Former bodybuilder shares long years of hard-won experience as a Hickory Hill personal trainer

There's no way to tell from the outside that there's anything unusual about Yvette Smith's Hickory Hill home.
Walk inside and the stairs are straight ahead. But to the right is the living room, which contains a half-dozen spin bikes instead of a couch or coffee table.

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Behind the stairs is the family room with wood paneling, a fireplace -- and an array of treadmills and other assorted cardiovascular equipment. There are weights in the dining room.
You get the picture.

And speaking of pictures: The ones that decorate Smith's walls are of her, pumped up and buff, showing off her physique.

As a personal trainer who works out of her home, Smith helps clients who are generally overweight and out of shape. What better inspiration for her clients than to see her at her awarding-winning best.

In August, Smith won first place in the women's lightweight division of the 2006 National Physique Committee (NPC) Tennessee Bodybuilding and Figure Championships.

Her win at the state level means she moves into national competition next spring.

"It took a long time," said Smith, 34. "I'd said seven years ago I wouldn't compete again."

That was when she pulled a hamstring, which she blames on not stretching properly.

"I didn't practice what I preach," she said.

Worried about how well she would recover, Smith stopped competing and focused on her business.

Since then she started to learn and teach yoga and Pilates, and has combined those practices into her training routine.

"I like weight training and having to combine all the different things you do, eating right, cardio and weights," she said. "It's kind of a science to it. I just got the bug again."

When Smith was a teenager in Emporia, Kan., she started working out with her stepfather; he was the only person available to show her how to do it right.

"He pretty much told me that if he worked out with me, I needed to show up or he wasn't going to fool with me anymore," she said. "He was pretty serious."

His insistence on an all-or-nothing approach taught her to be consistent.

She'd tried other sports, like track and field, but quickly lost interest.

"I entered my first powerlifting competition about six months after I started working out," she said.

She won and found a sport she could stick with.

Smith earned a degree in exercise science from Emporia State University, and in 1994 moved to Memphis with her now ex-husband. That's when she began teaching aerobics, other fitness classes and working as a personal trainer.

Smith works primarily with individuals who are trying to lose 100 pounds or more.

"The people who I'm successful with, those are the people who come and they're actually ready," she said. "If a person's not ready, I can do all kinds of stuff but they eventually end up quitting. Their mind has to be right."

Although Martita Mullen doesn't have as big a weight-loss goal as some of Smith's other clients, her desire to lose only 20 pounds doesn't mean Smith is less focused on her results.

But training under a bodybuilder isn't intimidating, said Mullen, 32, even though Smith challenges her clients.

"She is strict," she said. "She just wants to see results, so if you're coming every week and you're not eating right and you're not pushing yourself, I think she gets frustrated with you.

"Her goal is to achieve whatever your ultimate goal is. And if you're not committed to it, she'll let you know that you're not staying on track or not focused."

Smith's approach is not to push clients based on how they'll look when they're thinner.

"Vanity can't be your source of motivation. If that were the case, we'd all be fit," she said.

In addition to the health benefits and lowered stress levels, you never know when being fit could save your life.

"Hurricane Katrina is a classic example. Some people had to walk, swim, some people had to get up on the roof, some people had to do all kinds of things they'd never thought they'd have to do," Smith said. "The cute stuff is a benefit, but the other stuff will help you survive."