Any Personal Trainers on here?

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

I would hire one at the gym - but after talking to them last night, I realized the cost was beyond anything I could afford and still get to skydive.

I just have some questions...looking for some basic help. I'm doing good now at 8-10/hours a week in the gym, but I have some specific goals (tone and strengthen what I have; lose weight and inches) and some injuries I want to avoid agravating (I was in a car wreck that damaged my lower back, hips, both ankles and two damaged knees from a bad landing).

Or any pointers to stuff on the web would be nice - I've been looking at the stuff Bally's has on their web page and it's pretty decent....but I would like to double check that what I am doing is right.

For instance - the correct order to work out muscle groups, the correct ones to tone overall and some specific areas (I'm one of those guys that bulk up quick with weight so I am doing low weight/many reps with a lower calorie diet to help prevent that), the best way to strengthen my knees and lower back (is the eliptical better than the stair master, etc), how to work with a body that isn't balanced due to scoliosis, and the best stretches to help with flexability.

Any help would be appreciated!

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[Nightingale 0]

pay for the trainer...

once a month.

have him/her set up a workout for you to follow that month, and the next time you see them, you can change things up and modify whatever you need.

I did that for a year or so, and it was wonderful!

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

Quote

pay for the trainer...

once a month.

have him/her set up a workout for you to follow that month, and the next time you see them, you can change things up and modify whatever you need.

I did that for a year or so, and it was wonderful!

I wish I could - but with everything I have going on this year, there really is no room for it. I want some pointers for now so I can continue on the right path (I'm about two months strong into my routine). Next year will be better for hiring one.

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[Brains 2]

Hey Bo,
The gym i have been going to has people that work for the gym, and then "freelance" personal trainers also. The freelance peeps were WAY too expensive, however the people who worked there are free with my membership. I met up with one of them and they put me on a program to lose body fat, increase muscle tone, and increase endurance. I am supposed to meet with him again next week to check results and modify workout routine. See if your gym has someone like that on staff.

Never look down on someone, unless they are going down on you.

[tigra 0]

How's your medical insurance? Could you go to your doc and tell him you've got back pain (probably as a result of the older injuries) and have him send you to PT? A physical therapist should be able to tell you the right way to do certain exercises and probaly would also be willing to talk about what works for general weight loss and toning.

Good luck to you! I'm trying to get myself back to the gym regularly also, also to get in shape, lose weight and rehab old and not so old injuries! Its tough to get that pattern established!

Also, sometimes Ballys will offer some free personal training- the idea is to get you to sign up and pay for more, but if you can get just a few sessions with a trainer, it should help.

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

I can't use my medical for it. When I went skiing last I reinjured my hip to the point where I lost feeling and control in my left leg (pinched nerve and SI damage). I was in PT for some time...then I lost my job and coverage. Since I didn't have continuous medical coverage, my new PPO has informed me I will not be covered for any claims against my hip, back or leg until after Sept of this year (but thank god I am paying them to not cover me if something happens)

I will check with both Bally's and Crunch if they offer any free trainers for someone that has an older membership - I never asked that, just asked how much it cost since I didn't want to go thru the sales routine.

Good luck to you as well M!

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[tigra 0]

My orthapedic surgeon and my physical therapist both recommend the ellyptical cross trainers, and I have to agree it gives you a good workout while being relatively low impact. (Easier on the knees AND works my ankles.) I've also been using the treadmill. But, I'm always a little clueless and lacking direction when it comes to weight training.

[tigra 0]

If they're having a membership drive OR trying to drum up business for their trainers, they should offer something even for existing members. It seems to me that Ballys has "specials" from time to time, and judging from how empty my club has been lately, they're just about due for another one. (In January, you couldn't park or get on any machines!)

Of course, they will then use high pressure sales tactics to try and get you to sign a 3 year contract and agree to monthly debits form your checking account! Ballys is EVIL!

[skycat 0]

Quote

If they're having a membership drive OR trying to drum up business for their trainers, they should offer something even for existing members. It seems to me that Ballys has "specials" from time to time, and judging from how empty my club has been lately, they're just about due for another one. (In January, you couldn't park or get on any machines!)

Of course, they will then use high pressure sales tactics to try and get you to sign a 3 year contract and agree to monthly debits form your checking account! Ballys is EVIL!

