You can’t come to the gym alone for the first time. It’s like the first day in kindergarten – you don’t know anyone or anything, it’s not clear how these stupid simulators work, and in general you want to go to your mom and a pie! Therefore, we strongly recommend taking classes with a trainer during the first visits.
Everything described by the author is based on his personal experience and expresses a purely subjective opinion.
The first acquaintance with the coach begins with questions
A story from personal experience: I find a pitching coach in our city, I write to him that I would like to work out with him. To which he writes“ “400 usd + 150 usd rent of the hall. We study after 18.00.” Great, into the furnace of this coach!
Well, from the height of my subjective experience, I can say that the first acquaintance with the coach should begin with questions. To begin with, he should at least make sure that you have 2 legs and squats are not contraindicated for you. But seriously, a good specialist will first ask you about the goals. Perhaps you are a typical ectomorph who dreams of gaining weight, or your goal in the next month is to lose 10 kilograms, so you decided to train 5 times a week. Only based on the goals can you form a personal training program that will not hurt.
The second thing that the coach should clarify is the presence of chronic diseases. Pay special attention to diseases of the joints, cardiovascular and nervous systems. So, for example, with diastasis or varicose veins, a gentle load on the legs should be given.
It should be comfortable psychologically with the coach
First of all, you should be comfortable being around this person. For women, the coach is something like a gynecologist, you should not be ashamed to tell that you have critical days or general poor health. A competent specialist will simply correct today’s training.
As for communication. For me personally, rude statements like “Hello, fat woman! shall we shake your fat ass?” Someone claims that it motivates! For me, this is a complete lie. Firstly, no one likes to be insulted, even if these name-calling are “for the good” and “for your own good.” Secondly, remember that you pay for a personal lesson. Do you really want to be called a “fat woman” for your own money?
It should be comfortable to communicate with the coach! If you are not satisfied with any jokes or statements addressed to you, speak firmly about it or change the specialist!
The first personal training should be strictly personal
In fact, it’s okay that half an hour after you started the class with the coach, another person came to him. It will not be difficult for an experienced specialist to vary between a couple of people. Of course, expensive fitness clubs don’t allow themselves to do this, but I personally don’t see anything terrible in this approach. But only with one caveat, if this is not your first workout! The first personal lesson should be completely dedicated to you. The coach should show you how to do exercises, monitor your condition (yes, yes, sometimes the pressure can jump from too intense a load), see what you are doing and what is not.
The coach has no right to ”score” on you
Even if you have been practicing with a coach for a long time, know the technique of exercises and are well-versed in simulators, your coach has no right to “run away on business” while you are squatting here or go to the coaching room to fill out paperwork. If this happened once, you can forgive, but if it happens with a certain frequency, you should change the gym or coach.
A small note: the coach should be nearby, let’s say, in your visibility zone, but he is not obliged to run after you, wipe sweat with a handkerchief and bring water.
The coach pays attention to your discomfort
And again, a story from life (true, the coach is not personal, just as an “observer” in the hall): when doing push-ups from pain in the pectoral muscle, I break down on my left arm. In general, it’s a familiar thing, I get up, start kneading and massaging the sore muscle, and in my head I figure out what exercise to do so that this muscle is not strained much anymore. A trainer approaches me, accurately identifies the sore spot, clamps the muscle so that after a while the pain recedes. Then he says that in fact the primary pain is under my shoulder blade. Cool, I think, because he’s right, I’ve been suffering for 5 years!
He also says that most likely there is a problem in the cerebellum. After all, a man is an X-ray! And indeed there is a displacement in the area of the 3rd and 4th vertebrae, due to which the blood flow is disrupted. And this, for a moment, is an official diagnosis from two doctors! Needless to say, after that I really thought about signing up for this person for a personal training?
Your coach should pay attention to how you feel. If performing an exercise causes severe discomfort or intolerable pain, you should stop doing it. No “we work hard, not sparing our belly”, if you don’t want to wander around hospitals and restore your health later.
