What's A Personal Trainer All About?

Most of the personal training I do takes place at a local college.

Today I was lucky enough to spend some time at the school's annual health and fitness expo. I had a chance to schmooze with students, faculty and staff.

During my 4.5 hours at this expo, I was asked the same question 3 or 4 times:

As a trainer, do you put together a routine first, then spend the rest of the sessions implementing that program?

I was really surprised by the frequency of this question.

Now to be fair, I have no idea how an architect works, so I might ask, "So, do you draw the buildings first, then spend the rest of the time coloring in the walls?"

For anyone who ever wondered, "Is a trainer for me? Should I spend the money on a trainer?"—
here is a rough description of what I actually do. ( I can't speak for all trainers, because our methodologies might be different.)

1. Assessment
I always start with an assessment to determine the client's physical strengths and weaknesses. The assessment includes muscular strength, muscular endurance, blood pressure, resting heart rate, working heart rate, body fat percentage and flexibility.


2. Goals
Once all of the data is in, I review the client's goals, which can include any one or more of the following : weight loss, muscle building, correction of a muscular imbalance, helping to lower blood pressure or cholesterol, toning, improving flexibility or balance.

3. Plan of Attack
Now all this data is in, I can put together a plan of attack based on the client's needs and desires. I then give my clients homework, which consists of general health guidelines and dietary guidelines I want them to follow to assist us on this project. By doing this, that means my time with my client is spent shaping, toning and sculpting as we start to change her/his body.


Clients don't need me to look over their shoulder as they do cardio on the treadmill. Nor do they need me just counting reps for them. Instead of counting reps, I watch every rep to check for proper form and proper breathing. I need to know the exact moment a client loses focus or when the form of the exercise suffers. It's all about safety and isolating the correct muscles.

While doing all of this, I also need to be aware that not every client can perform the same exercise. That means I need to have up my sleeve at all times multiple exercises that can target the muscular response I am looking for, in order to guarantee my client the results that she/he are paying for (and deserve to receive).

Now that you have a better understanding into what a personal trainer actually does for a client, I hope this will help you decide if you want to hire a trainer to assist you in achieving your fitness goals.

Looking For a Great Supplement?

Look no further: the best supplement available you probably are not taking is a multivitamin.

Let's consider why we take supplements:

• Help us break down the nutrients we get from food
  

• Add to our diets the vitamins and minerals we may be lacking

Now let's look at some of the benefits we can yield by taking the right vitamins.  (Keep in mind I don't have room here for everything that is worth mentioning, but at least we can get a jump-start.)

• Vitamin B1 helps release energy from carbohydrates during metabolism: growth and muscle tone
• Vitamin B2 helps the body release energy from protein, fat and carbohydrates during metabolism
• Vitamin B6 helps build body tissue and aids in metabolism of protein
• Vitamin B12 aids cell development, functioning of the nervous system, and the metabolism of fat and protein
• Biotin helps metabolize protein, fats and carbohydrates
• Niacin is involved in carbohydrate protein and fat metabolism
• Pantothenic acid helps release energy from from fats and carbohydrates

These are just a few examples taken from the ACE personal trainer manual.

So — the next time you are shopping, do your body a favor and take a serious look at some multivitamins.

Next: vitamins that aid in blood flow, blood vessel health and bone health.

Exercise: An Important Lifelong Practice

Being a 50-year-old father of three, I can tell you the world now is a much more competitive place than it was when I was in school.  

There are high school students with 4.3 and 4.5 grade point averages not being accepted to their first choices of college. Back when I was in school, there was no such thing as an above 4.0 grade point average.

We need our children to remain focused and stress-free throughout their day in order to keep them on the road to success. As parents, we can help by ensuring our children receive proper nutrition, sufficient rest and daily exercise.

If we can do these things for our children, here are some benefits they receive as a result:

• Nutrition: vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals are essential for proper physiological body function. This aids in cleansing the liver and kidneys and holding proper hydration levels in our cells -- plus, they provide cancer-fighting abilities and build healthy immune systems.
• Rest: repairs the body from the daily grind we call life. This allows the body to manufacture amino acids for muscle repair. Proper rest also aids in keeping us alert and dexterous.
• Exercise: burns more calories to help maintain a healthy body mass index (BMI). Create better lung capacity for better blood and oxygen flow. Exercise also makes the heart strong and healthy.

