Personal Training

cafctom

One of my old school friends has just moved back into the area and is a personal trainer at a new gym that has just opened up. He's done me a pretty reasonable deal as he is an old mate. First session last night and my legs are absolutely killing me.

I've been using gyms for years and do quite a bit of boxing, but have never really taken on anyone's help the way I should have done and seen it through properly.

Anybody else had any experiences with personal trainers/training and how beneficial it actually is?

Cheers

JT

There is one on here i think.

Curb_It

Wait till tomorrow. and he was probably being easy with you on the first one.

Shudders at some memories.

Dizzle

What / where is the new gym?

GreenWithEnvy

In my experience finding a good PT means finding a good mate as well. At the start they teach you al the basics well, posture, number of reps and sets and just old fashioned encouragement. As your relationship develops they will literally know your strengths and weaknesses and can tailor the program more, depending on what you want to get out of it (muscle definition, strength, fitness). By the end of say a 10 session program you will be more confident about the gym and you will know how to use certain bits of kits in many different ways. I had one for around two years (though intermittently) not because I was not achieving my goals but because he kept challenging in different ways. And it is sometimes just nice to train with someone else.

JT

I'm not going back to the gym until the temporary members have gone again !

Greenie

Here is the website of my nephew. Ex Para and Marathon World Record Holder with 30 pound back pack. He knows his stuff. Boot Camp is every Saturday morning at Jeskyns park near Gravesend. Dunno if any good to you.

http://ww.functionalfitnesspt.co.uk/

DRF

GreenWithEnvy said:

In my experience finding a good PT means finding a good mate as well. At the start they teach you al the basics well, posture, number of reps and sets and just old fashioned encouragement. As your relationship develops they will literally know your strengths and weaknesses and can tailor the program more, depending on what you want to get out of it (muscle definition, strength, fitness). By the end of say a 10 session program you will be more confident about the gym and you will know how to use certain bits of kits in many different ways. I had one for around two years (though intermittently) not because I was not achieving my goals but because he kept challenging in different ways. And it is sometimes just nice to train with someone else.

I'm the opposite. I don't really enjoy going to the gym and never really feel that buzz at the end that everyone talks about. I go because I want to stay fit and this is a good way of doing it. I don't really 'enjoy' it.
Therefore, most of the hate I feel for the gym will be transferred on to the personal trainer and they need to be 'strongly encouraging' with their motivaiton as I have a tendancy towards laziness. Therefore I would never get a mate to do it or expect to make one out of it.

Melrose

Do a bit of Personal Training in the Maidstone area. A good personal trainer will assess you objectives, fitness level, and make sure your program is balanced and sustainable. They should also impart knowledge enabling you to train productively on your own.

A poor trainer may bully/beast you (for many it's more about them ( i.e. street cred etc) than you. Unfortunately there are too many of them about ( I know I've worked with some. The end result in this instance is usually failure, either through the client giving up, or worse still, injury.

Choose carefully. Go by recommendation and/or gut feeling (sorry no pun intended). Even Trainers on Reps, or the national register or personal trainers are not guaranteed to be good.

Ps I'm sure your mate is good, but it's not unusual for a first session to hurt like hell afterwards. Simply moves/demands/exercises that the body is not used to.

cafctom

Well, I'm still hurting - but I'm pleased about it. That's what I want as I know that it is having an impact. What makes it good is that even though he is an old school mate, I still haven't seen much of him the past 6-7 years so we're not close enough for him to let me off easy or for him to feel like beasting me.

I think it will work in the long run as I do enjoy the gym. Its just been a matter of trying to break old habits and actually try and gain some knowledge which will help me mix it up a bit more.

Plus the accountability from week to week will go a long way.

GreenWithEnvy

Good on you and best of luck with the training CAFCTom. I hope you get out of it what you are hoping for.