Finding the RIGHT trainer for you!

[Jean-Paul]

Finding a trainer can be a real chore. Some areas of the country they are VERY expensive. Also, unfortunately, flakes are ubiquitous in this industry, as they are with massage therapists and hair stylists. But on the off chance you find that rare gem who loves what he does, knows what he is talking about, isn't misguided or a self-absorbed self-proclaimed "guru", then snap him/her up! Find out as much as you can about them before going in to interview them. Trainers can get reputations for being great or for other things. Narrow it down to the top 5 trainers (by reputation) and set up appointments to speak with them. I would ask them a few questions to find out if they are right for you.

1. Is this your full-time job?
Many trainers are "part-time" trainers by evening, used car salesmen by day. Find someone who has made a career out of fitness. It shows that they are more committed to their chosen field. How many part time neuro-surgeons do you see out there?

2. What is your basic philosophy on fitness?
First of all, if the trainer can actually spell the word philosophy, they get extra points! Okay, that was mean. You want to see where they are coming from. Do they think you should avoid squatting because it makes your legs look too big? Run for the hills as fast as you can. If they base their philosophy on meeting the client where they are fitness-wise, and they tend to take a more "holistic" approach to fitness, they might be worth working with. Holistic can have negative connotations in my book... I'm thinking of some "guru" who also wants to be your spiritual guide--not THAT holistic, okay? Just someone who takes into account your HEALTH as well as your appearance. I personally tell clients that I am more interested in their health first. Putting looks first is putting the cart before the horse, as it were. You can take shortcuts for appearance, and they aren't always healthy, and never permanent. If you get healthy, you will feel good and you will look great as a side-effect.

3. What is your background/education?
It helps to know that your trainer is qualified. A piece of paper doesn't give them that by itself, but it certainly helps give them credibility if they have made that level of commitment. If they have spent 4 years in college or more in grad school then they are hopefully well prepared. Don't let this be the only criteria by which you select your trainer, because there are still trainers out there with impressive educational credentials that can't train their way out of a wet paper bag. This is just one of many important things that they should have if they are going to be your personal trainer. On top of that, what other background do they have? How long have they been at this? You want someone with experience preferably, but that doesn't mean you should rule out young new trainers all together. If they have a good education and they are trying to make a name for themselves, that may put them in your price range, and you may end up with a really great trainer.

4. Are you certified and with whom?
Don't even waste your time with them if they aren't serious enough about training to bother getting certified. Just like the education, the certification doesn't make the trainer, but if they don't have the inclination to at least get some kind of professional association, then they are worth even finishing the interview. If they are certified, check to see if it is a nationally recognized certification, like NSCA, ACE, ACSM, NFPT, AFAA, NASM, ISSA, etc. An especially good certification is the CSCS, which you can only get from NSCA, but it can only be attained if you have a degree in a fitness related field. I personally have met some pretty impressive trainers with the CSCS, and it is becoming the gold standard in the industry.

5. What is your style/approach to clients?
Find someone who listens (VERY important). If they spend more time telling you about how many pro bodybuilders they have trained, or dropping big names of celebrity clients, rather than gathering information about you to figure out how they can best help you achieve your goals, politely tell them that you are very impressed, and that you will call them when you make a decision. Also, generally avoid the trainers who use the whole military schtik. Some people need a drill-sergeant. MOST don't. If they are a retired green-beret and you are a working mom, you may not be too compatible with them. Most people would just like someone who is motivated and conscientious. You can push people and not accept excuses without being an overbearing ass. You will know pretty early in the interview if they will make your workout all about them, or all about you. Don't just settle for some soft-speaking trainer who is afraid to make you work either. You aren't going to reach your goals without EFFORT!

