A Conversation with Athletic Trainer To The Stars, Nicky Holender – HuffPost 6.29.10
Mike Ragogna: What separates you from other trainers?
Nicky Holender: All my training programs are specific to each client. I analyze what the client wants and figure out their training program, and it is not like anyone else’s. Its not like I am walking around a gym with different machines. I have to figure out what their strengths, weaknesses, and goals are.
Pain is elective. I have to do things that keep their heart rate up. Everything I do is about being able to control your own body weight because if you don’t, you’re going to cause injury. So, I put them into stable positions and make them do the exercise so that they have to stabilize really hard.
Every time you are doing a movement, your body has to function in that movement. I am not putting them on a bench and having them do huge movements. When they work out with me, they are going to reach their goals which is lots of stuff to keep their heart rates up, lots of sports-based kind of movement–pulling bands, jumping, all sorts of different kinds of things.
It’s almost like they are playing. If they are having problems with their hip, we find exercises to try and lengthen that hip. So I think the proof is in the pudding. I have never advertised my business. It is through word of mouth only. Just these different celebrities and people talking to each other. I think that’s the best way to grow your business and your name, just by word of mouth in the beginning, and then you can kind of go out. I get what they want, and I also understand what they need and I kind of marry those two together.
MR: Who are some of the stars you work with that you can mention.
NH: I have trained Robbie Williams, Kendra Wilkinson, Chris Harrison of The Bachelor, Melanie Brown of The Spice Girls, Gio Marini of Dancing With The Stars. Those are some of the ones I can mention.
MR: What is the worse things one can do training on their own?
NH: I think to concentrate on one muscle group too much. That is creating an imbalance in your body, so I think that if you set up a bench press and just push and push and push, you are creating an imbalance by trying to push as much weight with one group of muscles. You will be pushing on one side more than the other so that one group of muscles will create an imbalance. Your body is going to be able to sustain that when you are on a bench, but when you stand up with a chest that is enormous, you can’t really sustain that in a normal way. People that focus on one area too much are creating imbalance. That is possibly the biggest mistake I think of.
MR: What are a couple of the simplest things that people should be doing but just aren’t doing?
NH: I think that what people literally need to do is get down on your hands and knees into a plank position and learn to hold your pelvic structure in a good way. I think going out to jog, simple stuff, people can do. Movement, get their heart rate going, work their cardiovascular system…I am a proponent of being able to stabilize your spine in a way that allows you to function in everyday life. I have seen so many people by the age of 30 walking around like they are 60 years old. If everybody can do a plank every morning for about a minute, it would be enormous.
MR: What about people who didn’t know any better, in their forties and fifties. What do they do now in terms of undoing the damage?
NH: Apart from hiring me, what they need to do is take that first step. They need to get back into the gym. Most people think that in order to lose weight, they only want to know about how much they have to run and workout. When you have let yourself go and want to get yourself back into shape, two things that any person or trainer who is training you is going to need to know are: One, how much cardio and how much working out are you going to do. And the second is what are you eating. People need to recognize what they eat and what they are putting into their bodies and cut that down. It’s not so much about what you put into your body, but how much. If you can just put into your body a little bit less calories, and expend a little bit more calories, then I think that, right there, you will notice some changes in terms of what is going to happen to their bodies. Because slowly, if you are expending more calories than you are putting into your body, your body will start to change back. So, I think that people who have let themselves, go, that is what they need to do.
People who have injuries? They need to think about doing things with range of motion. Once you have let yourself go to the point that you are having back injuries, you need to go and get a trainer so he can look at your body, see how it’s moving. It doesn’t have to be expensive. They can set you up on a program. A good trainer is not trying to take your money. They should be able to look at your body, set you up with a program, see you once every few weeks and make sure you are getting your work out. Nobody should have pain past the age of 30 or 40. We are not broken.
MR: Nice way of putting that. Other than starting a soccer team with Robbie Williams, what are your future plans?
NH: I am in the middle of developing an exercise product with Mel B. It is actually finished, and we are just going through working out the different exercises and it’s going to come with an exercise DVD.
Gold’s is one of the biggest gyms in the world outside of the United States, and we are hoping to roll this out into every single gym. I think this product is going to revolutionize the way people work out. It’s a really exciting time right now because we are just getting to launch this toward the end of this year so we are in the middle of all the prep work.
I am going to continue to work with many of my celebrity clients again, touring with them. If they are in films, getting them ready for that. There is a reality TV show about a trainer in Hollywood that E Entertainment is talking to me about.
Transcribed by Erika Richards