Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Why You NEED a personal trainer...

Why do you need a personal trainer? Do you head to the gym and come up with "something to do" as you go or take random workouts out of magazines? Walking around, heading from machine to machine or treadmill to elliptical, not knowing why you are doing what you are doing other than that everyone is doing it?

This is why having a knowledgable, experienced, certified trainer is important. A qualified CPT will be able to write you a scientific based plan for your goals, with actual reasoning behind the choices.All you  will have to do is follow directions! The human body is smart enough to adapt to and become more efficient at stimuli (I.e. exercise), so it is crucial to know what training variables need to be changed, when they need to be changed, and why they need to be changed.

Some examples of these training variables I reference are listed below:
1. Rest intervals (between sets and workouts)
2. Number of repetitions
3. Load (what percent of your 1 RM are you using and when does this change)
4. Number of sets
5. Duration (of individual workouts and program as a whole)
6. Frequency (# of workouts per week)

There isn't one magic key or program to training...the key is to identify a goal and determine what variables you need to focus on to achieve that given goal. If you aren't prepared to do the research on your own, you may want to do research on hiring a personal trainer to at least help you kick start your goals.

If you weren't sure what medication you needed to take to cure a specific ailment, most of you wouldn't hop on a website and take something based on someone's "expert" opinion...so why would you take the same risk with your health and fitness?

2 comments:

  1. Hi Wynter. :) Long time no see! Currently i dont take any post workout supplements other than real food. should i begin to take a protein shake after my workout?

    Also, I have decreased my steady state cardio and replaced it with shorter duration intervals. Can i do intervals everyday?? or is that too much for my body?

    Thanks you are the man :) (for some reason my post posted under dannys name... weird!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Carolina the Destroyer! To answer your first question -if you don't think (or you know) you aren't getting adequate protein in your diet, protein powder is a good supplement. It is always better to get protein from food sources, but you can only do the best you can! Like most things, doing your due diligence on different types and favors is key, as the cheaper proteins are of a lesser quality than the more expensive ones. Depending on your health history, you should also check sodium and cholesterol levels in certain proteins. There is a website, truenutrition.com, that allows you to select exactly what goes into your protein and has a choice of flavor. The price is comparable to a protein you'd buy in a store.

    ReplyDelete