Lewins Walter is an athletics trainer at Loyola University New Orleans who is currently leading students and faculty into a healthy lifestyle through group workout sessions and personal training.
Walter instructs an hour-long group session called Bootcamp every Tuesday and Thursday at 5 p.m. in the Recreational Sports Complex’s multipurpose room. This session is free to Loyola students and faculty. Walter said he enjoys leading the class.
“I just want to try to make it enjoyable for everyone,” said Walter.
Along with this, Walter said his goals are to help his clients try their hardest and complete the workout. The group work out includes mat exercises that focus on strengthening abdominal, arm, and leg muscles. Two lap runs around the track break up these floor workouts. Walter estimates the group workout to burn between 400 and 600 calories per session.
According to Walter, he has had four years experience as a personal trainer. Lynn Hoffman, director of internal audit at Loyola, said Walter has been training her for about two years. Walter has “devised a workout plan around my issues,” Hoffman said.
Walter and Hoffman usually train twice a week for an hour. Their session on Tuesday started off with 20 minutes on the elliptical for cardiovascular exercise. Then they moved on to crunches and stability ball exercises using lightweights to work on abdominal and arm muscles. Lastly, Hoffman used the back extension machine in the weight room to build her lower back muscles.
Unlike many stereotypes about impersonal personal trainers, Walter was very encouraging and personable, said Hoffman. Throughout the training session, Hoffman and Walter exchanged laughs and casual conversation. Hoffman said she is happily attached to Walter as her trainer.
Walter believes exercising produces lifelong benefits which help immune system functions and blood flow throughout the body. “Every person should commit at least six hours a week to exercise,” Walter advised.
Good lifestyle habits are equally important to the time committed to the gym said Walter. These habits include drinking lots of water, keeping daily calorie intake at 2,000, eating a colorful diet including fruits, vegetables and lean meats, and also keeping alcohol consumption at a reasonable level, Walter said.
Presently, Walter is personally training three clients at Loyola and four clients in all. He is teaching another group session called Fit Club on Mondays at 5:30 pm. He also has Bootcamp sessions in City Park every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6:00 am. These sessions cost $100 a month and donate a partial amount of their income to charities. They can be purchased online at www.salirefitness.com and are also featured in the Gambit.
Mallory Asp can be reached at