Aside from these immediate benefits, our children also get healthy life style habits that will carry on to adult hood.

We are responsible for bestowing upon them these practices for a healthy lifestyle, so let's do it right.

Coming Soon: Sports Tips

Coming soon!
Sports Tips

If you have questions on how to improve the mechanics of a sport, or a particular muscle group for a specific sport related movement, feel free to submit your questions or concerns on the blog site — either via e-mail or as comments to existing blogs.

All inquiries are welcome.

The Importance of Cardiovascular Training

Not to long ago, a client of mine had a great epiphany: two hours of cardio per day makes for a healthy person.

When I asked him how he came to that conclusion, he told me how much healthier he was when he was running 10-plus miles a day in the snow wearing shorts.

Now, I am not telling you to go run in the snow, but this client is definitely on to something. Let's take a look at what two hours of cardiovascular exercise can do for you.

• Increased lung capacity for better oxygenation of the blood.
  
• Healthier heart pumps more blood with better efficiency.
• More oxygen rich blood delivered to the cells and organs.
• Healthier cells and organs means better detoxification of the body.
• Metabolism increases when the body is properly rid of toxins.
• Increased metabolism makes weight loss becomes easier, prevents us from getting sick easily and keeps us from becoming easily fatigued during the day.
  
• Feeling less fatigued during the day means we have a positive mood enhancement.
• Mood enhancement gives us better relationships (work and social).
• Better relationships makes us a happier people.

So, the next time you wonder why you are —or are not —working out, remember the importance of cardiovascular training.

Gain More: Slow Down Your Reps

Looking for better gains? Try going slow.

Slowing your reps down is a great training technique for those exercises that are otherwise difficult to isolate the proper muscles.

Slowing down allows you to squeeze the muscle better at the top of the contraction, which works the desired muscle a bit harder.

Slowing down also recruits more muscle fibers. In the long run, this will make you stronger, so you will be able to lift a bit more.

Slowing down aids in avoiding injuries. If you are not throwing the weights, you won't have to worry about pulling or tearing muscles.

Next time in the gym try slowing down your reps to a 7-second count(3 seconds on the concentric contraction and four seconds on the eccentric).  I think you'll agree you will get a more thorough work out.  If you are already using this count and you still need more gains, try 10 second reps: 10 seconds up and 10 seconds down.

This makes for a very challenging workout, but here is a hint: use a a slightly lighter weight when lifting this slow. Chances are, you will not be able to lift the same weight at slower speeds.

Training Shoulders Properly

I am seeing more shoulder injuries every day, and I firmly believe this is the result of improper lifting.  Let's consider the rotator cuff and look at what exercises can help strengthen and protect it while lifting.

I gave a brief description of the rotator cuff and its function last spring, so let's recap: rotator cuff muscles are responsible for keeping the glenohumeral joint in place during shoulder depression.

Here's how that works.  During a shoulder press, the rotator cuff group takes over as we lower our arms and as our elbows drop below 90 degrees. We hold the weight there for a second then we start our lift upward.  The bottom end of this lift is also more rotator (supraspinatus) than middle deltoid. The supraspinatus is a much smaller muscle than the middle deltoid and, therefore, can't take the same amount of stress.

Remember, also, that rotator cuff muscles are part of the shoulder girdle, and three of the four rotator cuff muscles originate behind the scapula.

For as much shoulder lifting as we do, we have to remember to treat our rotator cuff muscles as a separate muscle group. I have found very few people perform specific exercises for their rotator cuff muscles.

Here are a few tips on how to safely strengthen your rotator cuff muscles:

• With light weight, practice a shoulder press from the very bottom position: elbows at your side and hands by your shoulders.
• Using a band or light dumbbell, keep your elbow tight to your body and move your arm from your stomach to the outside of your body.
• Lift light dumbbells and, with elbows bent, lift the weights parallell to the floor. Then slowly rotate the weights upward from the shoulder.
• Include rows and rear delt exercises in your workout. This way, the rhomboids and rear deltoids assist in keeping the scapula in place — which in turn aids in keeping the rotators in place.

Protect your rotator cuffs by exercising properly.  Repairing is time-consuming, costly and never guaranteed, so avoid injuries in the first place.