Do You Get A Coach/Personal Trainer To Make Your Programme?

[ENP]

Do you get someone else to make your own strength and cardio training programme for you with the exercises, sets, reps etc or do you do them yourself?

How do you know who to trust, which exercises will best suit you etc?

[Gym rat]

Do you get someone else to make your own strength and cardio training programme for you with the exercises, sets, reps etc or do you do them yourself?

How do you know who to trust, which exercises will best suit you etc?

I use to have trainer to make up training programes but I just make my own training programe plus it saves time.

[ThePman]

I do my own.

I'll usually ask people I trust for input and advice on things, especially if it's covering things I don't have a lot of experience with, but I'm used to designing my own.

[Ordy]

Yeah i do my own.

Based on asking, a lot of research and watching others.

[solardrive77]

Some things to consider before doing a plan:

1. What do I want to get out of the training?

Do I want to bulk, lose weight, build endurance etc. All of these end goals have a different exercises and strategies with them.

2. What is my diet like?

Without a decent clean diet it does not matter how much work you do. It will always be second rate. To increase muscle mass you must feed your muscles. Educate yourself on food.

3 What is a realistic goal time?

You need to have a plan in order to succeed and this (in my opinion) should be done in stages. Without a plan you might as well not bother.

This forum has a great deal of very intelligent people who like to share experiences and knowledge. Use it wisely.

[Chillicat]

I do my own, and it's based on the above - lots of research, advice from others (on here!), and what feels right (and what I enjoy doing). I change it around monthly(ish) to keep things fresh and to make sure I'm not getting stale.

I'd probably enlist a bit more professional help if I was aiming to compete anytime soon though - but for now I'm happy and getting good enough results.

[VampireChick]

Same as above. But I seem to have reached a plateau so have hired a trainer twice a week for a lil while to get the engine running again.

[Rag the Dog]

if you have any base knowledge then do your own cause the best way to learn is from your own progrees and your own mistakes. That way you get a full understanding of what is going to work for you and what wont. Watch others at the gym and talk to people, cause everybody thinks they know best... Then keep it fresh and change up the program every now and then to keep motivated

[HumanPerformance]

I think everyone would benefit more from thier time spent in the gym if they saw a PT, even if its only once every couple of months. Im amazed at how many people I see in the gym who come in five times a week and bust thier arses only to look exactly the same as they did last year, and exactly the same they did 3 years ago. When you first get into training you make progress no matter what you do, you cant go wrong because whatever training regieme you follow is a huge stimulus to your body compared to the "nothing" you were doing before.

But after 3 or 4 years progress really starts to slow. During this time they have built up a large knowledge base and know dozens of different training techniques. But they dont really know how and when to best apply them.

This is the reason most gym members never progress past the intermediate stage. They may have gained 17 inch arms and be able to bench 110kg for ten reps but for most gym members this is as far as it goes.

It is around this point that many trainees get frustrated and discouraged, and so either give up, resign themselves to the wrongfull self diagnosis that they are "hard gainers" and so will never be big (even though they made exellent progress in thier first year of training) or turn to drugs in a last ditch attempt to realize thier goals.

As i said earlier its not these people dont know how to train, they quite often know numerous different systems,splits, training regiemes, they just dont know when they should be training hard and when they should be backing off into maintenence phases.

As to "who you can trust", try to select a trainer that has been working as a PT for at least 3 years (theres no way you can survive in this industry if you arent any good) and who is fairly busy. Find out how long they have

had thier clients for, as some trainers may be busy but thier clients only stay with them for a few weeks then move on. During this time the trainer has a whole new bunch of clients (new gym members) so allways looks busy. But in reality thier clients are not getting results so discontinue the relationship. If a PT has clients that have been with him/her for years there is only one reason - RESULTS- people dont pay someone 60-80$ an hour for year after year for no return.

And on the subject of results look to see how a particular trainers clients have changed over time (if at all). Do his/her clients look the same as they did when they first went to see them? Also talk to the Trainers (in between thier clients) at your gym and ask them advice about your training. If you are looking to build muscle for example ask them what they think of "Dog Crap Training" or the benefit of performing X reps, or what they think is the best thing for an insulin spike post workout. If they cant answer your questions then you know they are not what you are looking for.

Similarly, if you are looking to gain strength ask them what they think of Shekio cycles or westside training regiemes.

And lastly talk to the staff of the gym, they have often seen it all and know who is a good trainer and who isnt and will be able to advise you accordingly.

[becbec]

I get mine made for me, but my trainer is really good and changes them every few weeks. I'll probably keep doing this until i'm more experienced and know a bit more

[steak]

Dog Crap Training

[HumanPerformance]

Dog Crap Training

Exactly! Most people have never heard of it, but if you google it youll find it

[ThePman]

I like DC as a concept.

I think even a lot of would-be bodybuilders would have issues with some of the actual execution (if you just copy the standard template everybody uses*), but if you just look at the take-home principles of it (big lifts, work hard with conservative volume, work to get stronger), it's a really good system.

* I've tried it in the past and it's just too imbalanced for my poor shoulders, but with some modifications it works just fine.