Teens turn to trainers

Hiring a good personal trainer for your son or daughter is a great way to get them into the 'exercise habit' and help boost their self-confidence...

(news-observer.com) - Forget Trapper Keepers and trendy togs. Triangle teens are spending their money -- well, their parents' money -- on a new must-have accessory for school this fall: A personal trainer. "At least two more," Chad Lefler told Katie Robbins, 17, who scrunched up her face with the effort of bench-pressing a 16-pound bar for, like, the millionth time. "You can do it! Come on, last one. Push, push, push, push! Good job, Katie!"

Katie sat up and took a swig from a bottle of Dasani. She starts the first day of her senior year at St. Mary's School on Monday. She has been working out with the trainers at N-Shape Personal Fitness since she was 14, to get stronger and to gain confidence. She does feel a little guilty about the cost -- about $40 an hour, three times a week -- but it was her father's idea, and he doesn't seem to mind.

"He's offering, so ..." Katie shrugged. "I plan on taking everything Chad's taught me, and going with it," she said of the day she leaves for college. "I'll probably join a gym and keep up."

No statistic exists to show more teenagers are working out with personal trainers, but there's anecdotal evidence of the trend, said Cedric Bryant, chief exercise physiologist for the American Council on Exercise. More and more trainers are calling ACE to find information about how to work with youth, he said.

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