We save on a trainer. How to exercise in the gym on your own?

Why do you need a personal trainer?

As I already said, classes with a trainer may be more profitable for you, both in terms of material costs and time.

It's easy to explain. After all, how much time will it take for a beginner to independently master the correct technique of performing exercises, understand training principles and learn how to properly plan a diet. On average, it takes gym visitors several years to complete this on their own.

Five reasons

So, now, point by point about why you need a coach:

1. Two years to master the basics of training? How do you like it? I think it's a bit long. By contacting a competent specialist, you will reduce this time interval to several months. So newbies, welcome.
2. Having extensive experience and knowledge in the field of anatomy and physiology, he will protect you from possible injuries and create an individual training complex.
3. People tend to feel sorry for themselves; this can partly be blamed on the brain, which is always trying to save energy. For this reason, when training without a mentor, you are likely to slack.
4. Only a professional can soberly assess your progress in the gym. Indeed, in addition to visual assessment, in which clients often make mistakes, there are special tests. With their help, you can understand how your flexibility, coordination, strength and endurance have changed.
5. A competent specialist can create a diet for you that suits your goals or give you useful recommendations. This will not only lead you to your goal faster, but will also save you from unnecessary expenses on various weight loss products or sports nutrition.

Pros and cons of personal training

Despite the obvious advantages of training with a mentor, there are still disadvantages:

1. Currently, the fitness industry is oversaturated with “specialists” who have completed two-week courses. This is the main disadvantage - you may end up with an illiterate specialist. A spoiled impression from personal computers is the most harmless thing you can expect.
2. Not everyone likes to exercise under supervision. Some people are simply introverted, while others understand that they will have to get out of their comfort zone and listen to the commands of another person.
3. Personal lessons cost money. And they can cost you from 400 rubles per workout. This is a conditional minus. After all, under the guidance of a professional, you will achieve your goal faster.
4. Professionals in their field can be very busy. Therefore, you will have to adapt to their schedule.

Well, now once again briefly about the advantages:

1. Faster results and, as a result, saving time and money.
2. Individual approach to creating a training and nutrition plan.
3. You can gain valuable knowledge for independent training in the future.
4. Real assessment of your achievements.
5. Additional motivation.

We promote a fitness club offline and online

We'll tell you how to promote a gym. For convenience, we will divide all methods into offline and online promotion.

Offline promotion

• Make your first visit free.
  Clients will be able to evaluate the level of service, the work of trainers, etc.
• Reward participants who achieve results.
  For example, a 10 percent discount for the next month for those who have lost the first 10 kg.
• Give club members a discount coupon for a friend.
  Fitness as a business will continue to expand, which will bring income in the future.
• Sponsor a local beauty pageant.
  Let the competition participants study with you for free during the month of preparation. In return, ask the organizers for advertising.
• Place advertisements in fitting rooms of women's clothing stores.
  Increase your income thanks to ladies who want to lose weight.
• Offer a discount to corporate clients.
  Such a partnership generates a constant flow of visitors to the fitness club.
• Use markings on the asphalt.
  Arrows leading in the direction of the fitness club give results.
• Write instructions for the simulators.
  Tell us how to exercise on city gyms in the summer. When cold weather sets in, your target audience will gravitate towards you and not your competitors.

Online promotion

• Publish an electronic club magazine.
  Your business is perceived as successful, your opinion is listened to. In addition, for subscribing to the magazine you will receive contacts of potential clients.
• Make a YouTube .
  Let your trainers talk about a healthy lifestyle, training, and show you how to perform exercises.
• Hold a flash mob.
  Invite group members on Instagram and VKontakte to participate in the “90 days until summer/New Year” flash mob. Publications under your hashtag will increase your audience reach and attract new subscribers.

How to choose a good coach

So, dear readers, I hope now you understand that the trainer is far from being an extra person in the fitness club. But now you are faced with not the easiest task - choosing a personal trainer.

