Converting a Personal Trainer

A few weeks ago I let the weight room attendant at the local community college I work out at borrow my New Rules of Lifting for Women book and she was so impressed she has ordered her own copies of both the NROL an NROL4 W 

I am so excited for all her clients.  

One PT down thousands to go.

That book is a great tool but remember..[most] personal trainers have a variety of clients with varying wants and needs... from rehab on up...and my biggest pet peeve with 'trainers' out there is their complete lack of knowledge when it comes to nutrition...and giving out nutritional advice mostly based on googling or taking guesses.  It actually is not only counterproductive and a waste of money for their clients but can be very, very dangerous [depending on the client's health, etc].

Yes it is true that PT's have varying clients, however getting them to go from the little weights to heavy weights is a start.  also the NROL and NROL4W both have very good nutrition advise.  

I would like to add that the 2 men weight room attendants, one being a personal trainer as well, still tell all the girls to do light weights high reps.  I'm just glad at least one of these attendants is going to teach the girls the same way they do the men.

Hooray!!  Get those books out there.

Original Post by dbackerfan:

Yes it is true that PT's have varying clients, however getting them to go from the little weights to heavy weights is a start.  also the NROL and NROL4W both have very good nutrition advise.  

I would like to add that the 2 men weight room attendants, one being a personal trainer as well, still tell all the girls to do light weights high reps.  I'm just glad at least one of these attendants is going to teach the girls the same way they do the men.

 

 That's pretty sad and odd that a trainer would tell anyone what to do without doing a full workup on a person. It's just dangerous and stupid to give out advice without knowing a person's background. So, they just look at women [these attendants] and tell them what to do? Strange! And, they are PT's?

Personally, I have never met any trainers that advise like that but of course, I know they are out there - most of them [over 80 percent] are employed by the big commercial gyms....and they seem to spread, like a nasty virus, giving the educated and awesome trainers a bad name!

my very first trainer I had when i joined my first gym at 19. He advised to eat no more than 1200 calories a day, while working out for an hour a day, weights, cardio.

Yup. Giving out POOR nutritional advice. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!! Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous.

The weight room attendants are only there to show people how to use the machines and help them design a program - they are not doing "personal trainer" stuff - they just work for the college part time.  The girl however that ordered the books does work as a personal trainer in a gym and as far as what she's teaching her clients off campus I don't know - I just am happy she will be using the NROL books for her clients lifting needs. 

Original Post by fitnessgirll:

That book is a great tool but remember..[most] personal trainers have a variety of clients with varying wants and needs... from rehab on up...and my biggest pet peeve with 'trainers' out there is their complete lack of knowledge when it comes to nutrition...and giving out nutritional advice mostly based on googling or taking guesses.  It actually is not only counterproductive and a waste of money for their clients but can be very, very dangerous [depending on the client's health, etc].

I agree with you. It is funny because in the NASM book, one of the things it says that trainers shouldn't do are hand out diet plans, or any specifics on what someone should eat. It says we should only give generalities, bring up the various food groups, and that we should refer them to qualified dietitian/nutritionist. Isn't part of being a good trainer knowing about nutrition and being able to help your client design meal plans, etc..?  This is why so many trainers don't have any knowledge about it. It is frustrating for a guy in my position because I do have a lot of knowledge and ways to help people in not only accomplishing their fitness goals but also their nutritional ones as well, and I can't get paid for it because I don't have a piece of paper saying I am "certified". Just recently, a guy at my gym paid to work out with a trainer, and then came to me saying that he wanted to sit down with me so I could design a meal plan for him and help him what to eat. Of course he expects me to do this for free. That is why I finally broke down to take the certification test, because I am sick of being taken advantage of. Helping people is great. I love doing it. However, it gets annoying when people pay all this money for crappy trainers, and then want my help afterward for free.

Becoming a trainer should be a similar experience to getting your driver's license. You take a written test, but you also take a road test in which a certified trainer monitors you training three different types of people. That way they could actually know whether or not you can apply what you have learned, or if you are just really good at memorizing facts out of a book. I think the reason why there are so many crappy trainers out there is because too many people memorize out of the book and don't know how to actually train people.

Original Post by vyperman7:

I agree with you. It is funny because in the NASM book, one of the things it says that trainers shouldn't do are hand out diet plans, or any specifics on what someone should eat. It says we should only give generalities, bring up the various food groups, and that we should refer them to qualified dietitian/nutritionist. Isn't part of being a good trainer knowing about nutrition and being able to help your client design meal plans, etc..? 

 I agree with the NASM book that physical trainers shouldn't give out any specific 'diet' information. I'm sure many trainers are quite competent and knowledgable about nutrition, but I'm not even sure if they make up the majority. Personally, I would be annoyed if someone I was paying to be my personal trainer gave me nutrition advice beyond that necessary for my workout, but thats just me, and many seem to expect their personal trainer to be their dietician also.

To me the problem is that people need to know that personal trainers are not qualified to give out such advice. Even those that make it a point to be experts on the topic should, imo, refrain from such advice. A somewhat obscure example: I'm an ABA tutor for children with autism spectrum disorders. As such, I can recognize a child with such a disorder at the drop of a hat. That doesn't mean I'm qualified to diagnose. And when someone asks me if I think their child might have it, that's the first thing out of my mouth "I am in no way qualified to answer that question, if you are concerned please speak to your child's doctor about such and such a referral" It's not that I don't know. It's not that I doubt my abilities to recognize it. The ethical problem comes in perpetuating the idea that ABA tutors are capable to reliably have a good opinion on a child's having a developmental disorder, and many tutors are not.

If someone gets bad advice from their trainer, figures it out, and then never listens to future trainers, thats not so bad. But what if they get GOOD advice. Say they are a bit skeptical and do research and discover that you gave them perfect nutritional information. Then they move and hire a different trainer and automatically believe the horrible diet information he gives them.

I don't thing it's a bad thing to refer someone to a nutritionist if they want nutrition advice.

It is frustrating to me because of the fact that clients want you to help them achieve their goals, and this can't be done if they have crappy eating habits. Isn't it counterproductive to teach them the right fitness routine, and not help them at all with their nutrition/eating habits? A lot of nutritionists/dietitians prescribe extremely low calorie diets, and this completely conflicts with strength training. A trainer would be better qualified to help a client with nutrition based on their fitness routine (how much protein to take in, how many grams of carbs and the type of carbs, etc).

Original Post by vyperman7:

It is frustrating to me because of the fact that clients want you to help them achieve their goals, and this can't be done if they have crappy eating habits. Isn't it counterproductive to teach them the right fitness routine, and not help them at all with their nutrition/eating habits? A lot of nutritionists/dietitians prescribe extremely low calorie diets, and this completely conflicts with strength training. A trainer would be better qualified to help a client with nutrition based on their fitness routine (how much protein to take in, how many grams of carbs and the type of carbs, etc).

 Yes, but only if the trainer is qualified and educated to do so. And, yes it IS counterproductive. The biggest and I mean BIGGEST mistake I see people [even the gym rats] doing is proper workouts coupled with dysfunctional nutrition. It's just insane and they aren't just not going to see any positive results but they are literally doing themselves harm!!

NUTRITION is 70 percent of a person's workout..it's just done out of the gym, ya know?