Personal Training
Is this you?
You’ve checked out the facilities, you’ve compared prices and you’ve decided to hand over your hard-earned cash for a new membership. Then you make the commitment to yourself to get up at the crack of dawn two or three times per week to get into the gym before work. This is it, you’re finally going to get fit!
Then a month or two has passed but…nothing’s happening? Well at least not that you can see or feel. So what’s going on?
Well the blunt truth is that more than likely you have no idea what you are doing in the gym. Getting fit isn’t rocket science but it does take some knowledge to get there. And the reality is you’ve already done the hard part by committing time each week to it….the next step is knowing what to do. The magic happens when commitment and knowledge are applied and you start to feel better, look better and all of a sudden you realise….hey, this fitness lark is actually pretty cool.
When you’re unfit, the concept of being fit is only a concept and you generally don’t see it as a reality. But when you’re fit, you never want to lose it because you start to learn that being fit is great! You have more energy, more enthusiasm, more confidence and in general, daily life is easier.
Learn
Now, back to the knowledge component. Are you aware of what sets and reps are? Do you know the best rep range for building strength or muscular endurance? Have you heard of ROM aka Range of motion and why full ROM is important when resistance training? Do you know what intensity you need to run or cycle at to increase your cardio vascular endurance? How long do you hold a stretch after you’ve trained? Do you even know why this is relevant? Have you answered no to most of the above questions? Then the next paragraph is of upmost importance for you.
Not knowing the answers to the above questions means that there is probably a lot about fitness that you are unaware of or don’t understand. So, what should you do? It’s simple, get help!
Get an Induction
When joining a gym, the first thing you should ask is for a quick induction. This will entail a member of the gym team giving you a tour of the equipment and a run through of how things work. Now is your chance to ask some simple questions such as how often should I train if my goal is X. Or what should I focus on if I want to X.
What Next?
From here you should also enquire if your gym does a free assessment and training programme. This is a great starting point on your fitness journey because now you can have a proper one to one with the gym instructor and tell them about your fitness goals. After this they will write you up your own gym programme and meet with you again to run through the programme to teach you proper technique and form on each exercise. Use this time effectively by asking any follow up questions you may have. Now is time to unleash your inner two-year-old and keep asking…. “what’s that?” & “why”. A beginner’s gym programme is perfect to keep you going for approximately 12 weeks after this you should look at changing things up a bit.
This is then where personal training comes in. Personal training is for anyone with a specific goal in mind, someone involved in sports, a person with past injuries that needs specialised coaching and also for anyone that has been training for a while but is feeling their progress stall.
Personal Training is just that, it’s you and the coach working together to get you towards your goal. Personal training used to be something for the rich and famous but now it’s affordable, accessible and is a fast way to make all your goals achievable!