Trainer working me too hard?

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  • Rum_Runner
    Rum_Runner Posts: 617 Member
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    175? Thats great intense, past the comfort zone range!!! When I do interval training I can easily get over 180!!

    Trainers are there to push you harder than you ever dreamed. That's what they are paid to do. If you are breathing and still moving - stop making excuses and be glad your trainer sees the potential in you. They are trained professionals and most often know when its "too hard"!!

    And puking is a bonus - its not a hard workout till you've puked up everything you ate for the last 2 days!!

    Keep going - it'll start to get easier and just when it does....he'll push you again!! Enjoy the ride!~
  • lizziebeth1028
    lizziebeth1028 Posts: 3,602 Member
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    I'm going to go in a different direction than most of the posters on here. It's NOT necessary to faint, puke or die to have a good work out and still get all the health benefits that come from it. Believe me..that used to be me, pushing myself to the wall. But now at 54 years old I realize that sort of intensity is just too much. What are you're goals? Weight loss? Overall improved health? It sounds like you're just working out 2 times a week (once with the trainer and once on your own)? Change trainers if you're not comfortable or just do it on your own. I would however recommend working out more than 2 times a week and finding a program that's going to work for you. Something you'll stay consistent with that's not torture. There's a fine line between tortured and challenging yourself!
  • fbmandy55
    fbmandy55 Posts: 5,263 Member
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    Another trainer pushing hardcore Cardio?

    That is why I hated my mom's trainer. He told her she HAD to take up running, though being a runner was not one of her goals...
  • poedunk65
    poedunk65 Posts: 1,336 Member
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    Wus
  • MightyDomo
    MightyDomo Posts: 1,265 Member
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    Faint, puke, die or keep going. I'd be pissed if I hired a trainer and didn't leave the gym feeling like I couldn't move one more step.

    This!! You're still alive aren't you?

    Definitely agree with this. If you don't feel like your body is going to fall apart and your arms and legs are limp like jelly after doing a session with a trainer then they haven't done their job.
  • K_Serz
    K_Serz Posts: 1,299 Member
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    I had a trainer once tell me that if I didn't hate him at some point during our session, then he wasn't doing his job.
    I agree. And I hated him for at least half our session time. hahaha He was definitely doing his job. :wink:

    If people hate it that bad, what keeps them coming back? What kept you coming back?

    Not being facetious. Just honestly curious.
  • cathdrew2
    cathdrew2 Posts: 136 Member
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    I'm with you, lizziebeth102. I work with a trainer twice a week and hate him for about 15 minutes of every 45 minute session. But I have never puked and at the end I am *thanking* him for making me do what I'd never do on my own. My money? Suspend your sessions and start walking 6 days a week - fast, slow, up hills, down hills, when it's raining, when it's cold. Commit to yourself first. When you are up to a slow steady jog for 45-60 minutes at a stretch without dying, then spend your money on the trainer. IMHO, with my budget, you're not ready for a trainer yet, mentally or physically.
  • MightyDomo
    MightyDomo Posts: 1,265 Member
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    I had a trainer once tell me that if I didn't hate him at some point during our session, then he wasn't doing his job.
    I agree. And I hated him for at least half our session time. hahaha He was definitely doing his job. :wink:

    If people hate it that bad, what keeps them coming back? What kept you coming back?

    Not being facetious. Just honestly curious.

    I am a bit masochistic, I liked the abuse from my old trainer although he did throw in some good humor here and that that I appreciated.
  • BioMechHeretic
    BioMechHeretic Posts: 128 Member
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    I had a trainer once tell me that if I didn't hate him at some point during our session, then he wasn't doing his job.
    I agree. And I hated him for at least half our session time. hahaha He was definitely doing his job. :wink:

    If people hate it that bad, what keeps them coming back? What kept you coming back?

    Not being facetious. Just honestly curious.

    Results. When you look in the mirror and look awesome and are exercising and performing well.

    My swim coach throughtout my teens was HARDCORE. I would vomit and swim through it, get extreme headaches and overheating, couldn't breathe, limbs felt like they would fall off, for 2 1/2 hours 6 days a week. While it's happening, you hate them. But the results are there, on point.

    Hard work works. That's why you keep going back.
  • rascallycat
    rascallycat Posts: 248 Member
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    I had a trainer once tell me that if I didn't hate him at some point during our session, then he wasn't doing his job.
    I agree. And I hated him for at least half our session time. hahaha He was definitely doing his job. :wink:

    If people hate it that bad, what keeps them coming back? What kept you coming back?

    Not being facetious. Just honestly curious.

    Because they push you past your comfort zone and make you realize you can do more than what you thought you were capable of. Once you see that you CAN do it, whether you hate it at the time or not, you take that and implement it into your regular routine and start pushing yourself harder. Being pushed to the extreme, once a week, is not going to kill you, but make you see that you have more in you than you thought you did!
  • NiagaraCheryl
    NiagaraCheryl Posts: 56 Member
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    My mainconcern is that you're not enjoying it. One my gym's PT gave me a free trial and I didn't like. If you don't like it you're not going to continue. My best suggestion is to talk to the Trainer about it.
  • CariBgood
    CariBgood Posts: 88 Member
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    My trainer kicks my tush every time... I am a wrung out mess. I feel freaking fantastic afterwards. I started my journey because somewhere along the way I stopped moving. It was becoming difficult to get up off the floor. I couldn't touch my toes. Walking up a hill was becoming a challenge of mass proportion. I had to do something since doing it by myself wasn't working. I've accomplished so much with his will and his belief that I CAN. I can almost touch my freaking toes BABY! BUT he also makes sure whatever workout we do is built around challenging me and not killing me.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    Thats way too MUCH! Forget all the whinning comments. Thats just wrong. At that rate your not burning fat your burning sugars that already have been processed. Its not the zon you should be in for weight loss. I am 5'8" who was 265 last year. I am down 75lbs. It wont take you long to get up to that but start is just wrong by the trainer. Just look up info for yourself and you will see for fat burning your HR should be alot less at your size and age. I hate cardio but its a evil needed to a point. Its not how fast or hard you go its where your HR should be.

