Exercising with a Personal Trainer for Athletes

Athletes are among the first to retain personal trainers. They typically work with their coaches on season and personal trainers off season and then a combination of personal trainers and coach’s pre-season. Professional athletes seek out personal trainers to prepare for drafts and stay in top conditioning year round. Personal trainers push clients, including athletes, harder than they could push themselves. Working under the supervision of a personal trainer provides a plan for a particular result within a given time frame. It ensures that the athlete is working to his or her potential, that the workouts are balanced, focus on developing any weak area’s, take into account any injuries, and prepare the athlete to have a competitive edge when starting the next season. Personal trainers are effective at assessing athlete’s abilities, developing customized plans and measuring improvements.

The Right Trainer for Your Sport

Athletes should seek out a certified personal trainer who not only specializes in working with athletes, but has experience in their particular sport as conditioning is unique for each sport and even each position if playing on a team sport.

An athlete might search for a personal trainer who focuses in strength and conditioning or in speed, agility and quickness. Or one who focuses on rehabilitation if they are mending an injury. A few of the organizations you can find personal trainers who are most knowledgeable about working with athletes are the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NACS) and the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) . Both NSCA and NASM prepare their exam candidates to work with athlete’s specific training and dietary needs.

Nutrition is also going to play an important role in working with athletes, specifically the timing of meals with workouts, recovery meals, shedding excess body fat, eating enough to put on lean muscle, maintaining energy throughout a sporting event and so on. Look for a personal trainer who is also a certified nutrition specialist or nutrition counselor. Two agencies that certify personal trainers in nutrition are Sara City Workout and the National Exercise Trainers Association.

Your personal trainer can work as a team with your sports physician and coaches to ensure the best results from your conditioning program. Personal trainers typically enjoy working with athletes as they can push their physical limits, prescribe advanced exercises, measure improvements in performance and see someone work to their physical best.

Keeping You in Top Condition

Some of the reasons athletes prefer to work out with a personal trainer include, keeping them in top condition year round, the variety in the workouts, the physical results, not having to think about developing an exercise routine, the accountability of having the appointment, performing alternative exercises to the traditional sport specific exercises as well as the camaraderie.

Personal trainers serve as motivators to athletes and can determine how much time to spend on strengthening, cardiovascular conditioning, stretching, working particular body parts, resting and so on. The personal trainer should become in tuned to pushing the right mental buttons with the athlete so that the athlete is motivated to perform at their top levels.