Death of the Trainer

Death of a Salesman is a 1949 play by Arthur Miller and is considered a classic of American theater. Viewed by many as a caustic attack on the American Dream of achieving wealth and success without regard for principle, Death of a Salesman made both Arthur Miller and the character Willy Loman household names. The play raises a counterexample to Aristotle's characterization of tragedy as the downfall of a great man, whether through (depending on the translator) a flaw in his character or a mistake he has squandered (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_a_Salesman, sited May 15,2008).

History repeats itself and this time it is the personal trainer. Slowly but surely the number of full time trainers is dropping. Trainers are becoming more like class instructors and consultants, engaging clients in bootcamps, discounted sessions of less than an hour capacity, and downloadable videos. It was just today I witnessed a group coach putting a bunch of uninterested, gabbing soccer moms through a session of various exercises. I noticed the women going through the motions with "paper weights" and having enough energy to yak away about how adorable their kids' bad habits are and bellow out a few loud overly dramatic laughs (I'm sure you see my slight dislike for fitness fake community). Also, I know of trainers who make decent profit just having someone get consulted by them for a few minutes once or twice a week. Of course there are the video trainers out there, too. Some of these guys are absolutely clueless. I think they just have a "stage hand" holding cue cards up for them to read as they demonstrate a few no brainer exercises. I love it when they use words like core, burn, sculpt,and target at least a few dozen times per sentence (sigh).

Now don't get me wrong. I do not blame trainers from giving up their day jobs to attack other more lucrative courses of training. In fact, I have also begun to change up the options available to clients..slightly. Some would say this is just the nature of the economy right now. People seek out cheaper options that yield okay results. I would have to disagree and blame it more on the change in the fitness industry itself. Personal training for one person per hour is less profitable than ten per hour. To get more specific with this statement, say a trainer charges $75.00 an hour. Another trainer charges $15.00 an hour, BUT herds ten clients together for the session. Also, the $75.00 an hour trainer focuses solely on that one client ensuring high quality, safety, and optimal results. The second trainer puts together an obstacle course of exercises with very little focus on anything more than making sure the clients don't run into each other. That's an even bigger bonus of not needing to provide quality in the training, I guess.

This my friends is the new route layed out by the fitness industry. Less quality, cheaper pricing, and greater profit for the class provider or consultant. I should be happy and dive right into it, BUT it simply doesn't sit right with me. I a see major fork in the road coming up soon. Either I do bootcamps and forms of consultation or I find a new day job.

-Just my thoughts

Good and Bad Side of Personal Training

The battle rages on about what makes a good trainer and what makes a turd. I've been in the industry long enough to see many good trainers and even more turds that call themselves trainers. To make this easy to understand, I'll illustrate what I mean with an example of a good personal trainer and bad personal trainer. This should remind you of the filmstrips played in elementary school on topics such as good hygiene/ bad hygiene.

Good Trainer: Will greet you and assess your goals, general health, and ability to get to that goal. As a bonus more knowledgeable trainers will be able to take an in depth look at your posture, daily good and bad habits, and your current fitness level.

Bad Trainer: Will greet you and attempt to go right into a training session without any knowledge of your abilities, goals and health risk factors. This trainer uses phrases like "did you feel that?", "are your abs sore yet?", and "gimme two more whatever your name is?" This turd like any other simply tries to make your muscles burn without knowing that any chimpanzee can make anyones muscles burn. Only an idiot would choose a trainer because their abs hurt or biceps burn. This bozo will also try to sell you by throwing in foolish philosophies: "You have to do situps on a ball to get a sixpack", "Warmup on a treadmill for 5 minutes and then come over to me so I can make you do bicep curls", "You have to eat lower than 1200 calories to lose weight" and the list goes on.


Good Trainer: Introduces his or her solution for you to achieve your goals. There may be many options available but the prices for the solutions are not up for bid. This trainer knows his or her worth and that the quality and value of the training can not be under minded by amateur discounts or freebie sessions.

Bad Trainer: Cheap in both price and quality. You are just another dollar in this turd's pocket. This hustler will probably use adjectives such us "instant", "ripped", "maximum calorie burn" , and "totally awesome...". No quality and little value. More discounts and free sessions than you can imagine if you just sign the contract.


