What to Expect From Personal Training

Hiring a personal trainer might feel like a luxury, but it can be one of the best investments you’ll make in yourself. It is important to understand what getting a personal trainer will entail, but the benefits will have a lasting impact on your life. Personal trainers will set you up for a successful, healthy life!

All of VASA’s personal trainers hold one if not several nationally recognized certifications, which means they know how to create a personalized training program that fits your needs, wants, and helps you achieve your goals. The first step to training begins with a consultation so the personal trainer understands your current fitness level, goals, and lifestyle. They’ll use this information to build a fully customized plan and begin educating you on how to most effectively reach your goals with work and habits both inside and outside the gym. Your personal trainer will also help you perfect your form so you can avoid injury and enjoy a great workout that matches your abilities and helps you reach your goals.

The Personal Training Consultation

When you first meet with your personal trainer, they’ll want to get to know you. They’ll assess your current fitness level and build a program just for you. This process usually starts with a conversation that covers the following topics:

• Health history
• Past exercise experience and current workout routine
• What you enjoy doing at the gym
• What you’d like to learn around the gym
• Fitness goals
• Lifestyle factors (family, work, vacations, etc.)
• What motivates you

This information is important because the personal trainer will begin to understand what types of training protocols to use, how to fit fitness into your schedule, friends and family who will act as your support system, and the things you’ve tried in the past that you may or may not like to do. Most importantly, this helps the personal trainer build trust and a great working relationship with you, their client.

From here, a baseline workout is the next step. The goal of this initial workout is to understand your current level of mobility, strength, and endurance and usually takes less than 30 minutes. Because your program is customized to your goals and abilities, there may be exercises that are included or excluded to meet your needs. The goal for the personal trainer during this time is to understand the exercises you feel comfortable and confident doing at the start so they can set you up for success from the beginning.

Once the personal trainer has determined your starting point, you will work together to build out an exercise schedule and habits both inside and outside the gym that will support you in reaching your fitness goals. Creating a schedule helps the personal trainer hold you accountable and support you when your goals feel overwhelming or unachievable.

The Training Program

After chatting and working out during the Personal Training Consultation, your personal trainer will sit down and start to build out the framework for your training program. Whether it’s losing fat, building muscle, or establishing a consistent fitness routine, your personal trainer will consider all the information he/she knows about you and include those into a comprehensive program.

To make the most of your time and money, it’s recommended (and backed by research) to train at least twice per week with your personal trainer. There are several reasons for this: Two sessions per week allows you to complete enough reps so you learn the movements faster; Twice per week requires different muscles of the body to work with enough stress so they can rebuild and grow; and finally, training twice each week has been shown to increase strength threefold when compared to once per week. All of this happens under the watchful eye of your dedicated personal trainer. Each training session has a focus and is supported by homework activities like STUDIO RED HIIT or group fitness classes, stretching, or other cardiovascular activities.

While most personal trainers cannot write or provide specific meal plans for their clients, they can help you make better lifestyle and nutritional decisions, both of which will enhance the hard work done in the gym and help you achieve your goals quicker.

Learning for a Lifetime

A great personal trainer’s goal is to educate you, the client, and help you take ownership of your fitness journey. Many of the skills and habits you learn with your trainer can be used even after your training sessions end. From consistency to technique, building a routine that is sustainable and helps you live a higher quality of life is the ultimate achievement.

When you work with your personal trainer you will learn proper techniques to maximize your time in the gym and enhance your life outside of the gym. Many research studies have shown that increased overall strength leads to a better quality of life and improved resiliency to injury and illness. Taking the time to learn proper form on resistance exercises and appropriate intensities for cardiovascular training are two of the best things you can take away from your time working with a personal trainer.

Quality Workouts

There are two factors that contribute to a successful personal training experience: Giving yourself enough time to work with them and consistently showing up and putting in the work.  The “heavy lifting” of planning out your program, including all the exercises, sets, reps, warm-ups, cool-downs, and homework are done by someone who has your best interests at heart. Working out alone can be hard. The personal trainer is there to push you and to combat the negative thoughts that can sneak into your head during a workout.

Investing in yourself is one of the best things you can do to enhance your quality of life. Understanding how personal training works can help you feel more confident spending money on a service that can have such a positive impact on your life. Learn more about VASA’s affordable personal training plans here.