Trainer working me too hard?

gfroniewski

I worked out with a trainer for a year and his words to me were always "If it HURTS stop. If you are just UNCOMFORTABLE quit whining."

Love this ^

It's very true as well!

Cheeky_0102

I had a trainer work me so hard i could hardly walk for a week. I came back in and he was so proud of himself for getting me there, i lasted one more workout before i gave up and quit the gym. I think there is a limit to working yourself out

Tykk

Thank you Cheeky! I thought I was going to pass out from all the testosterone in this thread!

tross0924

The human body is capable of some amazing stuff. It will go farther and faster than you currently think possible. It will protest doing so however.

I'm sorry to hear you dropped out. Personally I think you need to learn to push your own limits before you stat paying someone else to push them for you. Once you start to associate a sense of pride with going farther, faster, or picking up more, then you can pay someone to yell at you and push you beyond what you thought you could do even then.

Even just starting out and being older, the only reason not to go full tilt crazy when exercising is because you don't enjoy it and won't continue to do it. Find something you like, and then do it as hard as you can while still knowing you're going to come back the next day and do it again. If you're capable of comitting no matter what, then go as hard as possible for as long as possible, then borrow the will if you have to, but do it again the next day.

Tykk

Congrats on your amazing weight loss, tross. It's really inspirational. I am sure you have some good stories to tell.

For what it's worth, I wasn't paying the trainer to push my limits - I was paying him to teach me good technique and to help develop a workout I could follow regularly. I have been injured twice in the past by guys who were overly eager to push my limits.

Why is it that we counsel people to go slow and steady on weight loss, while (at least according to some posters in this thread), exercise is supposed to be all about taking yourself to the point of complete exhaustion?

JNick77

Morning all!

I signed up with a personal trainer to get a kick-start to my exercise program. I'm seeing him once a week, and doing another session on my own.

I'm frankly feeling like I've been taken through the wringer each session, and am not enjoying them at all. I'm wondering whether he's pushing too hard. For example, in the cardio part of the workout, he's got me at > 160 bpm heart rate, spiking as high as 175 bpm. I'm thinking for a 48 year old man weighing 270 lbs, this is ludicrous.

Am I correct, or just a wuss?

Didn't read everybody else's response so this might be repetitive but these are my thoughts:

1. If you're not in pain (injury pain), you're fine
2. If you don't have any indicators that your health is at risk, constant light-headed, tight-chest, constant chest pain, you're probably fine.
3. Are you getting results? It might be too soon but the best judge is to *kitten* your health and the results.

Good luck, keep workin' it.

tross0924

Congrats on your amazing weight loss, tross. It's really inspirational. I am sure you have some good stories to tell.

For what it's worth, I wasn't paying the trainer to push my limits - I was paying him to teach me good technique and to help develop a workout I could follow regularly. I have been injured twice in the past by guys who were overly eager to push my limits.

Why is it that we counsel people to go slow and steady on weight loss, while (at least according to some posters in this thread), exercise is supposed to be all about taking yourself to the point of complete exhaustion?

Because fast weight loss can be bad for you and is usually unsustainable. Utter annihilation during exercise is good for you, sustainable with the right frame of mind, and the best way to improve your fitness.

If you're goal with exercise to is go farther and faster, then you have to push your limits every time. Walking around the block isn't going to help you finish a marathon in under 4 hours. If your goal is to pick up really heavy things then picking up the same thing at every work out isn't going to help you pick up more in a month. It is only by exceeding what we think we can do that we find out what we really can do.

If you were paying the trainer to help you set up a program though, then yeah he probably pushed you harder than he should have.

obrientp

Wow, this thread is still running? :laugh:

I have to say, I never went back to the trainer, and I gradually fell off my exercise program altogether.

In retrospect, the guy was well meaning, but he made two huge mistakes - working me way too hard for my fitness level, and making sure we never did the same thing two days running. That kept me always off balance, and unable to really master any of the techniques he was teaching me.

I'm gearing up to try again, once I get back from vacation. But I'm going to look for a trainer who has grey hair and walks with a limp from his arthritic knee.

Perhaps that was the real issue. If you were feeling miserable when you exercised and don't like what you are doing, there's no way you were going to stick with it. You have a find a trainer you like or do something that you love doing to make you want to give it your all.

danimalkeys

Congrats on your amazing weight loss, tross. It's really inspirational. I am sure you have some good stories to tell.

For what it's worth, I wasn't paying the trainer to push my limits - I was paying him to teach me good technique and to help develop a workout I could follow regularly. I have been injured twice in the past by guys who were overly eager to push my limits.

Why is it that we counsel people to go slow and steady on weight loss, while (at least according to some posters in this thread), exercise is supposed to be all about taking yourself to the point of complete exhaustion?

