What You Need To Know About Fitness Goals And Why
Most Fitness Professionals know that as every New Year approaches, people begin to think about the importance of exercising as it relates to weight-loss and overall health. Many New Year's resolutions are made to start an exercise program or increase one's level of physical activity. According to International Health, Racquet, and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA), more than 12 percent of gym members join in January when compared with the average of 8.3 percent per month for the full year. New gym memberships also show an increase in March as people start to focus on the way they want to look for the summer months.
As a qualified Fitness Professional that works as a Personal Trainer in a corporate gym, it is amazing to determine how many gym members try to achieve their fitness goals on their own own with minimum familiarity with sometimes even the way to operate the machines they choose to use. In many cases members count on friends that they deem "in shape" or "fit" to help them reach the perceived amount of fitness success they might have, with no real science behind their exercise routines or programming. What almost all people fail to realize is that the main difference in someone's body type can often have an effect on how their body responds to the same exercise done by someone else with a different body type.
Other than consulting with a health care professional ahead of starting any exercise program, it is also essential that an initial fitness assessment be conducted by a qualified Fitness Professional. This assessment should take into account someone's health, fitness background, current amount of activity, previous injuries, surgeries, medications being taken and any limitations or specific recommendations given by a medical professional. These important factors about a person are essential to a Fitness Professional just before any exercise program design. An "in shape" friend with no education or information about a scientific approach to exercising will most likely not do an initial assessment and could unintentionally coach their friend into a possible injury as a result of this neglect.
The perception of what constitutes an excellent personal trainer is subjective. A lot of people when they consider employing a personal trainer do not exactly determine what attributes they will want to look for.
Perhaps you end up in a similar position-is selecting a trainer about personality, age, or gender? Is it about job mentality or similar fitness ideals? What should potential clients must know about the person they choose? Are there "deal-breaker" questions? Does it matter if a trainer doesn't actually possess any education in exercise fitness, physiology, or nutrition? In case you are in the market for a personal fitness trainer, get answers for yourself and hire the trainer with the answers that most closely match the next suggestions.
To begin with, fitness trainers are not workout buddies. Rather, a professional trainer listens to your personal needs and official statement goals; assesses your health and fitness; designs a means of tracking your progress; motivates, pushes, or otherwise inspires you to keep moving forward; and after that creates or builds a program specifically for you. The amount of expertise, professional training, and education required by these tasks is nothing to sneeze at. Ask your trainer should they are a certified fitness trainer. Some respectable certification fitness associations include ISSA, the national Academy of Sports Medicine and also the National Strength and Conditioning Association. If your potential trainer is a qualified Strength and Conditioning Specialist or a Health Fitness Specialist and CPR certified, you are off to a great start.
What about college? As always, it's possible to be an authorized trainer without a four-year major in a health, fitness, and/or wellness program. Still, any preliminary or additional college-level education certainly takes a prospective trainer up a notch or two above the competition. Additionally, trainers who get looking forward to fitness-oriented seminars, training opportunities, and/or alternate industry certifications should be kept on the potential trainer list. If they are interested in bettering themselves they are probably genuinely excited about bettering you and your fitness too.
Why all of the hoopla about record keeping and accountability? The ability to track a client's progress in a concrete, easy-to-understand way often separates the great personal fitness trainers from the great ones. It's not as easy as it sounds. Ask a trainer how he/she plans to map your fitness. Will you get copies of workouts to take home and do on your own? Will the trainer make use of a computer program to track your progress? Get a clear image of how training will "look" with anyone you are serious about hiring. If a trainer can't provide you with a clear, concise response to these questions (or better nevertheless, show you actual examples of model workouts, readouts, etc.) take them out of the running.
Lastly, how serious is your trainer about you? Does this trainer give undivided attention to you throughout the personal time you pay for? Or does he/she speak to other gym members while you struggle throughout the last chin-up, lose count of reps and/or come unprepared to train you ("Let's just wing it today..."). You health and fitness is important to you. It should be very important to your trainer too.
