The problem with choosing a personal trainer is that all trainers are not the same.
Yes, I know there is no profession where all of its practitioners are the same. Not all teachers are the same, not all lawyers are the same, etc.
But all personal trainers are REALLY NOT THE SAME.
This is because the personal training industry has no regulatory bodies that govern minimal qualifications to practice.
All lawyers are not the same, but they all went to law school and passed the state bar exam.
All teachers are not the same, but they all graduated college with a bachelor’s degree in their field of practice.
Personal trainers have no such regulations. YOU COULD BE A PERSONAL TRAINER RIGHT NOW WITH NO PREVIOUS EDUCATION OR EXPERIENCE.
A Doctor from Stanford with a Phd in physiology, and a 20 year old who just read “Muscle and Fitness” could train you and they would both simply be called your “personal trainer”.
Obviously, there will be a big difference between the two, but guess what? Their business cards will both say “personal trainer”.
This is why it is CRUCIAL that you perform some research before choosing a trainer and/or training facility. Here are some things you should look for:
Ask about the trainers’ educational background: Are they certified? If so, from what organization? How long ago were they certified and how have they progressed their knowledge since then?
If they don’t have a certification, do they have an associates’ and/or Bachelors’ degree in a related field?
Does anyone on the staff hold a Masters’ Degree in Exercise Science, Physiology or Bio-Mechanics?
What about practical experience? How long have they been a trainer? Full time or part time? How many sessions have they performed with what client base?
I don’t want to go into a detailed explanation of my competitors qualifications and lack thereof, but here’s what I can tell you about the staff at The Training Rim:
The LEAST educated trainer has a nationally recognized personal training certification that required a 6 week hands on course. All programming and exercise methodologies are designed and supervised by a trainer with a Masters’ Degree in Exercise Science.
The LEAST experienced trainer has over a year of training experience. Training is programmed, designed and overseen by a trainer with over a decade of experience in the field.
You can try, but YOU WILL NOT FIND A TRAINING STAFF WITH BETTER CREDENTIALS.
And when comparing cost, you’ll find The Training Rim’s one on one personal training packages are LESS than our competitors in almost all cases.
OUR SMALL GROUP RATES ARE ABOUT HALF THE COST IN MOST CASES.
So again, we encourage you to shop around – when comparing apples to apples, you’re going to be surprised at what you find.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Ice, Ice, Baby!
What’s your “ICE” score?
As you know I’ve been doing this a long time, and as much as I try to make it more complicated than it is sometimes, there are some very basic indicators of success and failure when it comes to exercise. Almost without exception, I can ask you three questions using the above acronym and tell you with almost 100% accuracy whether or not you’re getting results. And if you’re not getting results, this test will tell you in one sentence or less why you’re not getting results.
I is for “Intensity":
Are you exercising intensely? Seriously, be honest with yourself – are you fatigued at the end of a workout? Are you trying your best with every exercise and pushing yourself to a limit that’s within safety of course, but beyond what you consider comfortable? Yes, I know, “intensity” is a relative term. What’s intense to one person is not intense to another. So again, are your workouts intense for YOU?
If the answer is “no”, then you will not achieve the results you want.
C is for “Consistency”:
Are you exercising consistently? We all miss workouts occasionally because life will get in the way sometimes – that’s not what I’m talking about. But is 3 workouts a week for you the norm or the exception? And no, 6 workouts one week and zero the next is NOT 3 workouts per week. 3 workouts per week means occasionally two, occasionally four, but usually 3 workouts per week. The number in itself is not a big deal: 2, 3, 4, workouts per week, etc. But staying consistent with it is.
If you do not exercise consistently, you will not get results.
E is for “Efficiency”
Are you exercising efficiently? This is a tough one because many people just don’t know what efficient exercise is and is not. A good rule of thumb is if you are exercising intensely and consistently as mentioned above and you’re not getting results it’s probably because your workout sucks. Another good rule of thumb is if you’re exercising more than 5 or 6 hours per week to get the results you want, your workout probably sucks.
This is where a good fitness professional can come in handy: Are you exhibiting proper technique when exercising? A squat done incorrectly for example, will reap few benefits. Are you making the best programming choices? Quite often, there is just a more efficient better option to get the results that you want than the exercises you’re choosing.
If you’re not getting what you want out of exercise, give your “ICE” score an honest assessment, and get back to me with any questions.