I had a club do that to me. I paid for my 3 year contract in advance in full with my credit card, I declined the option of the auto contract renewal at the end of the term. So about mid-way threw they were bought out by 24 hr fitness, I didn't think anything of it until I started getting $40 per month charges to my credit card. Turns out when my contract expired they auto-renewed, and since the membership I had didn't exist anymore they gave me the most expensive one the club had. The best part of it all was that I had moved out of town and there wasn't a 24hr fitness anywhere near by and I had to show up to the club and cancel in person.

So I cancelled my credit card instead and swore to never go to another club again other than the ones at my office.

Fly it like you stole it!

[cloudseeker2001 0]

HAHAHA personal trainers.....how funny.

Before gyms got really popular and nothing more than money making machines, everyone read Arnold books and anything Joe Wieder published. And the employees that worked at the gym, it was part of their job to train people and no one paid extra. But I guess 24 Hour Fitness has to make money somehow!

"Some call it heavenly in it's brilliance,
others mean and rueful of the western dream"

[cloudseeker2001 0]

Quote

Quote

If they're having a membership drive OR trying to drum up business for their trainers, they should offer something even for existing members. It seems to me that Ballys has "specials" from time to time, and judging from how empty my club has been lately, they're just about due for another one. (In January, you couldn't park or get on any machines!)

Of course, they will then use high pressure sales tactics to try and get you to sign a 3 year contract and agree to monthly debits form your checking account! Ballys is EVIL!

I had a club do that to me. I paid for my 3 year contract in advance in full with my credit card, I declined the option of the auto contract renewal at the end of the term. So about mid-way threw they were bought out by 24 hr fitness, I didn't think anything of it until I started getting $40 per month charges to my credit card. Turns out when my contract expired they auto-renewed, and since the membership I had didn't exist anymore they gave me the most expensive one the club had. The best part of it all was that I had moved out of town and there wasn't a 24hr fitness anywhere near by and I had to show up to the club and cancel in person.

So I cancelled my credit card instead and swore to never go to another club again other than the ones at my office.

Yea, 24Hour Fitness did some funny things to me as well about 10 years ago when they bought out Gold's Gym. The increase in payment was bad, but what really pissed me off was they made bodybuilding gyms into "fitness" centers.

"Some call it heavenly in it's brilliance,
others mean and rueful of the western dream"

[GARYC24 3]

Trainers are worth the money if you have the money for some people. Having a live person there motivates you, spending the money makes you.
If you have a appt. don't show-up..ya still pay.
Also, there is so many books that has workout plans, internet sites,etc.
Personally I use combination of Body for Life, Adkins
and I look in a mirror to/fro the showers!hahaha
Now that motivates me!

[betzilla 56]

BO,

Come talk to me in the store on Saturday. You might be interested in Body-for-Life (it's how I've chunked off 30 pounds since new year's), or at least the diet portion. Trainers at my gym are asking ME questions. It's weird.
All the trainers/body builders I've talked to say it's diet that separates the cut from the uncut. I'd say it's true, based on my experience.

-B

[tigra 0]

Ballys did the same thing to me! I joined back when they were Chicago Health Club, I was young(er) and stupid and I put my 3 year membership on a credit card and believed what they told me instead of reading the fine print on my contract. (What they told me would be my ANNUAL dues after the first 3 years were in fact my MONTHLY dues! They totally lied to me, but it was still my fault for not actually reading the contract!) And, while the old Chicago Health Clubs were pretty much full service health clubs with pools, saunas, etc, the new Ballys "Fitness Centers" are pretty stripped down. The ONLY reason I stay with them is that my annual fee isn't all that much (although quite a it more than what I was told it would be), cheaper than anything else I can get, and I paid so much for the damn membership already! (Oh, and after 3 years they started debiting my checking account. I had a fit and ended up closing the account! Now I pay annual dues by check, and I will never again sign another auto debit authorizion for anything!)

[skycat 0]

Right there with you, if I'm ever stupid enough to do it again, it will be in full with check. If they refuse check it will be cash, if they refuse that I walk out the door.

BTW....my contract actually had an opt out for the monthly fees at the end of the contract, it's just that the new owners didn't honor it.

Fly it like you stole it!

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

Quote

HAHAHA personal trainers.....how funny.

Before gyms got really popular and nothing more than money making machines, everyone read Arnold books and anything Joe Wieder published. And the employees that worked at the gym, it was part of their job to train people and no one paid extra. But I guess 24 Hour Fitness has to make money somehow!

