About to start working with a Personal Trainer

keenercam · May 2012

I worked with a personal trainer for more than a year before I seriously injured my knee 3 years ago, leading to 4 surgeries. This is a new trainer and I am really interested to meet him for the first time and to see what kind of workout he comes up with for me, especially since my strength level has diminished so much in my years away from personal training.

Right now, I work out about 5 days a week, including 2 nights when I do elliptical for 30-50 minutes and then attend a deepwater aerobics class. 2-3 days a week I do elliptical, recumbent bike or Octane for at least an hour. I've been completely intimidated about re-starting the weight training on my own, mostly because I have a vision impairment that makes it difficult for me to be in that kind of setting without guidance/assistance.

My weight loss has been stagnant for a while and obviously I need to shake it up, do some different stuff besides cardio, and re-build the strength in my legs.

Do you have any suggestions as to what I might ask him about trying if he asks me for input? Our gym has a wealth of circuit machines, a huge free-weights area, and every cardio machine I've ever heard of, as well as TRX. What would you suggest?

mhotch · May 2012

First you do not want to waste any valuable time doing cardio. You can discuss it, but don't waste time actually doing it.

Make sure he/she knows what your limitations are, so it can be worked around. You want a mix of machines and free weights. Ask if you can get a copy of the log of exercises that you do. I used it for over a year as a guide when I was done with my trainer.

Ask for help in creating workouts to follow, when you are done with training. This may be more beneficial as you have some sessions logged, and he/she is more familiar with your abilities and limitations.

keenercam · May 2012

Good points. Thank you. And if he wants me to do cardio to warm-up, my plan will be to do that before my time slot with him.

1313harbor · May 2012

I would ask for things that will help strengthen your core. It will help with the running and is good for your back, too.

keenercam · May 2012

I would ask for things that will help strengthen your core. It will help with the running and is good for your back, too.

Thanks! I am hoping that focusing on core and quad strengthening will really improve my half-marathon pace!

tuffytuffy1 · May 2012

I would ask him to help you with compound exercises that work more than one muscle group at a time. My trainer has me doing "cleans", squats and lunges with weights, pull-ups, that sort of thing.

mariobadr · May 2012

First you do not want to waste any valuable time doing cardio. You can discuss it, but don't waste time actually doing it.

Make sure he/she knows what your limitations are, so it can be worked around. You want a mix of machines and free weights. Ask if you can get a copy of the log of exercises that you do. I used it for over a year as a guide when I was done with my trainer.

Ask for help in creating workouts to follow, when you are done with training. This may be more beneficial as you have some sessions logged, and he/she is more familiar with your abilities and limitations.

What's wrong with cardio? The heart needs to be worked out too

ninerbuff · May 2012

First you do not want to waste any valuable time doing cardio. You can discuss it, but don't waste time actually doing it.

Make sure he/she knows what your limitations are, so it can be worked around. You want a mix of machines and free weights. Ask if you can get a copy of the log of exercises that you do. I used it for over a year as a guide when I was done with my trainer.

Ask for help in creating workouts to follow, when you are done with training. This may be more beneficial as you have some sessions logged, and he/she is more familiar with your abilities and limitations.

What's wrong with cardio? The heart needs to be worked out too

Cardio is fine, but you don't need to have a trainer watch you do it on a treadmill, elliptical, etc. Use the time for more valuable workout regimens.
You can do something like a HIIT cardio workout with weights and plyo work, but most of the time steady state cardio doesn't really need any coaching.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

TrainingWithTonya · May 2012

My suggestion would be to ask his credentials for working with someone with your limitations. Most personal training certifications do NOT cover special populations and only technically allow them to work with apparently healthy individuals and not with people with previous major injury, illness, or disease. There are some certifications that are specific to working with people with specific needs like your previous knee injury, but most trainers don't get them because of the cost. So you don't aggravate the old injury, though, ask him if he has experience or education on working with orthopedic injuries (and any other special limitations you may have). Ideally, I would recommend looking for someone with an American College of Sports Medicine Clinical Exercise Specialist certification as that is focused primarily on people with various illnesses, injuries, and limitations so they are less likely to cause further injury and are prepared for complications that come with exercise and various limitations. You probably won't find someone with that certification working in a local gym, however, because it typically leads to us working in a clinical setting such as a hospital. But there are other certification agencies that do have specializations in clinical populations for personal trainers in a gym setting, so if you can get someone with one of those, that is the trainer you should be working with. If you can't find a trainer with education in special populations (specifically orthopedic injuries), then call your local university and see if they have an exercise physiology program. If they do, then they will be training future trainers for working with clinical populations and may be able to guide you to a trainer who is better qualified work with you without risking further injury.

stevenb35 · May 2012

Lay out your end game. Tell the trainer what you expect to gain by going through the sessions. That has worked well for me. My trainer has tailored my program to what I want to accomplish from a number of perspectives. Goal weight, 100 consecutive pushups, 20 consecutive pullups, bench my body weight, compete in the worlds toughest 5K...... He is also well aware of phisical limitations and my diet. I do 20 min of cardio to warm up BEFORE we start.

Once the end game is well mapped out it is a lot easier to back into a plan.

keenercam · May 2012

Wow! The advice here is wonderful. Thank you. I appreciate everyone that has taken the time to post. There is a lot of information here that I want to follow up on. I'm off to google to research some of these references.

tuffytuffy - I've never heard of compound exercises. I'll ask him about that approach.

ninerbuff - I agree that I don't need anyone coaching my cardio. I do a lot of it and I have watched my cardio ability improve significantly as I have to work harder and harder to get my heart rate up. Pretty amazing when you consider that my "resting" heart rate used to be over 140 (yes, I had continuous ventricular tacchychardia and was literally at death's door for most of almost 10 years of my life). Now, my resting heart rate is usually around 72. I will definitely ask him for guidance as to what I am doing now, cardio-wise, and how to moderate it to fit into an overall fitness plan, but I'll do my machine cardio before our workout sessions. Thanks for referencing HIIT cardio - I'm going to research what that is.

TrainingwithT - I am being assigned specifically to a trainer who works with individuals with medical limitations due to injuries. I am hoping I will get a feel pretty quickly as to whether it is a good fit. My first two personal trainers always said I pushed myself harder than they pushed me and, in fact, paid very close attention to make sure I didn't overdo it. Since I am so limited now, striking a balance will be interesting.

stevenb35 - I really admire that you have concrete goals. Maybe instead of looking for general wellness and weight loss, I should set some specific strength goals. Once he does his preliminary assessment of my current state of wellness, my PT should be able to help me set realistic, concrete goals. I'd love to have tangible proof three months from now that my efforts have yielded good results.

About to start working with a Personal Trainer

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