The Journey Ahead - Part 3

Is Personal Training For You?
 
You have started a gym program or been training for a wile, great! Now let's talk about your results and how you may achieve more. Do you wish to receive more individual attention for motivation, guidance and custom results. Try a personal trainer.

Personal training is not just for movie stars or wealthy people. Rather, it is an innovative, affordable route to a results-oriented exercise program. People of all fitness, age and economic levels use personal trainers to help make those lifestyle changes they couldn't achieve by themselves.

What is a Personal Trainer?

A personal trainer is someone who has the expertise, experience and educational background to design an individualised exercise program to assist clients in achieving their individually selected fitness goals.

He or she does this by teaching you how to perform exercise correctly, designing and varying your program for you, and over time, by training you how to think about the components and principals of exercise, so that when you are comfortable, you can train yourself. Once your trainer has found out what your health concerns, fitness goals and schedule are, he or she can tailor a program to help you achieve the results you want. With a trainer's guidance you can maximise your results in a minimal amount of time.

These goals could include:

• Body fat reduction and weight loss

• Cardiovascular conditioning

• Bodyshaping and toning

• General muscular conditioning

• Crosstraining ( strength and endurance)

Your goals will be as individual as you are. By taking into account what you want to achieve, your trainer can design a program that is just right for you. Together you will set long and short term goals. Your first session will probably include questions and assessment tests to give your trainer an idea of your "starting point". Once you know where you are starting from and where you want to go, you can chart your route and measure your progress along the way.

How many sessions will I need?

The amount of sessions you need is usually up to you. Some people already have a fairly successful exercise program, and simply want to learn more advanced exercises to complement their program and to add more variety. In these cases one or two sessions might be enough. Other people want more in-depth help that includes extensive assistance with exercise program design. Such help might take four or five sessions. You may just want a trainer once weekly, fortnightly or monthly to motivate, educate and inspire you and you continue with your training yourself in between.

A personal trainer can help make your exercise program as enjoyable as possible and help ensure that your investment of time and money in your gym membership is well spent.

Read Part 4 in our next Blog