I Met With a Personal Trainer for 4 Weeks.

Here’s What I Learned.

I did not plan to hire a personal trainer.

I went in for a free consultation because I was curious and because it was free. I had zero intention of spending money. I just wanted to look around, get some information, and leave.

And then I met Lia.

She was so genuinely nice that I could not say no. I am a people pleaser to my core and I signed up for a 12-week package before I fully processed what was happening.

On the drive home I was spiraling. Where is this money coming from? Why did I just do that? I don’t even like talking to people I don’t know.

I showed up the next Monday anyway.

And now four weeks in, I want to tell you everything. Not the fitness influencer version. The real version. Because I think a lot of us on this GLP-1 journey are circling around exercise, knowing we should be doing it, and not doing it. And maybe some of what I learned will make it feel a little less impossible.

01. Not having to think is more powerful than you realize.

Mondays after work I am cooked. Like genuinely running on nothing. The last thing I want to do is walk into a gym and try to figure out a workout.

But here’s what I didn’t expect: walking in and just doing what someone tells you to do is one of the most relieving feelings I’ve experienced in a long time.

Lia has everything written down. She picks the weights. She tells me what’s next. She tracks my reps. I just show up and move my body.

That’s it.

I used to think I’d hate having to talk to someone I didn’t know for an hour. And honestly? It’s still a little awkward sometimes. I’m not going to pretend it’s not. But the awkward is so worth it for the part where my brain gets to completely clock out.

On GLP-1, decision fatigue is real. We’re already making so many choices about food, about how we feel, about whether we’re doing this right. Having one hour a week where someone else holds the plan? It’s been more valuable than I expected.

02. Your body will show you things the scale never will.

In the last four weeks my weights have gone up. My reps have gone up. Things that felt hard in week one feel manageable now.

I want to show you exactly what that looked like because I think seeing the actual numbers matters.

PULL DAY

Arms, back, biceps. My favorite day if I’m being honest.

TRX Pull started at 10 reps, holding steady and getting cleaner

TRX Bicep Curl 10 reps both weeks

Cable Bicep Curl 10 reps / 20lbs

Lat Pull progressed to hammer grip in week 2, 35lbs

Face Pull on Cable 20lbs, 10 to 12 reps

Elbows to Hip 10 to 12 reps

Seated Knee Ups 10 to 12 reps

LEG DAY

I hate leg day. I want that on the record.

But here’s the thing about leg day: I feel more accomplished after it than any other workout. Like actually proud of myself. Because it is the hardest and I still do it.

With Lia I push harder than I ever would alone. I don’t know if it’s accountability or just not wanting to look like I’m quitting in front of someone. Either way it works.

TRX Squat progressed to lunges by week 2

Glute Bridge Hold w/ Squeeze jumped from 15lbs to 35lbs in two weeks

Standing Abduction 6 reps / 10lbs up to 8 reps / 25lbs

Standing Kick Back 6 / 15lbs to 12 / 10lbs

Hip Thrust added in week 2 at 25lbs (never again….)

SL Extension added in week 2 at 15lbs

RDL to Squat Stretch bodyweight, focus on form

PUSH DAY

Chest, shoulders, triceps. The pushing muscles.

RB Side Up and Over yellow band to 15lbs in week 2

Shoulder Press 10lbs to 15lbs

SA Chest Press holding at 10 to 15lbs, focusing on control

Cable Tricep Extension 20lbs jumped to 30lbs by week 2

Elbow to Hip 20 total reps

DB Marches 12.5lbs, 20 total

Seated Knee Ups 20 total, every push day

The tricep extension going from 20 to 30 pounds in one week felt like a big deal. Not because of the number. Because I didn’t think I could do it and then I just did.

That’s the thing about tracking. You get proof. Proof that you’re getting stronger. Proof that you showed up. Proof that it’s working even when the scale is doing whatever it wants to do.

03. Sore doesn’t mean weak.

The first two weeks I was sore in a way that felt almost comical.

By week three and four? Still sore. But different. The kind of sore that actually feels like something. Like your body saying okay, I felt that, good.

I used to think soreness meant I’d done too much. That I needed to rest more, do less, be more careful. And sometimes that’s true. But sometimes soreness is just your body catching up to the work you gave it.

Learning the difference has been one of the quieter lessons of these four weeks.

04. You are allowed to be awkward and do it anyway.

I still don’t fully love talking to someone I don’t know for half an hour every week.

I’m introverted enough that the social energy of it is real. There are moments where I don’t know what to say or I make a weird joke or I just kind of go quiet and focus on the exercise.

And I do it anyway.

Because the awkward doesn’t cancel out the good. It just coexists with it.

I think we wait a lot to feel ready. Comfortable. Confident. Like once I lose more weight I’ll join a class. Once I feel less self-conscious I’ll get a trainer. Once I know what I’m doing I’ll ask for help.

But none of that is how it actually works. You feel awkward and you go anyway. You don’t know what you’re doing and you ask anyway. You’re not sure you can afford it and you figure it out anyway.

That’s the move.

05. This is what walking into yourself feels like.

I’ve lost weight. A lot of it. And I’m proud of that.

But weight loss alone has never made me feel like the person I want to be. It’s made me feel smaller. Lighter. But not necessarily more like me.

Something shifted in these four weeks.

Feeling my body get stronger while I’m still losing weight is different than anything I’ve experienced before. It’s not about the number on the scale or the number on the dumbbell. It’s that for the first time in a long time I feel like I am walking into the version of myself I’ve been trying to become.

Not there yet. Still in the middle. But moving toward her.

And that feeling? That’s the thing I didn’t know I was looking for when I accidentally said yes to a 12-week personal training package.

What’s Coming Next

Week 5 starts soon and the workouts get harder. New exercises, heavier weights, more of a challenge.

I’m going to document every four-week block here for paid subscribers only. You’ll get the full breakdown of what I’m doing, how my body is responding, what surprised me, and what I’d tell you if you’re thinking about doing the same.

Not because you have to do what I’m doing. But because sometimes seeing someone else actually in it, just doing it, makes the thing feel possible.

I’ll see you in four weeks with the next update.

One more thing.

This is the first post in what’s going to be a monthly series. Every four weeks I’m going to drop an update. I am only working with Lia for 12 total weeks, but I will continue working out and becoming stronger (in the most doable way ever). What I worked on, how my body responded, what shifted emotionally. All of it.

Those updates are going to live behind the paywall. For paid subscribers only.

But I wanted this first one to be free. Because if you just found me, I want you to actually know who I am before I ask you for anything. And if you’ve been here a while, I want you to see what’s coming.

If you want to follow this journey with me every month, come join us. The next update drops in four weeks and it’s going to be a good one.

First time seeing me?

Here’s the best way to get caught up on my story.

I Never Introduced Myself. Let Me Fix That.