Well, I can't go back to the way it was, and to get any help at the gym you need to pay for it. I don't need one for motivation, etc....I need someone to help me with specialized training that doesn't really exist. When is the last time you have seen a workout plan for someone that has scoliosis? I have one arm and leg that are a half inch longer than the other side...my shoulders are both crooked and the muscles on them have grown incorrectly....I could go on and on. On top of that, I am not looking to bodybuild (I did that junk in HS and regret it now) - I am looking to get fit.

Oh, did I mention I pay $10/month and I only have to walk across a parking lot from my job to get to the gym? Can't beat that with a stick, no matter how evil the Bally's empire may be.

Bets - I'll stop by!

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[Casurf1978 0]

Arnold's books are a good start. Also read up on nutrition. Before you start dumping money on supplements get your diet inline. All the fitness mags for men are basically the same basic exercises regurgitated over and over again. It's all about balance, good routine, good diet and plenty of rest. Also see if one of your friends will work out with you too. Helps for motivation.

[tigra 0]

He he! At least I learned a lesson! I even got into it with the newspaper. They offered me a cheap subscription and kept trying to insist I sign up for auto debit or give them a credit card over the phone. Of course I refused, told them I just wanted them to bill me, I had my own way of paying bills. But they didn't want to take no for an answer. I kept saying, why don't you just send me a bill? If you won't bill me then I don't want the paper! They kept transferring me to other people, still trying to pry that card number from me! They had me on the phone with at least 3 different people before they agreed to send me an actual "bill". All that thanks to Ballys!

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

The only supplement I believe in taking is One-A-Day Vitamin for Men. Most of that other junk doesn't work as well as watching what you eat and working out (re:burning more than you take in). I've already adjusted my diet for the most part where I have cut soda out of my life and drink a TON of water every day. As far as routine? As long as I come into work, I tell myself have to go to the gym afterwards since it is about a 2 minute walk from my desk. Motivation? Well, I have my reasons, and they are all about me!

I need help fine tunning what I have already started, and most of those books out there won't work...

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

Quote

He he! At least I learned a lesson! I even got into it with the newspaper. They offered me a cheap subscription and kept trying to insist I sign up for auto debit or give them a credit card over the phone. Of course I refused, told them I just wanted them to bill me, I had my own way of paying bills. But they didn't want to take no for an answer. I kept saying, why don't you just send me a bill? If you won't bill me then I don't want the paper! They kept transferring me to other people, still trying to pry that card number from me! They had me on the phone with at least 3 different people before they agreed to send me an actual "bill". All that thanks to Ballys!

They push that hard because they are required to meet quotas. Sales 101: ABC (always be closing)...if you ask for a bill to be sent to you that is not counted as a sale but a possible sale. You get transfered around to people that are considered better closers or managers struggling to meet their goal. As a sales person you make your quota if you push people hard into a sale - technically you have already lost them, so you pull out the big guns. If you batter someone long enough they will buy just to get rid of you. You will always find this sort of behavior in a sales related call center.

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[RevJim 0]

Bo, PM JumpNFly. If I remember correctly, she was, and maybe still is, a Personal Trainer. I remember one pic of her in a comp, WOW, fit!

If anyone here could suggest anything for you, I think it's her. On top of that, ask her to post to this thread. I could use the help too...

It's your life, live it!
Karma
RB#684 "Corcho", ASK#60, Muff#3520, NCB#398, NHDZ#4, C-33989, DG#1

[cloudseeker2001 0]

Quote

Quote

HAHAHA personal trainers.....how funny.

Before gyms got really popular and nothing more than money making machines, everyone read Arnold books and anything Joe Wieder published. And the employees that worked at the gym, it was part of their job to train people and no one paid extra. But I guess 24 Hour Fitness has to make money somehow!

Well, I can't go back to the way it was, and to get any help at the gym you need to pay for it. I don't need one for motivation, etc....I need someone to help me with specialized training that doesn't really exist. When is the last time you have seen a workout plan for someone that has scoliosis? I have one arm and leg that are a half inch longer than the other side...my shoulders are both crooked and the muscles on them have grown incorrectly....I could go on and on. On top of that, I am not looking to bodybuild (I did that junk in HS and regret it now) - I am looking to get fit.

Oh, did I mention I pay $10/month and I only have to walk across a parking lot from my job to get to the gym? Can't beat that with a stick, no matter how evil the Bally's empire may be.

Bets - I'll stop by!