Because fast weight loss can be bad for you and is usually unsustainable. Utter annihilation during exercise is good for you, sustainable with the right frame of mind, and the best way to improve your fitness.

If you're goal with exercise to is go farther and faster, then you have to push your limits every time. Walking around the block isn't going to help you finish a marathon in under 4 hours. If your goal is to pick up really heavy things then picking up the same thing at every work out isn't going to help you pick up more in a month. It is only by exceeding what we think we can do that we find out what we really can do.

If you were paying the trainer to help you set up a program though, then yeah he probably pushed you harder than he should have.

You don't train for a marathon by running a marathon your first day. Maybe walking around the block is the 1st goal. You don't train to pick up heavy things by picking up that heavy thing the 1st time you try. You build up to it as your body allows. Yes, you can push yourself, that's how you make progress, but to expect a complete beginner to just jump in and do a high intensity workout that someone 20-30 years younger might do isn't real smart. For an overweight 60 year old, walking a half mile at 2 miles an hour might be all she can handle for now. If that turns into walking a mile at 2 miles an hour in a month, that's progress. If she adds a half mile an hour to her speed, that's progress. If she has to start lifting with the 2lb dumbbells and can only get 5 reps, but in a month gets 10 reps, that's progress.

It doesn't all have to be about laying on the floor in agony after a workout to say you did everything you can. The difference between moving and not moving is often enough for a complete beginner to turn around their lifestyle to the point where they can eventually do what the trainer wanted them to do that 1st day. If I hadn't worked out in 25 years and went to a trainer and they did what they did to the OP to me, I wouldn't go a back either.

I lifted weights heavy for a long time but never did any cardio. When I 1st started doing cardio it was hard to go a mile in 20 minutes. Each time I tried to go a little farther, or a little faster. It didn't happen over night, and I'm still not in shape to run as fast as I can for an hour like some people can do, but I'm a lot better off now than I was a year ago. Slow and steady, change your lifestyle, and the rest will fall into place.

korseth

So many people so quick to judge that you are not working hard enough.
Sure I pay my trainer to kick my *kitten* BUT I dont pay my trainer to overwork me to the point that I get injured because of his lack of knowledge or simple greed. Be sure your trainer is certified and knowledgable. Use your own judgement. If you are new to training you will learn what works for you and what doesnt. Might spend more $ but it beats being hurt.

dbmata

unh push it. Push it real good.
unh push it. Push it real good!

1x a week? So a ton of time to recover, he's making you hit some points of failure. I mean hell, that's what I pay my trainer for. To tear me down, probe what I can suffer and survive, then build me back up, stronger.

I'm just there for the ride. He says jump, I say.... BOXJUMPS! and proceed to whack my foot with a box. You should just lose yourself in it, in a couple weeks, you'll find out that it's not as hard, and he'll realize it, an amp the volume.

stealthq

I just started a couple weeks ago with a pt as well and have a similar experience and was wondering the same thing. I am almost 60, a woman and about 80lbs overweight and have NEVER exercised. I think the 25 year old kid training me knows his stuff but have to wonder about the one size fits all approach. It seems starting a little slower and progressing as I gain strength would be better. The most important thing for me is to keep going. When he works me so hard, pushes me to go beyond what I can physically do so he has to push the weights for me, I feel like a failure. What's the point? All I want is a little toning to go with the cardio I do on my own. I don't want to become ms fitness senior citizen. Please don't say I'm a wimp ..I am trying and trying hard but am not an athlete nor do I want to be. I'm going to keep trying I've paid in advance but seems like workout should be designed for fitness level, age, goals?

It is designed for your fitness level, age, and goals, unless you told your trainer your goal is to simply maintain and not improve.

Your trainer is not giving you the same weights and exercises he would be giving me, I promise you. He's helping you move those weights because you're weaker through part of the movement - probably at the very start or very end. This lets you strengthen your connective tissues and stabilizing muscles safely without selling your stronger muscles short. It won't be long before his help won't be necessary with those weights and you'll either be doing the complete movement yourself, or will be on to heavier weights, or both.

Here's the thing. Your trainer should always be pushing you past your current limits. Working you at (lets say) 80% of your maximum effort with maybe a higher effort fitness test workout every now and again. Which means your workout should never get easier for you. You should just be doing more. Moving faster, farther, lifting heavier, with less rest, etc.

Now, if you want to improve more slowly, you can ask him to ease up. But you won't improve as quickly as you're capable.

dbmata

PS :

When he works me so hard, pushes me to go beyond what I can physically do so he has to push the weights for me, I feel like a failure. What's the point?

That's the point. It's a safe time to work until failure. Working until failure that workout will increase the amount of effort you can put out in your next workout. Maybe not directly the next session, but if you track over time, you'll see an upward trend due to physical adaptation.