Susan Elliott (Instructed by Lance Elliot, CRT)

Background Information:
The client, my wife, became my trainee after the birth of our daughter Madeline. Susan was in average shape before her pregnancy at a weight of 140 pounds. She gained over 35 pounds throughout the duration of her pregnancy, topping out at 175 pounds. Our training started six weeks after Madeline was born as per doctor's orders. We started out with light weights but quickly progressed to heavier, more challenging work. My wife had trained for four years prior to this, however not nearly as intensely as during these last three months. The only physical problems that affected my approach to training Susan were the healing of all the muscles related to childbirth and a previously injured left knee. In addition to the exercise program, Susan gave up soft drinks and drank mostly water when thirsty. She already maintained a proper diet prior to the exercise program, eating three meals a day with a balanced mix of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Her only supplementation was a daily multivitamin.

My Experience:
Working with Susan over the last three months was challenging. I teach science for a living so I'm used to instructing people how to break down complex tasks into easy steps. This was how I taught her the proper form for each exercise. I would demonstrate the movement first and then, using lighter than normal weight, she would copy my form. Susan caught on quickly. As husband and wife, we already knew each other well and I was aware of her previous training experience and attitudes towards training. At first, I found it difficult to persuade her how important 100% intensity really was. Pushing a set to the absolute limit took much convincing on my part because she wasn't used to the muscular-cardiovascular pain associated with it. I have a feeling that many women clients may have this problem. She's still improving on this aspect of her training.

In the future, I will spend more time explaining to new clients how they should feel after putting forth 100% intensity in an exercise. The mental aspect of training is the hardest thing to teach yet extremely important! I will spend more time taking detailed pre-workout measurements such as those included on the workout pages of the SATS journal (see courses/books page for ordering details). I recorded Susan's starting bodyweight and body fat, however I should have measured it before each workout instead of waiting until the end of three months. Other measurements such as resting pulse, hours of sleep, and motivation would have also been useful in assessing her progress. I learned that it couldn't hurt to collect more data than necessary.

Training Journal Excerpts:
Workout Analysis
5/25/00-6/22/00
Beginner Program: Full body workout consisting of nine exercises. The nine exercises follow the format on pg. 85 of the Prescribed Exercise reference manual.

Comments:
This month went rather well considering Susan just had a baby! She performed each exercise with two sets and, based on her limited muscular soreness, I did not sense she was being overtrained. Weight and/or tension time increased regularly showing an increase in both strength and lifting skill. Randomly and sporadically, I had Susan try a static hold or negative (6/1/00, preacher cable curls), to learn the concept for future use. As weights increased and Susan pushed closer to her limits, I found it necessary to record more notes. This helped me to compare the current exercise and workout with the next. Poor form from the addition of extra weight was corrected (6/9/00, calf raises and 6/12/00, triceps pushdowns) by lowering weight slightly. I found this more common on isolation exercises where the muscles are typically smaller and should incur smaller weight increases.

6/25/00-
Intermediate Program: Full body workout starting with three compound exercises performed as close to muscular failure as possible.

Comments:
Susan started this workout with two exercises she was familiar with plus low rows, which was new to her. Although she felt fresh, her form on the low rows was very sloppy leaving the back muscles hardly stimulated. For the next workout (6/27/00) I substituted close grip, underhand pull downs instead of the low rows because, with minimal volume, she needed all the back work she could get from that one set. On 7/8, I felt her form on the pull downs was not perfect so I lowered the weight to correct the problem. From 6/27/00 through 7/3/00 I noticed a considerable loss in strength on the bench press (25%+ loss). Up until this point she had been improving in TUT by roughly 12%-14% every two workouts. Soon after, and based on this observation, I increased volume by adding an extra set. This was an experiment to determine if adding volume would help her to continually gain. Although I try to have her perform only the minimum amount of exercise to improve, her TUT was only in the 60-80 second range - total. I thought that as an intermediate trainee, her body might respond well to the added TUT of one extra set. As of September, she is still improving and can get 9 reps with the same weight that she used to get only 7 or 8 with. This doesn't sound like much, however she finds it more difficult to increase weight or TUT now after three months of hard training.

