By: Andrew Lysack
Charanjit Sing, preparing for a squat in the Red River College The Roblin Centre workout room on Nov. 9 2017./ Andrew Lysack
Personal training is a resource only a few students at Red River College (RRC) use. With access to personal training at both the Notre Dame and The Roblin Centre Campuses, not many students are willing to pay the money in order to have a personal trainer.
The Fitness Coordinator, and only personal trainer at both of the RRC campuses, Mario De Negri said that personal training is an underutilized resource, not just at the college, but in general too.
De Negri says the number of people who use the service works out to one person a month. He travels between the two campuses for whoever is willing to pay for a personal trainer.
De Negri says personal training is just like any other industry with high and low seasons, January being the busiest.”
“The reason I don’t use personal fitness is because of the cost,” said Christian Aaron, a Business Information Technology student.
The cost of personal training at RRC sits roughly in the average of the prices of some public gyms in the city such as the YMCA or Shapes, which can be as much as 57.75 dollars per session, or as low as 33 dollars.
One on one personal training at RRC, which is a 60-minute session, costs 50 dollars, and only 40 dollars a session after booking five or more sessions at a time. Group training sessions are also available.
De Negri, and any person hired in his position is required to meet higher standards than what personal trainers at public gyms are required to meet.
Public gyms like YMCA and Shapes only require their personal trainers to have basic personal training certification. RRC’s requirements are that their personal trainers are CSEP (Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology) certified, which is the highest standard in Canada. RRC’s personal trainers also must have a four-year bachelor of Kinesiology degree and are able to work at schools, hospitals, and post-secondary institutions.
“Each training session I have can take up to two hours of my time to make a program, meet and teach the person and make sure they feel comfortable to go practice it,” De Negri said.
He is also willing to talk with anyone for free if they have any questions about a personal training program, and the best way to contact him is via email since he travels between the campuses.
