12 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Personal Trainer
Two cups of black coffee later, I sat there. Still waiting for a client that never showed.
“tick tock on the clock but the party don’t stop, no oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh.”
By the way, if you are not drinking black coffee, then you are doing it ALL wrong. You need to fix this before you think about improving your personal training sessions. But, if you are already on the black coffee train, then I raise my current mug of lukewarm black coffee to you, friend!
Why is it that every fitness professional I talk to loves coffee? Is it a fitness thing? Is it just me? Maybe I just surround myself with a lot of like-minded individuals.
The recent situation got me thinking about why some clients receive better results than others. Though there are many factors as to why, we will look more specifically at the personal trainer to client relationship. Below is a list on how an individual can get the most out of their sessions with a personal trainer.
What you have to remember is that you are in this for the long haul. This isn’t just about a 16, 24, or even a 52+ week program with a personal trainer. This is the journey to “shape” (<–pun totally intended) who you are and how you feel about yourself.
I will say that it is the client’s job to work hard both inside and outside of the gym. The only difference between now and pre-personal trainer is that you have access to a great deal of knowledge. Your personal trainer should be sharing a wealth of knowledge with you during each session and via their website, emails, text, and other sources of communication. I admit that when I work with clients, I take the blame if a client has not been successful, or they have not performed their “homework” assigned to them outside of our time together. For me, it is as if I have not provided them with the right resources to succeed.
Personal training is an investment you have made in yourself and an investment made in yourself can go a long way!
Think about it like this. After your personal training program ends, how will you live your life? Will you continue the same path you are on now, or will you return to your old ways? The hope is that you will not and that you will take your newfound knowledge with you to continue your journey sculpting your physique.
Remember, you only spend one hour with your personal trainer per session. This is important to consider, especially if you only workout when you meet your trainer. This means that there is plenty of time to forgo everything you did in that one hour, but also plenty of time to accelerate what you did for better results.
12 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Personal Trainer
1. Show Up
You guessed it!
Showing up to your personal training session(s) consistently leads to the overall ability for one to reach their goal(s). I for one am understanding when individuals need to reschedule. It happens. Especially, this time of the year as illness rates increase and incidents occur. When one must cancel a session, it is important to get a make-up session in. Unfortunately, when a session is missed, results are further delayed. For many clients, I use a software program where I can post a workout to their training program’s calendar for them to perform with use of the equipment they have access to (if any). It is imperative that he or she still gets a workout in. If one becomes ill, think about going for an easy walk. Remember, consistency is key.
If you know that you are not going to be able to attend a session in advance, let your personal trainer know. This is important for you financially as many trainers have a cancellation policy in place. If you are not sure, ask. Now trust me, I know, a cancellation policy can be a nuisance. But, what has to be taken into account is that your trainer is performing this as his or her full-time job to pay the bills. Therefore, this cancellation policy is a means of protecting themselves financially. When I implemented my cancellation policy, which requires a client to provide 24 hours in advance or they will be charged a session fee, it was originally to keep clients accountable. Prior to this policy, I recall many clients cancelling due to being tired after work and others wanting to get drinks with their friends. In order for you to be most consistent and prevent cancellations, pick the same day(s) and time(s) for each week if you can. This will allow you to remember when your sessions are without having to check your calendar upon making other appointments.
2. Be Communicative
I have a rule: Communication is key!
Communication is key?
Well, maybe not for overall success in life, but if a client does not like or understand something, I ask that he or she communicate with me. Otherwise, I end up thinking everything is hunky dory. In addition, please express to your personal trainer what the best way to communicate with you is. I have some clients that I go back and forth with via email, text, Trainerize messenger (a software program I use with all clients), Facebook messenger, and some merely prefer to chat in person or over the phone. My goal is to make each client’s experience as “enjoyable” and injury-free as possible. If an individual is not enjoying their experience, they will then associate their time with a personal trainer and exercise negatively.
Though I use the word “enjoyable”, we all know that each session will not consist of milk and cookies, whilst I read to you “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” by an open fire.
Although that would be amazing!
What each session will require is hard work, but not to the extent that the exercises are inadequate for you. Instead, they will be progressive and you should feel confident in your performance each time. There is a difference however between one hating to perform an exercise, such as lunges (for some reason all of my clients believe that lunges…well, suck), and for one to hate the overall experience because the trainer has not done his or her job.
Remember, your job is to speak up!
3. Ask Questions
Personal training clients should never be afraid or hesitant to ask questions. I’ve heard many stories where individuals have asked their past trainer a question and in return they were laughed at or told not to ask questions. Not all personal trainers/strength coaches/physical therapists/chiropractors/etc are like this. Not by any means.
