September is a big month. Kids go back to school and routines that were lost over the lazy, hazy days of summer are found again.
And, what's one of the biggest routines to be addressed and reinstated? Fitness.
Fall is my busiest time of year. In fact, I am far busier fielding emails and phone calls in fall than I am in January. Most people use fall as the time to get back on track and a lot of you will either hire a personal trainer, or join a class, to help you cross off your to-do fitness goals.
First off, good for you.
I love it when people go after their goals and I love it when they are honest, open and are willing to say, "Help," and hire a professional to guide them. Having been a trainer for 20 years now (Gulp, has it really been two decades already?), I know a thing or two about people hiring trainers.
In fact, I want to share with you four very important tips that will help you get the most out of your sessions, your workouts and your time with your trainer.
First, be specific. When your trainer has their first session with you, and reviews your health history, goals and reasons why you hired them, give them specific goals you want to meet.
On my Health History sheet, my clients are asked what their top three fitness goals are and 80 per cent of them list lose weight, tone and feel better.
Now, I think these are awesome goals, but they do not give me, as a trainer, a lot of information to start building a plan. So, I flesh out exactly what they want.
For example, lose weight is a very broad goal. So, while they are warming up I ask how much weight they would like to lose, time frame to lose weight, how hard are they willing to work to lose the weight, what are you currently eating, how many hours a week do they have available to workout and when was the last time they were at that weight?
Each of these questions gives me some valuable information to help me design their weight loss program.
Second, communicate with your trainer. If you like something, or don't like something, or if it hurts, if it's too heavy, too light, too easy or too hard, let your trainer know.
Yes, sometimes we will completely ignore you - but that's only because we know you can do it and are trying to convince you of the same fact. But, when we are starting with a new client we have no idea what's going on inside your body, unless you say something. It's as your trainer works with you they start to learn about you, your body and your fitness level.
So, if you hate an exercise, or if it hurts, and you don't tell your trainer you could potentially see this exercise pop up over and over again in future sessions.
This, in turn, will make you dread exercise, or worse injure yourself and make you hate the whole process of getting fit. And this, my friend, is what we call a buzz kill in the gym.
As a side note, if you say you hate an exercise just because it's really hard and kicks your ass, we can see through that kind of malarkey and will most likely give you 10 more reps just to teach you a lesson.
Third, please do your homework. Most people see a trainer once a week and research dictates that three to six times a week is needed for change and progress to happen.
Your trainer knows this. That is why she or he kindly asks every training appointment how your home workouts went.
I like to tell my clients they can't cram for their training appointment. It may have worked in school for tests, but your body does not work the same way. It needs progressive overload, and on a regular basis, to adapt and see change.
For your trainer, this will also keep them revved up. Your trainer will work harder to get you in shape if they see you are willing to work for it. If you aren't, then essentially you have hired yourself a "friend" to hang out with you in the gym every week.
Fourth, recognize that we aren't miracle workers. Progress and change takes time so don't expect to hire a trainer, or start a class, and see dramatic change immediately.
It takes work, and at times you may even feel like you're on an uphill grind to hell.
Keep persevering, though, because soon the clouds will break and soon you will discover some muscle that wasn't there before, lose some inches you've been trying to get rid of and re-gain some of that energy from your youth.
PJ Wren is a local personal trainer and writer in the Delta area who can be reached at www.fitnesswithpj. com.
