The Value of a Personal Trainer (Private Training)
If you are still on the journey to weight loss, muscle building, strength training, or better overall health and metabolism, you may need some help; A Personal Trainer. And it isn’t just me that says so! Very Well Fit agrees as well!
A Personal trainer, or Private Training, gives you several edges over working out independently. First, they give you the compliance component. How often do you not go to the gym when you told yourself you would? It happens to all of us. Or how many times after you got there did you perform a sub-par performance? These problems are solved by hiring a personal trainer and keeping a schedule.
By paying for this in advance, you will miss many fewer sessions as you know that you will be charged for them anyway. No one wants that! So this keeps you on a schedule that is always better than none!
An additional benefit of a trainer is that they “push” you. Stressing your body’s musculature is what causes the adaptation we are looking for. You get very little adaptation when you perform a “good” workout. I’ll explain adaptation in a second.
If You Do Not Want to Be Pushed to your Limit, Your Trainer Can Back Off.
Your trainer is there for you. They will tailor the workout to you if you want to go 60% today (had a rough weekend) or 100%.
Pushing means going to your personal limits. Going to the point where your muscle “burns” and ultimately “fails.” Failure is when you just can’t run anymore, or you cannot finish that last repetition when doing resistance exercise. Failure of a muscle is excellent because the body will rebound and adapt to that stress, which increases metabolism and strength.
Going to failure is what HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training, also called HIT) is all about. (More on this as well) Being pushed to the limit is where 90% of all the benefits of exercise ARE DERIVED. Just doing moderate exercise is just an activity. Activity is good, but reaching muscle failure is what you want: strength, increased metabolism, and a nicer-shaped body.
Adaption of the Body to the Stress is what you Want, Need and Desire
Adaption is when the brain senses that you failed at something on the physical level and sends forth the commands (chemical and hormonal) to cause you to adapt better so you won’t fail next time. This creates a “better metabolism,” strength, and muscle gain. If you are the type who doesn’t want to build muscle, fear not, as building lots of muscle only happens if you are genetically gifted to build muscle.
Without this gift, you still can, and will, build strength when you push to your limit. You don’t even have to go 100%, but 85-90% is an estimated minimum. And strength is a vital component of health.
A Personal Trainer will help you achieve the muscle failure you are looking for, and they will inspire you to push that little extra. It is difficult for many of us to push ourselves to the limit or even close to it. A Trainer is there to provide accountability (showing up), motivation, inspiration, and all the other positive things that come with working as a team.
If you are going to spend time working out, why shouldn’t you get the maximum benefit?
I like to work out as hard as I can, but only for 20 minutes so I don't have the change. In 20 minutes, I don't sweat.
The Imortance of High Intensity Training, If That Is What You are After
Let me point out something here that is very, very important. To achieve the maximum benefit from your workout, this idea of going to muscle failure isn’t even understood by many personal trainers, Physical Therapists, and especially doctors! I have spoken to dozens of them about HIT (High-Intensity Training) training, and they usually, and very wisely, nod their heads in agreement but then say something like, “But I do go to the gym three times a week and work out…” They don’t get it. And one of the obvious reasons is that they, themselves, are not in top shape! Within a few months, if you train properly, HIGH INTENSITY (FOR YOU) AND SHORT DURATION, you may be stronger than your trainer in 3-6 months!
Ok, neither am I, but I am getting there. My weight has dropped 20 pounds in the last two years, and my lean tissue (muscle, tendons, and bones) has remained the same. This means my percentage of body fat is going down along with my weight, and my percentage of lean tissue is going up (relative to my total weight.)
This is exactly what we are looking for, yet I have known personal trainers who work out for hours and hours a week, and their body doesn’t change. Dozens of exercises are done to build the glutes, yet the glutes don’t get bigger or more shapely. Why? Because you are not going close to “full temporary muscle failure.” That state, the momentary muscle failure, is where 85-90% of the benefits of exercise happen. You need to get to this point so the body does adapt by making the glute bigger, stronger, or more shapely.
Personal training / Private Training will get you where you want to be!
Interested in Personal Training or a Personal Trainer?