You are paying for a specific service conducted by an individual who is a professional in the specific service you are investing in. Therefore, you deserve the right to feel confident all of the time.
So, swing away!
“Swing away” with your questions, just as Mel Gibson’s character utters to Joaquin Phoenix in the movie “Signs”. But, please, please, please do not bring a baseball bat to your next personal training session or Skype call. Please! We can discuss this peacefully [see video below to watch the scene].
Plus, I love questions. I will not pretend that I have the answer for everything, because I do not by any means. But by God, I will do everything I can to find the right answer for you just as any individual providing a service should do.
4. Feel the Muscle
Your coach should inform you of what and where specific muscles should activate during any exercise. If you forget or are not aware where you should “feel” a muscle activate while performing an exercise, let your coach know. If you know which muscles are supposed to activate, but just can’t seem to get them activated, let your coach know as well. It is completely fine and happens a great deal. By having the ability to contract and “feel” the right muscles activate for an exercise, you will have better success for muscular strength and growth.
Link: Fix Your Form: How to do the perfect lat pulldown
When a client cannot quite feel a specific muscle activate, I have the client perform isolation work. By isolating the muscle during an exercise, we allow for the client to “feel the muscle”. In addition, by “feeling the muscle” throughout a full range, we can then learn how to recruit that specific muscle for bigger lifts. The more muscles we can activate during a big lift, the more weight we can move. Sometimes we may even need to slow down an exercise or increase / decrease the weight until the client “feels the muscle” activate.
5. Learn Technique
What you see at your gym, most likely is not correct. There is a great deal of individuals out there who perform exercises improperly. The same goes for how you think you are performing the movement versus what you really look like when you perform the movement.
You will witness a great deal of individuals swaying their back in an attempt to curl the weight upward, not starting the deadlift (or any exercise for that matter) with tension throughout the body, or a lack of adaptation for an exercise that is better for his or her ability. Nobody wants to get injured. Nobody! Perform any exercise incorrectly while lifting heavy weight and you are bound to tweak something at some point.
Do note that there is no perfect form. Each individual is different from one another and one individual will have to squat, press, pull, and even hip hinge slightly differently than another. Your personal trainer should be able to explain and coach you through any exercise. If you experience pain while performing an exercise, please speak up and tell your personal trainer. Again, there are plenty of variations in order to place you into the right movement pattern for you, injury-free.
6. Be Open, Be Honest
Listen, personal trainers are like counselors in disguise. Well, at least my clients tell me that. I want my clients to be open and honest with me and I am sure your trainer or trainer-to-be does as well. One of my goals is to give each client some time to chat about anything. That anything might lead to an underlying issue they have yet to tell you about. By discussing what they are stressed about or what is going on in life, my hopes is that they will leave my studio feeling not only physically, but also emotionally better than when they walked in.
Now, the next part is about honesty. There are some things clients choose not to tell their personal trainer. Things like how much they are really eating and drinking, their level of intensity during a session, if they are having financial constraints, and so forth.
Sit down and chat with your personal trainer. The situation will go smoother if you bring coffee. I promise!
Listen. Your personal trainer is human. He or she is not perfect by any means. We all have our flaws, but be honest about them. I always tell my clients my flaws: I love craft beer, I love sweets, I drink entirely too much coffee, and I do not sleep very much. If you are not doing something outside of your time together that you are suppose to be doing, then be honest. This is important because when you are not hitting your marks (i.e., circumference measurements, weight, improve performance), but state that you are performing everything outside of the gym on point, coaches may become concerned that there is a greater issue taking place and do everything they can to solve the problem.
Financial constraints is a big one as well. If you are having financial constraints, talk to your trainer. They have bills to pay too and understand finances. I tell clients all of the time there are options. This is one reason why I allow clients to make payments in order to meet their financial capabilities. I do not want to see someone not receiving the help they want because personal training is entirely too expensive. There are always options.
In some cases you can invite a friend and you both spend “X” amount of dollars less than if you were on your own. Invite more than one friend and you’ve just created a small group personal training session where it is even less expensive. Another option might be a discount for a client you refer. Those are just some examples that I offer. Do note that every personal trainer is different with respect to how they do business. Therefore, you should speak to your gym prior to just inviting someone to your personal training session.
By the way, if you thought the workout straight-up sucked, then be honest! Your personal trainer won’t shed a tear. If anything, it is good feedback and they will adapt and overcome. If they do shed a tear, buy them a coffee and move on.
