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Will Your Personal Trainer Help You Achieve Your Goals?
Hiring a personal trainer can be a significant investment - even with hourly rates differing vastly across regions and countries - you are still paying a fair amount of money for the expert knowledge that will help you achieve your health and fitness goals and look after one of, if not, THE most important assets you have - your body. So how should you choose a personal trainer and what are the things you need to look out for, ask them and receive from them? First and foremost, you MUST ensure your personal trainer is fully and properly qualified. This means they should hold, at the very least, the following: A CPR certification - if you do have any accidents or problems your personal trainer must know how to deal with them and ensure your safety to the best of their ability. A recognised personal training qualification - this obviously differs from country to country and there are only a few internationally-recognised qualifications. Most countries have a self-regulating body - in the UK this is REPS (the Register of Exercise Professionals) and you should ensure your personal trainer is registered here before you even consider hiring them. If in doubt, ask your trainer which qualifications they have - most won't be offended but will be keen to show them off. Once you are satisfied they hold the necessary qualifications, here are a few pointers to look out for. A 'good' versus a 'bad' personal trainer should: 1. Carry out initial health & fitness assessments. You should be asked to complete a PAR-Q (Physical Activity Readiness questionnaire) at a minimum and your trainer should perform some basic tests such as weight, blood pressure, perhaps body composition, girth measurements, lung capacity and aerobic fitness or strength. This is essential if you want to know whether what you've paid them has been worth it - if you can't see the progress or differences working with a trainer has made because they forgot to measure a baseline when you started with them, then although you may feel fitter, slimmer or stronger you won't have hard facts & figures to prove it. 2. Discuss your goals with you and adjust any unrealistic expectations you may have. To get your business, a trainer may promise that you will lose half a stone of fat in 2 weeks or you'll get the body of your dreams in a month even though you've never exercised before and are 3 stone overweight - this does you no good. You will have unrealistic expectations & goals from the outset and will be much more likely to become de-motivated & disillusioned when you realise you haven't lost a stone in a week. Whilst a good trainer will not discourage you from your ultimate goals, they should at least educate you on the realistic progressions you are likely to make. 3. Design a programme that is tailored especially to your needs and your body. This may sound obvious but I have seen plenty of trainers run through identical training sessions with every one of their clients. This ties in with the first point - if they haven't completed assessments & initial tests on you, then they won't know what your individual needs are. You are paying them to provide you with a fully customised service - that's why it's called 'personal'. 4. Track your progress at every session - you may not see them carrying a clipboard or doing this during the session but your trainer should know when they need to adjust your programme and what adjustments to make. If they've been winging your sessions and haven't been planning & tracking your progress, how will they know what adjustments to make after a few weeks? 5. Show you how to exercise safely & correctly - again this may seem a given but if your trainer gives you a programme and then just leaves you to it, they are putting you at risk and not only will you probably struggle to achieve your goals without their attention, you may even injure yourself. Similarly, even if they are supervising you, they should constantly be giving you tips, adjustments or even just positive affirmations that you are performing your exercises correctly - not watching the sport on TV or chatting to other staff & clients. 6. Advise you on your diet & nutrition. Exercise is only part of the equation - a good personal trainer will ensure they are also taking a look at your dietary needs to compliment your training programme and ensure you are eating the right things, at the right times to achieve your goals. All of the above are nothing however, if you don't actually get on with your personal trainer! They may be the most highly qualified person you can find - but if spending an hour with them (sometimes 3 times a week) is like spending an hour in the dentist's chair or worse, then you probably aren't going to get the full benefit of working with a trainer. They don't have to be your best buddy, just ensure that you feel comfortable with them, can trust them and that you do enjoy your sessions - in a masochistic kind of way! Lea Woodward is a qualified personal trainer and director of activOne ltd in the UK. activOne provides personal training, diet & nutrition advice and massage therapy to private clients & corporate wellbeing services in the UK as well as virtual training to clients worldwide. Check out the website http://www.activone.co.uk or http://www.activone.com