There are some exercises that are difficult to do at first. If it does not work out in any way to perform such an exercise in the correct technique, the coach must replace him. Believe me, there are really a lot of exercises for one muscle group. If we are talking about fitness, then there are lightweight execution options, and there are combinations with complication. For example, in the reverse bridge, the load on the large gluteal muscles will increase if you stretch one leg.
But if you are doing stretching, then the coach should be a little tough here. But this “rigidity” should not border on sadism. Putting pressure on you to stretch your muscles is good. Pain during stretching, especially if you have never done it, is normal. But if you complain of a strong burning sensation in the area of some muscle, and the coach continues to press, then it already smacks of unprofessionalism.
The coach monitors the technique of performing exercises
The trainer does not leave you alone with the simulators. Even if the technique was successful for the first time, the coach knows that a person is a cunning creature. As soon as they stop watching him, in order to facilitate the training process, he will stop squatting until the end, put his shoulder blades on the floor during the next approach of twisting or stop doing push-ups all the way. If new exercises are included in your training, then the specialist does not just show you how to do it a couple of times, he follows you, directs and corrects you.
And the coach also knows that a violation of technique, especially when working with large weights, leads to serious injuries. And a good specialist needs you healthy and cheerful, otherwise you will simply stop paying for his classes!
Coach doesn’t gossip
Again, a tip for those who work with a coach for a long time. A good coach with a wealth of experience will perceive you as a client, calmly treat stories about work or about children, will nod and agree. After you leave, he will safely forget about your conversation. And this is normal! But if the coach begins to discuss the shortcomings of other clients (especially think about it if he calls specific names and surnames), tell how hard it is with them or make fun of the fact that something is not working out for them and at the same time roll your eyes picturesquely, find the strength to say goodbye to this person. Well, of course, if you are not a gossip collector!
Spreading gossip is a bad quality! Imagine that you and your girlfriend go to the same gynecologist, and the doctor from time to time ”merges” your girlfriend’s problems with you, and discusses your problems with her. Will you like it? That’s the same situation with the coach.
The coach does not allow himself unnecessary touches and flirtations
Life story: when I was about 19 years old, I studied with a coach in the gym. Due to my youth and, what’s more, stupidity, I tried in every possible way to provoke him to flirt. I managed to get a back massage from him only once, but it didn’t go beyond that. Although I was spinning in front of him in every possible way, and many other girls were spinning too. But he was not worshipful, in the locker room they said about him that he had never met with any client, and some claimed that he… hmm..non-traditional sexual orientation.
After 10 years, I understand that it was the highest degree of professionalism. The man earned himself a good reputation as a trainer, not an alpha male. By the way, he gave me the technique of performing many exercises so that I still remember what’s what.
Let it be my purely personal opinion, but outright flirting in the gym with clients is not entirely appropriate. Well, maybe a little…for motivation and uplifting mood.
The coach does not sell you sports nutrition
What kind of feeling will you have from the first trip to the hairdresser or cosmetologist, if he immediately starts running away from the threshold, that without this shampoo your hair will fall out, and your skin will sag like a sharpey’s? At the very least, you will wonder whether you should trust this master. The situation is the same with a personal trainer. In the first classes, you should not be told about the need for protein or the importance of taking BCAA, and even more so advise you to immediately purchase all this at a super bargain promotion. Most often, the coach at the initial stage is not recommended to use sports nutrition at all. They advise you to start with proper nutrition, drinking the right amount of water during the day, about the need to give up baking, after all. But then, after 2-3 months, you can include supplements such as L-carnitine or protein in your diet if you are seriously interested in building a beautiful body.
If you think about the need to eat sports nutrition, it is very likely that you will contact your coach yourself. A competent specialist will explain what’s what, give recommendations on the dosage and time of use of sporpit. Many trainers have samples of sports nutrition, which they give to their clients for free or for a nominal fee. Note that good cosmetologists also do it.