Clipboard and pen in hand, personal trainer Patty Cudoc-Gray strides purposefully from machine to machine at the Butler YMCA.

At each stop, she explains the proper form to her client, all the while watching every move and offering encouragement.

Many a New Year’s resolution could benefit from the watchful eye and clear advice of a personal trainer.

“Some people still think, ‘I’m going to get in shape and then I’ll get a trainer,’ ” said Sandra Ihlenfeld, the Y’s director of health and fitness.

“I think the public thinks about somebody buff needing a trainer. That’s an oxymoron. The trainer is the one who can help them get there.”

Cudoc-Gray is one of a half dozen personal trainers on staff at the Y. Only one of the six is a man.

More and more often, personal training clients are women, mostly between ages 25 and 45, Ihlenfeld said.

That translates into more women working as personal trainers, she noted.

“Normally women are more comfortable with women trainers, so if the trend is more toward women coming as clients, then it’s toward more women trainers,” said Ihlenfeld, herself a personal trainer for 20 years.

“Back when I started, the trend was toward men working toward specific fitness goals, rather than general health goals.”

Ihlenfeld started the Butler Y’s use of personal trainers about five years ago. At the time, she was the only personal trainer there.

“Now my goal is to have one available most times of the day and for the most different needs.”

PERSONAL TRAINING begins with sitting down, said Cudoc-Gray.“Typically the first session is all interview,” she said. “Maybe we’d work for 10 to 15 minutes on flexibility so they know how to stretch, which they should be doing on a daily basis.”The first session is also the time to talk about any medical conditions.“We talk about what they want, why they came to us in the first place,” she said. “It’s not always about weight loss.”Sometimes the issue is high blood pressure or diabetes, or the client wants to train for a marathon.“Some people will have a personal trainer for years. It depends on their needs,” Cudoc-Gray said.Sessions can last 45 or 60 minutes at the Y, with the cost being $30 for YMCA members.Sessions must be scheduled with the individual trainer.“With more beginning clients, you have to assess and to explain part of that time,” Ihlenfeld said. “You might be looking over a diet, identifying problems and setting up tactics for dealing with problems.”Programs include number of repetitions and coordinating stretches.“The trainer sets up a program with them and says, ‘You need to do this program five times, seven times, nine times for example,” Ihlenfeld noted. “Other people want to have the trainer with them every time.”Some trainees will eventually transfer to a group training class. The Y offers two such classes: weight training and core strength training. The group setting costs less than the individual sessions, but then the meeting times are preset.

EVEN AT 10 A.M. on a Monday morning, the fitness center at the Butler YMCA is half full of exercisers. Maybe that’s because it’s the Monday after New Year’s Day, or just maybe it’s because these assorted joggers, weight lifters and stair climbers are dedicated to physical fitness.Cudoc-Gray checks her chart of exercises for her client, Kathleen Ball of Butler.Ball, a 36-year-old mother of four, says she’s worked out all her life.“When I first came in, I was doing the exercise the way it said to on the machines, but I was doing it too fast.,” Ball said. “The personal trainer basically told me to slow down and how to do it with the correct form.”She trained with Cudoc-Gray once a week for about two months.“Then Patty thought I was ready for the group training,” she said.Ball takes part in the core strength training class two days a week but still meets with her personal trainer about once a month.At the end of her rotation through the exercise equipment, Ball heads off for a jog around the Y’s indoor track, on which one lap equals 1/19 of mile.

