No.......no you don't need a personal trainer. I'm sorry if that came out a bit too blunt, but this is something that time and time again I struggle with when I'm at the gym. Since I'm in the gym often, I often see 3-5 personal training sessions going on daily (sorry if that doesn't seem like a lot. I go to a fairly small gym) and each time I see this, an emotional and / or moral struggle of some kind seems to overtake me. In this blog post, I want to address my views on personal trainers / personal training sessions, while also going over some alternative methods for those who wish to explore other options when starting, maintaining, or advancing their fitness goals. I'd also like to go over what I think would be important in choosing a personal trainer should you decide to go that route.
Let me first say, that my objective in writing this blog post is to in no way, shape, or form bash personal trainers. Also, my focus on personal training will be from a strength / muscle mass gaining standpoint.
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I know that there are in fact some phenomenal personal trainers out there. But to me, it seems that more often than not, atleast with the personal training sessions I've seen across every gym I've ever worked out at, that personal training programs aren't really an efficient means to develop you optimally in both a mental and physical way. Before you start throwing tons of money at some guy or girl at your gym, please consider some of the following attributes I've noticed about personal trainers:
Issues I have with Personal Trainers
Personal Training sessions are often rushed
Correct me if I'm wrong, but almost every personal training session I've seen appears to be over as soon as it started. Again, I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the average personal training session is about an hour long. That DOES kind of sound like a long time, but since personal training sessions tend to be only a handful of times a week (perhaps due to how much they cost), workout have to be centered around focusing on multiple parts of the body...a "full body workout" if you will. The question to me then becomes, are you adequately stressing your muscles to stimulate growth and strength? If you're trying to get strong or put on muscle mass, it's extremely important to properly fatigue and stress the muscle over an extended amount of time under tension and multiple sets. Fitting in that kind of proper stress on every muscle group to stimulate them enough to optimally grow to me is an impossible task over the course of just one hour. Also, if a personal trainer gets paid by the number of clients they see throughout the day, they have a vested interest in rushing you through workouts and finishing them as soon as possible.
Personal Training sessions tend to favor fitness fads and trends
Your body is essentially the same body that it was when our ancestors were roaming planet Earth. It will respond to stress and stimulus, and will respond to said stress and stimulus if they are administered to the body consistently over time. Why personal trainers have to constantly re-invent the wheel will forever be a mystery to me. Not only that, it seems that each time a new fad workout comes around, it's designed to make it easier, or fun, to workout. I guess I understand why they do it. Marketing some fitness plan as some revolutionary new workout that apparently nobody has ever thought of before is designed to intrigue people into trying it....to make them want to get in on the secret. But, in constantly introducing a new workout to your routine, you never really develop the consistency and conditioned response for your body to start to be stressed enough to want to grow. Building muscle to me isn't some flashy, easy to do, revolutionary idea or technique. There's a reason why dumbbells have been in the gym since the beginning of time. Doing some flashy cardio / weight training hybrid workout with flashy equipment isn't any better than grinding every day doing the same montonous task of the same workout with good form, great time under tension, and adequate amounts of weight.
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Personal Trainers don't need to be right
Personal trainers are experts right? People who have dedicated their lives to nothing but fitness....learned the ways in some dojo on top of a mountain by some trained master with tests at the end that need to be passed to verify their worth and techniques and protocol monitored by some higher board of fitness education right? To some extent....kind of....but not really. Sure, there are tests that personal trainers have to take to be certified, but how much of that information is heavily researched and credible? How much of it is retained by the trainer? How much of it is theory and not hard science? Is there knowledge that much more different than an experienced lifter / gym-goer could tell you in passing?
And there is no penalty for being wrong. A lot of these personal trainers just tell you the same things that they were told by people they worked out with, or saw on the internet, or whatever. I once heard a personal trainer tell someone that they could gain 7 pounds of muscle in 3 months. Crazy right? But the person they were training didn't know any better. And couldn't falsify what they were saying.
