Personal Trainers are a joke - blog about the misconceptions of what we really do and the ridiculous picture adverts on social media.
Just saying that most of the adverts for personal trainers just doesn’t do a good PT justice and gives the wrong idea. for example in this picture the PT is getting ready to grab the clients shoulder & lower back or is he asking his client to engage the core and bring his back up, I would think that protecting the kettlebells from sliding on that wood floor injuring his client would be a better use of his hands lol. Now the guy in the picture is probably an awesome PT, but for some reason PTs always seem to orchestrate some bizarre picture either touching their clients or bringing their hands near to a part of their clients body trying to highlight something.
Just saying that most of the adverts for personal trainers just doesn’t do a good PT justice and gives the wrong idea. for example in this picture the PT is getting ready to grab the clients shoulder & lower back or is he asking his client to engage the core and bring his back up, I would think that protecting the kettlebells from sliding on that wood floor injuring his client would be a better use of his hands lol. Now the guy in the picture is probably an awesome PT, but for some reason PTs always seem to orchestrate some bizarre picture either touching their clients or bringing their hands near to a part of their clients body trying to highlight something.
Its just absolute BS really, we might touch or point to a body part to draw attention to a muscle, group or vertebrae or even to ensure a joint is in a safe area. But for 60 minutes this might be a tiny part of the session only. Maybe some novice coaches might spend a lot of time shadowing, protecting or touching their client but they soon learn to grow out of that.
Every advert recently I have noticed on social media has a Personal Trainer concocting some weird orchestrated position for themselves and their clients.... Its giviing out a message thats all we do! touch up our clients.?? we don’t all do that lol!!
Every advert recently I have noticed on social media has a Personal Trainer concocting some weird orchestrated position for themselves and their clients.... Its giviing out a message thats all we do! touch up our clients.?? we don’t all do that lol!!
If he taps there its Just rib, i am sure, but they are both having fun.
Come on dude dont drop that plastic pipe?
I am writing this blog because these days Personal Trainers, Health Coaches, Body Coaches can do so much more than just giving tactile feedback. The education of some of my PT brothers and sisters is amazing (however not all as some just live of their level 3 PT course knowledge).
Below I have listed just some of the things that your coach might be specialising in .... it's always worth asking about a Personal Trainers experience and self development.
Below I have listed just some of the things that your coach might be specialising in .... it's always worth asking about a Personal Trainers experience and self development.
Biomechanics
This is great for clients as the PT can assess functional movement and correct to ensure safe exercises, body balance and posture.
This is great for clients as the PT can assess functional movement and correct to ensure safe exercises, body balance and posture.
Sports Massage & Rehab
Having an education in sports massage and rehab can make your coach a very valuable asset, your training will be safe, progressive and designed to improve any weaknesses you may have. If you do become injured during your training the PT will still be able to train you around your injury and help rehabilitate any problem areas. A regular massage can only improve your health and results and reduce the chances of getting injured.
Having an education in sports massage and rehab can make your coach a very valuable asset, your training will be safe, progressive and designed to improve any weaknesses you may have. If you do become injured during your training the PT will still be able to train you around your injury and help rehabilitate any problem areas. A regular massage can only improve your health and results and reduce the chances of getting injured.
Kinesiology
Basically working with testing and fixing muscles, there are so many types of kinesiology but if your coach practices kinesiology you can feel safe knowing that if a body movement is a problem he/she can track it down and fix the muscle which will fix the movement. Better Body Management Kinesiology looks much deeper using an indicator muscle to test the whole system (body) including mental, emotional,electrical and nutritional elements. Your muscles can and will tell you whats happening inside the body. “its like voodoo”. I have personally used tapping and bach flowers to improve my clients emotional and muscle state which is very left of field... but hey if it works.
Basically working with testing and fixing muscles, there are so many types of kinesiology but if your coach practices kinesiology you can feel safe knowing that if a body movement is a problem he/she can track it down and fix the muscle which will fix the movement. Better Body Management Kinesiology looks much deeper using an indicator muscle to test the whole system (body) including mental, emotional,electrical and nutritional elements. Your muscles can and will tell you whats happening inside the body. “its like voodoo”. I have personally used tapping and bach flowers to improve my clients emotional and muscle state which is very left of field... but hey if it works.
The classic knee protection pose on the Bosu, touching the Bosu too for a better pic?
We have all done this !!
We have all done this !!
