Setting Realistic Expectations About Working With a Personal Trainer
Since I'm re-launching my blog, I decided to start back at the beginning. If I were someone reading this page for the first time, if I were considering starting to work with a trainer, what might I be wondering about.First of all, I might wonder: Will the trainer I choose be able to help me achieve my training goals?My answer to you would be "It depends." It depends on the trainer and it depends on your goals, motivation, time and resources.Here are some of the reasons people train with me and a few thoughts I can share about each:
1. I want/need to get off the couch and start moving!
While many people have said I have been able to help them get off the couch and into a regular exercise routine, I have found that this is perhaps the hardest journey for my clients and the most challenging goal for me to help people with. This truly is a dance between instruction, motivation, commitment and consistency. Changing behavior can be quite challenging for us humans and it often takes several attempts before we get over the hump and start to make consistent progress. Some days will be easier than others, so we will need to identify your "why" - what will inspire you and keep you motivated throughout. We will need to identify the types of exercise that are a good fit for you. Things you enjoy doing enough to keep doing them consistently! And we'll need to take a look at your lifestyle habits - how you sleep and eat, how your stress levels are, what your daily levels of activity are like, etc. This is a life changing process and it will take time and commitment, so we'll need to figure out a regular schedule for what you will do both during and outside of training to keep moving forward.
2. My body hurts and I want to feel better.
It seems like every day I read a new article about how exercise has been found to be helpful for a variety of physical ailments. That said, where necessary, we always want to get input from the appropriate medical professionals before launching into an exercise program. Once we have the information we need to move forward, it will be a step by step journey to find out how exercise can help you in particular. We will take things slowly and learn as we go. I will be asking you how you feel during your training session and how you feel afterward - that day, the next day, and over time as we continue to work together. We build your path based on results and adjust as needed along the way.
3. I'm training for...running a 5k, being a grandparent, going on a big hike, ski season...etc.
In some ways, your journey through training might be the easiest because you have a concrete goal in mind from the beginning. You also may have prior experience with regular exercise and be looking for guidance and training to refine what you already know and/or learn new skills. You may already have the motivation to practice what you learn and a habit of being consistent in your training. Even if that's not the case at the moment, if you were previously athletic, it's likely that getting back into a regular exercise program will come back very quickly. Our journey will start by assessing what you already know and do and then building on that in the direction you want to go.
You may see yourself in one of the above descriptions or perhaps your reasons are different or a combination of things. Hopefully this will give you some insight into what the process might be like for you if we work together.I will also write about motivation, time and resources (financial, social support, access to training space, etc) in another post. All of these are important considerations as you develop a plan for working with a trainer. I feel fortunate that I'm able to both work with people 1:1 and also in group exercise settings, so if for some reason training might not be what you are looking for at the moment, the small group environment of some of the classes that I teach in the area could be a great way for us to begin our work together.