7 Questions And Answers To Fitness Trainers
Most Fitness Professionals realize that as every New Year approaches, people begin to think of the importance of exercising as it relates to weight-loss and overall health. Many New Year's resolutions are made to start an exercise program or increase one's level of physical activity. According to International Health, Racquet, and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA), more than 12 percent of gym members join in January compared to a typical of 8.3 percent monthly for the full year. New gym memberships also show an increase in March as people start to focus on the way they want to look for the summer months.
As an authorized Fitness Professional that works as a Personal Trainer in a corporate gym, it really is amazing to view how many gym members try and achieve their fitness goals on their own with little or no familiarity with sometimes even the way to operate the machines they opt to use. Typically members rely upon friends that they deem "in shape" or "fit" to enable them to reach the perceived degree of fitness success they may have, with no real science behind their exercise routines or programming. What almost all people fail to realize is that the difference in a person's body type can often have an effect on how their body responds to the exact same exercise produced by someone else with a different body type.
Aside from consulting with a medical professional prior to starting any exercise program, it's also crucial that an initial fitness assessment be conducted by a licensed Fitness Professional. This assessment should keep in mind an individual's health, fitness background, current level of activity, previous injuries, surgeries, medications being taken and any limitations or specific recommendations given by a healthcare professional. These important factors about a person will be crucial to a Fitness Professional prior to any exercise program design. An "in shape" friend with no education or know-how about a scientific approach to exercising will more than likely not do an initial assessment and could unintentionally coach their friend into a possible injury due to this neglect.
The perception of what constitutes a great personal trainer is subjective. Plenty of people when they consider employing a personal trainer don't exactly know what attributes they should look for.
Perhaps you discover yourself in a similar position-is deciding on a trainer about personality, age, or gender? Is it about work ethic or similar fitness ideals? What should potential clients need to find out about the person they choose? Are there "deal-breaker" questions? Does it matter if a trainer doesn't actually possess any education in exercise fitness, physiology, or nutrition? In the event you are in the market for a personal fitness trainer, get answers for yourself and hire the trainer with the answers that most closely match the next suggestions.
To begin with, fitness trainers are not workout buddies. Rather, a professional trainer listens to your personal needs and goals; assesses your health and fitness; designs a means of tracking your progress; motivates, pushes, or else inspires you to keep moving forward; and then creates or builds a program specifically for you. The amount of expertise, professional training, and education required by these tasks is nothing to sneeze at. Ask your trainer whenever they are a certified fitness trainer. Some respected certification fitness associations include ISSA, the nation's Academy of Sports Medicine as well as the National Strength and Conditioning Association. If your potential trainer is a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist or a Health Fitness Specialist and CPR certified, you are off to a great start.
What about college? Bear in mind, it's possible to be a qualified trainer without a four-year major in a health, fitness, and/or wellness program. But, any preliminary or additional college-level education certainly takes a prospective trainer up a notch or two over the competition. On top of that, trainers who get pumped up about fitness-oriented seminars, training opportunities, and/or alternate industry certifications should be kept on the potential trainer list. Whenever they are captivated in bettering themselves they're probably genuinely serious about bettering you and also your fitness too.
Why all the hoopla about record keeping and accountability? The ability to track a client's progress in a concrete, easy-to-understand way often separates the good personal fitness trainers from the good ones. It's not as easy as it sounds. Ask a trainer how he/she plans to map your fitness. Shall you get copies of workouts to collect and do on your own? Will the trainer use a computer program to track your progress? Get a clear image of how training will "look" with anyone you are seriously interested in hiring. If a trainer can not provide you with a clear, concise response to these questions (or better however, show you actual examples of model workouts, readouts, etc.) take them out of the running.
Lastly, how serious is your trainer about you? Does this trainer give undivided focus on you during the personal time you pay for? Or does he/she speak to other gym members while you struggle through the last chin-up, lose count of reps and/or come unprepared to train you ("Let's just wing it today..."). You health and fitness is important to you. It should be important to your trainer too.
