4 REASONS TO SEE A PERSONAL TRAINER BEFORE STARTING A PROGRAM

Scott Acorn
Aug 6, 2016
3 min read

It might not look like it to the uninitiated, but there’s more to making a success of your gym time than simply lifting up heavy things and putting them down again. Although there’s normally plenty of that too. Setting goals and assessing exactly how you want to change your body for the better is the best way to see real results – which is where time with a Personal Trainer comes in.

Not everyone can afford to see a trainer every time they work out (obviously) but an initial one-on-one consultation and purchasing a few weeks (or months) worth of sessions can be beneficial - and can go a long way to setting you on the path to progression, here's why;

1. You’ll upgrade your lifestyle

Ask most people what the most important hours of the day are and you’ll get a range of different responses. Your hour in the gym? The hour spent prepping your meals for the next day? Sure, these are the most obvious, but there are 22 more hours in the day that influence your progress. The first part of a Personal Trainer consultation delves deep into your lifestyle to explore all the other aspects (some of which you may never have considered) that can put the brakes on your performance.

Your history needs to be filled with everything from sporting background, what you do for hobbies, what you work as, a full injury history, plus lifestyle factors such as sleep patterns and stress levels. Is work or personal stress keeping you up at night? Are you surviving on five hours sleep? These are all considerations that most think can be out run by training and diet, but they’re wrong. Working to identify these issues with a trainer and coming up with an effective plan to overcome them ensures your new training program will be a success.

2. You’ll understand your body better

During phase two of a consultation process the aim is to analyse postural imbalances and movement ability. By looking for muscles that are overactive versus muscles that are under-active you can weed out the causes of injury and re-dress imbalances to improve performance in the gym.

If you’re a complete beginner then it is crucial that you get to know your capabilities as soon as possible. Key aspects to have a grasp of when starting out are posture and strength imbalances.

If your goal is to increase muscle mass and you hit the bench on day one without acknowledging the fact you have rounded shoulders, then all you will do is make the issue worse. This could easily lead to injury, putting an early end to your program and fitness goals.

3. You can set realistic goals

Without a goal, entering a gym is like driving a car without an end destination in mind. It could be a fun and enjoyable experience, but overall a little bit pointless without direction. Setting yourself a goal will help you monitor how successful your current program and lifestyle habits are. Regular monitoring will tell you if you need to make some minor tweaks or if you’ve got everything right where you want it.

Equally as important to setting a goal is giving yourself the time to actually achieve it. A Personal Trainer has the power to prevent your impatience sabotaging your program. Losing 12 pounds is two weeks is unlikely, but by setting an achievable timeline you can enjoy your progression and find the consistency in your program you need to continue towards your goals.

4. You’ll pick the correct training plan

Once you have a goal in mind, ensuring you have the right training modality and nutritional structure in place is crucial. There is a huge cross over in exercise selection irrespective of whether you are looking to gain strength, muscle or lose body fat, However, performing your exercises in the correct rep ranges, at the right intensity and supported by optimal nutrition for your goal is the only way to succeed.

Want to gain muscle while you’re in a major calorie deficit? No chance! Looking to burn fat with big lifts doing five sets of three reps? Nope! A Personal Trainer can quickly match your program and training goals - then all you need to do is put it into practice.