How can you get only advantages from personal computers and reduce all the disadvantages to nothing? I'll give you a couple of simple tips:

1. It is better to start your first acquaintance with a coach with an overview of his credentials and education. This information is displayed on the website or posted on a stand in the club. If you don’t have all this, then you can ask the coach himself.
2. If courses are listed in the “education” column, you can find out about their level and the quality of the education provided there. Of course, an advantage should be given to a person whose main education is sports. But this does not always mean his competence.
3. Moving directly to personal acquaintance, pay attention to what he (she) asks you and says. Is he interested in your goals, does he conduct a survey on the topic of health, daily routine and personal preferences in the training process.
4. Pay attention to the coach's emotions during the dialogue with you. Is he interested in what you answer him, how willingly he answers your questions. You can casually ask him a few questions about anatomy or related to training with health restrictions. If you are not embarrassed, you can directly ask him to name 10 single-joint muscles, this will show his knowledge of anatomy.
5. Do not take a training block right away (this is a subscription for several classes, which is paid in advance). Your first personalization can serve as a way of additional verification. On it, pay attention to whether the trainer is monitoring your technique and whether he is distracted by chatting with other visitors or communicating on social networks. Does your fitness mentor keep a workout diary?

Do you need a personal trainer at the gym?

The rapid development of the fitness industry is undoubtedly one of the few positive trends of our time.
And although advertising campaigns are full of images of ideal male and female figures, for me the influence of physical activity on human health is of paramount importance, and a fit and attractive appearance is a pleasant bonus. Regardless of the goal, a huge number of both men and women visit gyms, and many are just planning to introduce a little sport into their lives. And one of the most common pieces of advice for newcomers to the world of fitness is the need to work with a personal trainer. There are more than enough reasons for this. And first of all, I would like to touch on the psychological point. I believe that many people feel insecure when they come to the gym for the first time - they are afraid of looking awkward when doing exercises or breaking the well-known fitness ritual for everyone except them. In this regard, the fitness trainer will do everything in his power to make you feel, as they say, at ease. He will give you a short tour of the hall, tell you about the functionality and benefits of each exercise machine, and together with him you will perform the exercises he suggests. The coach is obliged to monitor the correctness of your actions and give the necessary instructions. In addition, between sets, the trainer will typically provide general information about the basics of good training, healthy eating, and productive recovery. Further, it should be noted that the result of the work is an individual training plan, and, judging by the name, it was developed by a professional taking into account the characteristics of your body, lifestyle and expected results. It would seem that there are only positive aspects. But there are also a lot of disadvantages. Firstly, as in any specialty, the professionalism of a fitness trainer is important, which should not be limited to knowledge of the basics of deadlift. There must be knowledge of both anatomy and physiology. Unfortunately, many coaches cannot boast of this. The fact is that at the moment, the demand in the fitness industry is very high, there are not enough specialists, and masters of sports in arm wrestling, running, and dance sports find themselves in the positions of instructors and trainers. It is, of course, wonderful that they are masters of sports (or at least have a sports rank), but how are running and bodybuilding related? Although I have no prejudices, and I can rely on self-education. Indeed, now there is more than enough information about building the body of your dreams. But not every coach is interested in this. In my fitness room, I saw a woman trainer working out with her client, for some reason she decided to do bent-over barbell rows with him. But since she herself did not know how this exercise was performed, she had to turn to another instructor, who performed a couple of repetitions for her, and minutes later she did the same for her client. Do you think that this coach will be able to monitor the correct execution of the exercise if he himself learned about it a minute ago? I think not. We can say that these are isolated cases, but I have seen many times when visitors in the gym performed exercises incorrectly, although they did it under the supervision of their trainers. Everything looks even worse when the trainer tells the girl client that the number of repetitions should be fifteen (the concept of working “to failure” is not introduced at all), and egg yolks should under no circumstances be eaten. Yes, this is a matter of competence. I have already written that all the necessary information about bodybuilding is in the public domain. That is, each of us can get it, but not everyone has the time or enough motivation for this. That's why we pay trainers money to spend their time searching and structuring such information, so that they can then present it to clients in a concise and understandable form. As for the individual training plan, you need to understand that the trainer is trying to interest you, entertain you, and diversify your activities. Therefore, it is unlikely that he will recommend that you perform squats, basic rows and presses three times a week, and this is the most productive in the early stages of training. And secondary and unnecessary, but interesting exercises come to the fore, such as triceps extensions and leg swings in all directions. Complex, effective exercises give way to easier and more spectacular ones. And of course, it is worth noting that the services of a fitness trainer are quite expensive compared to a standard subscription. So what to do? I must say that I am not against using the services of a fitness trainer if this service is of high quality. And this is especially important for people who have certain health restrictions, but want to play sports. In this case, the trainer must also have a medical education. From my experience, I want to say that I had an introductory lesson with a fitness instructor. And I believe that this can be a good experience, after which you can adequately assess the need for the constant presence of a coach in your training. In any case, only you yourself feel what load you are able to withstand, and only you yourself feel the impact of this load on your body. Develop yourself, read scientific articles, watch training videos. And if during training you want to perform a new exercise, but doubt the correctness of its execution, you can always turn to other visitors to the gym for help, since among them there are many who are just waiting for the moment to reveal their knowledge in the fitness industry.