Susan was stagnating on pull downs during this time so I also added an extra set from 7/14/00 onward. So far, both additions have worked and she slowly increased either weight or tension time as a result. Obviously, if her performance decreases, I will re-evaluate these extra sets. Hack squats were left at one set because she keeps increasing regularly in strength and/or tension time, using only one set per workout, from 6/25/00 to 8/23/00. To balance her gains in quadriceps strength, I added one set of leg curls to her intermediate workout starting on 7/14/00. She welcomed the addition and it has made her thighs more toned and muscular as a result.

Susan and I went on vacation to Cape Cod, Massachusetts from 7/29/00 through 8/17/00 and our workout was modified temporarily as a result. For a three-week period she performed dumbbell bench presses and one-armed, bent-over dumbbell rows for her chest and back work. Leg extensions were substituted for hack squats. After trying a superset with leg extensions and sissy squats (which didn't suit Susan very well) I ended up with leg extensions and wall sits. Given my limited amount of equipment on vacation, this combination was the simplest way I could simulate the effects of the hack squat.

Future
Advanced Trainee:
Based on Susan's results, and my findings, I will break up her routine from a full body workout to three different routines, each concentrating on only a limited number of muscle groups.

UPDATE

Goals: To lose body fat, gain muscle mass, and ultimately, regain a pre-pregnancy physique.
Training Period: August 12th, 2002 through October 27th, 2002 (10 Weeks)
Trainer: Lance Elliott, IART Certified Resistance Trainer

Before: Weight:141 lbs. Chest: 35.5" Arms: L-11.75" R-11.5" Thighs: L-24.5" R-24.5" Calves: L-14.25" R-14.75" Waist: 31" Hips: 42". Before Pictures (8/12/02): Susan 6 weeks after giving birth.

After: Weight: 132.5 lbs Chest: 35.5" Arms: L-11.25" R-11.38" Thighs: L-23.13" R-24.25" Calves: L-14.00" R-14.25" Waist: 27.13" Hips: 40". After pictures (10/27/02): Susan after 10 weeks of intense training!

Background:
My wife, Susan, and I recently celebrated the birth of our son Eric. During the last trimester of her pregnancy, traditionally when Susan gains the most weight, I challenged her to beat her training results from the IART Fitness Professional of the Year 2000 Contest. Happily she agreed and, on August 12th, we started the following program:

"Readjustment" Phase (8/12-9/12): Susan was already an intermediate to advanced trainee before her pregnancy. Therefore, the first phase of the program was for her to mentally and physically adjust to resistance training again. Exercises were performed slowly (usually a 5/5 count) and almost to failure. We also attempted to keep TUT consistent for each specific exercise so that data could be compared from one workout to the next.

Her best progress was with her leg strength, and her body weight reduced consistently.

"Intermediate" Phase (9/15-10/13): In this phase Susan performed large compound movements to work her entire body to failure. Emphasis was on gaining as much muscle mass as possible so that her metabolism would increase and body fat would decrease through increased caloric expenditure. A rate of fatigue test was performed halfway through this phase (nearly all "mixed" fiber type throughout). Weight increases for the exercises tended to slow down in this phase as plateaus were reached. A common pattern was discovered. Susan achieved increases in TUT while she maintained weight (i.e.- Bench Press and Pulldowns). There were large drops in TUT and these were attributed to days when Susan attempted a weight increase. This produced a subsequent drop in repetitions and TUT which we tried to "build" up over the next few workouts (i.e.- Hack Squats).

Reflections: Happy that she can fit into all of her old clothes, Susan is now back to her pre-pregnancy weight and strength. Although Susan was pleased with her results, as shown by the before and after photos, she admits that she wanted to lose more body fat. I had originally set up her workouts so that I would handle the resistance training and she would be in charge of aerobic training. When caring for an infant and a toddler, a stay-at-home mom is limited to very little free time. Aerobic training was, most assuredly, the limiting factor in Susan's weight loss and body fat reduction and it was the first thing to get "sacrificed."

Lesson learned: If the primary goal is to lose weight while gaining some strength, make sure the trainer stresses aerobics just as much as resistance training. With a fresh copy of this success story in hand, Susan is continuing her training with an emphasis on balancing weights with aerobics. She now has a fatigue analysis that will help her train various muscle groups more effectively.

Susan's new goal: maintain muscle strength while dropping to 125 pounds body weight!