Dedication and motivation with the help of a student trainer

Back in 2015 Tarleton student, Brent Lambdin decided it was time he wanted to lose weight. He started working out on and off on his own for a few years. He saw results on the scale within two or three weeks and saw a difference in the mirror after a couple months. In July of 2018 Lambdin started working out with a personal trainer from Tarleton State University’s recreational center. Now graduated, Dillon Williams became Lambdin’s personal trainer and began helping Lambdin lose his last bit of body fat while helping him learn safe and correct techniques for working out. Lambdin decided to use a personal trainer because he knew there were areas in his workout that could be better like his form. 

“It went down on the scale a lot faster when I was working with Dillon,” Lambdin said about seeing his results. “But still in the mirror it took a month or two to really see a change in myself.”

When Lambdin began working out in 2015 he did not believe he would see the results he saw. Over the three years he has worked out Lambdin has lost roughly 200 pounds and roughly 170 of those he did on his own before he started with Williams. 

“When I first started working out, it was to just lose weight because I was so over weight,” Lambdin said. “I knew I needed to lose a lot before I could really go anywhere else.” 

When Lambdin started working with Williams, he wanted to focus on losing the last bit of fat and start putting on muscle. When he got with Williams, Lambdin had 20 percent body fat and now he is at 15 percent and can tell that he has become more toned since the start.

In the beginning Lambdin was just doing 30 minutes of cardio three times a week but once he got a gym membership he started doing full body weight lifting three days a week and 30 minutes on the bike for two days a week. Once Lambdin started working with Williams, they worked out twice a week and were doing full body workouts and 20 reps of three to four sets of everything. 

“He just kind of came to me asking for advice on technique and form,” Williams said about first starting with Lambdin. “We just started from the ground up and really worked on stabilization, conditioning and making sure his that form was proper before we started progressing into the more advanced lifts and progressing in weight.” 

Lambdin now works out three days a week, four if his schedule allows him. He normally does about an hour of lifting, for three days a week it is full body and if he does four days, he splits it up by muscle groups but also does 30 to 45 minutes of cardio plus 10 minutes of stretching at the end of each workout.

For anyone who is trying to lose weight or thinking about getting a trainer, Lambdin and Williams both have advice. Lambdin says don’t go too hard when you first getting to the gym there is no need to kill yourself, you are just going to discourage yourself. Lambdin recommends meal prepping because you are cooking it yourself, so you know what is in it and it is all already, so you do not have to think about it in the morning. Williams advice is to come to the rec center and talk to some of the trainers who a lot of them all day are free and there or talk to Ms. Shanna Moody, the Assistant Director of Fitness and Wellness, and ask any questions that you may have.

“I would like to thank him for getting me to where I am now,” Lambin said about Williams. “It’s really sad that he is graduating this December and I’m going to have to switch over to a new trainer, but I trust him and it’s been really fun working with him.” 

“He is definitely one of my favorite guys for sure,” Williams said about Lambdin. “Which it is our job to motivate and help them, but it is nice seeing someone that has already has that dedication and motivation and he can do anything he sets his mind to just with that alone.” 

Williams praised Lambdin because of Lambdin’s progress throughout the years and even motivates him.