A bad back is what convinced Bill Rouse to try the personal training services offered at the Campus Recreation Center (CRC).         

“I have rather severe back problems and, with my doctor’s advice, decided that walking and exercise were better solutions than the recommended surgery, which would require six months of recovery away from work,” said Rouse, executive director of the Tennenbaum Institute and a professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and College of Computing.

 He has worked with two trainers at the CRC, first to help with his back and then to improve his balance, and has been impressed by the expertise and attitudes of both.

Susan Liebeskind, a senior research scientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, first tried personal training because she was new to resistance training and wanted advice.

“I have been working out with trainers ever since,” she said.

Any CRC member can sign up for personal training with one of the 15 trainers on staff, which include students and nonstudents. Each is nationally certified or holds a degree in exercise science and is CPR and first aid certified, said Faith Doldo, G.I.T. FIT coordinator.

The hour-long sessions are tailored to the fitness needs of each client, so anything from working out with free weights to using cardio equipment could be involved.

Clients can sign up for one-on-one training, two-on-two training — also called “buddy training” — or group training.

For those interested in buddy or group training, Doldo asks that clients sign up at the same time as others they want to train with, since her program doesn’t place people in groups. It’s also helpful to the trainer creating the exercise program if the people training together have similar fitness goals, she added.

Pricing for all training options and instructions for signing up for training are provided on the G.I.T. FIT webpage.