Personal trainers offer new methods
of fitness to Fort Bragg residents

by Tina Ray
Paraglide

	photo by Tina Ray/Paraglide Personal trainer Scotty Mathews works with client Staff Sgt. Tamika Porter, of Womack Army Medical Center, Company A, at Ritz-Epps Physical Fitness Center Jan. 28. Fort Bragg’s personal trainer program falls under Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation.

Scotty Mathews typically spends two and a half to three hours a day in the gym.

It’s like his second home.
“I’ve always been active. Physical fitness and sports was my outlet growing up. That was always my escape from the world,” said the Washington state native.

Mathews, who spent nine years on active duty, works as a personal trainer for NUCO Fitness on Fort Bragg. Most days, he can be found at Ritz-Epps Physical Fitness Center on Champion Main Street.

Various trainers work out with clients at gyms on the installation and on Pope Air Force Base, he said. The personal trainer program falls under Family Morale, Welfare and Recreation.

Mathews received his certification through the International Sports Sciences Association, which provides online courses that equip trainers to work effectively with clients.

As a master fitness expert, he has learned different exercises for weight loss and gain, how to create programs for Soldiers’ needs to meet Army standards and how to improve and maintain overall endurance, he said. At 6 feet, 1 inch, 225 pounds with seven percent body fat, Mathews appears to know the key to maintaining fitness.

He works with 35 to 40 clients, who are assigned to him through NUCO personal training consultants and sales managers.

He can help clients achieve fitness goals in 35 to 45 minutes as opposed to the typical two to three-hour workouts most people do, Mathews said. The time reduction allows military Families to maximize their time together.

“We’ve made more time for military spouses and Soldiers themselves to spend with their Family. (With) a more compressed work-out formula, they get more out of the work out,” he said.
A lot of the movements have to be a sort of cross-training, high-intensity, multi-part movements that train more than one part of the body at a time. Clients are also taught to use different pieces of exercise equipment.

One Fort Bragg client who consults with Mathews is Staff Sgt. Tamika Porter of Womack Army Medical Center, Alpha Company. Porter had a baby almost four months ago and is working to get in shape.

“I’m trying to get in shape for Soldier readiness and to set the example for Soldiers,” she said.
Porter said having a trainer gives her accountability. She works out three times each week for 30 minutes per day. Her favorite exercise targets the abdominal muscles, but on a recent Friday, Porter tackled the lateral pull-down machine at Ritz-Epps Physical Fitness Center.

“It hurts,” Porter said, as she worked through the repetitions.

The key to weight loss is not to give up, said Rebecca Stewart. She has lived the weight loss story up close and personal, and now works as a personal trainer. It took Stewart two years to lose 50 pounds, reducing her weight from 200 to 150 pounds.

As a military spouse, she likes helping other military spouses with their weight management goals.

Daisy Nolder echoes Stewart’s sentiments---the key to weight loss is to stick with an exercise routine.

Nolder, who is also a personal trainer, has worked on Fort Bragg since July and has more than 70 clients.

A former parachute rigger who spent two years in the military, Nolder maintains a healthy 130 pounds on her 5 foot 8 inch frame and a body mass index of 15 percent.

Hard work pays off, she said.

“Don’t give up too quickly; take it day-by-day and see the little things happen,” said Nolder. “The body is very intelligent and you should learn your body and push yourself to the limit.”

Anyone interested in getting help from a personal fitness trainer can visit the Fort Bragg FMWR Web site at www.fortbraggmwr.com/sportsrec/personaltrainer.php or call 877-258-2046.