I became a personal trainer in order to teach people about the benefits of fitness and good health. I was an over weight, inactive and an unhappy 19 year old living in UK. I had never had to exercise, never had to watch my weight or my food intake. Suddenly, after I left home I noticed that I was gaining weight: a lot of weight. Yet, it wasn’t until after I saw some photographs of myself that I realized how much weight I had gained. I knew that my clothes didn’t fit, so I just bought new ones. When people made comments about my weight, I made excuses.

After seeing those photographs, I was devastated. I had not allowed my picture to be taken for over a year, and reality stung. I had actually gone from 110lbs to almost 160lbs. I began half-hearted attempts at changing my diet but I really didn’t know what I was doing wrong.  I began skipping meals, eating smaller amounts and only eating when I became extremely hungry.   A colleague took me to the local gym where I became hooked on daily step aerobics. This cycle of under eating and over training continued for many months. I began losing weight on the scale, but I looked chubby and started to develop bad skin, something I had always been able to avoid as a teenager.

I got colds and flu more often and was constantly absent from work, but nothing would dissuade me from the new miracle weight loss system that I had “discovered”. After about a year, I had lost almost 30lbs. I looked better, but was still sick. I was obsessed with the scale, to the point where my doctor told me to throw it away. If I could now fit into a size 6, why did it matter how much I weighed? This was the turning point in my weight loss. His advice took my focus from the scales and my looming weight and thrust it back into the direction of a more healthy and fit lifestyle. That’s how I wanted to look anyway, sporty and fit, not emaciated and sick.

I did throw out my scales (a practice I still encourage) and turned to books. I learned everything I could about weight lifting, cardio, structured workouts, healthy eating. I learned that you could lose weight on a healthy balanced diet, and stay healthy afterwards. I had tried all of the fad diets and they left me tired and unhealthy. I didn’t want to diet, I wanted a great diet habit, and something I could continue for the rest of my life. The weight began to melt away. I’m not saying it was easy, and I’m certainly not saying that I stuck to my new diet and exercise plan diligently. The difference this time was that I never stopped trying. If I fell off the wagon, I got right back up and started again. If I made a bad choice at breakfast, it did not mean that the whole day was shot. It just meant that I had made a bad choice, and I wouldn’t repeat it that day.

I began lifting weights and my shape changed again. I had always avoided weights as I thought that they would bulk up my muscles, but to my surprise, it actually made me leaner and smaller! I began to eat healthily again and I restricted my workouts to three times a week combining weights and cardio. A trainer at the gym commented on how good I was looking and that was the catalyst. If someone who I admired thought I looked fit and healthy, then maybe I could be in her position and make other people feel good about them selves.

I looked into the certification system and I talked to people who worked in local gyms. I wanted it to be more than a hobby; I wanted to teach and be able to work with people. I decided the only way to make a clean break was to live abroad and start my own company. It seemed like a pipe dream, and people would look at me, this perky little 22 year old, and say “that’s a nice idea”. So I did it. I left UK and came to California, the land of the fitness freaks and, ironically, one of the highest obesity rates. I started my company, Liberate Personal Training and 1998 and I have been training ever since.

I am now certified by AFAA in Personal Training and by NASM. I hold numerous other certifications in the fitness arena and I have included my resume on this site for your review.  I spent two years working closely with Linda Jones in England, a 5"2' body building competitor, who gave me an invaluable insight into the pros and cons of body-building and taught me the basic techniques.

I was voted Personal Trainer of the Year in 2000 , 2001 and in 2003 by a reader’s poll in four local newspapers. My clients and I have had amazing results in the areas of weight loss, rehabilitation and body-building, and some of their testimonials and photographs are illustrated at this website.

I also have experience in post-rehabilitation training and in post-chemotherapy and post radiation treatment.  More information on these specialties can be found in my resume as well as in other places on this site.

Work hard, train hard, play hard and, above all, never give up.

Lynda Linforth trains in the Pasadena, San Marino, Sierra Madre and surrounding areas.

Lynda Linforth trains in the Pasadena, San Marino, Sierra Madre and surrounding areas.