Personal trainer Sam Douglas of North Adams helps people reach their goals in losing weight and staying fit.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Losing weight and staying fit are among the top 10 New Year's resolutions.

But most people fail to stick to them.  
 
Exercising, however, was never a problem for Sam Douglas of North Adams. In fact, his passion for exercise led him to a satisfying career.
 
Since launching Positive Momentum Fitness in 2004, Douglas has brought the workout to his customers — ranging in age from 16 to 99.

"Most of my customers do not like to go to gyms," the fitness trainer said in a recent interview.
 
Standing 6-foot-1 with an athlete's build, Douglas is a commanding figure, but within minutes of  meeting him, it is obvious that he is not a person to cringe from: He is affable and generous with giving praise.      
 
Before moving from San Francisco to North Adams in 2003, Douglas was employed by a brokerage firm.  

"I was in sales and I was miserable," he said. "I loved adventure racing and exercised a lot. I signed up for a triathlon group run by Jackie Gallagher, an Australian woman who was a world triathlon champ. She said I 'motivated the weakest people better than anybody, and was always encouraging people.'  

"I thought at the time that if I ever did it for a living, I would want people to feel safe when exercising and to feel accomplished at the end of a session."   
 
Gallagher's words stuck with him, he said, and, in 2003, he became a certified personal fitness trainer with the American Council on Exercise, a non-profit organization committed to enriching quality of life through safe and effective exercise and physical activity.
 
Now he offers group fitness classes at Sweetwood and at Sand Springs Pool, both in Williamstown, as well as private exercise sessions for individuals in their homes.

"I have people who suffer from Parkinson's disease, osteoporosis, have had strokes, open heart surgery, have limited mobility, and lots of healthy people, too. About one half of my customers are over 70. I like working with them. They are living history books," said the fitness trainer.    
 
His business has grown substantially in the last 11 years without advertising.

"People come to me by word of mouth," he said.

Customers must provide a doctor's assessment of their medical condition and medical history. And before they start working out, Douglas checks the client's blood pressure and  vital signs.  

"I was a medic in the service," he said. "And a customer's  cardiovascular system is my boss.  It dictates to me what I can do with them.  
 
"There is a lot of negative stuff out there about exercise and people get afraid about what they can do."

Maybe seniors in general are not going to jog, but they do need cardiovascular exercise, said the 51 year-old fitness trainer. "The luckiest thing I ever did was put boxing gloves on an [elderly] woman."
 
The boxing gloves but for throwing punches - an efficient cardiovascular exercise. "And they get a kick out of it!" Douglas said with a smile.
 
"One half of my customers are over 70. I like working with them. They have great things to say. They are living history books."
 
Sessions are usually one hour, and Douglas crafts a plan that focuses on what can be done in that time to make it productive and cost efficient for the client, he said.

Douglas was in sales before finding his calling was in athletics.

At the Memory Clinic in Bennington, Vt., Douglas said he sees very healthy nurses and technicians. One woman, however, was overweight.

"She lost 25 pounds with me as her fitness trainer. Diet is the key, not just exercise," he said.
 
Five years ago, Williams College professor Shawn Rosenheim initially joined Douglas' fitness class at Sand Springs to humor a mutual friend who pestered him to go.

"I was out of shape and generally not feeling great," Rosenheim, 53, said in a telephone interview.   "Now, I have a lot more vim and vigor, but Sam only pushes you as far as you can go."  
 
As an example, the professor told of Douglas giving his late colleague David Park peanut butter jars to hold while doing bicep curls.  

"David said, 'They're too heavy,'" Rosenheim recalled. "So Sam got jars that were only half full. He targets the work to the person."
 
Starting her eighth year as a client, Heather Greene of New Ashford participates in fitness classes at Sand Springs and once-a-week 7 a.m. personal trainings at her home.
 
Douglas said he purposely lives in an apartment so that he does not have to spend time shoveling snow or mowing a lawn ... but is available to his customers whenever they need him.
 
"Sam is amazing," said Greene, 48. "He came with me to physical therapy after I had a stroke. He wanted to see what they did with me. My balance was still off when I went back to exercising with Sam. He put a rope around my waist and held onto the end of it to keep me from falling when I was doing jumps."
 
In 11 years as a fitness trainer, Douglas said he has fulfilled his wish to keep his clients safe.  

 "I have never had a customer fall," he said.

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