Personal Trainer Question?

read this article on www.leangains.com - train like a man look like a goddess...

there is no reason that you can't be doing deadlifts, squats, pullups/chinups, overhead preses etc...

I sometimes watch the personal trainers at my gym training people and it makes me shake my head..they are never deadlifting, squating, doing pullups etc..just doing plyo or low weight stuff...ughh..that stuff will work for a while but you will not get strong...

I would use the PT to show you proper form on certain moves I.e squats, deads etc..and then strike out on your own...You should be training so that you are consistenly increasing weights and reps...that is what I do...and i have one from deadlfiting 150# three months to 300# last week...

thats my two cents...:)

This is exactly what I want to do because I have seen results faster in the women who do this over the ones who stick with low weight/high rep and never increase. I'm just not sure what the best way to go about telling the trainer that this is what i want to do is, if I should just say "I know you're the pro and all but I know more than you" which sounds kind of snotty, or if there is a good way to ask for a different trainer until I find one I like.

tell the trainer that you want to learn proper form for squats, deadlifts, etc...once you have the form down ditch him/her...if they keep trying to turn you away from them get a new PT...

Thanks for the help. I guess as long as I'm sticking with it I don't have to keep having the sessions even though they are included in my membership.

In case anyone is following along/cares my session was last night and actually was with a different trainer, the one I was scheduled with was sick. I think no matter what trainer I am with though everything is going to work out the way I want. The gym uses a team approach to the training so that if something happens like yesterday with a sick trainer it doesn't completely throw the client for a loop having someone else. They discuss each client, their needs and keep records of goals and what is being worked on and what is done (weight/reps/etc) so that it is easily accessible by everyone. Since I am learning how to use the equipment we are going to focus on one body area per week so that I can learn all of the machines etc. and work on my one. Yesterday I did arm machines, next week we will do leg machines and then free weights, etc. with a goal of learning how to properly use 5-7 things per session. Once I have learned all of the equipment we will start mixing things up a bit based on my goals and that is when I will probably start scheduling consistently with a single trainer. I'm excited because while I am learning the machines I will get to work with a handful of different trainers which means I should be able to pick someone who I mesh well with for the majority of my sessions. They do preach the low weight high rep thing but once I know what I am doing no matter when trainer I pick they will discuss what I want to work on in more depth than was done during my initial consultation and I should be able to switch things up from there without too much push-back.

As for how I feel after last night--I definitely had an effective workout, I didn't realize how out of shape I really am. It's probably a good thing I am starting at such a low weight because I don't know if I would have been able to walk today if I had worked with anything heavier even with less reps!