Scott Schmaltz

WPM's Personal Trainer of the Month - January 2012





Nominated by: Diana Schmaltz


Scott Schmaltz became a personal trainer over ten years ago because he wanted to help improve the lives of other people. This desire grew out of his own need to help himself during a very challenging time. He was going through a devastating series of personal losses, and he felt like his life was falling apart. He did not know what to do, but he knew that he needed an outlet for the anger and resentment he was feeling.

He started exercising to help improve his mood and to help change the way that he was feeling about himself. It did not take long before he started getting excited about the changes he was making. His health was beginning to improve, and he started helping other people around him by writing exercise programs for them, taking them through workout sessions, and being there to encourage them when they were having difficulties in their own lives.

He began to feel a tremendous sense of pride in who he was and what he was becoming. This kindled a desire in him to not only want to improve his own life but to also better the lives of those around him. He started taking all kinds of health and fitness courses, and he dedicated himself to becoming a personal trainer and a better person.

"... I have become a fantastically well-rounded trainer over the years. With each client, I spend time creating a long-term game plan, getting to know each person individually. I learn what specifically motivates my clients and why they want to get in shape. I spend time educating each client on the benefits of his/her program and how each session will push him/her toward success."

WP: Welcome Scott! It’s an honor! What is your educational background? What are your certifications?

I have had the chance to be around some exceptionally great people over the years and to really expand myself in the field of personal training. There is no way to describe the immense feeling you get when a client flourishes under your guidance and support, and I would feel awful if I were to become stagnate and stale in my methodologies as a trainer.

I currently hold a board certification as a Holistic Health Practitioner from the American Association of Drugless Practitioners (AADP), a degree in nutrition from the Global College of Natural Medicine (GCNM), and seven certifications in personal training and rehabilitation (NASM, NCSF, APEX, and 4 from NIHS including Senior Fitness and post surgery rehab).

I write and contribute articles to various online health and wellness blogs, and I have run personal training departments and corporate wellness programs for companies including Gold's Gym, Snap and Anytime Fitness, and Health Partners Insurance. I even wrote a book over the last year called, "Get Skinny! The Six-Week Body Challenge" while I was recovering from a knee injury and surgery, and the timing was perfect because I would have gone stir crazy if I did not have a way to reach out and help others while I was laid up.

In addition, I am currently pursuing a certification from the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

WP: Impressive! What do you feel sets you apart from all other personal trainers out there?

I have become a fantastically well-rounded trainer over the years. With each client, I spend time creating a long-term game plan, getting to know each person individually. I learn what specifically motivates my clients and why they want to get in shape. I spend time educating each client on the benefits of his/her program and how each session will push him/her toward success.

More interview under this picture

I progressively build my clients to doing more complex, more intense exercises, and I get them moving at a fairly-intense pace while we are working together. I use a lot of humor during my workouts because if I can get a client laughing and having a good time, they usually will not realize how hard they are working. Then, with a little careful monitoring, I can push them to perform at a level they never thought possible.

I enjoy being a part of my client's sessions by helping correct form, monitoring their ability to engage in the demands of the program, and physically doing the exercises with them, especially if it helps them reach for that last bit of effort on each set. I will also leave time at the end of each session to do some assistive stretching and to be there if a client is having difficulty with any aspect their fitness journey.

WP: Where do you train your clients? Do you train them in a gym, at home, or where?

I currently build and design personal training departments for gyms that do not have any substantial training revenue. I will do everything from the sales and marketing to hiring of trainers, but my preference is to do a combination of both in-home training and training at the gym, especially if one model works better for a client than another.

However, my absolute favorite is when I work with different models, celebrities, and in-demand professionals. When I work with these kinds of clients, I go where they want me, which usually means traveling to their home or business, and I would like to get into this style of training more heavily. The clients are serious about their health, the money is good, and the travel keeps things interesting.

WP: Do you believe in high-intensity or low-intensity training, and what is your fitness routine like?

Which intensity I use depends entirely on my clients and their own specific needs. If it is about overall weight loss with a client, then I prefer a much higher intensity. The main drawback is getting your client comfortable with a higher intensity, which is why I favor adding circuit training into many of my exercise routines.

Circuit training allows for more fat and total calories to be burnt in a single session than with many other forms of exercise, and since circuit training typically involves lighter resistances, it it easier for my clients to work out more intensely. This training format also stresses the cardiovascular system making future workout sessions easier and more efficient.

I even like to mix different training elements into these workout routines. For example: I may use a circuit-training routine combined with complex or contrast system training to promote better muscle strength and function or with postural-deviation training to reduce aches and pains. By adding all of these different elements together, it allows me to address more of my client's needs at one time producing better results. This is also why I added circuit training into the fitness routines in my book.

With my own workouts, I combine both high and low intensity training together by periodizing my training, and I cycle between these intensities based on what I need at the time for my outside hobby, martial arts. My first cycle involves lifting heavy weights and doing complex exercises to promote multi-planar, multi-directional stress on my body - increasing my muscle response time and overall strength.