Personal Trainers are very good at marketing themselves as fitness experts....and taking advantage of someone's lack of knowledge on the subject.
Personal Training is expensive
Pretty self explanatory. I don't know what the going-rate is for a personal training session, but I'm sure it's not exactly cheap. Fitness, especially growing muscle, is a commitment that takes a very VERY long time to achieve.
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So why spend all of that money, when......................
Literally everything a personal trainer can tell you can be found from other sources
Probably my biggest issue with personal training. It's not like they are the only ones who can give you advice and information on working out. Literally every question you have for a personal trainer has been answered somewhere online. And the bright side is, you can experiment with the advice and see if it works for you instead of paying someone more money to see if it's effective or not. There are many...MANY...resources available to you to help you achieve your goals and answer any questions you have on fitness, and they don't cost a dime.
In fact, let me offer some of MY advice on places you can go for said advice:
Alternatives to Personal Trainers
Forums
One of my top two choices for getting my information from. There are many great sites with forums that have answered many questions on bodybuilding and fitness, from the more general questions to some of the most insanely specific questions ever. Yes, the information might not always be credible, but as I stated previously, a lot of the advice a personal trainer gives you isn't always either. But there is still a wealth of knowledge to be gained from online fitness forums. In fact, I owe a lot of my success in bodybuilding from just reading countless threads on bodybuildng forums. Give it a try. It's a great way to see what other people have done and what made them successful, and then trying to apply that to your own routines. Also, forums are typically free!
Videos
Another one of my two top choices for getting fitness information (so forums and videos are my favorites). I guess I'm partial to instruction on fitness through videos on such sites as Youtube because that's where this journey started for me. But it's a great way to not only read about and hear about what works, or techniques you could implement, but also seeing it first hand. I'm a visual learner, so this is great for learning new things every day about fitness and bodybuilding. It's also free as well!
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People at your gym
Often times, people are intimidated by people in the gym who look like they're successful at what they do and know how to workout. They think that those people are too intimidating and would be bothered by someone asking them for advice.
In my experience however, I've found that the people who workout the hardest, most often, and commit themselves the most are often times the nicest people to talk to in the gym. You have to understand, this is the stuff they LIKE to do, so they like to talk about it. Also, they're often flattered when you ask them about what they do because it communicates to them that you respect the hard work that they've put in and consider them to have done a good job. Ask them questions. Don't be annoying of course, but ask them for pointers and tips. It's a great way to make new friends, get new information, and even sometimes make a new workout friend who can serve as your very own personal trainer that you don't need to pay!
Trial and Error
I've learned a lot about bodybuilding and fitness. But I'll probably never learn it all. Just like building muscle, mastering the craft of bodybuilding and fitness is something that happens over a very long amount of time. I'm still learning new techniques all the time. While it may be frustrating at first not knowing everything about bodybuilding and fitness, it's fun to constantly work towards your goal and learn new things on the road to perfecting your craft. Some lessons are best learned by YOU doing them. A lot of the skills I've learned in bodybuilding came from constantly going into the gym and constantly trying to figure out how I could advance my technique. Over the years, I've found out what works best for me, and the little intricate things that optimally stimulate muscle growth that can only be learned through trial and error.
Source: theemotionmachine.com
You don't need a personal trainer guys. Maybe some of you are reading this and saying "but Jtrain, I need someone to motivate me!!"
But don't you have friends that can do that? Even so, if you need someone to make you want the most optimal version of yourself, the problem isn't the lack of a personal trainer. You need to want it bad enough first. Nonetheless, please consider other, more efficient options when starting or maintaining a fitness regiment. There are tons of resources out there for you to figure out what you need to do to achieve success. The only time I'd ever really recommend having a trainer is when you want to do something fitness / bodybuilding related at the competitive level. Then and only then do I recommend maybe seeking someone out. But even then, it's important that the personal trainer has had experience in that field and really REALLY knows what they are talking about.
Try all of your options before you consider a personal trainer. I guarantee you you'll find a better means to attain your information from.
-Jtrain
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