Putting the ‘personal’ in personal training - Winter 2008 Wartburg Magazine - Wartburg College

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Putting the ‘personal’ in personal training

Meet Nikki Hudnutt

Nikki Hudnutt has been teaching group fitness classes since 1992 and has been a certified personal trainer since 1994. She is also certified to teach yoga, group fitness and cycling.

In 1995, Hudnutt graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls with an undergraduate degree in health promotion. After graduation, she ran a fitness center in northwestern Iowa for five years.

She returned to UNI in January 2000, where she earned her master’s degree in exercise and fitness management. She also taught personal wellness and basic fitness classes at UNI until July 2005.

by Sarah Moon ’09

The W pairs members with personal trainers, many of whom are Wartburg fitness management majors.

The personal training program gives students the opportunity to get hands-on experience early in their college careers. Students can take a personal training course during their sophomore year.

After Wartburg fitness management majors take the course, they will have the opportunity to job shadow a Fitness Center staff member and start working there.

“That way, when they start looking for jobs they have a lot of good experience behind them,” said Nikki Hudnutt, The W assistant director for fitness.

Members have the option of paying an additional fee for personal training. After joining, members complete an optional, complimentary fitness assessment with a personal trainer. The assessment tests an individual’s cardiovascular strength and endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, body composition and blood pressure.

If members do not want to complete the free personal assessment, they could still choose to meet with a trainer to talk about their health history and exercise plan.

The personal assessment or health history questions and the clients’ goals and objectives help personal trainers determine the best fitness programs for members, said Hudnutt.

Once a member receives a fitness assessment or has answered health history questions, he or she can talk with a personal trainer about putting together an exercise plan. The plan is primarily up to the member and could include running, swimming or lifting weights. Trainers schedule sessions around the members’ schedules.

Although many think of a personal trainer as someone who gets people in shape, Hudnutt said it’s more than feeling better about yourself.

“They say it takes 12 to 16 weeks to adapt or change your lifestyle,” Hudnutt explained. “The more we can keep clients in personal training—the longer they stay in it—hopefully the more committed they will be to exercising on their own. However, it all depends on what the person is looking for.”

Moon is a communication arts major from Richfield, Minn.