6. (This question is for yourself) Does your potential trainer LOOK like they practice what they preach?
Don't settle for some trainer who is sporting a substantial gut. This seems like a no-brainer, but somehow those trainers still manage to sucker people into training with them. They don't have to look like escapees from the cover of Mens Health or Shape, but they ought to have some nice muscle tone. It doesn't hurt anything if they are pleasant to look at though. They may possess the right information in their heads, but if they are too easy on themselves for their nutritional or exercise shortcomings, then they may roll over when you tell them you are tired instead of instead of getting your best effort. The same can go the opposite direction. You don't want someone who is completely obsessed and narcissistic either. If your female trainer is 5'1", 102 pounds, and packing a DDD under a way-too-revealing sport bra, or your male trainer is 5'6" and 250 pounds of lean, corregated steel, overtanned, and shaved head to toe, you are better off without. People like that are so out of balance in their own lives that they just don't have any business trying to teach you how to get healthy.


Trust your instincts here. If they give you the heebie-jeebies you won't be comfortable with them long term. If they undress you with their eyes, want to read your palm, or name-drop the entire time, they are just freaks and should be taken out to the streets, beaten, and then dragged behind a high-speed gasoline truck spitting sparks out of the exhaust before they ruin what little good name we personal trainers have left. If they listen, respond with confidence that can only be gained with education and experience, and talk to you about REALISITIC expectations, then you are on the right track. Good luck!

[Bill Hartman]

Well done JP!

The following is an exerpt from the book "Never too Old to Rock n Roll: Reenergize, Refocus, Refire your Life but never Retire Your Dreams" by Tom Hardin...

This is actually part of my contibution (I wrote the fitness chapter)prior to editing and rewrites (I can't put up the actual chapter...sorry)

It includes a test to see how much your personal trainer really knows...correct answers are good for 1/2 of a HARTMAN certification...

What Do I Need To Do Before I Start an Exercise Program?
Educate yourself
First, educate yourself. You need to understand:

• Exercise in general [For instance, how does exercise affect the body, especially the muscles?]

• The amount of effort it takes to reach a certain exercise goal [For instance, one hour of weight training burns about 300–500 calories while running or walking burns about 100 calories/mile. Therefore, it’s unrealistic to expect to lose forty pounds by walking a mile a day.]

• The specific types of exercise that you are considering. [For instance, how does aerobic exercise differ from anaerobic exercises (such as strength training)?]

There are a lot of books available for someone seeking such an education.

Get a professional assessment of your physical condition
Once you understand the basics of exercise, get a thorough assessment of your condition. Go to your physician, tell him or her that you’re starting an exercise program and that you are concerned about strength, flexibility and cardiovascular conditioning. Even if the physician is not an expert on exercise, he or she can still perform tests (such as treadmill tests) to evaluate you for health risks, cardiovascular condition, etc. If the tests uncover a heart problem, you will need to work with your doctor to design an exercise program that will not overly tax your heart.

Then, your physician may refer you to a physical therapist for an assessment of posture, range of motion, and any potential skeletal problems. This assessment will help you understand your current physical condition (the starting point for your exercise program).

Note: The cost of such an assessment is not usually covered by health insurance.

Find a trainer
After that, you need to begin an organized search for a trainer. You should not start a training program without some guidance from a professional.

Note: Launching a self-directed exercise program is a little like trying to perform surgery on yourself. Theoretically, you can design an exercise program yourself, but it’s also very easy to go wrong on your own. If you go wrong, you’re likely to become frustrated and quit, or even injure yourself.

Why Do I Need a Personal Trainer?
There are three main reasons for hiring a personal trainer:

1. With the assistance of a trainer, you’re more likely to attain the goals that made you start exercising in the first place.

2. A trainer can significantly lessen the chances that you will hurt yourself as you exercise.

3. A trainer makes the process of getting fit more efficient. You will save a lot of time and get better results if you seek professional help from the outset.

How Can I Find the Right Personal Trainer to Help Me?
Finding a qualified trainer can be a difficult task. You can’t just ask someone to recommend a trainer, because, even if he or she knows an excellent trainer for one exercise discipline, that trainer may not be the best for someone interested in another exercise discipline. For instance, someone who trains long-distance runners and is recommended by such a runner may not be a good choice for you unless you want to do long-distance running.

