As mentioned in the first of this series, the most important aspect relating to your physical conditioning in terms of goals would be firstly, your own preference in terms of level of conditioning. Secondly, and probably the most important aspect in terms of effectiveness, relates to you as a person. It depends on your genetics (but genetics is NEVER an excuse). What you need to establish here is “What works for me?”. This can be along and slow process or in some cases fast and immediate. Some people (the lucky ones) can start with any training program and immediately get the benefits from such a program. Others like me, and maybe even you, have to work hard at finding things that work for us personally. You can search the internet for just about any type of training program and there are many. But doing this means you have to spend time to evaluate whether the program is fit for its intended purpose, first of all and secondly, will that training program suit you CURRENT level of fitness/conditioning. This is important, as high intensity work would probably unsuitable for most people just starting with a training program and there could even be a SERIOUS risk to your health, if you do not understand the signals your body is giving you. As you train more, you will start to understand those signals better.

Know your health:

I will firstly start the explanation on the level for beginners. This means I assume you are unfit, maybe very unfit and had a sedentary lifestyle for a long period of time. Step 1 in such a case would be to consult a doctor and to establish whether there are any warning signals that may indicate a health risk. As the list of conditions would be too long, I will not discuss it detail, but make sure you listen to your doctor! Whatever training program you are going to follow will have to be adapted to suit your own current physical condition. Training is not supposed to be tough and challenging at all times, or to kill you, training is there for improved fitness and health. It is also supposed to be fun. Without fun involved no-one would want to train.

Also make sure you know what certain terms mean, so that you can inform your personal trainer of any conditions or possible risks. It is actually also wise to get a heart rate monitor, so that you can evaluate not only your levels of training or exertion, but also to get advanced warning of any irregularities. It may sound extreme, but only a small percentage of people actually have serious risk factors present. (But it is always better to be safe than…)

The Personal Trainer:

For most of us that have a professional life, we will never find enough time to experiment with different options and all the various programs available. As I mentioned, you can even search the internet and find various training programs and find various sources that can help you evaluate your own fitness, or a specific training program in relation to your own needs. But all of this takes time, which we don’t necessarily have available. There are however people that do this every day of their lives. It it their work to evaluate training programs and their suitability for specific individuals. They have the added advantage that they work with many different individuals and would therefore be in a position to evaluate your personal training needs in relation to their experience.

And here the trainer should not only have experience, but his/her experience should be related to your personal condition. If you are just starting out with a programme a trainer for a professional sports team may be unsuitable. I use the term “may be”, because the trainer could in fact have the necessary knowledge and experience to assist a range of athletes or even non-athletes, but the chances are that person who worked for 10 years with a professional sports team exclusively, may not not be a suitable trainer for beginners. It is therefore important to know the background of the trainer. You must evaluate the trainer in terms of your goals. You also should evaluate more than one trainer and select the one that will work the best with you as a person, in terms of your current condition, your training goals (health, fitness, competition, etc.) and the specific sport you want to take part in.

In terms of the amount of experience, it is quite obvious that the more experienced trainer would have worked with many different individuals and it is therefore probable (not definite), that the more experienced trainer would be able to assist you to develop a training program that suits you needs quicker than a less experienced trainer. With a less experienced trainer you might be lucky, but based on averages it would be an advantage to have a more experienced trainer. Also remember to question the trainer about the program and the exercises even after you selected a personal trainer. This will help you understand the purpose of a specific exercise and you will also be able you evaluate your personal trainer on a continuous basis. (Do they know what they are talking about? Do they implement new techniques? Do they understand what you want from training? Do they implement exercises in general, or do they do it for you as an individual?)

The last question above, is extremely important in terms of your continuous collaboration with a specific trainer. That is the personal touch. Do they see you as an individual as important? The trainer is there to help you as a person. That means the trainer must evaluate to health/fitness status regularly and keep you informed about your progress. Based on your progress, the training program must be adapted to suit your progression through the various stages of getting fitter and better conditioned. You can also evaluate the trainer in terms of your personal fitness results. Are the results and progress in line with your personal fitness goals? If not, what did the trainer change in order to align your program closer to your intended goals? Did it work? If not, was the training program adapted again. What is important to keep in mind, is that your problems are individual and you also have to be patient at times. While the trainer is still able to bring in variation and adaptations even if it does not work initially, it means you are probably in good hands.

(Some of us have “stubborn bodies” and they are slow to react and a change can also be as good as a holiday. In some cases, switching trainers on a temporary basis might even help, as that could bring enough variation to stimulate change. It also means that you could have to switch back to the original trainer later on, for added benefit. Remember that reaching peak condition is a long process and Olympic athletes also take years to reach their respective peaks, so be patient too.)

The most important aspect that all of us have to remember is that training is for ourselves as individuals. And as individuals differ, we have to adapt our training programs to suit our individual needs. When developing a training program for yourself, you have to take your own level of conditioning and goals into consideration and to do that effectively, it is advisable to consult a doctor before you begin any training program and even better if you are in the position to make use of a trained and experienced personal trainer.

In the next post, I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of developing you own training programs and give some general tips that will help you to develop a program suited to your individual needs.