The end outcome: when you are open and honest, your workouts and results will improve a great deal!
7. Take It Easy
Listen.
It’s cool to come to the gym and crush it or want that hard workout that just crushes you. But, there is a time and a place for that, and there are also those days which are scheduled for easy workouts and rest days.
Yo, grab a hammock, a coffee, and just relax!
When you crush it frequently while not allowing your body optimal time to recover, you will begin to experience a decrease in performance and an increase in illness as your immune system declines. Because I state this in such a manner, do not, I repeat do not get the idea that you should not work hard most of the time. With the number of clients I have worked with, I can tell you that most do not stress their body to the point of such. I am not saying that they are not working hard, I am saying that it requires a great deal of stress to reach this point. On those days when you are exhausted, completely stressed, or even ill, learn to recognize the symptoms, and get some rest. On your easy days, think about lifting in the higher repetition range for a few sets or even going for a nice long walk. Your trainer will let you know what to do based on your goals and performance in and outside of the gym.
8. Maximize your Workout Intensity
Intensity can be defined by the amount of physical power used during an activity. Throughout a client’s workout, I will ask the client if the exercise they are currently performing is easy, medium, hard, or anywhere in between. If it is anything less than medium intensity, we make some progressive tweaks.
First, what weight are you using? The weight you use, should be a weight which you can probably perform 1–3 reps more than prescribed. If I prescribe 6–8 repetitions of a barbell back squat, do not choose a weight that you could perform 15 repetitions with and then stop at 7 reps because I prescribed at 6–8. That’s a big no-no.
Bro, how’s your intensity? Is that easy, medium, hard, or anywhere in between? Oh, you find that medium to hard. Why are you smiling then?
Secondly, what does your speed look like? Depending on the goal of the day or specific exercise, I will ask the client to slow the motion down in order to “feel the muscles” better and increase muscle strength by moving slow on the eccentric phase of the movement. For others performing plyometrics, I will make sure they are performing the movement more explosively.
Moral of the story, don’t tell your trainer that it is really hard if it is not really. Once a trainer gets to know their clients and watches them more frequently, he or she will be able to identify when the client needs to work harder or not. If you feel unsafe, remember your job, speak up. To get the most out of your personal training session, make sure your intensity is optimal.
9. Do Your Homework
Meal prepping on fleek! (I think that is what the kids say these days)
If your personal trainer is not giving you homework, then ask for it. You should be doing something on your days outside of the time you spend with your trainer. This can be anywhere from focusing on a specific dietary like finding a new vegetable and meal to make with it, to performing a cardio or strength training session, to meal prepping, to working on mobility, to taking care of an injury, and so forth. This is especially true if you are only meeting 1–2 times per week or less. Your goal is to always do better and you cannot do so if you do not have homework assignments.
10. Fuel Up and Stay Hydrated
Make sure you eat and drink prior to your workout. Typically, I recommend eating a snack 30–60 minutes prior to a workout. You passing out, becoming dizzy, or being unable to work as hard due to a lack of nutrition is a major bummer.
Try and alleviate this by consuming something prior or if you have fasted prior to the workout, let your trainer know prior to the workout. The trainer can then alter the workout based on your needs.
11. Take Notes.
You won’t be with your personal trainer forever. Someone needs to be tracking your workouts and keeping notes. This is why I use the Trainerize software in order to track all exercises, weights, sets, repetitions, and to allow clients the ability to take notes during their workout. By tracking your workouts, you will be able to monitor your progress overtime.
Remembering every exercise performed, every repetition accomplished, and every weight selected during a previous workout is nearly impossible. Without a record of past workouts it’s also difficult to see measurable progress. Using a workout journal or fitness app provides motivation to rock every workout. “Do more, or do it better” becomes an achievable goal.
12. Be Goal-Oriented
Goals are important. I mean you wouldn’t want your trainer to be getting you ready for a bodybuilding competition if your goal is to run a full-marathon, right? Make sure you have a goal set and explain it to your trainer. He or she will then create a plan and explain to you the steps required to help you reach your goal. Now, if you miss a step (like forgetting to set a goal), it will be much easier to stop.
Your personal trainer is an important individual for this step. Goals are the most important part of any task you want to achieve. I placed this for last because I was curious how much of this you would have read.
Your personal trainer will be a huge asset here as they will be able to get you thinking deeper about your goals. They will also be able to tell you if you are in over your head. They probably won’t say that, but they will help you create smaller goals to reach the ultimate goal. When you dig deeper to what your true goal is, you will have a reason to keep pushing when you want to quit.
