Benefits of a Personal Trainer

While it is generally understood that exercise is beneficial to your health, sometimes the benefits of proper instruction are overlooked. Having a personal trainer has many purposes:

Safety & Injury Prevention

One of the most important reasons is for safety and injury prevention. Having a qualified trainer to ensure you’re executing proper form and spotting you at the same time is crucial. Many times this is the difference between results and injury.

Program Design & Modifications

A personal trainer is accountable for your results, therefor it is his/her duty to ensure your body does not adapt to the exercises. Many times when individuals exercise on their own, they continue to do the same exercises over and over again. They do not change them often enough. The human body is very good at adaptation and it eventually will find the most efficient and least strenous way to perform that exercise. For your body to get the most out of resistance training, your trainer will change many aspects of your routine at the proper time.

Motivation

This is usually overlooked but is often the difference in achieving the health and body that is desired. Not only will your personal trainer motivate you to exercise with a greater intesity, they will also ensure you actually exercise. Many individuals who start exercising on their own end up missing workouts until they eventually stop altogether. Just think of how many people you know who have purchased a gym membership for a year and ended up only using it for one month. Your trainer’s job is to keep you on track; calling you, making appointments, and motivating you to exercise regulary.

Nutrition Advice

Other than scarce or improper exercise, diet is a large road block to success in achieving your ideal body. Your trainer should be having you fill out a food log to evaluate your diet and provide general nutrition advice about how your food choices can be improved. Remember it’s not just what you eat, but how much and when you eat it as well.

Education

This will probably be debated by other trainers out there but a good trainer should be educating you on everything they know. The end goal is for the client to be able to put a program together themself, always exercise with proper form, and exercise regularly while keeping a proper diet. The client’s success should ultimately be the trainer’s goal because there are many times when the client will not be able to have a personal trainer. The client might move away, go on vacation, have changed financial priorities, have a newborn, decide to buy equipment to exercise at home, and the list goes on. Your trainer should be preparing you for optimal results and giving you the knowledge to succeed in any environment.

Some of the benefits of regular exercise:

Reduced risk of cardiovascular disease	Decreased resting heart rate
Regulates resting blood pressure	Improves heart efficiency
Decreases body fat	Increases HDL (good) cholesterol
Decreases LDL (bad) cholesterol	Lower risk of diabetes
Promotes joint stability	Increases muscular strength
Strengthens bones	Increases muscle mass
Increases resting metabolism	Improves core strength
Improves balance, coordination, & agility	Improves body image & self esteem
Reduces depression & anxiety	Assists in stress management