ALL THE PERSONAL trainers at the Y have earned certification from the American Council on Exercise.“We’ve all studied and taken the appropriate tests,” Cudoc-Gray said.Ihlenfeld recommends seeking out a trainer who has gone through an accredited program.“There are about 150 programs in the U.S. putting out personal trainers,” Ihlenfeld said. “Only 25 of them are accredited.”She compares their training to that of a registered nurse. “It’s not just a field where anyone can come in.”Slippery Rock University’s department of exercise and rehabilitative services prepares students to work in the health fitness field, said chairwoman Patricia Pierce.A growing field, the number of students has doubled in the last few years to more than 400, she said.Pierce teaches a measurement and statistics class “because one of the things you have to learn is when you put someone on a fitness program, you have to test where they start.”So students learn to check blood pressure, strength and flexibility, among other things.Then they study exercise prescription.“Now you know what kind of shape someone is in, what can you give them to do? If someone comes to you with diabetes, what do you do?” Pierce said.Behavior modification is part of any prescription.“A lot of times people need to be educated as to why they need to do this.”A unique program at SRU is “senior synthesis,” a collaboration between the department and the college’s fitness center.For one semester, fellow students and outsiders can work one-on-one with a student as a personal trainer. The sessions take place twice a week at a cost of $50 per semester, and the exercisers are encouraged to work out a third day on their own.“I supervise every single thing the students are doing,” Pierce said. “They come with eight to 10 courses under their belt, so it’s been really good for both (trainer and trainee).”Pierce said people as young as 16 and as old as 72 have used the program.“A trend I see is I have a lot of parents calling me about a child being obese.”A typical student in this department is usually an athlete or dancer, Pierce said. “They’re physically active and they want to help people.”They study anatomy and exercise physiology.“It’s nice to want to help someone work out or to have a walking partner, but it’s a good idea to have knowledge and practical skills,” Pierce noted. “What we try to emphasize is to make sure that the exercise program is safe and effective.”Two other accrediting groups Pierce mentioned are the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Strength and Conditioning Association.“I think people want a quick fix, and you can’t lose 30 pounds in a month.,” Pierce said. “You have to realize what are the real benefits of exercise.“The best benefit of exercise is you’re going to feel better and live better. Personal training is really effective because you have an appointment to meet with somebody.”

Below are the myriad of exercise classes available at the YMCA, 339 N. Washington St. Two of them — core strength and basic strength — are considered group weight training, an extension of the work personal trainers do there.Multiple times and days are available, from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. weekdays and from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturdays.Other classes are:- Beginner cardio sculpt — Light cardio mixed with light sculpting work. Work at own pace.- Yoga — Morning class is a gentle wake-up, lunch break class is same as regular yoga class, except it’s only 30 minutes. Yoga focuses on breathing, stretching, lengthening and even strengthening muscles and then relaxation.- Cardio strength — Combination of high and low and/or step aerobics.- Strength and endurance training — Weight training with free weight bars or body weight to strengthen all major muscle groups.- Cardio intervals — Could be step or floor or combination of both.- Cardio flex — 45 minutes of cardio followed by 15 minutes of deep muscle stretching.- Sports conditioning — No dancing, no choreography. Uses stairs, jump ropes and sprints. Also offered in a version for youths.- Cardio surprise — High or low impact, step or slide, variable aerobic patterns and mix of styles.- Power stretch — Borrowing from yoga, stretch and lengthen muscles while incorporating deep breathing and relaxation.- Pilates — Tone and strengthen without weights.- Senior strength — All exercises take place beside or from a chair for balance and stability.- Tai Chi — Relaxing body movements meant to increase range of motion, toning and destressing of mind and body.- Fit kids — Fun fitness class for children ages 7 to 13 who want to get fit.- Youth weight training — Focusing on weight training, strength and technique for youth ages 11 to 15.- Over the Edge Cardio — Choreographed cardiovascular workout on floor and step, finishing with core strengthening, for the more fit participant.- Cardio kickbox — Combines basics of boxing such as jabs, hooks, uppercuts, bobs and weaves with a more basic aerobic movement.- Basic strength — Focuses on form.- Kick and sculpt — Some cardio kickboxing combined with body sculpting.- Total body conditioning — Uses core board and other equipment for overall strengthening and cardiovascular conditioning.- Assorted aqua fitness — Uses core board and other equipment for overall strengthening and cardiovascular conditioning.