Also, you cannot rely strictly on credentials. Contrary to popular belief, certification does not qualify an individual as a quality personal trainer. There are no standards for or regulation of “certified strength training,” so there are many poorly qualified, poorly trained people who may have purchased “certification” from a company that does nothing but “certify” trainers.

Therefore, before hiring a trainer, you need to educate yourself. As I mentioned above, you need to learn about exercise in general, the amount of effort it takes to reach a certain exercise goal, and the specific types of exercise that you are considering.

Then, you will be able to ask intelligent questions to those trainers you are considering hiring. Once you have a list of questions to ask, call several trainers and set up interviews with them. If they can’t answer your questions, find someone else who can.

I’ve developed a set of questions that can help you assess the qualifications of a personal trainer. These cover a trainer’s background, experience, and basic knowledge of exercise physiology. As there are no standards of education for personal trainers, it is imperative that you test a trainer before hiring him. If he is insulted by your questioning, he is not the trainer for you.

Questions 1–6 are designed to discover your interviewee’s basic background
1. Do you have a college degree in an exercise-related field?

Comment: A degree just indicates that the trainer has been exposed to a wealth of information about exercise and fitness. It doesn’t mean he is a good or bad trainer. However, it does mean that you can’t study for thirty days and take one test to become knowledgeable enough to be a trainer.

2. Do you know CPR and have proof of your CPR training?

Comment: I realize this is a “worst case” scenario, but if you suffer a heart attack in his presence, a trainer should be able to apply CPR until help arrives.

3. How long have you been a personal trainer.

Comment: Experience counts…sometimes.

4. Are you certified? By which organization?

Comment: Currently, the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Strength and Conditioning Association are considered to be the “gold standards” of certifying organizations. They require you to have a college degree before taking their exams.

On the other end of the scale, there are companies that provide general exercise-related information and an exam for a price. In essence, you can “buy” a certification. To say that such certification is nationally or internationally recognized means nothing, since there are no uniform standards established for such recognition.

5. Can I get regular appointments that fit my schedule? How do you expect to be paid? What happens if I miss an appointment? What happens if you miss an appointment?

Comment: There are really no right or wrong answers here. However, the trainer should have established policies and you should be comfortable with them.

6. Can you treat minor injuries if they occur?

Comment: Any trainer should be able to treat injuries with RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation) and then refer you to a physician for further treatment.

Questions 7–19 are designed to discover what your interviewee really knows about anatomy and exercise physiology
Note: You should be sure you thoroughly understand the anatomy and physiology behind these questions, so you can tell whether the answers given are “good” answers, even if they don’t exactly match the answers I’ve given here.

7. In what plane of movement does flexion and extension occur?

A: The sagittal plane.

Comment: This is a very basic question. Anyone with even a limited knowledge of anatomy should be able to answer it. The sagittal plane divides the body in right and left halves. For example, reaching straight out in front of the body requires flexion of your shoulder. Kicking a ball requires flexion of the hip.

By the way, if the trainer talks about muscles themselves flexing, he doesn’t understand the term flexion. Muscles don’t flex; they contract or relax.

8. Name all the abdominal muscles.

A: Rectus abdominis (the 6-pack muscles), external oblique, internal oblique, and transversus abdominis.

Comment: Most trainers don’t know about the transversus abdominis as it is rarely trained independently of the other abdominal muscles.

9. What is the ultimate source of energy for muscle contraction?

A: ATP, which stands for adenosine triphosphate.

Comment: The answer is not fat or sugar (carbohydrate) or protein. These are substrates for enzymes that generate ATP via specific cellular processes.

10. Plantar flexion occurs at what joint?

A: The ankle.

Comment: Standing on your toes requires plantar flexion.

11. What is the Karvonen method?

A: This is a method for calculating the optimum training heart rate. It takes into account a person’s maximum heart rate (based on age) and current resting heart rate.