How much training should you do with a trainer?

Your personal instructor may suggest that you train six times a week. But this does not quite correspond to common sense, but it is just right for benefit. This, by the way, is another sign of specialist incompetence.

The trainer should determine the number of sessions based on your health and physical condition. For beginners, it is better to visit the gym 3 times a week and conduct each lesson under supervision.

More experienced visitors can visit the gym up to 4 times a week. But it is not necessary to spend every lesson with a personal trainer. You can contact the services of a personal trainer only when changing your training split or when mastering a new fitness area.

The importance of attendance for a potential client

You should first find out about the average number of visitors to the regulars of a particular gym, and you need to understand that on weekends this figure is much higher. The large number of clients does not suit many people, since they have to wait a long time for their turn to use the simulator.

Having selected a suitable gym, you should inquire about payment methods for the services provided. These could be package offers for several months, one-time investments after each workout, payment for the number of hours spent on a specific simulator under the supervision of an instructor.

How quickly will results appear from training with a trainer?

There are clients who want to lose weight for an important event in a week or to pump up a month before summer. They come to the coach and state their goals. But after a short conversation they already consider him incompetent since he told them that achieving such goals in such a short time is impossible. In this situation, the personal manager is only to blame for the fact that he did not “cut off sharp corners”, but told everything as it is and lost clients.

The conclusion from the story told is that clients tend to overestimate the capabilities of the human body to burn fat and build muscle mass.

I do not undertake to evaluate the abilities of your organisms, because we are all different. But I can say with confidence that under the guidance of a good personal trainer you will achieve results an order of magnitude faster than with independent training.

But still some numbers. If you come to the gym for the first time and want to lose 10 kg, then with independent training the results may appear only after six months. And with a coach we can achieve it in 2 months. Moreover, if you strictly follow all the recommendations, the result is almost guaranteed!

Some tips for working out in the gym

Not everyone can approach exercise in the gym correctly. Many people have the goal of getting a beautiful body while improving their health. But it often happens that a person forces events and, through his stupidity, gets injured, as a result of which he only harms his body.

Don't chase the scale (in the beginning)

Increasing the weight on the apparatus is always nice. This helps a person to assert himself in the eyes of his company, friends working out in the gym, who will see your progress. However, at the beginning of training, chasing weights is not appropriate - the athlete must first develop technique in all basic movements, strengthen his body: bones, ligaments, joints.

