Bulletin sportswriter goes through special workout in Mystic

Will Hernandez, Norwich Bulletin
December 13, 2005

Norwich Bulletin sportswriter Will Hernandez completes a rep last week during a set of low back rows at Advantage Personal Training in Mystic. APT has over 1,000 clients between their facilities in Mystic and Niantic. (Photo - John Shishmanian, Norwich Bulletin)

Norwich Bulletin sportswriter Will Hernandez does some leg lifts as part of his warmup last week at Advantage Personal Training in Mystic. (Photo - John Shishmanian, Norwich Bulletin)

I noticed the different atmosphere as soon as I walked into the place.

Very few people, just enough equipment and a relaxed environment.

Advantage Personal Training in Mystic is unlike any other gym in the area. It really is a training service more than anything else.

"A lot of people go to the gym, like the franchises," trainer Jess Banda said, "and there are certified trainers there that mostly try to push gym memberships.

"I've had people tell me horror stories of how trainers really gave them a hard sell for membership. My key thing is to show not everyone is like that. It's not just about selling memberships. Here, it's about fitness and safety."

And here I was on a December morning and found out what APT is all about.

APT trains people from all types of backgrounds and fitness levels. They train high school and professional athletes, weekend warriors and senior citizens. They have well over 1,000 clients between Mystic and their other facility in Niantic.

Co-owner Greg Drab invited me down for a session to train for the sport of my choice. Though baseball is my favorite, I thought football would be more challenging.

APT gives every client a sort of mini-fitness test to see if your pulse and blood pressure are fine and to make sure your joints are good enough to handle strenuous exercise. I passed those parts easily, but when it came to the flexibility test, I was exposed.

Whenever APT finds a weakness with a client, they make sure to tailor the program in an effort to improve that area. Drab said if they were designing a program for me, it would focus on making me a bit more flexible in my lower limbs.

Time to warmup

After the fitness test, it was time to warmup with Banda.

I usually go on a cross-training machine for about 5 minutes and then do some stretching before I lift weights, but apparently that is not the way to go about warming up.

Banda put me through a series of movements to get my muscles warmed up and the blood flowing. He said the static stretching people usually do doesn't really do the job. It's actually counterproductive.

The warmups included a series of exercises such as a monkey squat and jumping jacks. There were also some movements done on a exercise mat to warmup and stretch out my lower limbs. After about 10-15 minutes of warmups, I was ready to go.

Before co-owner Calvin McCoy Jr. put me through his portion of the session, Banda prepared me by showing me the proper running techniques I would use in drills.

The drills

McCoy Jr. put me through a series of speed and agility drills that are often used for football players.

"Let's say we're working with a middle linebacker," McCoy Jr. said. "We want to put him in that environment, so he's thinking shuffle the feet, shuffle the feet. Now when you're coming up and changing direction, it's like your coming up to wrap up a ball carrier.

"Or if you're talking about a middle infielder, we have them thinking about crossing over to handle a groundball backhanded. When you start thinking about the requirement of the actual sports, (the drills) start making a lot of sense."

McCoy Jr. put me through a few drills using two cones about 5 yards apart. After going through a few single drills, I put them together in sequence twice, which were timed.

First time was 11 seconds. Second time was nine seconds.

The problem with the first try was that I was very robotic in my motions. I wasn't fluid. I was more concerned about the proper form than anything else.

The second time through, I was told to relax and just let go. While I didn't show picture perfect form, I was able to shave a couple of seconds off my time.

"Just knowing that we can improve an athlete or someone else, is really what this is all about," Drab said.

After my session with McCoy Jr., it was time to do some strength training with Drab.

Obviously Drab wasn't looking to really push me hard, but just to give me an idea of what others go through.

I did two supersets of a chest and back exercise, meaning as soon as I was done with the bench press, I went right to a low row.

The weights on both exercises were relatively light -- 135 on the bench press and 80 on the low row -- but form is the most important thing about weight training.

I can't tell you how many times I've been in the gym and seen people sacrifice form for weight. It's the biggest mistake you can make and it very likely could lead to injury.

I discovered, on the low row, I wasn't exactly squeezing my shoulder blades together on the positive movement of the exercise. That's definitely a must.

The exercise ball training was probably the most eye opening experience of the day.

People just look at exercise balls as a way of training abs, but that's certainly not the case. It can be used as part of a weight training routine and, as I learned, to help strengthen the lower half of the body.

After the ball session it was back to Banda for a little ab work, again using a ball, but also incorporating a machine. It was another lesson learned.

The final part of the session was some assisted stretching with Banda, focusing on the lower limbs, particularly my hamstrings.

I felt really good after the hour-and-half workout. I felt like I accomplished something and definitely learned from the session.

APT is certainly unique to the area and that was done purposefully.

Drab and McCoy Jr. went to Fitch High School and could only dream about such a facility. Maybe sometime down the road, they can expand on their business.

"I think we're just trying to build our foundation and keep going from there," Drab said.