What you should expect from a Personal Trainer?
The health and fitness industry has really blown up in the last few years, which has lead to a massive surge in gym memberships, as well as many of us becoming much more invested in our health and fitness more than ever before.
Personally I see this as a positive change, but it’s not without its drawbacks.
Whilst there is more of a demand than ever for trainers, instructors and coaches, there has also been an increase in the competition for these professions; I welcome the challenge, It keeps me up to date and current with my practices. However, cheap online personal training courses have popped up everywhere, it seems every man and his dog these days is a certified personal trainer.
Now certified doesn’t always mean competent, trust me, I have and still do teach the personal training diploma as well as assessing the qualification. I have a very good understanding of the industry around me, and a surge in qualified professionals doesn’t always mean they’re the most competent person to look after your health and well being.
Here are a few tips and tricks you should look out for when choosing your personal trainer.
1.Does your personal trainer look at HOW you move?
We are obsessed with the objective findings in the gym. The term objective can be defined as “that which is easy measurable”, so the maximum weight you can bench press would be and objective finding. (And one I’m sure most men in the weight room would be happy to brag about).
But what about the subjective? Or that which is “not so easily measurable”? What about HOW you’re performing the bench press?
Does your personal trainer check how well you’re moving? We know that if we keep pushing longer and harder on movements such as the deadlift, squat, bench press, and a whole other host of exercises, without caring for our mobility, stability and overall “body balance”, we are speeding ahead asking for an injury.
I’m not saying these exercises are bad, in fact I love most exercises, what I’m saying is, if done incorrectly over a period of time, these movements can cause debilitating injuries. Even running has a high degree of ground reaction forces, its no wonder up to 80% of runners will experience an injury in their running lifetime.
During my first consultation with a client, I will asses all sorts of joint actions and movements, in order to see what imbalances we need to work on, and also what exercises may not be appropriate at this time.
For this I am a big fan of Gray Cooks work, and his Functional Movement Screen (FMS), which can be found in his book “movement: functional movement systems: screening, assessment, corrective strategies.”
although I don’t follow his system to the letter, I think it’s a great place to start.
As I am regularly heard saying in the gym “you need to earn the right to squat heavy before I let you get under the barbell”.
2.Does your personal trainer offer nutritional help?
This is one that is a balancing act, while I think it is crucial that personal trainers offer nutritional advice for their clients, I should also acknowledge that many of them have little in the ways of nutritional qualifications.
Most people don’t know this but its actually a dietician, that is a protected title and only someone who has completed the dieticians degree may call themselves a dietician.
A nutritionist on the other hand does not need any formal qualification in order to call himself or herself a nutritionist; personal trainers would fall under this category. Now I’m by no means downplaying the effectiveness of nutritionists, some really are amazing at their job, all I’m saying is that you have no guarantee of a minimum standard of education when you hire a nutritionist or a personal trainer to look after your diet.
Your personal trainer should be offering you diet advice and support, however, unless they have undergone more specific qualifications, they shouldn’t really be offering a specific dietary plan.
This for a couple of reasons:
One – They are not qualified enough to do so, unless they have undergone a specific dietary qualification.
Two – most people just don’t need a plan that specific, most people coming through the door of your local gym enjoy a pizza and a beer on the weekend, has a stressful job and between 1-3 kids that offer a challenge in themselves.
They may want to follow the same diet plan that Arnold did back in ’74, but in reality that’s just to high to reach right now.
Hardly any of us mere mortals could follow Bolts training schedule while also holding down a 9-5.
So, maybe the introduction of colourful vegetables and drinking water would be a better place to start, that with a food diary to help look back and determine what they could have changed about the previous week, in order to help build good achievable habits for the future.
Really, it’s that simple, but simple isn’t the same as easy!
3.Do they offer help in sessions away from your usual personal training sessions?
A typical personal training session lasts between 45minutes to an hour, in that time your trainer may impose all sorts of torture tactics, all in the aid of getting you in shape.
But that’s just one hour of the day, what about the other 167 hours of that week?
In order to ensure the best results, as well as to build sustainable habits. Your PT should be setting “homework” – a periodised plan with sessions to be completed away from seeing your trainer.
Now that being said, I do have clients that don’t want this service, they are happy to complete the session with me and then fill in the rest of their week with exercises of their choosing, such as gym classes and running.
However, the option is always there if they would like me to take a more active role in planning their weekly or even yearly training.
4.Are they regularly testing you to check you’re on track to meet your goal?
This should be obvious, its amazingly simple, but I see trainers delivering sessions with no focus on the progression of their client.
If your goal is fat loss, then I would expect your trainer to schedule regular body composition and body fat tests. If your goal is strength, then one rep max testing may be more appropriate and should be scheduled into the plan.
Maybe you want to run further, then a personal best in the 5k, 10k, half marathon and marathon, (maybe further if you’re one of those people with a screw loose that are into ultra distance!) should be measured.
These will also help your trainer plan the intensity and volume of your future sessions.
This should go without saying, but the simplicity is lost on some people, and if you aren’t on track, at least you can catch it early and amend the programme.
These are just a few things to look out for when choosing a trainer, make sure you pick someone that really has your specific goal set in mind!
Happy training,
Luke Ursell
