About personal trainer Steve Ruiz

I graduated from Louisiana State University in August 1989 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. For the past two decades, I have worked on the sports copy desks of newspapers in Louisiana, Florida and Missouri, working my way up to high school sports editor of the Orlando Sentinel.

I have been interested in fitness for most of my life. I work out regularly with weights and run, competing in five-kilometer races around Central Florida. My goal is to run a half-marathon this year.

That interest in fitness led me to consider personal training as a second career. I began studying through correspondence material from the International Sports Sciences Association in late 2005 and became certified the next year. Still, I wanted to learn more before tackling this new endeavor.

That led me to the National Personal Training Institute, where I went through four months of intense classroom and gym work. For three hours a day, five mornings a week, I learned about how muscles work, the guidelines of how to build an effective workout, proper nutrition, why certain exercises work better than others, how to burn calories more efficiently and so much more.

In the afternoon, my classmates and I went through two hours of gym time, discovering such things as how much rest is adequate between sets, proper spotting, warming up and how to place exercises in the proper order for best results. We usually were paired in groups of two, working out for one hour, then spotting and putting our partner through a workout for the other hour.

When I completed the course with one of the top scores in my class, the diploma I received meant more to me than my college degree. The work was intense but rewarding. Now I want to use that knowledge to work with you on your goals. It won't be easy, but I know what hard work can do. We can achieve something that is both fun and challenging, starting today.