Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Personal Trainers will ROCK YOUR WORLD!


I might be a little biased, but I think that hiring a personal trainer is something everyone should do at least (at the very least) one time in their lives. I'm speaking from experience because before I became a personal trainer, I hired one myself and it was eye-opening. Here are my top 5 signs that you could benefit from a personal trainer.

1) You have no idea what to do with that big rubber ball at the gym.

This also means that you could probably use advice on other equipment, too. A personal trainer can help by showing you the gym's equipment and by demonstrating how to properly use it. What's the point of having a gym membership if you don't know how to use all the cool stuff that's available, like a foam roll, cable machine, stability ball, etc.?

2) You want to lose or gain weight.

A trainer can personalize a program to help you lose fat and build muscle mass. This takes away any guesswork by you and gets you using your time at the gym effectively. They will also give you advice on what to do outside of the gym. Results will soon follow. Bonus: You also don't have to think about what you need to do for exercise, because your trainer will do all the thinking for you. Your workout will be planned, efficient, and you will be in and out of the gym before you know it.


3) Accountability is a motivator.

If you have someone waiting at the gym for you and you're paying for their time, you're more likely to go. If you skip the gym, not only are you letting yourself down, but you wasted your trainer’s time and threw money away, too.


4) You're training for a race.

Whether you're running a 5k or a marathon, racing for a cure or racing for yourself, you could be pushing your body in ways it's not accustomed to. Unfortunately, if you don't train for something properly, injuries (like iliotibial band syndrome, shin splints, plantar fasciitis, etc.) are sure to occur and that can cause distress for you down the road. By having someone in your corner to help to you train properly, injury prevention is possible. Your trainer will make sure to work on the proper muscle balances to keep you injury free and feeling great on race day. You will ensure that your racing experience is a positive one and that will inspire bigger/better/stronger races in the future!

5) Simply being able to function better day to day.

Having a sore back, knee, hip or wrist is not fun and it hinders your daily activities. Maybe you’ve realized that hoisting your 2 year-old to your hip bothers your shoulder. Or that you’re walking around the neighborhood slower than you used to. A trainer should be able to assess why this might be happening and can work on correcting muscle imbalances that are causing you problems. This should help make day-to-day activities easier to perform, making life easier to navigate. Not so bad!


Usually when you join a gym, a free session with a trainer is included in your new membership.
Use it! You might be surprised at how much you enjoy it and how much you learn. Just make sure that your trainer has the proper certification before you start. Ask him or her what certification they hold and if it's NASM (that's my certification), ACE, or even AFAA, you're in the clear as far as I'm concerned. Otherwise, you might want to check more into their background to make sure they are qualified to properly instruct you.

Stay tuned for my next posting about in-home training and Be Well!

1 comment:

  1. What if you want to lose *and* gain weight, over and over? Get some good yo-yo effect. Can a personal trainer help with that? 'Cause that's what I want.

    ReplyDelete