Session with "Wellness Staff"

MonkeyMel21

I have been a member of the YMCA in our downtown area for 4 years because I get a discount through work. There is a Y close to our house that I go to on weekends and my son does all his stuff through that one (but I have to pay more since we're not a member of that specific one). I just found out that our company now has the option of being a member of that one instead so I jumped right on it to save us lots of money on my kid's activities. I work out a lot and have for pretty much my whole life and I've been to this specific gym more times than I can count so I'm very familiar with the facility.

Since I am technically a new member now, they offer a free session with their wellness staff "to make sure you get started in the right direction and are comfortable doing the activities that are most important to you". They also advertise "ActivTrax" program which I will probably not utilize, especially since it's not the main gym I use.

My question is, do you think it would benefit me at all to take them up on their free session? I already know my way around the gym. The only thing I feel like I would get out of it would be if they gave me a new strength training routine but I'm not sure if that's what they mean with this offer. What would you do? I love free stuff but I also hate wasting my time, lol.

SideSteel

MonkeyMel21 wrote: »

I have been a member of the YMCA in our downtown area for 4 years because I get a discount through work. There is a Y close to our house that I go to on weekends and my son does all his stuff through that one (but I have to pay more since we're not a member of that specific one). I just found out that our company now has the option of being a member of that one instead so I jumped right on it to save us lots of money on my kid's activities. I work out a lot and have for pretty much my whole life and I've been to this specific gym more times than I can count so I'm very familiar with the facility.

Since I am technically a new member now, they offer a free session with their wellness staff "to make sure you get started in the right direction and are comfortable doing the activities that are most important to you". They also advertise "ActivTrax" program which I will probably not utilize, especially since it's not the main gym I use.

My question is, do you think it would benefit me at all to take them up on their free session? I already know my way around the gym. The only thing I feel like I would get out of it would be if they gave me a new strength training routine but I'm not sure if that's what they mean with this offer. What would you do? I love free stuff but I also hate wasting my time, lol.

Disclaimer: I was a personal trainer at my YMCA for 1 year to get experience. I'm no longer an in-gym trainer.

The purpose of the wellness consult is "sort of" like a miniature training session. You will likely get interviewed followed by spending some time on the gym floor with the trainer.

I'd say it's unlikely that you would get a complete program design in this wellness consultation however it's certainly possible and it probably depends on the trainer and the policy/guidelines at that particular YMCA. When I did these consults I would write up a brief program if the client wanted one so that I could teach them about progressive overload and some very basic concepts of programming however some trainers may have a bit of a "that's something you hire me for" opinion on that.

It also gives you an opportunity to ask questions and to get to know the trainer you are working with.

It IS also a method for which the trainer (and the YMCA) generates sales for training packages however it's not likely to be some sort of aggressive hard-sell scenario, at least it never was at my YMCA.

Overall the nice part is, it IS free, so you're only out the time if you try it and don't feel like you get anything out of it.

MonkeyMel21

SideSteel wrote: »

MonkeyMel21 wrote: »

I have been a member of the YMCA in our downtown area for 4 years because I get a discount through work. There is a Y close to our house that I go to on weekends and my son does all his stuff through that one (but I have to pay more since we're not a member of that specific one). I just found out that our company now has the option of being a member of that one instead so I jumped right on it to save us lots of money on my kid's activities. I work out a lot and have for pretty much my whole life and I've been to this specific gym more times than I can count so I'm very familiar with the facility.

Since I am technically a new member now, they offer a free session with their wellness staff "to make sure you get started in the right direction and are comfortable doing the activities that are most important to you". They also advertise "ActivTrax" program which I will probably not utilize, especially since it's not the main gym I use.

My question is, do you think it would benefit me at all to take them up on their free session? I already know my way around the gym. The only thing I feel like I would get out of it would be if they gave me a new strength training routine but I'm not sure if that's what they mean with this offer. What would you do? I love free stuff but I also hate wasting my time, lol.

Disclaimer: I was a personal trainer at my YMCA for 1 year to get experience. I'm no longer an in-gym trainer.

The purpose of the wellness consult is "sort of" like a miniature training session. You will likely get interviewed followed by spending some time on the gym floor with the trainer.

I'd say it's unlikely that you would get a complete program design in this wellness consultation however it's certainly possible and it probably depends on the trainer and the policy/guidelines at that particular YMCA. When I did these consults I would write up a brief program if the client wanted one so that I could teach them about progressive overload and some very basic concepts of programming however some trainers may have a bit of a "that's something you hire me for" opinion on that.

It also gives you an opportunity to ask questions and to get to know the trainer you are working with.

It IS also a method for which the trainer (and the YMCA) generates sales for training packages however it's not likely to be some sort of aggressive hard-sell scenario, at least it never was at my YMCA.

Overall the nice part is, it IS free, so you're only out the time if you try it and don't feel like you get anything out of it.

Thanks for your response. I got the feeling that I wouldn't get a whole new routine out of it without actually hiring the trainer after the subsequent encounter but I guess I will just ask when I go today after work. I don't need a trainer, mainly cause I don't want to pay for one, and do just fine without. I feel like it's more to get a tour and make sure I know how to use all the equipment, which I already do.