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Three Questions To Ask Your Trainer
February 09, 10
Despite our country being in an economic recession, the fitness industry is still growing. People are realizing that cars, houses and toys don’t buy you a longer, healthier life. This is why people have continued to invest in their personal health and the number of health club members continues to rise. There are several reasons investing in exercise makes sense even during a recession. Exercise, first and foremost, is a great stress reliever helping you work off negative emotions and boosting your feel good neurotransmitters. Another reason investing in your health is a good idea is your vacations, boats, sea-doo and ski equipment are much more enjoyable if you are fit and alive enough to use them! In the midst of this shift in exercise awareness, more and more people are seeking the assistance of personal trainers. Due to the fact the personal training industry is not a highly regulated field, it is important you find a qualified health and fitness professional that can safely and effectively help you reach your goals.
Here are three questions you should ask your trainer to make sure you’re in good hands:
1. Are you certified and through what organizations?
Having certifications are important because they help demonstrate at least a fundamental understanding of human exercise science. Degrees are a plus for fitness professionals, but don’t actually mean the individual understands exercise science and program design concepts. Make sure your trainer, whether they have a degree or not, at least hold current certifications from one of the following respected organizations: ACSM, NSCA, NASM, NCEP. In my personal opinion, these certifications are some of the more respected programs around and they test trainers on important subjects such as biomechanics, functional anatomy, corrective exercise, rehabilitation, program design, bioenergetics and health risk factors.
2. How long have you been a trainer and how many clients do you currently have?
Much of a trainer’s knowledge and understanding comes from actually working with people. Your trainer could have all the certifications and degrees under the sun, but without any real clients there’s a good chance they are going to lack some on-the-fly skills. A trainer’s ability to spontaneously modify movements to fit your physical needs or adjust the biomechanics of a movement to your capabilities are good signs your trainer knows what is going on. This doesn’t mean you don’t give young trainers a try, we all need to start somewhere! As much as it challenges our brain, clients with special needs push us to be better trainers!
3. Is this your career?
Asking your trainer if training is his career sounds silly at first, but you must realize that personal training typically offers flexible hours and pretty good money. This aspect of the trainer job is what leads many people to doing it part-time or on the side. I can guarantee you will meet a number of trainers who are aspiring “actors” or waiting for their big break “models”. Just about every trainer I worked with in Sherman Oaks thought they were an actor or model. Some rightfully so and some were just dreaming. My point is, often times people interested in fitness or people that have their body right and are pursuing other career goals fall back on fitness to get them through the tough times. You want to make sure your trainer isn’t going to ditch you any time soon. I have been guilty of this as I took off for Germany like a goofball trying to play pro football and then came flying back home nearly as soon as I hit German soil. Fortunately for a lot of people including myself, I realized staying in Germany wasn’t going to make football my career so I am here for good!
Jeff Bomberger
Certified Personal Trainer and USA Weightlifting Sports Performance Coach out of Jordan's Virtual Fit Club. NSCA, NASM and USA Weightlifting Certified Personal Trainer, Performance Enhancement Specialist, Corrective Exercise Specialist and Certified Sports Performance Coach.
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