Send your hate mail to thetrainingrim@gmail.com
As you know I’ve been doing this a long time, and as much as I try to make it more complicated than it is sometimes, there are some very basic indicators of success and failure when it comes to exercise. Almost without exception, I can ask you three questions using the above acronym and tell you with almost 100% accuracy whether or not you’re getting results. And if you’re not getting results, this test will tell you in one sentence or less why you’re not getting results.
I is for “Intensity":
Are you exercising intensely? Seriously, be honest with yourself – are you fatigued at the end of a workout? Are you trying your best with every exercise and pushing yourself to a limit that’s within safety of course, but beyond what you consider comfortable? Yes, I know, “intensity” is a relative term. What’s intense to one person is not intense to another. So again, are your workouts intense for YOU?
If the answer is “no”, then you will not achieve the results you want.
C is for “Consistency”:
Are you exercising consistently? We all miss workouts occasionally because life will get in the way sometimes – that’s not what I’m talking about. But is 3 workouts a week for you the norm or the exception? And no, 6 workouts one week and zero the next is NOT 3 workouts per week. 3 workouts per week means occasionally two, occasionally four, but usually 3 workouts per week. The number in itself is not a big deal: 2, 3, 4, workouts per week, etc. But staying consistent with it is.
If you do not exercise consistently, you will not get results.
E is for “Efficiency”
Are you exercising efficiently? This is a tough one because many people just don’t know what efficient exercise is and is not. A good rule of thumb is if you are exercising intensely and consistently as mentioned above and you’re not getting results it’s probably because your workout sucks. Another good rule of thumb is if you’re exercising more than 5 or 6 hours per week to get the results you want, your workout probably sucks.
This is where a good fitness professional can come in handy: Are you exhibiting proper technique when exercising? A squat done incorrectly for example, will reap few benefits. Are you making the best programming choices? Quite often, there is just a more efficient better option to get the results that you want than the exercises you’re choosing.
If you’re not getting what you want out of exercise, give your “ICE” score an honest assessment, and get back to me with any questions.
Send your hate mail to thetrainingrim@gmail.com
Monday, February 8, 2010
The Trainer's Role
Last week I mentioned that we shot some seriously impressive videos. Given that I’d like to give each one its due justice I’m going to break them down into a series rather than hit you with them all at once.
On a seemingly unrelated note, another one of “those” conversations seemed to come up often enough recently that I think it would help if I expanded on it somewhat. I’ve realized recently that many people have a somewhat misguided view of what a trainer’s role is – and isn’t.
So I’ve decide to clarify the trainer’s role for you, and use these bad ass videos as a visual.
What I’ve noticed quite often recently is that many people view the job of a personal trainer as a tool to provide intensity to a session. Although a level of intensity and difficulty in a workout may be a residual side effect of having a trainer, it should NOT be the goal of either the exerciser or the trainer.
It’s been said before and it needs to be said again:
Any moron can make you feel discomfort and sweat a lot – you don’t need a trainer for that. Why an exerciser would pay for that service is beyond my comprehension.
The question is: Is that pain and sweat improving your performance, and along with it, how you feel and how you look?
Quite often, unfortunately, the answer is “no”.
The trainer’s role is to improve your levels of movement, stability, strength and power. Along with it, if those missions are accomplished, it will be accompanied by improvements in how you feel and how you look.
If a trainer or an exerciser has anything else in mind, one of two things will occur:
1st, the likelihood of injury, either acute or chronic, skyrockets.
Or, the level of results attained will certainly halt due to the fact the exerciser isn’t getting stronger, more stable, more powerful, etc. All the exerciser is doing is sweating…
Moving furniture around is hard work, will make you sweat and probably have you sore the next day, but I wouldn’t have my clients do it because it’s not good for them.
Having a trainer yell at you that you need to do “FIVE MORE!!!” might make you hurt, but it’s probably not good for you, especially when your form dictates you probably should have stopped a few reps ago.
Just the fact an exerciser would pay to have someone count for them is funny in itself to me.
Sure, if I wanted to be a jackass simpleton, I could have my clients walk in, grab the 70lb kettlebell and swing it until they dropped. But would that help them improve, or would it be more likely to hurt them?
Probably the latter.
At The Training Rim we systematically program workouts for both the short term and long term that will elicit actual long term improvements, as opposed to simple short term discomfort.
Along those lines, here’s video #1 as an example:
This is video #1 of 4 videos that illustrate how we utilize appropriate exercise selection within a small group session to elicit positive results. In this case, we’re looking to develop core power.
