Is that excersize/fitness/nutrition is an extremely individual thing. PT's can kick ur butt into gear, but the real key is getting to know what really works for you personally.
Anyone agree???
Anyone agree???
The real problem with PT's...
- Thread starter Faster_stronger_better
- Start date
100%! There are so many other things that can affect fitness goals that it would be naive of someone to think that just hiring a PT is going to solve your problems.
No, that's not the real problem with PT's. The real problem is that 9/10 of us are arrogant, dimwitted douchebags who don't pay enough attention to what our clients are actually doing and perve on all the other gym members instead. And we got our certifications off the back of a cereal box.
Personalised exercise programming (and, to a lesser extent, nutrition) is exactly what PT's are supposed to do. Failure to do this is failure as a PT in my books. A PT should know how to train you for strength, size, fat loss, endurance and cardiovascular fitness as a bare minimum. A PT should be able to give general nutritional advice for each goal as a bare minimum. A PT should be able to spot noticeable postural issues and provide programming that doesn't exascerbate the problem as a bare minimum, and ideally should be able to give corrective exercise programming. A PT should know good exercise technique on the main lifts, and understand what generally defines good technique (which is the balance of optimal efficiency and minimal risk), as a bare minimum. A PT who lacks basic comptency in these areas got ripped off when they did their course to become a PT.
Personalised exercise programming (and, to a lesser extent, nutrition) is exactly what PT's are supposed to do. Failure to do this is failure as a PT in my books. A PT should know how to train you for strength, size, fat loss, endurance and cardiovascular fitness as a bare minimum. A PT should be able to give general nutritional advice for each goal as a bare minimum. A PT should be able to spot noticeable postural issues and provide programming that doesn't exascerbate the problem as a bare minimum, and ideally should be able to give corrective exercise programming. A PT should know good exercise technique on the main lifts, and understand what generally defines good technique (which is the balance of optimal efficiency and minimal risk), as a bare minimum. A PT who lacks basic comptency in these areas got ripped off when they did their course to become a PT.
I do some work as a PT and the biggest problem is that people hire them without really having thought about what they want to get from it. Like Goldfish says, a good PT will take you through personalised instruction.
Like all things in life I think we need to take ownership of these things rather than just hire someone to solve our problems for us. I've turned away plenty of clients and suggested that they weren't ready for coaching yet.
But there are a lot of crappy PT's out there - mainly because the industry is so poorly regulated.
Like all things in life I think we need to take ownership of these things rather than just hire someone to solve our problems for us. I've turned away plenty of clients and suggested that they weren't ready for coaching yet.
But there are a lot of crappy PT's out there - mainly because the industry is so poorly regulated.
I've worked with several personal trainers in the 7 years that I've been in fitness and I only had only one incompetent trainer. But I have learned a lot through all the trainers that have trained me and my own personal experience. I think PT's don't ask enough questions when they obtain clients and that's a biggie for me. I want to really get to know my clients not just their fitness goals aside, but my clients as people and treating them as such and not just as numbers. When I train someone I'm a big stickler for form not just how many reps done. Nutrition is different for everyone depending on one's fitness goals and that's where asking a lot of questions comes into play is to get an idea of what their diet is like. I have my clients do a food journal.
One of the biggest problems that I have ran into is giving my clients the right tools for their goals and then blame me for them not getting the results that they wanted. PT's can only give their clients the right tools to reach goals and the rest is up to the client. I just had to let go of a client recently all because she wasn't doing her part in commiting in showing up for the agreed scheduled sessions. It all boils down as she didn't know what she wanted and her actions told me that she didn't want to reach her goals bad enough. Let's just say she was all talk and no action. A PT can only do so much and it's not a PT's job to babysit certain clients who either are not motivated to reach their fitness goals or make sure that their clients eat right. The client has a responsibility to follow through with showing up to agreed scheduled sessions on time and take the workouts seriously and those are things that I expect out of my clients. And if they don't want to meet up with my expectations then they are wasting my time and I have to turn them down or let them go. As a PT I don't have time for games of any kind. The motto that I live by is "Excuses are not an option."
One of the biggest problems that I have ran into is giving my clients the right tools for their goals and then blame me for them not getting the results that they wanted. PT's can only give their clients the right tools to reach goals and the rest is up to the client. I just had to let go of a client recently all because she wasn't doing her part in commiting in showing up for the agreed scheduled sessions. It all boils down as she didn't know what she wanted and her actions told me that she didn't want to reach her goals bad enough. Let's just say she was all talk and no action. A PT can only do so much and it's not a PT's job to babysit certain clients who either are not motivated to reach their fitness goals or make sure that their clients eat right. The client has a responsibility to follow through with showing up to agreed scheduled sessions on time and take the workouts seriously and those are things that I expect out of my clients. And if they don't want to meet up with my expectations then they are wasting my time and I have to turn them down or let them go. As a PT I don't have time for games of any kind. The motto that I live by is "Excuses are not an option."
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