January is here which means one thing, it’s time to get on to the fitness push. So, you’re at a gym and you really want to make a good go of it this time. You look at the notice board and see numerous personal trainers listed, but which one is for you? They all have level 3 this and that and specialise in nutrition, strength and fat loss. So how do you then make the decision of who to go for? What even are these qualifications that are listed? Hopefully I can give you enough information to help you make an educated decision on who may be able to help.
So first of all, what’s this level 2 and level 3 thing they all refer too. Basically, these are qualifications that allow you to get insurance to do various roles in the fitness industry. Level 2 means that you can perform gym inductions, put training plans together and teach circuit classes. You can’t personal train with this and therefor if your trainer is only qualified to level 2, they’re not insured or qualified to personal train you. Level 3 is seen as the advanced course and allows you to get insurance to personal train people. Supposedly you learn a lot more about training and how to structure workouts too. You don’t.
What really separates a good trainer from a bad one is the work they’ve done beyond the level 2 and 3 courses. I completed my level 3 course not long before going to university to study Sport Science. I put some of the information I learned from this advanced course into one of my first physiology case studies. It was on training methods for swimming the channel. I felt relatively confident when submitting my piece which spoke about maintaining body temperature by increasing body fat to a desired level, then using bands, kettlebells and dumbbells to do some asymmetrical work within the ‘strength endurance’ rep range that my level 3 personal trainer course had taught me. This should mean that the swimmer is strong, balanced aerobically fit to endure the prolonged strength output requirements.
I got my feedback back and was shocked to find that I had almost failed the assignment! But how was I wrong when I’d done everything that you would logically have needed to do? The swimmer needed fat to stay warm and float. They need balanced muscle growth to avoid injuries from becoming overly dominant on one side. Finally, they would need to be able to endure longer periods of time under resistance and so endurance reps make perfect sense. Well, I was very wrong and got taught a valuable lesson. That lesson was that all the information I had was totally illogical. My lecturer made some short notes which we later discussed. The first note was with regards to asymmetrical training. They asked why I was trying to recreate swimming motions in a gym? The participant would swim to improve strength and balance in the muscles that allowed them to swim well. Similarly, they underlined strength endurance and wrote a question mark next to it. The question was what is strength endurance? Why train somewhere in the middle and achieve a little of both strength and endurance when you could separate the two and achieve a lot of improvements in both.
A trainer should be able to provide you consistent and sustainable results, address areas you will need support on and give you skills to train yourself. For instance, if you want to improve your tennis game, a trainer may think that it’s a heavily cardio based sport so jump on a treadmill for 20 minutes and then do a HIIT circuit. In my opinion a deeper level of thought and what I was taught to do at university is to look at the requirements of the movements in the sport; direction change, jumps, quick acceleration, upper body strength, joint support. When you consider all of these and how the body adapts, the now logical approach would be to learn full range squats, lunges and deadlifts for full joint support and powerful legs that can provide quick speed and a good jump height. Strong push and pull exercises to allow for powerful shots that don’t fatigue the body. When you look at it from this angle, you need to be doing strength training which is the total opposite of the initial logical approach.
Every trainer has their approach and their route to getting you the results you want. Just ask for the reasoning. Has the trainer thought about your basic requirements, the bigger picture and the long-term effects? With fat loss, stronger individuals are slower to regain weight if they stop dieting. Overfat individuals will stress joints when doing cardio for long periods of time creating damage that will be with them for the rest of their life. To lose fat should you run? Or would the deeper level of thought be to lift and diet? Strengthening joints and reducing body weight.
The biggest indicator of a good trainer in my opinion is that they can explain to you exactly why you are doing what they have told you to do. They have considered your lifestyle and habits and are looking at how they can help you make lifelong changes to progress you to where you want to be. They’re also not afraid to refer you if they feel they don’t know enough to help you or they’ll say they need to look in to something in more depth. I once got asked how weight training is affected by the menopause. I had no idea as it wasn’t something I had been asked before so I said I will look into it and get back to them.
Most trainers will give you some sort of free taster session. Get one booked. Speak to them about what you want to achieve and ask them about how they will get you there. Personally, I was always taught (on the level 2 and 3 course and at every corporate gym I’ve worked at) to get the client moving and give them a taster of what the sessions will be like. This is supposed to demonstrate just how hard I can get you to work and how much better training with me is than training on your own. Now I work for myself I sit with my client for over half an hour and talk about them. What do they want and why? What is the best way to get them to achieve what they want? What work can they put in to getting the results? Then I’ll do a bit of assessment work to see what level they are at, how they move and what they are capable of at this moment in time. This tells me how much work I need to do and what support I need to give them. Think of a first lesson in anything. Some people are naturally skilled or have previous experiences they can draw upon. Some do not. My client will leave that taster knowing exactly what they want to achieve and why, how they can achieve it sensibly and what I believe is required from myself to support them on the journey.
So essentially the easiest way to find a good trainer is to ignore what’s on that board. Don’t be drawn in by how good the trainer body is or how much you see them train. It’s their mind you want and you want them to focus on your training, not you to focus on theirs.. Look at if they have gained much experience post doing their courses and book in for a taster. If they just put you through a workout after a five-minute chat, they’re not good. If they dig and get to know you and assess you and then create a plan of action, you have found a trainer that is worth considering. If that plan of action considers long term goals, potential hiccups and approaches the situation on a deep level, sign up!
Hopefully that helps you find a good trainer local to you however if you’re in Nottingham just drop me a message and I will get a taster booked for you 😉
Stay healthy!