Good Trainer: Keeps an accurate journal of your training and body composition. This trainer knows without collected data there is no progression, at least not for long. This trainer is able to assess any problems that may arise with your health and is not afraid to refer to another professional (such as doctor or physical therapist) if something is out of his scope. Results are guaranteed to happen after following the customized protocols.

Bad Trainer: Can give a rat's ass what you want or need. Either he will follow a silly muscle mag cookie cut workout or listen to some crap another turd told him. Probably have you do an extreme diet without any idea of what he is doing. Training is just what he or she feels like watching you do. Today may be the worthless butt blaster and tomorrow the worthless shoulder press machine. No care for form or muscle and nervous system recovery, just hurry up and lets go to the next machine. This turd judges you strictly from your weight on the scale not knowing weight can fluctuate greatly and is deceptional when used alone. Your weights up, so now you have to go on the elliptical for two hours today or something stupid like that.


Oh I can go on and on. I imagine you get the scoop from these examples. Make sure you seek out a good, high quality and knowledgeable trainer and leave the turds in the toilet.

Get more at The Fitness Road

Who Needs a Trainer??

I have to be honest here. I usually do not get hired because someone is completely ignorant to fitness. Usually people will know some basic information and have been to a gym a few times. Most have even researched a bit and have had some success with fitness. In fact, there are plenty of cheap books and internet video sources that will feed you fitness programs that will work to a certain extent. I have to state, I am hired more for the discipline over the “know-how”.
I know the knowledge and experience is a huge plus. There is a difference between a genuine trainer and a two-bit hustler with a bubbly personality and big mouth. I would say that has some influence on who a person seeks out, but in the end a potential client is thinking can I trust this trainer to teach me what I need to know and keep me on point OR is this some goon that just wants to take money and bullshit his way through a session.
The discipline in a trainer keeps him (or her) keeping a journal on the client’s sessions, body composition, goals, and nutrition. The discipline in a trainer makes sure the goal is reached safely and effectively without foolish arrogance getting in the way. I’m sure you have seen the trainers that have a success story to share with you and they attempt to mimic that same training scheme on everyone regardless of goals or ability. This discipline also is to hold a client accountable when necessary (like when nutritional guides are resisted or ignored) and to let the client go if he or she is not “ready” to except the positive changes.
I get hired by people looking for this discipline and know-how and are ready to receive the training. I have trained other trainers, athletes, rehabilitating individuals, and fitness enthusiasts. The truth is everybody will need guidance in fitness for one reason or other even myself. So who needs a trainer. EVERYONE!

Crappy Personal Trainer Syndrome

I recently was in the middle of a discussion that seems to sprout its ugly head every month or so. Why are there so many "bad" personal trainers in this industry? Why do people pay them to give them horrible service?

I have been in the midst of this conversion a few times. The answer for these questions seem to be this:

-It is too easy to become a personal trainer.

- People love bargains and gimmicks. Whatever works the fastest and is the cheapest is the best.

This obviously is a major problem for good personal trainers out their looking to really help their clients and wanting to charge for their time they spend providing quality service in and out of the gym.

Well, because I am pretty weary from constantly talking about this, I will simply get to the point and point out what I believe will make a good trainer and what a potential client should look for.

Good Trainers

1. Well educated in their craft. Do not simply rely on easy to obtain certifications. They have extended amount of experience and knowledge.
2. They really want to help the client they work with. The client is not just another person to make warmup for 10 minutes on a treadmill and count reps for.
3. Train clients on an individual basis. The trainer must be able to assess the client before training him or her.
4. Talks the talk and walk the walk. Doesn't tell a client to not eat donuts and then gobbles down a dozen every night.
5. Is not afraid to leave a client who fails to commit. Training someone who doesn't want to do as the trainer says is not worth training.

Smart Clients:

1. Do not judge a trainer on looks. You should be impressed with the knowledge of that trainer and not his abs.
2. Looks for a trainers background. Knows the trainer should have at least a few years under his belt, and a respectable certification to back him up (ACSM,NSCA,NASM and Chek)
3. Trainer explains workout and keeps a journal on clients progress. Nothing worse than a trainer who can't remember anything about you but your name.
4. Trainer focuses on you during session and does not watch music videos or strike up useless conversations with others. I hate that the most
5. Trainer is always prompt.

These are just a few things to catch. We can only hope that clients and trainers both become smarter about personal training