Personal Training for Basic Health and Fitness
Personal trainers who are certified or degreed are prepared to provide individuals with the tools to improve both health and fitness. The tools personal trainers employ include conducting fitness assessments, gathering health information, developing goals with the client, creating a workout routine, providing a fitness plan including foundational nutrition information as well as providing feedback and follow up assessments.
For general health and fitness, personal training sessions include some combination of cardiovascular conditioning, strength training, anaerobic exercise and flexibility. Some trainers prefer that you engage in your cardiovascular sessions outside of your personal training sessions. Others will incorporate all components of fitness into your session.
Its’ a mistake to rely solely upon your personal training session to take care of all of your health and fitness needs. Depending on how often you meet with a trainer, you will likely need to supplement your sessions with other exercise since the American College of Sports Medicine recommends that you engage in exercise most days of the week.
Ask your personal trainer to explain your total plan including what will be done with the trainer as well as on your own. Your supplemental workouts will most likely include cardiovascular conditioning which is easier to do on your own than strength training.
If your goal is weight loss (which it is for 80% of personal training clients), you will also need to make changes to your lifestyle such as striving to sleep 7+ hours a night, managing stress levels as well as making the best possible nutritional choices.
The 10 basics for your nutritional program which best support your personal training program are:
- Choose the most wholesome, and organic foods
- Avoid processed and artificial foods
- Consume at least eight 8 ounce glasses of water daily
- Eat 5+ vegetables and 2+ fruits daily
- Choose from the most lean protein sources
- Eat foods in their most natural state
- Eat smaller meals throughout the day instead of consuming two or three larger meals
- Avoid or minimize alcohol consumption
- Eat an easily digestible meal 1 – 2 hours before your workout
- Eat a balanced meal or meal replacement shake or bar within 1 hour of your workout.
Working with a personal trainer can help you maintain your health, fitness, figure and function. Personal Training can be your fountain of youth, help you stave off disease and illness and provide you with the ability to live longer stronger and more energetic years.
Some of the benefits to personal training for healthy individuals are:
Physiological:
- Increasing muscle strength and size
- Burning excess body fat
- Increasing bone density and strength
- Lowering Cholesterol
- Lowering Tri-glycerides
- Raising High Density Lipids (good cholesterol)
- Regulating blood sugar
- Reducing blood pressure
- Increasing energy
- Enhancing work capacity
- Reducing stress
Motivational:
- Support of a personal trainer to keep you accountable
- Knowledge of a personal trainer to ensure safe, effective, fun routines
- A coach to share joint responsibility in your success
- The fast track to safe and fantastic results