Latest News:Site: Yahoo! News Search Results for news News Corp exec becomes chief of Germany's Premiere (Reuters via Yahoo! News) News Corp's chief financial officer for Europe and Asia has been named chief executive of German pay television group Premiere, following the resignation of Michael Boernicke, Premiere said on Wednesday. News Corporation to redevelop London Wapping site (Reuters via Yahoo! News) Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is to redevelop its Wapping site in London, moving all its UK businesses, including News International, Harper Collins, MySpace and Dow Jones, under one roof. DeJesus, Royals sad at Sweeney news (MLB.com) DeJesus, Royals sad at Sweeney news Tribune blames Google for damaging news story (Market Watch) SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tribune Co. said Wednesday that the mistaken online publishing of an old news story that cratered UAL Corp.'s stock price earlier this week was because of a repeated technology failure at Google Inc. UPI NewsTrack Entertainment News (UPI) Chesney nominated for 7 CMAs ... Hoffman: I'm not playing Penguin ... 'RocknRolla' No. 1 at U.K. box office ... Jessica Simpson stops song on 'GMA' ... News from United Press International. DailyMe: News tailored to your individual tastes (The Christian Science Monitor) Column: Custom news websites come and go, but this one gets it right. Get the latest news in racing (Daily Racing Form) In order to read Daily Racing Form's free daily news stories it is required that you have a DRF.com free membership. If you do not have a DRF.com free membership, please register here . You will NOT need to be logged in to read each day's free news stories. Newport News police in standoff with man, possibly armed (The Virginian-Pilot) NEWPORT NEWS Newport News police are involved in a standoff with a man inside an apartment who may have a gun, police said. A detective went to an apartment in the 500 block of 19th Street to try to serve a warrant on a suspect, said Officer Lou Thurston, a police spokesman. AIS adds news video to services (Bangkok Post - Thailand's English news) Advanced Info Service (AIS) is introducing real-time news video clips over mobile phones, aiming to make its news content services a flagship source of non-voice revenue. Kyodo News agency says three inmates executed (AP via Yahoo! Malaysia News) Kyodo News agency says three death-row inmates have been executed in Japan. Site: news - Google News New Voices in Congress Will Change the Tone of the Democratic Majority - New York Times
MORE RESOURCES: Site: Yahoo! News Search Results for exercise Fort Jackson terror exercise canceled (The State) Army officials have canceled a training exercise at Fort Jackson testing soldiers? ability to deal with dozens of injuries after a terrorist attack. Forecasts calling for thunderstorms and lightning Wednesday prompted the cancellation because much of the activity was supposed to take place in open fields at the base, a spokeswoman for the Army said. Dozens of mock casualties were to be ... Santa Clara County plans emergency responder training exercise (San Jose Mercury News) A large-scale, multi-jurisdictional emergency response training exercise is planned for Thursday at the DePaul Medical Center in Morgan Hill. Many with 'fat' gene may need exercise (UPI) MIAMI, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- More than half of all people of European descent have one or two copies of a "fat" gene variation, but lots of exercise may help, researchers say. Aerobic exercise for the wheelchair-bound (EurekAlert!) ( University of Texas at Austin, Electrical & Computer Engineering ) Simple exercise machine makes it fun for wheelchair users to fight high obesity, diabetes and heart disease rates. In Ramadan, Jordan TV campaign urges holy month observers to try healthy eating, exercise (AM New York) AMMAN, Jordan (AP) _ The public-service TV ads deliver a cheerful, yet pointed, message to Muslims observing Ramadan's traditional dawn to dusk fast: "Don't overeat" when night comes. "Exercise and stay healthy." Canadian ships arrives to exercise with Indian Navy (Islamic Republic News Agency) India - Canada - Navy Exercise Two Canadian warships will be visiting Indian waters for four days from Wednesday and carry out an exercise in the sea off the Chennai coast on Saturday. Community-based exercise organizations can help prevent diabetes (New Kerala) Washington, Sept 10 : A study conducted at the YMCA has shown that community-based exercise organizations can help in preventing diabetes. Training exercise on Whittington Drive (The Peterborough Examiner) The Peterborough Lakefield Community Police Service Emergency Response Team is conducting a training exercise in the area of Whittington Drive. This is a training exercise only and the public is not at risk. Exercise Tips for Success (Carteret County News-Times) (ARA) - Everybody knows that exercise is good. Doctors have told us for years that exercise can help us lose weight, look better, feel better, and even sleep better. However, exercise sounds like work, and many of us claim that we just don't have time to add more work to our daily lives. Wearable Fitbit automatically tracks your exercise routines (Engadget) Filed under: Misc. Gadgets , Wearables Although the world already has a set of headphones that encourages you to work out , the newly announced Fitbit is just a hair more sophisticated. Designed to be worn or carried around in a spare pocket, the personal tracker is about the size of a standard flash drive and includes a built-in motion sensor to keep tabs on "exercise intensity ... Site: exercise - Google News Ask the Trainer: Add exercise to your efforts to stop smoking - Sheboygan Press
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