Personal Training

Personal training is a very valuable service for those interested in improving their physical condition. Reasons can be from purely health to purely vanity. Either way, it is important to know a little more about personal trainers, and learn what to look for in a good trainer.

Personal training is a big commitment, but one that could possibly change your life forever. Transforming your body is a huge task, regardless of whether you are trying to lose body fat or gain muscle. Therefor you need to be mentally prepared to take on what you need to. If you want to see real change and expect it to be long lasting, then it will need to be a lifestyle change. You will need to change the way you eat, workout, and think about health. If you do that, then you can assure yourself that change will surely come.

The first thing you need to do is admit to yourself whether you can handle the hardwork. Losing weight and gaining muscle require lots of hard work, both with a trainer and outside of personal training. If you can dedicate the effort then you are ready to move on.

The second thing you need to do is set up a budget for what you can afford. If you cannot afford at least 1 personal training session a week, then it is not worth your money. If that is the case then simply save until you can afford more. You need to see your personal trainer consistently to see any changes. Ideally you should have a session 2 - 3 times per week. This would provide you with all the strength training you need each week, and all you would have to do on your own is cardio exercise.

The third thing you should do is set up a time schedule you can work with. Include not only the personal training time, but travel time to and from the gym or studio, as well as the time it takes to change before and after training. This is important to have with you when you make an appointment with a trainer.

The fourth thing you need to do is write down your goals. This is the most important step. Having your goals on paper is essential to your success. If you do not have a goal to work for, a very specific one, then you will not be able to work towards anything. You need to be able to visualize the change in your mind, seeing what you will look like after your transformation.

The last step is to take all this info and find a trainer at a local gym or studio, or a place like Elite Personal Training Experience. They are based in Virginia, and are full of the best Richmond Personal Trainers.

Personal trainers are certified professionals easily found at most gyms, small and large, but can also be found at personal training studios.

Most gyms have personal trainers that work there, and most of them (especially larger and chain gyms) aren't very willing to allow you to pick an choose a trainer freely. You are the customer though, and you do have the right to choose a trainer that fits you best. Go into your local gym, and speak with the personal training manager. Let him know the times you want a trainer, and your general goals. If you are upfront about your desires, and how you approach learning and working out, then you will typically be set up with a trainer that is suitable. If after having an initial consultation with your trainer you realize it is not a good fit, you have every right to request a new trainer.

Your best chance at finding a trainer who will be dedicated to your goals is to look for independent personal training studios in your area. Their popularity varies widely from city to city, but typically there are at least a few in each area. Call around and speak to them on the phone, or look over their website thoroughly. When you feel comfortable about a studio, go in and have a consultation to talk about your goals. Studio trainers are typically more in tune with a wider variety of people, and are better able to handle different training styles.

Personal trainers are a premium service, and they can be rather expensive to hire. Since you will be paying out good sums of money for that service, you have every right to interview your trainer prior to hiring.

Even though personal trainers are certified professionals, not all of them are really good. Some are actually bad, and either produce little to no results with clients or have them perform exercises incorrectly (risking injury). It is always good to interview a trainer before hiring them, asking a specific set of questions and really trying to get an idea of what they are like.

First thing you want to know is their certification.  Their are many certification groups, and while the name doesn't matter a whole lot, it is important to know that their certification group is accredited by the NCCA.  That accreditation provides you with the knowledge that their certification was appropriately challenging and that they were properly educated.

Second thing you should ask is how long have they been training, both at their current job and any past jobs.  This is important, because new trainers are hired at gyms all the time.  All trainers have to start some time, and many of them are really great trainers at that point.  Don't disregard a trainer just because they are relatively new, just make sure they explain to you their education past.

Third thing you should know about your trainer is their style.  Most trainers have a style, ranging from drill sergeant to soft spoken supportive.  A good trainer is adaptable to each individuals needs and wants.  If they say they are adaptable then you have a good chance at working well with them.

The last thing you should ask your trainer is what types of success with clients have they had in the past.  Many trainers have a folder or binder that has references, testimonials and maybe even pictures of past or current clients.  Knowing what other people have said about that trainer can give you a good idea about how good they are.

