Personal Training with Evelyn Ludwig

Dear Evelyn, thank you very much for your time. Perhaps you could first summarise what exactly personal training is & what can be imagined by it? 

Personal training refers to one-to-one training in which the training programme is tailored to individual wishes and needs. A consultation, or a training session, always includes an anamnesis in which the contents of the training sessions are defined together in advance, or what the goal of the training sessions is. Usually, the physical and mental components play an important role. Nutrition can also be part of an individual coaching session. The training sessions take place in a protected environment. In the private studio near Gartenstrasse where I teach, I am usually alone with my clients. Depending on the time of day, several training sessions are held with up to 6 people on the training floor at the same time.

How long have you been a personal trainer and why did you decide to become one?

During my bachelor’s degree in Munich, I was already actively teaching as a trainer before I moved to Switzerland in 2013. This was followed by experience in sports marketing and also a job for On Running. I then worked as a personal trainer at the Indigo Club in Zurich and set up my own personal training business in 2018. It was clear to me very quickly that I am not a classic office type. Sport has always been one of my passions and I wanted to pass on this passion. More than sport, I have always been very interested in health, injuries, the course of illnesses and recovery. In Germany, I worked very closely with physiotherapists and osteopaths. This brought me very quickly into contact with a holistic approach that was characterised by a medical component. My first experiences were with patients who had to be trained after an operation or who suffered from chronic pain. Sporting performance was therefore more in the background for me at first; I was much more interested in the movement processes and physical reactions. I probably would have made a good doctor too. However, I enjoy working in the sports sector more because it is more playful and personal.

What do you enjoy most about personal training?

I love working with people and it is a pleasure to meet so many different faces, stories and thoughts every day. Sport connects and can be a lot of fun, both as a team and as an individual. My greatest happiness is to see that I can make a positive difference and help a person feel better. Be that eliminating long standing pain, losing weight, gaining strength and developing a new body awareness. For anyone who teaches it is a great feeling to see their student develop, I feel the same way.

To whom do you recommend personal training and what are the benefits?

Sport is multi-faceted and can affect people’s lives in different ways. In any case, sport is part of every person’s life to a greater or lesser extent. Whether this actually has to be personal training remains to be seen. Personal training offers the advantage that we can deal more specifically with individual movement patterns and I have the opportunity to get more out of a person’s basic athletic package. The nice thing is that you grow beyond your limits and usually achieve more than you would have thought possible. A trained eye sees more, and understands where it’s worth targeting. For many, personal training is a way to take care of injuries even more, or to become even better at what you do, or to lose weight and exercise more healthily.

What can you expect from a training session with you?

In a training session with me, you can expect exercises in the areas of mobility, strength, endurance and athletics. For each of my clients, I take a lot of time to analyse natural movement patterns and improve them individually. If you know your body and also its weak points, you are aware of which movements need to be improved and which type of sport is beneficial. For most of my clients, injuries, increasing fitness, losing weight, posture and mobility are important issues. I look after people with different goals and very different levels of fitness. Some of my clients are very active in sports, some are just starting to exercise or are recovering from an injury. In training we learn about limits, increase your endurance and strength. Sport not only makes you physically fit, it also strengthens your mental component. In a trial training session, you find out whether the training suits you. For a good working relationship, it is important that you feel comfortable with your coach.

What makes a training session or a training plan really effective and sustainable? What tips do you have?

The sustainability of a training is in the implementation. What you learn has to be applied, so the best exercises and the best training plan are of course of no use if you don’t put them into practice. It’s important to ask questions, to discuss, and to gain the joy of the sport for yourself. This is also called intrinsic motivation, which drives a person to do something. Those who are motivated enjoy doing sport, do not question the meaning and train regularly. This is the ideal starting point for achieving success.

How do you manage to keep your clients motivated and what is your “motivation secret”?

Having fun and enjoying the training are the basic concepts that make people want to come back. As a child, I played a lot of tennis and benefited from a good coach. He was hard on me, but the training was always fun – so I came back. It’s important to me that you find motivation yourself and also understand the meaning behind why you are doing something. Only when you see the benefits does it make sense to stick with it. Sport also helps to be patient, to achieve something and to wait for the desired reward, the desired result. I would remind you of Walter Mischel’s marshmallow experiment from the 1960s. Showing willpower sharpens our senses. It is all the more beautiful when we get and achieve what we have been working towards for a long time. I walk this path together with my clients.

Your tips for good training at home?

Unfortunately, it’s difficult for me to answer this question because I don’t do any sports in my own home. My flat is my oasis of well-being. Sport for me takes place outside, sport climbing, jogging, tennis, Pilates, golfing, hiking, whatever it may be. When we still had to do sport from home, I did some of it from home, of course. My tip would be to buy a good sports mat and find a quiet room or area that is suitable for it. Space plays an important role so that there are no unwanted mishaps. The nicer and more inviting the training area is, the more people will use it. Some clients I teach in their homes have set up a room with the necessary equipment, enough daylight and fresh air.

Thank you very much for the exciting information and we are happy to share it with you!

If you are interested in a personal training with Evelyn, please feel free to contact her!

Website: www.evelynludwig.ch

Mail address: info@evelynludwig.ch

Instagram: la.evelina

By the way, we recommend a sports massage to anyone who enjoys physical exertion, who pursues sports as a hobby or as a professional. We do not only recommend this form of massage to high-performance and professional athletes: it is already a possible form of treatment for more intensive, unaccustomed sports sessions or fast, short muscle contractions. Besides the physical benefits, such as a reduction in the risk of injury or inflammation ,a sports massage can also help to have positive effects on the psyche and reduce stress.

We recommend sports massage both before (as a warm-up for the body) and after (for faster recovery or loosening of hardening) training. You can find all the information here.