Working it: Exercises that give our contestants the best results

You know the workout routine.

There are exercises you hate, but others are exhilarating. There are those that immediately make you feel stronger and others that seemingly do nothing for your body, though you faithfully perform them.

This year's five Fittest Loser contestants know the routine, too. Five weeks into a 12-week contest to see who can lose the most weight, each spends 90 minutes twice a week with a trainer provided by Push Fitness of Schaumburg. The competitors are required to work out on their own for the rest of the week.

How's it going? The trainers tell the exercise or workout program that gets the best response from each contestant.

Mark Trapp, working with Frank ValentiValenti's weight: 275 pounds Weight lost: 20 pounds, 6.8 percent"Frank is enjoying working on the stability ball because at the very beginning he couldn't do it. Now, we are at the point where when he is warming up he is using it. It's motivating him because he can actually do the exercises now."Joshua Steckler, working with Mike AndersonAnderson's weight: 361 poundsWeight lost: 17 pounds, 4.5 percent"Mike has been responding very well to the total-body functional exercises I have him performing. Because of Mike's size, body weight exercises provide ample resistance for muscle overload and for challenging his cardiovascular efficiency. I can see his entire body getting stronger now, and with that, he is gaining confidence in his abilities every week."Steve Amsden, working with Deb MirabelliMirabelli's weight: 223 poundsWeight lost: 13 pounds, 5.9 percent"Deb has been responding best to full body exercises in a continual circuit with minimal rest. Some examples are squatting and pressing, lunging and curling, swinging the kettle bell, anything that gets her heart rate up, will burn the most calories, and lose the most weight in the long run."Ryan LeBreux, working with Jan VitulloVitullo's weight: 216 poundsWeight lost: 16 pounds, 6.9 percent"Jan is responding well to everything I have thrown at her. She has really enjoyed the boxing portion of the workout. We only work on it a little at the end of the workouts, but I plan on working more of it into her program as the competition progresses."Michelle Amsden, working with Wendy KreiserKreiser's weight: 335 poundsWeight lost: 12 pounds, 3.5 percent"When I first started training Wendy I was afraid to do plyometrics (jump-training) with her. I slowly eased in a few modified burpees and finally I took the plunge and challenged her to a full-on burpee. To my surprise she was able to do it!" (To do a burpee - From a squat position, kick your feet back and drop into a push-up position, then push back up into the squat position, then jump in the air.)False17722000Trainer Steve Amsden at Push Fitness in Schaumburg. False