It sounds as if you need a Dr. to design a workout for you rather than a personal trainer. Yea, you cannot beat walking accross the street to the gym, but those big gyms have so many rules too!

"Some call it heavenly in it's brilliance,
others mean and rueful of the western dream"

[AggieDave 6]

WARNING: I'm not a personal trainer, I'm a gym rat that has read just about everything I could get my hands on and have tried most of it out in the gym. Just like some of the other dedicated weight lifters and bodybuilders on this site. So my advice comes from experience and book knowledge, use what you want or disregard if you please.


Arms and legs don't match? Well, no one has a truely matched set, but here's something to think about.

You might want to stay away from barbell pressing movements, substitude dumbell movements so you're not stressing one side or the other unevenly.

Alrighty, you want help with a workout plan and you want some help with a diet, but you don't want to read a bodybuilding book. Well, that Arnold book and Weider's books are obviously based in bodybuilding, guess what? They apply to you too. Wanna know how to get big? Lift heavy and eat EVERYTHING you can (well, eat "clean" too). Wanna get lean and tone? Stick to the pyramids, lift the appropiate weights (none of this 20-rep bullshit) and eat healthy. You're not going to instantly get huge, that takes a LOT of dedication and work, not just in the gym, but with your diet and drug dealer...oops, did I say that?

Ok, seriously though, if you're wanting to stay totally clear of BBing material, go get Body For Life, its a book, if you don't want to buy it, go to Barnes and Nobles with a notebook and write down everything you need from the book while sipping a $4 coffee from the cafe.

Oh, just about everything you will learn all came from body building, which came from old fasion weight lifting, so there's not much new out there, hasn't been in the past 25 years or so. The basic movements are the best and its all built from there.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[betzilla 56]

Quote

Ok, seriously though, if you're wanting to stay totally clear of BBing material, go get Body For Life, its a book, if you don't want to buy it, go to Barnes and Nobles with a notebook and write down everything you need from the book while sipping a $4 coffee from the cafe.

Or borrow the BFL book from me -- I have 2 copies. I also whole-heartedly recommend the eating-for-life cookbook. For foodies like me, it's a great way to keep eating healthy without going nuts. The recipes taste like real, gourmet food, because they are.

I totally agree about dumbbells being the best way to work out -- especially if you're not looking to pump up specific muscles, or parts of muscles. When you use dumbells, you have to engage all the surrounding muscles too, in order to balance the weight. By doing this, you increase your defense against injury.

[boxingrrl 0]

Alright... ACE Certified Personal Trainer, here. (Not a Doctor, or Physical Therapist-- just a personal trainer-- recently retired to become full-time skydiver.)AggieDave and some of the others had some great suggestions. Diet is key. 80% of your success is determined by what you put in your body, not what you do in the gym.

Here is some very general information. Without seeing you in person and doing a thorough evaluation, I can't say that some or any of this will
work for you.

In terms of exercise order-- alway work your larger muscle groups before the smaller ones. Chest and back before bi's and tri's. Do compound leg movements (leg presses and squats) before isolation exercises (leg extensions, hamstring curls, and calf raises). Using dumbbells is a great idea as long as you're sure of your form. This is when it's handy to have a trainer (or someone) to demonstrate exercises and then give you feedback. Since you're imbalanced, use the same weight on both sides until the weaker side has caught up a bit. You can also do 1-legged extensions, curls, and calf raises to be sure each leg is carrying it's own weight.

For cardio, you should try to mix it up, as much as you can without aggravating your back, knees and ankles. Ellipticals can be great, but it's important that you bear your own weight and don't hunch over the machine. (That's critical on all equipment, actually.) Try the bikes (recumbent might be best for your back). See how you feel. Do be sure that your seat is adjusted so that you have a slight bend in your knee at the bottom of your stroke. Regardless of which equipment you use, try to do some intervals where you crank up the intensity for a minute or two, then back off and repeat for 20-30 minutes. You can alternate between increasing the resistance and increasing your speed or pace. Other days, go for steady-state endurance and work for 45 minutes to an hour. Warm-up and cool-down. Stretch when you're done.

I'd also suggest that you investigate yoga and Pilates. The flexibility and core strengthening that they both offer may help with your back and help alleviate some of side-effects of the scoliosis. If your gym doesn't offer free or low-cost classes, you might be able to get video tapes at your local library.

And-- if any exercise feels like the wrong thing to do with your body, it probably is. Investigate alternatives.

I'm sure that isn't everything, but I hope it helps.