Interview to Fernando Sartorius

We interview Fernando Sartorius in Madrid on his way to SHA Wellness Clinic, where he will be our visiting master from 2nd to 6th de December offering private sessions as Personal Trainer and talks about fitness, health… He is currently one of the most important Personal Trainers and although he’s Spanish, he found on California his own paradise. There he trains world famous celebrities. He worked as personal trainer at the most famous gym in the planet (Gold’s Gym) and at the Heritage Medical Group Society. He has recently written books such as “Your Personal Trainer”, “5 Keys to Feeling Good Inside and Out”, “No more kilos” or his last best seller with Elsa Pataki “Intensity Max”.

SHA: Motivation is one of the biggest problems when practicing sports. Where and how to find it?

Fernando: Probably you won’t find it under the table 🙂 Imagine you’re told that if you don’t get fit you are going to die in two months or something is going to happen to your kids. Do you think you will find enough motivation then? The reason to not achieving our goals is that our ‘why’ is not strong and powerful enough. In America the term used is ‘How big is your why?’

When I have clients that want to make exercise because they want to loose some weight, they are not constant and those loosing some weight usually recover them quickly because their why was really weak. Your reason to be fit must be strong enough so that when temptation turns up (and it will turn up) you don’t fall into it. As Nietzche said “He who has a strong enough why can bear almost any how“.

S: Which are the main advantages of a personal trainer instead of a group training or training alone?

F: It depends on the person. I know people who loves to work on a group because they feel motivated by the group dynamics, they motivate each other. On the other hand, individual attention work for other people, it’s a matter of priorities. The most important is that you choose the method you like the most, the one which works better for you and the one which will bring you better results. I particularly like training alone. It’s a moment I take to isolate my self from dairy prpblems to renovate my mind. Same when I am asked: Which is the best exercise? There’s no best exercise. The best exercise is the one you are going to do.

S: Taking into account that most people don’t have the time to train as a celebrity may have, how can sport be introduced in everyday life with long working days?

F: Lack of time is not an excuse. Don’t you have time to be happier? Don’t you have time to feel better? I have trained very busy people who work for more than 12 hours a day and still find time to do some sports. Time is not a problem in my opinion, priorities is.
When I am in Madrid I walk the streets and see how crowded bars and coffee shops are. People loose a lot of time in thing that don’t contribute at all.

Four 40 min sessions of training a week will be enough if you know what you are doing. For instance, when I trained Salma Hayek, we used to meet at 5:30 before she started filming at 8. When I trained Ana Patricia Botín we met at 8 in the morning before she went to work. These are really busy people, successful, with family and lots of responsibilities and they still make time to do some exercise.

S: Apart from a healthy diet, is there anything else you would combine the training with?

F: Sure, apart from exercise and food, what you read or what you speak about it’s also important. You must be in contact with those things that feed the being, with truth, beauty and good. Everyday before my day starts I read for half and hour something that inspires me and put me ‘in the right frame of mind’. These are small rituals that feed my inner garden. And from this space I am able to give more and better.

S: What did you learn from working with celebrities?

F: That in essence we are more alike than people think. They also need to be motivated to do the right thing, they have temptations as any mortal, indeed, they have more temptations and to enjoy success they have to be mentally strong.

S: How was your career until you became one of the most prestigious personal trainers?

F: Mine was a very organic process, it’s like I was born to do what I’m doing. The world of fitness has always been part of my life, my parents loved sports and it can be said that I was born with a racket in my hand. At seventeen I went to America with a tennis scholarship, but my big change was when I discovered Los Angeles – California, a paradise if you are a sports lover. I have practiced all kinds of sports: paddle, tennis, surfing, paddle-boarding, rollerblading, etc. And if I have succeeded as a personal trainer is because I have managed to transmit the liberating power of being fit.