tends to stay in motion.

Follow those rules and you’ll keep at it, making progress. You’ll avoid injuries and won’t suffer any set-backs in your workouts. You’ll also see results and be able to have an increasingly better quality of life. Even if you’re already fit, you’ll see improvements.  As I like to say to my clients, “one foot in front of the other and you’ll get where you’re going,”

Oh, and one more thing, never imitate what you see others doing in the gym.  So many people do their exercises incorrectly. Others may do an exercise properly but their routine may not fit your desired goals.  Always consult a professional about a new exercise or routine.

Do you have any dramatic examples of client improvements?

I could tell lots of stories of women who come to prepare for their weddings. They’re motivated for sure. Believe it or not, they’ve bought dresses three sizes too small and now need to fit into them. Plus, the regular workouts really help them with the wedding-planning stress.

But the one client and story that really inspired me was a 280 lb sedentary banker who lost the weight and became a marathon runner.

As he became physical healthier, his self-confidence and self-esteem also improved.  This newfound self-respect gave him the strength to not only run a marathon but to walk right out of a less-than-supportive, troubled relationship and climb the corporate ladder to a promotion.

(Laughing) Of course, I cost him lots of money – he kept having to replace his wardrobe as his body changed.

Have you ever seen anyone who did not see an improvement in working out with a trainer?

Yes. This is teamwork and a few people were not ready to engage – in part because they were not honest about their goals and readiness to begin.

As you’ve seen in my approach, I don’t just bark orders and count. Training – at least with me – is not bootcamp. When we work out, we work as a team. We’re in constant communication. I’m asking how you feel and you’re telling me. If something hurts, I know immediately from what you say and sometimes from the way you act. That allows me to make subtle changes in the next exercise I choose.

You must be ready to be honest with yourself and you must be ready to trust your trainer to help you.

Yes, I see how easily you detect when I’m compensating, using a muscle other than the one you intended and not doing it right.

Busted!

You see, personal training is not just science, it is an art and it’s very much like life. Life always tosses us curveballs and I have to be aware and be able to read the pitch. Part of that comes from the communication between me and my client. It begins the moment you walk into the gym and asking “how are you feeling this morning.” That’s not just a greeting, it’s a diagnostic question. The answer and your body mechanics tell me what you need today.

I also ask you what you have planned for the day. If you’re at your desk writing, I’ll prepare your body for that. If you’re traveling, you’ll be ready for the flight.

I’ve benefited lots from working out with weights, but notice that it’s rare to see a woman on that side of the gym. What about other benefits you’ve seen in your women clients?

There are a variety of benefits and they’re not just physical. My clients have dropped dress sizes, lost weight, sleep better and have better balance, posture and reaction times. On the emotional side, they are more grounded and have greater self confidence. Some tell me they can “stand up for themselves” better in the workplace and in relationships.

Whatever you feel physically, you’ll feel emotionally.

How do you get women to that side of the gym?

Easy. I take them there when the time is appropriate, focusing on their needs and goals and instilling them with the confidence that they can do the best for themselves. I also point out how “not to” workout, using the examples of others there. This is not intended to criticize those people since you’ve seen me intervene and correct someone who may be risking injury, but to give her the confidence that she can do it right.

Finding you was pretty much luck. I met the gym owner at a party, one thing led to another and I ended up doing something I said I’d never do – meet with a trainer and make a commitment to train. That was more than 3 years ago. If someone reading this was contemplating finding a trainer, what advice would you give them?

Look within yourself first. By that, I mean you must decide exactly what is important to you. What is your present discomfort – physical or emotional? What is your goal? What motivates you?

When you explain that to a trainer, they should do more listening than talking. They should be able to repeat back to you the concerns and goals you stated in your initial meeting as well as to communicate the plan of action to get you started and keep you motivated.

What I find is that someone might begin with one motivation – like dropping a dress size – but then as they work out, they feel better. In some cases, people start feeling better than they have in years. At that point, their motivation shifts and they work out because it keeps them feeling great. Fitness becomes its own reward.

Finally, realize that your success requires that you and your trainer are a team. The two of you must perform like a team. The chemistry must be there.

Do you train older people?

Yes, it’s one of my specialties. There are lots of benefits of exercise, but most people are concerned about cognitive decline in aging and recent research demonstrates that fitness can stem cognitive declines, so this is important.

Older people’s bodies don’t recover as quickly as they once did and this is an area where young trainers can improve on their training techniques. It’s hard for a young trainer to empathize with an older person who needs more recovery time between workouts, or who needs special emphasis placed on balance.

I work with an older person much like an Occupational Therapist, in that I try to help them re-tune with their bodies.

Regardless of what some people may believe, older people can make great strides in training and see remarkable progress.

Sometimes I see couples in the gym and I know you train couples. If a man reading this wanted to get his special woman into gym, what should he do?

The only way it works for a couple is if they have a shared goal for the quality time they spend together, for example, if they have a goal to enjoy a particular sport or an active vacation that requires a set of specific physical skills or fitness. Otherwise, it just doesn’t work.

I’d never advise a man to try to train the woman in his life. The best thing he can do for her is to be sure she has a trainer who is a professional who knows how to train women.  He might coax her a bit, but it has to be her motivation and goals that bring her to the gym.  Trust me, I know this from experience. This statement has been approved by my wife.

Would you recommend that people start a fitness program without a trainer?

No. To build a healthy and solid fitness foundation, I always recommend starting with the guidance of a qualified trainer.

But I do want to stress the importance of actually getting going and starting to move.  Our bodies were designed with motion in mind and our minds were made to think. Our body wants to be used and we feel better when it is. A body in motion tends to stay in motion; a body at rest tends to stay at rest.

Get out there start to move. No excuses. Even a little bit better every day, one foot in front of the other gets you where you’re going. Exercise “gives back” more in time and value than it takes. Remember that the days you don’t want to go to the gym.

Some people think that training is exhausting or should hurt – no pain no gain.

Absolutely false. You need not kill yourself in the gym to see improvement in your quality of life.

Exertion is OK, pain is not.

I remember telling you that your time was wasted on people like me and that you should be training trainers. What keeps you helping folks like me?

I like being a mentor to the younger trainers in the gym and the camaraderie that comes with working with other trainers but what is most fulfilling to me is my role as a personal trainer.

I train individuals and count my blessings. I get to help improve the quality of life for others and in exchange, I get to meet many wonderful and different people – all of whom have enriched my life.

Any other advice for today’s readers?

Don’t overdo it. Do something every day. Safety first.

Listen to your body and learn the difference between when it’s in pain or danger and when it’s just whining.

Try a trainer, and don’t hesitate to change trainers. A good trainer will recommend other training venues – much as I recommended RowZone for you.

Morris, thanks. This has been fun, though I can’t say that about 5:30 treks to the gym in the driving rain! I’m hoping it inspires someone to join a gym or find a trainer and have a motivation, goal and training style discussion.

If it helps, I’ll be pleased!

Related posts:

1. June 2010 Man of the Month: Paul F. Levy
2. March 2010 Man of the Month: Brian Rosenfeld, MD
3. April Man of the Month – Doug Goldstein
4. April 2010 Man of the Month: Peter Kithene
5. February Man of the Month: Missy Krasner interviews Matthew Holt of Health2.0 and The Health Care Blog

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 25th, 2010 at 10:37 am and is filed under Health Professions, Man of the Month. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.