What should you consider when looking for a highly skilled personal trainer?
Updated: Feb 5
How should personal training begin?
Personal training should always begin with setting of your goals. What is it that you want to achieve? This can be anything from being able to walk the dog again, to making the progression to elite level athletics, preparing to run a marathon or because you want to change your body shape.
Your discussion should then be a very honest one about how much time you can commit to personal training per week. No good comes from not being realistic here, if you can only train twice per week then make that clear.
How does a skilled personal trainer know where to start my training?
They will perform functional tests to know what your body is physically capable of doing. This gives the entry-point for your training level. From here exercises can be selected and descended or ascended to safely begin your training.
It is very important to note that I have witnessed this not being performed on multiple occasions. When this is not done you are likely to end up on the injured pile, encouraged into dysfunctional posture or worse.
Are there stages that my personal training should follow?
What you do in your training for your sport or exercise will depend on:
- Your training age (how many years you have been training for).
- What your current level of fitness is?
- What are your predominant planes of movement?
- Do you function with 'righting' or 'tilting' reflexes?
- Will you be training to deal with physical contact? How much impact and velocity will this involve?
- Will you be requiring intrinsic and extrinsic loads?
- Do you require isometric, concentric, eccentric and isokinetic conditioning?
As a general rule the main starting point in quality personal training is always functional stability. This can then lead into strength training and then onto power training if it is required.
You absolutely have to get stability training correct. Strength training or power training without joint stability is a recipe for injury.
You should be able to ask one simple question of anyone that you trust with your body. How do you know? 'You have me performing a walking lunge with 10kg weights in each hand. How do you know my body is ready to safely and effectively perform this movement?'
If a clear and concise answer is not forthcoming it probably means that they don't know. You get one body...
