The summer season is only a few months away and right now is a good time to put those thoughts of hiring a personal trainer into action! Whether you desire to lose weight, increase muscle mass, or just need help establishing an exercise routine, a good way to increase the odds that you will enjoy the time you spend with a trainer and ultimately achieve the results you desire is to plan ahead for success. Here are five ideas to consider before your first personal training session:
1. Take the time: You paid for your personal training sessions and you want to see results, like, yesterday. For many people, hiring a personal trainer is an act of desperation and the end result of years of failed attempts to lose weight, increase vitality, and improve body image. Strong emotions may prevail before, during, and after your initial session that lead you to experience a sense of disappointment when you realize that making lasting changes to your health may take more time than you expected. A good personal trainer educates gradually so that their clients are most likely to retain new information and leave the gym with identifiable skills to work on, so recognize that taking it slow is a sign that your trainer values your success as much as you do.
2. Put blame aside: When you experience a setback or you are faced with an undesirable outcome it is common to spend time blaming yourself or others. Maybe you slept poorly the night before and your trainer responded by toning down your routine to accommodate your resulting fatigue, or possibly you are so sore from your training session that you wince every time you sit down. Either of these scenarios may be reason for you decide that your personal training sessions are ‘too much’ for your life right now, but blaming your trainer or yourself for something that happened in the past only makes it more likely that you will repeat the same mistakes. Place blame aside and focus on doing things differently next time.
3. Be honest: During the time you are physically with your personal trainer you will share information about your lifestyle that will help your trainer to create a safe, effective exercise plan that takes into account your individual needs. Being honest about your lifestyle habits holds you accountable for the way those habits affect your success in the gym, and while your personal trainer may encourage you and provide a good example for healthy living, you are responsible for taking a hard look in the mirror and honestly admitting that you need to improve or change parts of you that inhibit your ability to achieve optimal health.
4. Be respectful of time: Although positive changes are occurring in the fitness industry to elevate educated, qualified fitness professionals to a status on par with a multidisciplinary team of health practitioners, most personal trainers are paid by the hour and only when they actually train clients. When you make an appointment with a trainer, inquire about his or her cancellation policy and use common courtesy when cancelling or rescheduling a session. Being respectful of your trainer’s time increases the likelihood that he or she will put in the extra time to bring you the best information and support possible.
5. Trust yourself: You must first trust yourself before you trust another person, and that may be a difficult task after losing sight of the importance of your good health. Try reciting a simple daily mantra, such as ‘(your name), I trust you.’ Start your morning repeating this phrase ten times, either out loud or internally, and repeat it every time your internal dialogue becomes negative. Establishing a relationship of trust with yourself empowers you to move out of your comfort zone to accomplish feats that you may otherwise have avoided, and your personal trainer is the person to present you with opportunities to challenge yourself both physically and mentally. Your good health and safety depends upon the gift of trust you offer to yourself and your personal trainer.
Planning ahead for your personal training appointments is like the prep work you do before presenting a speech, preparing a meal, or going on a vacation – you may not stick to the plan word-for-word, but you have a solid outline of how to proceed. Refer to your plan as your relationship with your personal trainer evolves to accommodate your renewed health and vitality and you will be rewarded with a successful partnership based on a mutual desire to live well and prosper.
Image Courtesy Of The Oregonian
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