    I'm sorry, but this is all incorrect. Whether you're burning fat or burning sugars, it's still calories. If your body is burning sugar then it has to replace those stores. Where does it get those calories from? Your fat and the food you eat later (or before). Either way the net effect is the same.

    Even if you want to make the argument that you burn a higher percentage of fat at a slower pace, it still doesn't matter. You might burn 15% of your calories from fat at a slow pace versus 10% at a fast past. But if you burned twice as many calories overall, you not only burned more calories, you also burned more fat.

    For example:
    300 calories burned at a slow pace @ 15% fat burn == 45 fat calories burned
    600 calories burned at a fast pace @ 10% fat burn == 60 fat calories burned

    Not to mention, the extra conditioning and cardio gains when pushing yourself at a harder pace versus just mailing in your workout.

    In other words, go hard and go home (barring medical conditions or injuries or other extenuating circumstances).

    No the effect is not the same.... once you get your heart rate over your Anerobic thresh hold your working cardio more than fat burn... the old school thought of going as hard as you can for as long as you can is old and inaccurate. When you burn processed sugars you do not get the effect nor results


    The lactate threshold (LT) (or lactate inflection point (LIP) or aerobic threshold (AeT)) is the exercise intensity at which lactate (more specifically, lactic acid) starts to accumulate in the blood stream. The reason for the acidification of the blood at high exercise intensities is two-fold: the high rates of ATP hydrolysis in the muscle release hydrogen ions, as they are co-transported out of the muscle into the blood via the MCT— monocarboxylate transporter, and also bicarbonate stores in the blood begin to be used up. This happens when lactate is produced faster than it can be removed (metabolized) in the muscle. When exercising at the LTS intensity any lactate produced by the muscles is removed by the body without it building up.

    With a higher exercise intensity the lactate level in the blood reaches the 'anaerobic threshold (AT), or the onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA).

    The lactate threshold is a useful measure for deciding exercise intensity for training and racing in endurance sports (e.g. long distance running, cycling, rowing, swimming and cross country skiing), but varies between individuals and can be increased with training. Interval training takes advantage of the body being able to temporarily exceed the lactate threshold, and then recover (reduce blood-lactate) while operating below the threshold and while still doing physical activity. Fartlek and interval training are similar, the main difference being the structure of the exercise. Interval training can take the form of many different types of exercise and should closely replicate the movements found in the sport.

    Accurately measuring the lactate threshold involves taking blood samples (normally a pinprick to the finger, earlobe or thumb) during a ramp test where the exercise intensity is progressively increased. Measuring the threshold can also be performed non-invasively using gas-exchange (Respiratory quotient) methods, which requires a metabolic cart to measure air inspired and expired.

    Although the lactate threshold is defined as the point when lactic acid starts to accumulate, some testers approximate this by using the point at which lactate reaches a concentration of 4 mM (at rest it is around 1 mM).

    [edit] Aerobic Threshold

    The aerobic threshold (AeT) is sometimes defined as the exercise intensity at which anaerobic energy pathways start to operate and where blood lactate reaches a concentration of 2 mmol/litre (at rest it is around 1). This tends to be at a heart rate of approximately 20-40 bpm less than the anaerobic threshold and correlates with about 65% of the maximum heart rate. As its name suggests, the anaerobic energy system does not utilize oxygen to create Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and uses glycogen/glucose. Lactic acid is a by-product of using anaerobic metabolism to create ATP for working muscles.

    You cut and pasted a tremendous amount of words to still come to an incorrect conclusion. Dope gave you straight math. One way burns more calories. At the end of the day, burning 2x the cals is more effective than burning half. Doesn't matter what system was activated to burn them.

    You also get no afterburn effect your way. You're wrong
  • leaderzzz
    leaderzzz Posts: 113 Member
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    Faint, puke, die or keep going. I'd be pissed if I hired a trainer and didn't leave the gym feeling like I couldn't move one more step.

    This!! You're still alive aren't you?

    Perfect reply!
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
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    Wait a minute. People are skiing with HRMs now?

    I give up

    I wear mine while posting. My heart rate does get elevated from dumb replies. That's more beer I could be drinking!
  • elorawood
    elorawood Posts: 68 Member
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    Here is a Maximum Heart Rate Calculator:
    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/maximum-heart-rate-calculator.aspx

    For your age it said :
    ¨ Classic: Your maximum heart rate is 172 beats/minute.
    Tanaka: Your maximum heart rate is 174 beats/minute.¨

    You should check with your doctor though to make sure. Also, if you feel uncomfortable, talk to your trainer, you are paying him to be there for you, you don´t have to make him happy. If you feel unhappy about your workout the chances of you giving up are a lot higher, so maybe he can do this in stages that you actually enjoy.
  • amronjohnson
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    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?
  • Tykk
    Tykk Posts: 153 Member
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    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.
  • El_Cunado
    El_Cunado Posts: 359 Member
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    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 ^
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
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    Just look for one that's actually qualified, rather than one that's watched too much tv.

    For the poster saying you're doing the work not the trainer, they were 100% right. The trainer had clearly done no work what so ever.