The exercises:
Rope waves, kettlebell swings, elevated plank, stability ball bridge.
Goal: To improve core power. This is accomplished by having 1 anterior core explosive movement (ropes) one anterior core stabilization move (plank) one posterior core explosive move (swing) and one posterior core stabilization move (bridge).
Notes on the exercises:
These are advanced versions of these exercises. The women in the video all have trained with us for awhile and have progressed to this level. Please don’t think you can do this without mastering the appropriate pre-requisites. (And no – you can’t do what they’re doing. I’ve seen your bridge and plank. You bridge looks like it collapsed and your plank looks like bad yoga…)
Kettlebell swing: Everybody in the video is performing the “hand to hand” swing. Keeping a flat back while exploding with the hips is NOT easy. Most knuckleheads just hyper-extend their lower backs.
Rope waves: Alternating between little waves, medium waves and big waves from a staggered stance.
Elevated plank: plank with feet on a 12” box, and not one person in the video has protracted shoulders, extended spines or externally rotated lower bodies.
SB bridge: 20 seconds of hip extension without involvement of the hamstrings and/or lower back like these women do it only means one thing: they have a FIRE in the BIG HOUSE!!!
And incidentally, for the unconvinced macho readers out there: the women in this video all had something in common when this circuit was over:
Sore glutes, sore abs, and a lot of sweat. But it was done the right way – yeah, baby…
Email me with any questions or comments and stay tuned for video #2 next week!
On a seemingly unrelated note, another one of “those” conversations seemed to come up often enough recently that I think it would help if I expanded on it somewhat. I’ve realized recently that many people have a somewhat misguided view of what a trainer’s role is – and isn’t.
So I’ve decide to clarify the trainer’s role for you, and use these bad ass videos as a visual.
What I’ve noticed quite often recently is that many people view the job of a personal trainer as a tool to provide intensity to a session. Although a level of intensity and difficulty in a workout may be a residual side effect of having a trainer, it should NOT be the goal of either the exerciser or the trainer.
It’s been said before and it needs to be said again:
Any moron can make you feel discomfort and sweat a lot – you don’t need a trainer for that. Why an exerciser would pay for that service is beyond my comprehension.
The question is: Is that pain and sweat improving your performance, and along with it, how you feel and how you look?
Quite often, unfortunately, the answer is “no”.
The trainer’s role is to improve your levels of movement, stability, strength and power. Along with it, if those missions are accomplished, it will be accompanied by improvements in how you feel and how you look.
If a trainer or an exerciser has anything else in mind, one of two things will occur:
1st, the likelihood of injury, either acute or chronic, skyrockets.
Or, the level of results attained will certainly halt due to the fact the exerciser isn’t getting stronger, more stable, more powerful, etc. All the exerciser is doing is sweating…
Moving furniture around is hard work, will make you sweat and probably have you sore the next day, but I wouldn’t have my clients do it because it’s not good for them.
Having a trainer yell at you that you need to do “FIVE MORE!!!” might make you hurt, but it’s probably not good for you, especially when your form dictates you probably should have stopped a few reps ago.
Just the fact an exerciser would pay to have someone count for them is funny in itself to me.
Sure, if I wanted to be a jackass simpleton, I could have my clients walk in, grab the 70lb kettlebell and swing it until they dropped. But would that help them improve, or would it be more likely to hurt them?
Probably the latter.
At The Training Rim we systematically program workouts for both the short term and long term that will elicit actual long term improvements, as opposed to simple short term discomfort.
Along those lines, here’s video #1 as an example:
This is video #1 of 4 videos that illustrate how we utilize appropriate exercise selection within a small group session to elicit positive results. In this case, we’re looking to develop core power.
The exercises:
Rope waves, kettlebell swings, elevated plank, stability ball bridge.
Goal: To improve core power. This is accomplished by having 1 anterior core explosive movement (ropes) one anterior core stabilization move (plank) one posterior core explosive move (swing) and one posterior core stabilization move (bridge).
Notes on the exercises:
These are advanced versions of these exercises. The women in the video all have trained with us for awhile and have progressed to this level. Please don’t think you can do this without mastering the appropriate pre-requisites. (And no – you can’t do what they’re doing. I’ve seen your bridge and plank. You bridge looks like it collapsed and your plank looks like bad yoga…)
Kettlebell swing: Everybody in the video is performing the “hand to hand” swing. Keeping a flat back while exploding with the hips is NOT easy. Most knuckleheads just hyper-extend their lower backs.
