Last week, I was at the gym doing my thing.....lifting some weights....while watching one of the staff trainers working with an older gentleman out of the corner of my eye. It was evident right away that the way he trains is completely different from the way that I train. To an untrained eye, his program would have looked fine. I mean, at least he had his client in the free weights for most of it. I'll get to the specifics about what bothered me in a moment. When he was done with that gentleman, he had another guy right after- this time a younger guy, seemingly fit by looking at him. What happened? That guy got the SAME program as the first client! What?!
If you hire a trainer, here are some red flags (in my opinion as a trainer) that I saw that day:
1) The two programs that I saw being trained were identical on two separate clients. They should be individualized based on your needs and goals. Ask your trainer if your program is written for your needs only.
2) All of the exercises that this trainer was assigning to his clients had his clients sitting down. We sit enough as it is!!! If you have a healthy, able body, you should strive to stand up for your exercises, especially weight training unless you are doing chest presses or the sort of thing that requires you to lay down. There is no reason to go from seated machine to seated machine for the duration of your program.
3) This trainer had these two male clients working ONLY their upper body! I thought to myself, "Please let them come back another day and learn some lower body exercises!" TOO OFTEN, MEN ONLY WORK THEIR UPPER BODIES! It's ridiculous, really. What about the rest of your body? Don't you realize that it's not attractive to have big arms, a big chest, and chicken legs or a flat butt? If the trainer you hire focuses on training just one half of your body, you need to say something. Guys, work your WHOLE body.....balance it out. I may need to write a follow up blog post on this topic alone.
Maybe this trainer is new to the field. But you know what? So am I! Have I just done more reading on new ways of training? Maybe that it's that I've trained myself in newer types of programs and am constantly seeking fresh ideas. Any trainer that you hire should show you some basics first, but be able to come up with some fresh ideas (standing up AND using your whole body).