Comment: This information is in any exercise physiology textbook. Ask the trainer for the general explanation above or better yet test his math skills and have him actually calculate your target threshold heart rate.

The calculation looks like this for the minimum threshold heart rate of 60%:

HR threshold = HR resting + 0.60 (HR maximum – HR resting)

(In this equation, HR = heart rate.)

For example, if you are 34 years old with a resting heart rate of 60 beats per minute (BPM), the correct answer will be 136 beats per minute. [136 BPM = 60 + 0.60(186 – 60)]

12. Which of the following is more anaerobic: interval training using multiple intervals of a 1:3 work-to-rest ratio or intervals of a 1:1 work-to-rest ratio? Why?

A: A 1:3 interval is more anaerobic because the rest time is longer.

13. In general, which of the following training protocols will result in greater strength: sets of 4–6 repetitions, 8–12 repetitions, or 12–15 repetitions?

A: 4–6 reps because it allows use of heavier weights. In other words, performing a low number of reps (4–6) with heavier weights will lead to greater strength than a high number of reps (8–12, 12–15) with lighter weights.

Comment: This is a very easy question. No trainer should miss it.

14. What is a Valsalva Maneuver?

A: Technically, the maneuver is a forced exhalation against a closed glottis. In simpler terms, it’s a reflexive holding of your breath when you lift a heavy object. It is also responsible for a large, TEMPORARY increase in blood pressure and is not recommended for clients with heart conditions.

15. Knee flexion is accomplished by contracting which muscles?

A: The hamstrings (semitendinosus, semimembranosus, and biceps femoris).

Comment: Give him extra credit for being able to name each muscle.

16. In reference to exercise, what does the acronym FITT stand for?

A: Frequency, Intensity, Time, Type.

17. In reference to minor injury treatment, what does the acronym RICE stand for?

A: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

18. What two hormones antagonistically control blood sugar?

A: Insulin (that’s the easy one) and glucagon. Insulin lowers blood sugar and glucagon triggers an increase in blood sugar.

19. What is a synchronized lumbomechanical protocol4?

A: This is a trick question. There is no such thing.

Comment: This is a great question to test the integrity of your trainer. If he attempts to answer it, he is trying to impress you by attempting to appear technically educated. Enjoy watching him squirm. Then ask him to leave.

A few more considerations
Here are a few more of Bill’s comments about good personal trainers. You might want to keep them in mind, too.

• Preferably, a trainer should have both a medical background and an exercise background. For instance, someone who has worked as a physical therapist will know how to conduct an orthopedic assessment. He also will be sensitive to spinal and other problems.

• Some trainers tend to train people like they train themselves, and that’s really not advisable. That’s not an individualized approach.

Each client deserves an individualized program. If someone offers a “cookbook” approach applicable to you and to all exercisers, chances are that you are going to be in a very unsafe program.

For example, I’ve been in gyms where I’ve seen people who look like “heart attacks waiting to happen,” yet the trainer is standing over them and screaming at them to get them to lift a certain weight that they really shouldn’t be lifting in the first place. That approach is based on a lack of knowledge and experience. If you don’t have someone who can recognize people at cardiovascular risk, he shouldn’t be training anyone.

• Anyone with orthopedic problems needs to undergo a whole body assessment (i.e., from a physical therapist) before starting a strength training program.

• Trainers charge anywhere from $15 to $200 per hour. A reasonable amount to invest in a trainer should be about $30-60 per hour.

[Jean-Paul]

Same to you Bill... Well done. Looks like great minds think alike. Jeez! It is almost as if we had discussed some of this before. I love the test idea. ESPECIALLY the synchronized lumbomechanical protocol4! That is SWEET! I am going to start using that on trainers here (in Little Rock, NOT my gym) to bust them out. I know a few who, without missing a beat would create quite a creative explanation for it. I like your writing style. Very conversational... technical but still approachable. Can't wait to get the book itself (signed by BILL himself!).

JP, chairman of the BRING the HARTMAN METHOD TO THE WORLD FOUNDATION.

