Personal Trainer Appointment Today - Question Suggestions

[carres1973]

For my fellow "know-it-alls":

The gym I belong to offers two free personal training appointments for all members. I am just now going to take advantage and have my first appointment this afternoon at 5:30. The gentleman asked that I come with a towel, water, and two goals that I want to accomplish in the next 10-14 months. I have all that. I also want to make the most use of my time and go with a list of questions. I have the following questions on my list. Do you think they are too specific? What else should I ask? My goal is to lose weight and improve cardiovascular fitness. Do these questions fit in line with that?

1. Over the past year, I have lost and then gained the same 10 pounds. I have been focusing on heavy weight training for the past 6 months. Should I switch to endurance or circuit type workouts to encourage weight loss?
2. Light weights vs. heavy weights – which is better for weight loss? I enjoy gaining strength and enjoy heavy weight training but does it cause water retention and hence weight gain?
3. What percentage of a person’s 1RM should they use for different lifting style workouts? For example, what percentage should I use for endurance type workouts as opposed to heavy lifting where I would be at 80-90%?

Carrie

 

[LauraMax]

Where is Laura (the buff Laura) when you need her? I made a similar post a few mos. ago & she gave me a long list of Qs. I'll see if I can find it.

Ah, I found her questions in an email. Here they are (sorry if I'm stealing from you Laura, I know you're a bit busy at the moment):

1. How much experience does the trainer have? What are her/his credentials? How long have s/he been training?
2. Have you witnessed the trainer training his/her clients in the gym? How "present" is s/he? Meaning: does s/he focus solely on the client or does s/he spend time talking to other trainers/people in the gym?
3. What type of progress has her/his other clients made--think of progress in terms of what are/were the client's goals rather than weight loss as some people need/want sport-specific training, muscle definition, or muscle gain rather than fat loss.
4. Ask for a set of references (see example attached). If the trainer gets defensive, there's your answer about her/him. Absolutely follow-up and interview the clients on the reference list.
5. What is the cancellation policy? Does s/he have insurance?
6. Do you honestly think that the trainer can teach you more than what you've learned from Cathe or on you own? What is it that you don't know about that you want to learn? Can you possibly learn it from the folks on the Cathe forum?
7. Will the trainer "empower" or "enable" you? My opinion on this is that trainers should help clients learn exactly what they need and then set them free--maybe check in for a hard core session when necessary. Any trainer who enables clients to be unable to navigate the gym and program for themselves is not a "good" trainer.
8. Will the trainer listen to your concerns?
9. What is the trainer's fitness philosophy (see mine attached). Does it match yours? Do they think that fitness can be fun? Do they advocate for some funky diet/exercises?
10. What do they look like? Do they actually look like they workout?
11. Is safety a concern? Do they ever demonstrate wierd exercises that seem unsafe?
12. Do you "like" them? Will they be fun, respectful, positive, optimistic...about your progress? Do you look forward to seeing her/him?

 

[carres1973]

Thanks Laura! I am also going to ask around at the gym. There are several trainers. The one I happened to get booked with seems to be a "social butterfly" as opposed to into his client. I don't want to let a bad first appointment put me off personal training.

Carrie

 

[Lynn M.]

Hi-

Laura Max gave you an excellent list... the only other thing I can add to hers is that it is definitely good to watch that trainer w/ their other clients before you sign on w/ him or her.

If you don't like their style, ie they talk too much, don't pay attention to you and talk to other members, or appear to give everybody the same "one size fits all" set of exercises, find somebody else.

I'm pretty hard on personal trainers.. between all of the knowledge I get from this site, athe additional research I do on my own, and with it not being my paid profession, I feel they should know much more than I do and have a bigger passion for it. Hopefully the trainer you select will be that way. Its alot of time and money invested for you if you aren't getting that.

Take care, Lynn M.

 

[lcobb2]

Go with LauraMax. She's on it. I'm certifieid and have been training clients for 3+ years.

Sorry so short. I have an infant who is HUNGRY!!!

For my fellow "know-it-alls":

The gym I belong to offers two free personal training appointments for all members. I am just now going to take advantage and have my first appointment this afternoon at 5:30. The gentleman asked that I come with a towel, water, and two goals that I want to accomplish in the next 10-14 months. I have all that. I also want to make the most use of my time and go with a list of questions. I have the following questions on my list. Do you think they are too specific? What else should I ask? My goal is to lose weight and improve cardiovascular fitness. Do these questions fit in line with that?

1. Over the past year, I have lost and then gained the same 10 pounds. I have been focusing on heavy weight training for the past 6 months. Should I switch to endurance or circuit type workouts to encourage weight loss?
2. Light weights vs. heavy weights – which is better for weight loss? I enjoy gaining strength and enjoy heavy weight training but does it cause water retention and hence weight gain?
3. What percentage of a person’s 1RM should they use for different lifting style workouts? For example, what percentage should I use for endurance type workouts as opposed to heavy lifting where I would be at 80-90%?

Carrie

 

[carres1973]

Thank you to everyone for their ideas. I had my first free session last evening. For weight training he basically told me everything I already know...muscle confusion, change up the program every 4-6 weeks, etc. For cardio he said that interval training was NOT the way to go (I showed him some of my CC and iTrain workouts). He said interval training burns muscle and steady state was really the way to go for fat loss. I am not sure I agree with that. His main emphasis was on weight training. Little to no emphasis was paid to nutrition. In fact, he drew a pyramid of what was important for fat loss. At the bottom of the pyramid (most important) was strength training. in the middle was cardio. At the top (least important) was nutrition. I know, for me, nutrition is the most important. I was trying to tell him that and tell him that I had workouts down and changed things up, tried different things, etc. He just kept going on about strength training. While I know strength training is important, I also know I need to change my relationship with food and improve my choices. Unfortunately, he did not seem to think that was important. THEN - he starts the pressure sale to get me to sign into a contract. He basically guaranteed that if I follow his plan, I could be at my goal weight and BF percentage by this time next year. I am thinking if that's the case, maybe I will sign up...until I saw the price. It is $156/month! That is for only one session per week. For me, in the market I live in (northeast Ohio), I think that is A LOT of money. It seems especially a lot since his emphasis will be on strength training and I am utilizing STS, CLX and have P90X. Couple that with the fact that he was more interested in watching the cute girls in spandex then pay attention to our appointment!! At this point, I don't think I am going to sign with the group. Maybe if I need new workout ideas, or need someone to push me...and after I come into some money!

Carrie