Why Personal Training
Why is it that we will seek treatment from a doctor when sick, take our car to the mechanic, visit the salon to have our hair done, and seek the advice of a financial consultant, yet when we want to get in shape we often take it upon ourselves. Many fitness enthusiasts (and want-to-be's) have gotten into worse shape than better as a result of improper exercise, causing muscle imbalances, over-training and injuries.
Although our bodies can take a lot of abuse, the cumulative effect of poor training can have a lasting impact. Then there's those who spend week after week, and month after month exercising only to look of feel the same year in, year out. Exercise is supposed to be stress relieving, not an exercise in futility and frustration.
The current rise in popularity of personal training is mainly attributed to four factors:
- Reputable fitness facilities are not demanding all trainers be certified.
This requires meeting specific standards of performance for safe and
effective services.
- Awareness of the benefits of specialized personal instruction for all ages and abilities.
- A growing demographic (health-conscious baby boomers) in need of what personal training offers.
- A greater emphasis on prevention resulting in a shift of focus from health-care to self-care.
Exercise, like medicine, needs to be prescribed at just the right dose.
Many people will at least have a fitness professional design and demonstrate a program for them. This is an essential first step. However, stopping here is like a doctor prescribing medication and then leaving the guesswork of adjusting the dosage for you. In addition to having an optimal dose for each individual, the specific manner in which this dose needs to be adjusted caries from workout to workout. Even when exercises are performed perfectly and consistently every week, progress is not guaranteed without proper adjustment of the dose.
Like many aspects of life it is the process applied with training, not just the program of exercises itself that is largely responsible for results.
A few follow-up sessions after the initial introduction will help establish this effective training process. A personal trainer will work with you one to three times per week, depending on your needs, optimizing your technique and making continuous program adjustments. Once you are in the "groove" of the training process you can see results every workout, and every two weeks there should be measurable changes in your body. If you're not experiencing this now, then it's time to assess what you're doing and make change.
A personal trainer is like your coach.
By combining specialized knowledge with their experiences of working with many different "athletes" they have acquired wisdom for an in-depth understanding of what works when, and for whom. They can forecast the pitfalls before they happen, and what would otherwise be guesswork for you, becomes a systematic, result-producing plan of action. In other ways, a personal trainer is also like your music teacher where your body is the instrument. In fact, your body is the only instrument you have to carry out your purpose in life. Your CPTN certified trainer will show you how to take proper care of it for peak performance!
Heather Denstedt CPTN, CPT
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