Nervous System
There are some coaches using Nervous System fixes and coaching, this can be great as some of the practical applications of this can improve a clients functions by making the brain CNS feel a little safer. Also this can be super useful for taking a client out of stress, lowering blood pressure and improving sleep.
There are some coaches using Nervous System fixes and coaching, this can be great as some of the practical applications of this can improve a clients functions by making the brain CNS feel a little safer. Also this can be super useful for taking a client out of stress, lowering blood pressure and improving sleep.
Movement Nuerology
This is some ninja wizardy stuff getting delivered by the applied movement neurology guys, assessing and fixing even deep routed brain body issues often swiftly by doing clever brain and body stuff. For example reseting the body by tapping the heart & brain, it really is awesome. I have personally used the ventral horn calibration on a number fo female clients taking them from zero full press ups up to 14 full press ups in seconds. “magic really”
This is some ninja wizardy stuff getting delivered by the applied movement neurology guys, assessing and fixing even deep routed brain body issues often swiftly by doing clever brain and body stuff. For example reseting the body by tapping the heart & brain, it really is awesome. I have personally used the ventral horn calibration on a number fo female clients taking them from zero full press ups up to 14 full press ups in seconds. “magic really”
Mindset
This doesnt mean your PT being super enthusiastic and telling you that you can achieve anything you want, such as “dream - believe - achieve” (Bullshit). This is about studying and using Neuro linguistic programming, cognitive behavioural therapy, mindfulness etc. These are proven methods of changing a clients mindstate to believing in themselves and building habits which can be adhered to. For example I sometimes use a personal hand written diary with clients using positive words, weekly positive personal feedback, thymus tapping with affirmations and goal pictures. We can also look at removing phobias and problem foods using NLP. Because weight gain often is linked intrinsically to emotions we need to be therpists and great listeners. Often PTs fall short of this because they find it hard to understand how their overweight client really feels.
This doesnt mean your PT being super enthusiastic and telling you that you can achieve anything you want, such as “dream - believe - achieve” (Bullshit). This is about studying and using Neuro linguistic programming, cognitive behavioural therapy, mindfulness etc. These are proven methods of changing a clients mindstate to believing in themselves and building habits which can be adhered to. For example I sometimes use a personal hand written diary with clients using positive words, weekly positive personal feedback, thymus tapping with affirmations and goal pictures. We can also look at removing phobias and problem foods using NLP. Because weight gain often is linked intrinsically to emotions we need to be therpists and great listeners. Often PTs fall short of this because they find it hard to understand how their overweight client really feels.
Muscle release techniques - Emmett Points
So you have a sore joint and your PT stops training, there are sometimes other options. Emmett points can release muscles immediately by pressing certain points within the muscle. Often a joint can be displaying pain because one or more muscles around the joint isnt working as it should and a simple Emmett muscle release technique can remove the pain straight away. As you can imagine this would be very useful for the client.
So you have a sore joint and your PT stops training, there are sometimes other options. Emmett points can release muscles immediately by pressing certain points within the muscle. Often a joint can be displaying pain because one or more muscles around the joint isnt working as it should and a simple Emmett muscle release technique can remove the pain straight away. As you can imagine this would be very useful for the client.
Additional Nutritional Courses
Speaking from my experience the nutrition element of my PT course wasnt substantial enough for todays clients, If your PT is still using the knowledge from their PT course it’s a red flag to me. There are loads of really excellent post grad nutritional courses to make your PT a bit of an expert on food related to weight loss or performance. For eample the Precision Nutrition Course or Guru ISSN sports nutrition diploma. Clients shouldnt all be on a 1200 low cal diet (Nooo!)
Speaking from my experience the nutrition element of my PT course wasnt substantial enough for todays clients, If your PT is still using the knowledge from their PT course it’s a red flag to me. There are loads of really excellent post grad nutritional courses to make your PT a bit of an expert on food related to weight loss or performance. For eample the Precision Nutrition Course or Guru ISSN sports nutrition diploma. Clients shouldnt all be on a 1200 low cal diet (Nooo!)
