WHAT A SESSION WITH A PERSONAL TRAINER IS LIKE
A personal training session usually lasts about one hour. Your first meeting with your trainer will be dedicated to looking at what program and exercises you are currently doing, estimate and evaluate your fitness level, set goals, take body measurements such as body weight, waist-to-hip ratio or body fat percentage, and look at your health history.
Then it is time to identify or create an optimal program according to your needs and goals. Upload a program from the Program Designer profile to the Calendar & Workout log in your Strength athlete profile. Before starting the program, you need to input your body weight, waist and hip measurements, if you have any injuries and other activities in the Pre-interview form. In order to create a personally adapted program, we need to calculate your one repetition maximum in the program exercises, which is done in step 3. For example, if you should use 80% for a set of squat, and your calculated 1 RM in squat is 200 kg, then 80% is replaced with 160 kg. This is your target load for that particular set.
The first session and last session of the program is a combined training and test session. Here we calculate your actual one repetition maximum in the test exercises, percentage increase in the test exercise, strength level, and more. A trainer will show you how to execute the test sets with proper form and intensity, as well as the other sets and exercises. The trainer will give you drive, motivation, pointers and feedback to ensure that you are getting the most out of your workout.
After finishing the program and post-interview form, your results will be analyzed in your Performance table. The trainer will point out what has worked well, where you might improve and where to next.
BENEFITS OF USING A TRAINER
A personal trainer can give you the tools and support that you need to reach a specific health and fitness goal. They can help you in many areas:
1. Consistency
Maintaining a workout routine requires regularly showing up and doing the workouts. Here, consistency is key factor. You need to work out regularly to get in better shape. Weight training gives your body the required stimulus, and with enough recovery your body and muscles will adapt and get stronger, bigger, etc. However, if you rest for too long before the next stimulus occurs, results will be poor and you risk undoing any results you have achieved.
By having binding appointments scheduled with a professional, you are much more likely to show up and complete each scheduled workout. After a while, you should become sufficiently commited and have such a regular routine that you can work out on your own.
2. Motivation & accountability
Let´s say your program has four sessions per week, of which one is a PT session. Your trainer will probably want to know if you did your three other workouts and how they went. They will also want to know if you have had sufficient rest and if you followed any nutrition plan and so on. You are more likely to stay on track when you report in regularly to a personal trainer. A regular standing appointment will increase your commitment, especially if you have invested money into reaching your goal. Seeing progress and reaping the benefits of using a trainer will significantly increase your motivation.
3. Intensity
Intensity is both how heavy a weight you lift relative to your maximum, but also how much effort, strain and energy you put into each rep and set. It is crucial to learn to train with sufficient intensity. Most people can train harder than they think is possible. Lack of proper intensity leads to poorer results. A personal trainer will help to guide you and help you remain motivated to succeed.
4. Learning
A personal trainer will gladly teach you about health, fitness, human physiology and body mechanics, behavior change, exercise science, and more. You will learn to use proper form, how to train safely, how to implement methods such as super sets, pre-exhaust, giant set, how to use specific equipment, and determine what exercises will be the most effective for you. If you are a novice lifter, your trainer will be able to teach you how to safely and effectively exercise on your own.
5. Specializaion
In order to be excel at something in terms of performance, you need to specialize. A personal trainer using the OSG platform will help you to reach optimal strength gains by focusing on muscle increase or hypertrophy, maximum strength, power, muscular endurance, strength-related sport performance and even body composition and weight loss.
6. Goals
A personal trainer can help you set realistic and attainable goals. This will be based on your past experience and current ability. We can also use the knowledge of what other strength athletes that resembles you have previously achieved. The experience of others with the same physical traits as you can help you effectively set and reach your goals.
7. Individualization
If you have any special needs or requirements, such as imbalances, injuries, or a disability, your personal trainer can design an individualized program in the Program Designer profile. Having a personal trainer will ensure that you have a bespoke plan that will help you achieve the best results.
8. Online personal training
You will probably want to combine personal training with sessions on your own. When you have accepted a trainer friend request’ your trainer will have access to your strength athlete profile, enabling them to track your progress and provide feedback and post comments, pictures or videos on your newsfeed.
9. New perspective
A personal trainer can introduce you to exercises you may never have done before or program designs and training methods you would never have attempted on your own. They will be able to identify areas of your program that could be adjusted to make your workout more interesting, more challenging, or even more fun. Even experienced lifters and other personals trainers can take advantage of this.
10. Challenge
Every athlete at some point will reach a training plateau, and the more experienced the athlete, usually the more time it takes to work beyond a plateau. An experienced personal trainer can help you find ways to challenge yourself and take your training to the next level. A Personal trainer can be an engaging workout partner, pushing you to your limits, helping you train for competitive events, and suggest ways to change and improve your program, challenging you in a variety of areas.
11. Healthy lifestyle
A trainer can help you develop good habits like reducing stress, focusing on recovery and balance, making sure you stay on track with eating healthy and making training a part of your daily routine, in other words, maintaining physical and mental wellbeing.
12. Nutritional advice
Personal trainers are allowed to provide general nutritional advice for healthy people without underlying medical conditions. Your diet is a crucial factor whether your goal is maximum strength, muscle gain, fat loss, etc. Get inspired and learn what is beneficial to eat, when to eat, how much, how often and much more.
QUALITIES TO LOOK FOR IN A PERSONAL TRAINER
Price & Services
Personal trainers display their services or packages for personal training in their Personal Trainer Profile, where total price and number of sessions are stated. The cost will vary depending on where you live and your trainer’s experience and education.
Education
A personal trainer should be certified through a highly respected and renowned personal training educational institution. Your trainer should also have a certification in CPR and first aid.
Special conditions
If you have any specific medical challenges, a disability, injuries etc., please consult your doctor or personal physician before hiring a trainer. Your trainer should also have knowledge and experience in specific areas when working with clients with special needs.
Experience
With practice experience becomes knowledge. Your trainer should have some experience in strength training and strength-related goal achievement. In addition, the Experience Bank contains data that can be helpful in finding optimal programs and for setting realistic goals.
Results
In the Personal Trainer Profile under My Clients´ Results, you will find the percentage of increased value in the test exercises of the program (and what the trainer has achieved assisting other strength athletes). Find your strength level and body-weight in the table and see what results could be achieved by working with a personal trainer. Objective feedback takes the guessing out of the equation, if you are willing to put in the work.
Reviews
Read reviews and feedback from other clients and see the trainers’ star ratings. What qualities do other clients appreciate in a specific trainer, and do these match your needs?