What should you look for in a Personal Trainer

What should you look for in a Personal Trainer…MCIGE?
 
Maturity…says I know enough to know, but also know enough to listen to my client.

Certification…A Personal Trainer’s certification, such as NSCA, assures of a well rounded background not only in exercise physiology, but also the appropriate medical background to protect you.

Integrity…who really is their employer, their pay check employer or you the client depending on them for 100% guidance.  If they are trying to sell you the next training session, a boot camp or a spinning class, you might reconsider your present choice.

Guidance…is not just helping you lift or move a weight during a set, guidance is observing you and making the correct decisions and advising for next 10 movements down the line.

Experience…does what they say match what they are capable of performing and saying?  Part of their job is helping you protect you from yourself.  Some pain yes, some injury no.

What Boot Camp!

hill55-DaNang VietNam, cicra 1966Boot Camp for personal training…hmmm.  I think the term, and perhaps the military mystique, is a bit worn out by overzealous sales personnel with health clubs and independent trainers.  The meaning of the term associated with Marine Corp boot camp; NOPE I do not see a mature civilian population going for the nth degree of physical punishment.  I mean “go till you drop” does have a meaning, but again the general population buying into that mentally…nope!

So this rash of new advertizing for you to join a boot camp given by a personal trainer makes me think.  What is the real role, duties and responsibility of a Personal Trainer to his or her clients?  Does the word “to train or instruct” work?  My responsibility is to instruct my client(s) on which exercise effects which muscle or muscle groups.  During the course of instruction I convey to my client how their muscles function and what is required to energize, feed and repair those muscle.  Normally it takes 4 or 5 or 6 sessions for a client to fully assimilate an exercise movement into their muscle memory.

My Mission Statement reads: My mission is to transfer essential knowledge about diet, nutrition, anatomy and strength training through my services as a Personal Trainer.  I will accomplish this by teaching, on a one to one basis, about muscle development and retention in order to accomplish each person’s individual goals.

I am giving you the best I can without the SMOKE SCREEN of a BOOT CAMP…

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.