Last Updated on June 26, 2024 by FS Studios Personal Training
Well, dare we say it, there’s a lot of advice out there and not all of it is good. Unfortunately, there are lots of people in this world that will take your money. Clients want results and trainers are happy to promise then only to come up short despite the trainer having a shiny Instagram or Facebook Page. We don’t worry too much about that stuff as our knowledge is based on Science and Schooling a.k.a. real stuff.
There are good people out there, can you find them?
Here’s a fun look at some good programming for today:
I did a mock up of programming I often see and then included some of my programs.
Make sure your trainer isn’t giving you their cookie cutter program! You deserve better!
First let’s look at a typical average fitness training program:
Program Assessment. First, there’s nothing majorly wrong with this program believe it or not. It has some basic exercises in it and in some cases, this might be all the trainer can get the client to do in a session. There’s a basic warm up, there are some push and pull exercises and there’s some stretching at the end. I’ve certainly seen far worse than this but overall, it’s not terrible. That being said, see if you can spot some of the mistakes I put in it.
Some Possible Mistakes:
1) It’s VERY general. We can’t really tell who this is for. It’s just kind of a pile of exercises and though that’s ok, it’s not very focused.
2) There are some overlapping exercises and muscle group work. Is this on purpose or is it just a mistake? I see this a lot and that’s the question that comes to mind: Did they mean to superset and or did they just screw things up a bit?
3) I see trainers and instructors drop in abs exercises randomly throughout programs all the time. This one has them somewhat in the middle. I personally prefer to do core last because I want it to support the body for the workout and then use it up after it’s done it’s job at the end of the session.
So overall, as mentioned, this isn’t a terrible program by any means.
Let’s look at a total body program I wrote recently:
So you can see there’s more “total body exercises” in the program and it looks like the person might be moving a bit more. This is good. It’s closer to real life and as a result, they’ll be better off versus had they been sitting on benches in the gym.
The Warm Up: On inspection, you might gather that this person needs some hip flexor mobilization as there are a few exercises that involve them in the warm up. I also added a total body balance exercise to get the body and mind kind of turned on for the session.
Main Exercises: There are a variety of planes of motion here with resistance. Many trainers forget to make their clients go forward, backward and sideways. Life goes in many directions and so should you if you want to thrive in it.
Big challenging exercises are in the middle and abs at the end. Just how I like it.
We eventually move into some core exercises (that aren’t crunches on the floor) and that’s the session.
In Summary, it’s not amazing but you can see it might be a bit better. You’re paying good money for a trainer or instructor so be sure you’re getting good training. NOT just a good Instagram profile of a young person who looks good but doesn’t know how to train you so you both look good and feel awesome.
FS Studios