During this phase, I need more rest between sets as my muscles deplete energy rather quickly. The extended rest periods help me recover better, but unfortunately, they also drop my heart rate way down making things only moderately intensive. To maintain my weight and cardiovascular endurance during this period of my lifting cycle, I offset my training with additional high-intensity cardio before and after my workout.

During the second phase of my lifting cycle, I return to exercising at a higher intensity by designing my programs to convert the overall strength I have gained from my previous programs into explosive, usable power. I typically do more Olympic lifting and Plyometrics during this phase of my cycle.

WP: What is your diet?

Early on when I was getting into shape, I would forget what I would eat throughout the day, and this made it difficult for me to stay consistent with caloric intake. So I started journaling what I had eaten and started cleaning up my diet by adjusting the ratios of my macronutrients: carbs, protein, and fat.

I eat and log about 40% of my total calories from carbs, 25% from protein, and 35% from fat, which are all based on my own personal goals and extremely-high levels of activity. This is a little different from what I talk about in my book. In my book, I use a middle of the road approach for the correct ratio of macronutrients because no one's body is exactly the same, and I wanted to make sure that all of my meal plans were easy to follow.

The macronutrients I consume each day with my diet are comprised of farm-fresh fruits and veggies, delicious whole grains, and lean meats such as chicken and fish. Plus, I stay away from almost all refined sugars and carbohydrates, and I take a daily multi-vitamin along with a few supplements like omega-3 and zinc to reduce the amount of oxidation of my cells goes through during my weekly workouts.

More interview under this picture.

WP: What keeps fitness interesting to you?

Being able to work with clients certainly keeps things interesting - that and being able to produce new videos for my YouTube channel and website, writing articles, and doing interviews. I love my clients, and every day, I get to hear some amazing stories at work.

That is the awesome part about being a trainer. I connect with people on a personal level, and nothing else has given me the same feeling of satisfaction as knowing I made a difference in someone's life. Working with each and every client has been a deeply profound and moving experience, and no one has been forgettable or unimportant. This continually motivates me to be my best.

WP: What have you overcome in life that you are proud of?

I am proud of overcoming many things in my life. One recent thing that comes to mind is when I busted my knee competing at a jiu-jitsu tournament. In my last match of the tournament, I took an unexpected blow to knee, and I ripped three ligaments in my right knee along with tearing the meniscus.

I could barely move around. My knee would slip out whenever I would go to stand, and my muscles were weak from atrophy. It took months to heal so I could have reconstructive surgery, and I wasn't able to train clients while this was going on, costing me a lot of business.

Fortunately, the year before I hurt my knee, my wife and I were in New York meeting with different book publishers and pitching them our ideas, and for the entire year after we would come back, I had been working to finalize a deal. Amazingly, the same day I received notification about becoming published was the same day I went in for surgery.

Being published as an author was a big deal for me, but it still didn't make things any easier. We had bills coming in, a surgery to pay for, and I would not be able to work for some time. The future was unknown, and we didn't know if we were making any of the right decisions. But rather than worry about what was out of our control, I made a game plan to deal with what I could - just like I tell my clients to do.

One thing I have always relied on is a faith that things will work out if you believe in yourself and consistently apply the right effort. So, I forced myself to take action. I spent every minute of those days exercising my body and writing my book and even though it took a while for things to get better, they did. However, it never would have happened if I had been second guessing every decision I made.

WP: What are your hobbies outside of fitness?

I know this sounds a bit cliche, but I am a big martial arts geek. I have been doing martial arts for most of my life, and when I was younger, I did Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido - did pretty well too. I won a lot of tournaments, even a national one, and as I got older, I branched out into other styles of martial art.

I usually train BJJ three to four times a week, Muay Thai twice a week, and Kali two to three times a week, and I typically train in more than one art a day to make sure there's plenty of time for clients. I pride myself on customer service.

In my career as a martial artist, I have had the pleasure to be around martial arts legends like Guro Dan Inosanto, Rigan Machado, Erik Paulson, and Tuhon Bill McGrath. If you want to train under one of the greatest Thai Boxing coaches of our day, check out Greg Nelson at TheAcademymn.com, or if you are into Filipino Martial Arts, check out Mike O'Melia at mnPekitiTirsia.com.

Outside, of martial arts, I like reading, learning new languages, and watching movies with my wife, especially comedies. I have got to get my humor from somewhere.

WP: What are your future projects?

My mission in life to help as many others as possible, and I honestly believe that my book can make a difference. So, I plan to spend a lot of time pushing my book to the best-seller list, and I would like it to be successful enough to help me build my fitness website (CustomWorkoutVideos.com), help me work with celebrity clients, and allow me more time to spend with my friends and family.

WP: Do you want to give a shout out to anyone?

I would like to give a shout out to David Hancock and the staff at Morgan James Publishing for their professionalism and help. Thank you for believing in me.

WP: Anything you would like to mention before we close?

Make a committed decision to follow through on the little things that can improve your health each and every day. You deserve it.

WP: It has been a pleasure interviewing you!

Thank you. I had a great time, and I look forward to meeting with you again in the future!