Ive often wondered,when im on the gym floor watching all these personal trainers train their clients, Do we really need them? Is a personal trainer really going to get you fit? and if so, in what way?
My typical gym program is to start with a 3k run, followed my a good weights session and then a long swim, ive just recently re-learned how to swim so its really nice to finally be able to freestyle from one end to the other now. I recently had a free session with one of the PT's that works at my gym and lets say he really did put me through my paces. I'm used to running 8miles/ 12.8k like i did last year in the summer for an hour at a time and lifting big weights as well but when this PT gave me a circuit to do, i found it draining my energy.
When it comes to training, i train mostly in endurance and aerobic exercise and im the king of it and have mastered that but when this PT gave me a workout to do, i was like what the hell, i'm sweating way more which is good but not good when your feeling drained and the PT keeps adding one more rep to really make you work for it.
I realized that i'm very used to relying on my stamina and endurance and am very used to doing aerobic exercise but haven't been training my anaerobic system, which we use when sprinting.
Honestly i did think at first when he gave me totally different exercises to do "uh oh, im in for it" and when doing the exercises with him feeling like, "whats next torture is he going to put me through now" and when he kept saying 1 more to go and then another one more to go, "Will this session ever end" but afterwards realizing what he put me through i cannot say that it was a waste and in fact i'm ready to go again.
The PT that was training me was an ex footballer and was having me do drills he used to do back when he was playing for a team professionally and looking back on it i found it quite empowering to know that i can perform those drills and was actually fit enough to do them
There's training for fitness and there's training just to look good, in my experience i've found guys like to train a lot for the way that they look as opposed for actual bodily performance and health.
But looking back on the things i've seen while in the gym, i do sometimes feel that some personal trainers do become your very own personal tyrant as they do like to push you and push you and push you, sooner or later theres not gonna be anywhere else for them to push and they may very well push you off a cliff.
I remember seeing guys past their 50's who are most likely trying to regain the body they had during their 20's and 30's and you find that the PT is putting them through torturous workouts with heavy weights or heavy circuit routines just to help them achieve their results, i think to myself, poor guy, if you only knew the real benefits of training more for performance and strength gains rather than just to regain some nostalgic look you had when your were 25-35. I asked one PT who works in Victoria's LA Fitness Gym as to why he puts his clients through so much physical pain and torture when he could have them do different workouts that wont make them feel like idiots and help them make even more massive gains in their fitness, he said and i quote " its to ensure that they get out of their bad habits", i was laughing my head off as well when he said that but also it does make sense and plus when you do hire a personal trainer you do want them to help you achieve the results that you want for yourself otherwise what the point in paying them.
Personal Trainers are a unique breed, even im training to be one, but will use different methods than those i've seen training their clients in the gym.
In truth and reality, its not what you do, its how you do it and to truly understand your body, you must understand yourself, in other words to achieve the body you want, you must first understand how your body works for you and make that work to your own advantage.
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