The weight should be increased gradually, slowly, when the feeling comes that the current working weight is becoming too light. So, about 12 repetitions with a fixed apparatus is a reason to “add” a little.

Basic exercises - best for beginners

For a novice bodybuilder, the priority should be the “puerlifting trio” with one amendment - follow the correct technique. The fact is that basic movements engage the maximum number of muscle groups - this is a stimulus for the release of hormones by the body.

True, you should not neglect isolation exercises - the main thing is to prioritize the basic ones. For example, after a classic chest press on a horizontal bench, it would be advisable to perform a French press.

Don't train each group on a separate day.

After all, this training method is mostly suitable for experienced athletes. It is best to give preference to classic training schemes of three days a week. We recommend combining the following muscle groups:

• The legs can be trained along with the deltoids.
• Biceps along with back.
• Pectoral muscles in combination with triceps.

This is a classic option. You can come up with your own. Important to remember:

Large muscle groups are quite difficult to train in one day; it is recommended to distribute them one at a time per workout. Large muscle groups include: legs, back, chest.

Record results, set goals and achieve them

Practice shows that a person who writes down the results of his workouts on paper is much more productive in his next sessions. It's all about the psychological factor - the motivation to work to improve your performance is much higher when everything is captured.

By recording the number of repetitions and weight in a particular movement, a person will always be able to analyze his results. Determine what he is doing correctly and what aspects of the training process need to be corrected.

A good solution would be to keep a diary in which the athlete, after training, will record the maximum working weight taken with good technique during training in a particular movement.

Train at the same time

Whether morning, afternoon or evening, most workouts should take place at approximately the same time. Then you can count on getting the most out of your body during exercise. He will know that it’s time to work.

Training in the gym at a certain period of time should become the rule. After class, it is advisable to have a good rest - choose a time period with this in mind.

How to save money on classes with a trainer

There should be a phrase in the manner of: “they don’t skimp on a coach.” But I just want to show you the importance of this profession and in no case impose the need for personal services.

As I already mentioned, as your training experience increases, you can resort to personal training services less and less.

If you are a beginner, but want to practice personally and save money, then the following options are possible:

1. Buy a block of training (usually 10 classes), they will cost you less than 10 separate personal training sessions.
2. Train personally for 3-4 weeks, try to understand and feel the technique of performing the exercises. Ask questions about training. You need to take away as much knowledge as possible. Then move on to self-training. But after a couple of months, return to the trainer to evaluate your results, check the correctness of the technique and move on to the next program.
3. You can use the service to create a training program. The compiled program will satisfy your needs, level of physical development and take into account health problems. But other aspects: technique, motivation, control of results - will fall on your shoulders.

Is it worth saving? Only you can decide after weighing the pros and cons.

Creating a workout program for weight loss

To understand exactly how to plan a workout, you need to understand the basics of the body's metabolic processes. Not a single gram of fat will disappear without certain conditions. The formula for success is simple - you should consume fewer calories than you burn during the day. And intense training will help with this. Note that this rule is only effective for people who do not suffer from illnesses that lead to fat gain. If you have had a hormonal imbalance, are an endomorph, or have problems with the endocrine system, you should consult your doctor before starting classes.

It is better to entrust the preparation of a training program to the professionals offered by the gym club. The slightest violation of the rules can lead to disastrous results. It is necessary to take into account age and health status, as well as physical fitness. You also need to focus on your life schedule to ensure effective weight loss, but not to deprive yourself of your last strength.

There are a number of mandatory rules when drawing up a weight loss program:

1. Do exercises for different muscle groups.
2. Alternate cardio with strength training.
3. Never forget to warm up at the beginning of your workout and cool down at the end.
4. It is more beneficial to do high-intensity cardio before your cool-down.
5. Don't forget to stretch to avoid injury.

You shouldn't go to the gym every day. This way, your body will not have time to recover, and the excess lactic acid released after exercise will contribute to poor health. It is optimal to conduct 3-4 workouts per week.