[Bill Hartman]

The final version of my chapter is actually a whole lot better than this post. It got the once-over by the editor that does most of the writing for Tony Robbins and Depak Chopra. She is putting together the whole book for Tom Hardin. She's interesting. Just from meeting with her twice and fine tuning, she was able to grasp my voice and attitudes (I also put her through a training session...changed her from runner to runner/weight trainer) and refine my contibution. I'm looking forward to it coming out soon. Tom is pretty particular and wants the book to be perfect. My feeling is get the dern thing out. It's already a great book. Oprah will love it!

Bill Hartman, author

[Jean-Paul]

I still expect an autographed copy! Get that book out there Bill.

[fitone]

I have a low grade AFPA cert. Does that mean I am a horrible personal trainer? No, Certification does mean a great deal in our feild though.

I can probably train w/ the best Certs in the world like the C.S.C.S. or A.C.S.M. I seen it also I have clients in fitness center that would only train w/ me and not w/ any other trainer.

I think reputation of a trainer is more important then anythingelse. As long as you provide results and don't injury your client in the process. Your a great trainer. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Bill Hartman]

For 75% of the typical clients you may be correct. A nice smile, a quality physique, good marketing, a pleasant personality, and some basic exercise related education can go a long way. Look at some of the people in the infomercials such as Tony Little, Kathy Smith, Suzanne Summers, etc. They make millions.

It certainly does not take a rocket scientist to teach people to improve their meal planning, weight train, train energy systems, and be encouraging.

However, a great many trainers are not sufficiently educated to work with clients who present with great complexity due to health related issues (including past/current orthopedic problems) which include most of the older population (for which the book mentioned above is written...not talking about you Q ).

Bill Hartman

[fitone]

Bill-

I've worked with clients that have issues such as metabolic and structual! And it is challenging to train them, But, I do get the job done and do it well. Heck, try training a client that has a broken leg and still comes to the gym and is 70 years old and wants to improve his golf game. I had train someone like that. Or how about someone that had shoulder problems and lower back issues and does BJJ once a week 40 years old. Got him Deadlifting, 315, Squating 405, push press 135. increased his stamina in BJJ and increased power and strength with him. And didn't re injure any part of him. I loved working w/ both clients.

Not bad for someone having a expired AFPA cert.

[johan]

There are some good links on personal training here too:
http://forums.jpfitness.com/cgi-bin/...c;f=1;t=000023

[Jean-Paul]

An update on this thread...

I have been interviewing trainer after trainer lately, trying to find one who can come to my gym and train clients in whom I can have absolute confidence.

It ain't happnin'!

I have devised an even quicker method for screening trainers that I should have thought of earlier, and it is saving me a lot of time. This works either for someone like me hiring trainers to train for me, or for looking to hire a trainer to help get them in shape.

Obviously trainers are usually people who work out... Ask them what they are doing for their routines. If they are doing a bodybuilding split (chest/back day one, legs day two, and so on), don't invite them to come sit for an interview, as all you will do is lose a valuable hour of your life.

Another thing I do is ask them if they have ever read (or even heard of) Mike Boyle, Alwyn Cosgrove, Gray Cook, Juan Carlos, Waterbury, etc. If they haven't, then there's a good chance that they don't have a frame of reference for my training philosophy and to interview them would again be a complete waste of my time.

Time is all we've got... It is a precious commodity. Don't let someone with the "bodybuilder mindset" suck away any more than a couple of minutes in a phone conversation.

[kuri]

Good idea JP. I've seen LOTS of trainers still use the 'ol bodypart split for themselves AND their middle age fat-loss clients. Ugh.

Hopefully they'll come to me when they aren't getting results.

[Leigh P.]

For myself nothing is as painful as seeing the trainers in my gym walk around with the "machine card" and logging down reps and sets. It almost cripples my system.

[gregl515]

I prefer total body workout, but at least a trainer teaching split training has an idea. The pre-packaged machine workouts that some trainers set up for each of their clients do less for me.