Rope waves: Alternating between little waves, medium waves and big waves from a staggered stance.
Elevated plank: plank with feet on a 12” box, and not one person in the video has protracted shoulders, extended spines or externally rotated lower bodies.
SB bridge: 20 seconds of hip extension without involvement of the hamstrings and/or lower back like these women do it only means one thing: they have a FIRE in the BIG HOUSE!!!
And incidentally, for the unconvinced macho readers out there: the women in this video all had something in common when this circuit was over:
Sore glutes, sore abs, and a lot of sweat. But it was done the right way – yeah, baby…
Email me with any questions or comments and stay tuned for video #2 next week!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Training Ropes!!!
As much as everyone loves these new ropes we have, some clients have expressed pleasant surprise at where they “feel it”.
Yes, there have been reports of arms on fire. Yes, I’ve noticed the heart about to explode from my chest look on my clients’ faces. Butt…
One client proclaimed in mid circuit: “Jesus, I fell this in my butt!!!”
Another client sent me a text message one night after using the ropes that morning. It said, “…the rope has made my ass hurt with every step.”
This may seem somewhat confusing. It’s not to me. Why?
Because my clients’ glutes WORK - period.
For those of you who aren’t sure what the glutes are, it is what’s supposed to be the hard round mass of muscle on the back of your hips, just below the back. For most gym goers, it’s the soft flat gushy thing halfway down the thighs, close to the knee.
Why do Training Rim clients have glutes that work and regular gym goers don’t?
Because flexing and extending the hips while stabilizing the spine is not an easy thing to do. In fact it takes tons of practice and training. Bending the elbows and knees is a piece of cake. This is why gym goers have no problem getting definition in their arms and legs. Glutes and abs are another story. Getting the glutes to work just isn’t that easy without a professional showing you what the bio-mechanical issues are.
Which is why any compliant client who trains in our facility for any appreciable amount of time has that “look” of a Training Rim client. This look has been reported to be a thinner waist and a hard round butt.
So now when a client of ours has a giant rope’s momentum pulling them forward, their bodies instinctively use their glutes to stop that momentum.
Most exercisers whose glutes don’t work, would have their lower backs and hamstrings go into overdrive to compensate for their soft flat ass when they swung these ropes. This is why most of the planet has lower back and hamstring tightness. It’s not because those muscles are tight and need to be stretched, it’s because their ass doesn’t work – literally – and their lower backs and hamstrings are spasming out from trying to compensate.
Want to have a tight lower back and hamstrings? Go to a gym.
Want to have “the look”? Come see us…
Here's fitness model Tania Bobbi giving a quick demo as part of a circuit:
Yes, there have been reports of arms on fire. Yes, I’ve noticed the heart about to explode from my chest look on my clients’ faces. Butt…
One client proclaimed in mid circuit: “Jesus, I fell this in my butt!!!”
Another client sent me a text message one night after using the ropes that morning. It said, “…the rope has made my ass hurt with every step.”
This may seem somewhat confusing. It’s not to me. Why?
Because my clients’ glutes WORK - period.
For those of you who aren’t sure what the glutes are, it is what’s supposed to be the hard round mass of muscle on the back of your hips, just below the back. For most gym goers, it’s the soft flat gushy thing halfway down the thighs, close to the knee.
Why do Training Rim clients have glutes that work and regular gym goers don’t?
Because flexing and extending the hips while stabilizing the spine is not an easy thing to do. In fact it takes tons of practice and training. Bending the elbows and knees is a piece of cake. This is why gym goers have no problem getting definition in their arms and legs. Glutes and abs are another story. Getting the glutes to work just isn’t that easy without a professional showing you what the bio-mechanical issues are.
Which is why any compliant client who trains in our facility for any appreciable amount of time has that “look” of a Training Rim client. This look has been reported to be a thinner waist and a hard round butt.
So now when a client of ours has a giant rope’s momentum pulling them forward, their bodies instinctively use their glutes to stop that momentum.
Most exercisers whose glutes don’t work, would have their lower backs and hamstrings go into overdrive to compensate for their soft flat ass when they swung these ropes. This is why most of the planet has lower back and hamstring tightness. It’s not because those muscles are tight and need to be stretched, it’s because their ass doesn’t work – literally – and their lower backs and hamstrings are spasming out from trying to compensate.
Want to have a tight lower back and hamstrings? Go to a gym.
Want to have “the look”? Come see us…
Here's fitness model Tania Bobbi giving a quick demo as part of a circuit:
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