Hormonal Courses
There are a couple that look at the body hormonally, I can only really vouch for the endocrine education that Phil Richards delivers(awesome by the way - every PT should know this stuff). Knowing how to maximise results in terms of weight loss or muscle growth by balancing hormones is a really powerfull tool. To be honest sometimes if you can’t unlock the clients hormones you are fighting against a locked door or pissing against the wind. I have personally experienced fab results after having a clients blood testing, rebalancing the body and unlocking true health and vitality. (this is like the fountain of youth) your clients feeling 10 years younger “BOOM”
There are a couple that look at the body hormonally, I can only really vouch for the endocrine education that Phil Richards delivers(awesome by the way - every PT should know this stuff). Knowing how to maximise results in terms of weight loss or muscle growth by balancing hormones is a really powerfull tool. To be honest sometimes if you can’t unlock the clients hormones you are fighting against a locked door or pissing against the wind. I have personally experienced fab results after having a clients blood testing, rebalancing the body and unlocking true health and vitality. (this is like the fountain of youth) your clients feeling 10 years younger “BOOM”
Fitness Courses
I am a time served Holistic Personal Trainer and I concede for weight loss exercise is the least important factor, yet for some coaches it’s the only thing they think about. However variety is the spice of life and variation does give better results than the same old training. If a PT is a one trick pony and just uses plate loaded machines or just dumbbells in every session they should think of learning some other stuff. There is so much variation in terms of exercise and i am going to cover a few.... i will have probably forgotten some, if i have sorry.
I am a time served Holistic Personal Trainer and I concede for weight loss exercise is the least important factor, yet for some coaches it’s the only thing they think about. However variety is the spice of life and variation does give better results than the same old training. If a PT is a one trick pony and just uses plate loaded machines or just dumbbells in every session they should think of learning some other stuff. There is so much variation in terms of exercise and i am going to cover a few.... i will have probably forgotten some, if i have sorry.
- Primal movements, using movements that are ingrained in our evolution ...good call
- Functional training, a gray area really as you hear some PTs believing that they own functional training? basically doing exercises in order to make you function better in your personal or work life
- Crossfit, weird exercise cult like Les Mills but worse lol. The first rule of Crossfit “TALK ABOUT CROSSFIT. I have attended a crossfit trainers course and thought it was very well delivered and safe, but somewhere between the courses and the actual boxes(like a gym but smellier) things can go wrong.
- Olympic lifting(OL), makes exercise a little more interesting and like the other execise here it can help with results. Olympic training uses the core a lot without getting invloved in silly abs blasts classes. Most athlete Strength & Conditioning (S&C) plans will have OL so this stuff gets results.
- Kettlebells, someone I follow (a guru) stated that the only good use of a KB is as a door stop. I dont know I still kind of like them for a tough session again with core stability.
- Slow cardio - endurance and outside running, some PTs now will be saying NOOOO.. but the fact of the matter is for some people slow cardio and running, especially outside can be awesome. People that are stressed, mental health, thyroid issues, menopause etc.
- Hill reps, intervals and track work, again for certain clientelle this stuff can be dynamite improving fitness extremely fast and and dropping weight.
- Adventure fitness, this sis something that not many coaches do, its a shame as this stuff is great for fitness, mental strength, confidence and to build a healthy fitness habit. I can teach my clients how to.... climb, ski, kayak, canoe, mountain bike and snowboard. Amazing fun that can make so many deep mental impacts.
- Pilates & yoga, some coaches dont go for all this softly softly stuff, however I fully beleive that you can get in great mental & physical shape doing this sort of training.
So when you complain about paying your personal training/coaches prices just think about how much has been spent on their self development (££££££). However the qualifications listed above and others are used by only a minority of Personal Trainers....most just do all of their training based on the knowledge learned on a 4-20 week full or part time course.
All of the adverts on Facebook just dont do some PT justice... I hope you agree?
Your PT could be your best friend, a nutrrition geek, a wizard, a brain and mind reader, hormonal geek, adventurer, medical assistant and able to fix long term issues by pressing a muscle, taping your thymus or head or moving your jaw in a funny way.
Hopefully you have liked reading about what some of us PTs do, and if you would like some help with your goals please give me a shout.
Oh and yes I do all of the above (apart from yoga and pilates lol).
Glenn Hill Holistic Health Coach
07983570574
All of the adverts on Facebook just dont do some PT justice... I hope you agree?
Your PT could be your best friend, a nutrrition geek, a wizard, a brain and mind reader, hormonal geek, adventurer, medical assistant and able to fix long term issues by pressing a muscle, taping your thymus or head or moving your jaw in a funny way.
Hopefully you have liked reading about what some of us PTs do, and if you would like some help with your goals please give me a shout.
Oh and yes I do all of the above (apart from yoga and pilates lol).
Glenn Hill Holistic Health Coach
07983570574
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