While going over those 4 things listed about with your trainer, be attentive to how they speak and interact with you.  Odds are that if they are short or a bit rude at this point it will only get worse over time.  Use this time to really size up your trainer.  Make sure they sound like they know what they are talking about and they are sincere.

Before you go to speak to anyone, understand that good personal training is not cheap. Some places charge a little more than others, but generally speaking, they are similar in price. If you find someone who is very inexpensive, then you will probably get service that is equal. It is pretty easy to find a trainer that isn't very good, and whom is relatively cheap. Prices vary from state to state, and from city to city within a state. Although generally you can expect to pay between $50 - $90 for a 60 minutes session, and about half that for a 30 minute session. A city like New York, Miami, or LA might be more expensive.  Since a good personal trainer can allow you to see serious results, the effort and expense is well worth it in the end.

In order to see long terms success with personal training, you must go into it with the right attitude. This means knowing what to expect both during the process of finding a trainer, and what to expect throughout the training.

The first few times you go to see a trainer will be slow. You will probably be sore, maybe even really sore, for the next few days after. You are going to work muscles you typically don't and a trainer can push you harder than you would yourself. But also realize that you are not going to walk into the first session and train like a pro NFL player. It takes time for a personal trainer to get to know your body, and how it responds to exercise. Until that is all thoroughly understood, and you understand proper exercise techniques, then you will not be able to go at maximum effort. Furthermore, your endurance and stamina will be low in the beginning. This means you will feel tired, get winded quickly, and loose energy fast in the beginning. This is all normal and expected. If you understand that you will have to go slow in the beginning and that it takes time, then you should have no problem.

You also want to understand that to see result you will need to work hard, every time you come in. Once you are past the first few session, and you are fully acclimated to working out, you will need to push yourself. You don't need, nor want, to push yourself to absolute failure when working out. But you do need to challenge yourself. Feeling fatigue and a light burn in the muscles is ok and expected, but pain stemming from the joints or muscles is not good. Changing your body is hard work, regardless of whether you are doing it to lose body fat, gain muscle mass, or for health reasons.  Go into personal training expecting to work hard, and you will not have any surprises.

Nearly every time you flip on the TV, open a magazine, or visit a site on the internet there are ads for fad diets or workouts.  Many of these are flawed concepts, borderline money making scams, based on supposed "concepts" from this group, that culture, or some training style.  The problem is that many of these are intended to make money, and not a whole lot more.

The ones that do provide some good material typically are hard to follow on your own.  If you try to do them at home, then you will always have an excuse not to start.  Working out at home, especially to lose large amounts of weight, gain large amounts of muscle, or to see big health changes, is especially challenging.  Since a video can only play what it is recorded to play, and a book or manual can only tell you so much, frequently exercises are performed incorrectly.  While it is not too likely that you will get injured by incorrectly doing the exercise, you will not see as much benefit as if you did it correctly.  Also, most programs do not address the concept of progression.  You must constantly progress with your exercise program and diet in order to see constant changes.  All these things would be addressed by a personal trainer who would see you for the workouts, could gauge your abilities and keep you constantly progressing in weight training, cardio exercise and diet.

When many people think about personal trainers, they visual a guy with heaps of muscle downing a protein shake every couple of minutes. Exaggerated as that may seem, there are a lot of trainers out there that do focus on bodybuilding, and some of there might be really good at what they do.

The truth is that a personal trainer does NOT have to look like a bodybuilder. Every person has a different goal, different body type, and different genetics. A preconceived notion of what a personal trainer should look like will drastically reduce your chances at finding a good trainer.  

What you should expect is that your trainer in shape themselves.  The truth about a trainer is that they are a perfect mix of fitness, health, nutrition, and exercise intelligence combined with a great motivator.  If they don't appear to be in good shape, regardless of whether that is skinny like a marathon runner or massive like a body builder, then it is going to be hard to respect what they say you should do. 

Expect your trainer to be in shape and live what they tell you to do, just don't expect them to have a particular type of in shape body.