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Did you always have a passion for fitness?
Always, my first recollection would probably be from back in kindergarten. We would have all these races, and I would beat everybody. I am competitive; I remember it always felt really good to win. All through school, starting in elementary through to college I was always on a team. It has always been apart of my life and clearly a passion. Track was always my favorite because it a team sport, but yet individual.
What inspired you to write a fitness book for teens?
The foremost reason was the reality of looking at our teens today and seeing an increase of eating disorders, body image disorders, and an increase of numbers in obesity. I also looked at the lack of physical activity in kids and teens today.
When I look back and compare when I was a teenager to a lot of the teens today, I think, “wow, what they’re missing”. If they are not getting it as a teen and not building that foundation, they are going to grow up and be that frustrated adult that basically creates that billion dollar fitness and diet market.
In Teenage Fitness, your mission is to show teens how to stay “fit for life”, how do you portray this in your book?
The keys to staying fit for life are for you to find something that you enjoy to do and that is easily applied into your lifestyle. For teens, a lot of them are at that stage in their life where they are “This is me and I’m going to stay this way forever”, they feel invincible.
How I portray this in the book is I try to make it really fun and to me fun is where could just hop out of bed and do some exercise to wake you up and stretch you out. I made that more easily done by showing them how they could do exercises with their friends for example. When you are a teenager you are so involved with your friendships and your circle of friends, you do stuff together so why not do something that you can do together that is a form of exercise.
I give a lot of ideas in the actual exercise program on how you can workout with friends and certain activities that you can do together. Instead of just sitting around watching TV or talking on the phone, I show how you can get together and actually do all of your talking in person while taking a long walk, riding your bikes, or rollerblading. Just giving them ideas and incentives I think may help them to get more physical activity. My whole theory on it is the more you do the more you realize how much benefit you get from it.
What are some positive effects that fitness can have on teenagers?
The primary affect is since a lot of teens are really tired from staying up late doing homework and studying, exercise can give them some energy. I think it is especially important for girls, with their bodies developing so much that the more they can give themselves the toning and training and the development in their musculature so that they have strong, in shape, and toned bodies. Teenagers are wanting to look good, they want to have lean figures and some shape to their arms and legs and exercise can do that at a teenager’s age.
What is the most common form of fitness for teens and why?
Probably seeing that some programs in schools have been cut out, the daily physical education program that not all schools have anymore, I would say the most common would be being on some type of team or taking some type of class. A lot of girls are still taking dance classes, that is one way of practicing the skill and still getting the physical activity. Kids who are athletic are still involved in the team sports that are offered through the school programs.
The regular daily physical activity such as biking, rollerblading, skateboarding, or riding a scooter that is another type of physical activity that a lot of teens do.
Another reason I wrote the book is show teens a program that they can do at home. The first routine that I show is just 5 minutes, they can do this before going to school in the morning or before they go to bed. I think it’s a guide for teens that they haven’t had before, it’s something they could follow if they couldn’t get to a gym, which I don’t think a lot of them do.
What are the negative effects of stopping a regular fitness routine?
I don’t know if there are a lot of dramatic changes that would occur, one reason though would be getting out of the habit. When you are on a team you are at practice 5 times a week and you get into a routine. Stopping and starting is probably the biggest negative effect because when you stop there is a good chance that you will not start the routine again.
As long as you can do some other type of physical activity, for example: If you are on the basketball team and your season is over the worst thing would be not do anything, try and do some other type of routine. Whether it means joining another team or just staying with some type of practice schedule that you can do on your own, that’s probably the most important.
After the events that occurred on Sept.11th, how do you think this has affected teen’s daily fitness routines and how long do you think it will take them to get back on track?
I think relating to the events there has been an unbelievable amount of stress and a level of fear. I would assume that people have forgotten about their exercise routine. I think that this is where parents can really help, if they can be motivated to do some type of physical activity with their teens it could maybe get them back on track to doing something on a regular basis.
You have to remember that exercise is one of the greatest ways to reduce stress. It can also take your mind away from what is currently going on and you do feel much better and you’re more relaxed. It may also help bring up things that you are suppressing, things that you may want to talk about. This is a great way that parents can talk to their teens, when they are doing some activity together. The important thing to know is that physical activity can help reduce some of that stress that I’m sure most teens are feeling.
What advice would you give to a teen that may be suffering with an eating problem, and might not know how to ask for help?
The key to that is they may think that they have an eating disorder or an eating problem and it goes right from there to denial. It’s probably very hard to ask a parent for help, I know that I never went to my parents. It is important for the parents to keep their eyes open to red flags such as obsessing with what they are eating, obsessive exercising, change in attitude, change in body image, and change in how they look.
As far as a teen, the best thing would be to find someone that they can trust that is not apart of their friend’s circle, or family. They could talk to the school nurse or a teacher, as long as it is someone that they can trust. It could be reading about it, I think one of the things that helped me was I looked into personal stories of girls who had anorexia or bulimia and looked at what they were doing and what affects it had on their body. It becomes a realization that this is what you are doing to yourself. The best thing would be to find someone that you could reveal yourself to.
What do you do that most appeals to teens?
I know some of the older girls (18-19 years old) that I interviewed, looked at the fact that I have 3 kids and I have gotten back each time to my regular weight. Not that the weight is the goal, more that I got myself back to where I can do the type of training that I do, such as biking and running and I still feel very young.
Another thing that appeals to the teens is that I train celebrities, I’m a trainer and that is part of my job. I have gotten the chance to train a lot of celebrities that they admire. That can be a motivation in kind of a weird way. If they see that Drew Barrymore, or Denise Richards, or Julia Roberts workout they will think that is something they should try.
What would you like to tell teens about yourself, what kind of message would you like to send to today's teens?
I would love them to hear the message that was my motivation for writing the book. If I could convince just one teen to start thinking about their body as they only get one and you can’t turn it in at any time. That your body will change, it will not stay the way it is today. In order to keep it strong and at an ideal weight for your own person you have to develop the tools and the habits when you are young. It is so hard as an adult and I am training these adults who struggle everyday. If that could be alleviated because they start now as a young person they will be so grateful.
I also have a website where you can get exercise tips www.kaehlerfitness.com
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ed me alot.Thanks for that,cuz I was screaming 
