In the coming years health and wellness is and will be a multi-billion dollar industry. It is completely common in this day and age for everyone to have a Personal Trainer. The problem is if you don’t have the money available most of the best ones are priced out. That’s why today I have 10 tips for you that WILL save you money on a Personal Trainer from one like myself.
- Let me put this in bold THERE ARE NO MAGIC SUPPLEMENTS. The Supplements that provide benefits are multivitamins, fish oil, protein, and creatine. By eating a well-balanced diet and a variety of food you can avoid taking multivitamins. By including 3 portions of lean protein a day you won’t need a protein supplement. Having at least 2 servings of fatty fish a week can neg the need for fish oil. Creatine is optional you see the great benefits of a weight training regime. Research suggests that creatine can benefit mental function and stress resilience. All the other supplements will make you have expensive pee.
- Food journals are the single most helpful thing for anyone working on their health. Whether it be an app, physical pen and paper, notes on your phone, or photos any way you can record what you are eating. This does a few things, A) it brings your awareness to your food helping you make better decisions. B) it can help you find foods that don’t sit right with you. If you get a stomach ache after eating; look back to see if you can form a pattern. Use this with your doctor to pinpoint any intolerances/sensitivities you have.
- There is no exercise modality that is better than others. What you do is dependent on your personal goals, what you like, and what the time you have allows. Because it worked for you won’t mean it works for someone else (tough pill to swallow, like those supplements). Starting out with a variety of exercises is actually better. It exposes you to new ideas, and new stimuli and allows you to figure out what works best.
- If your main goal is weight loss you need cardio. Unfortunately starting out I was a gym bro. Saying semi-truthful things “Oh you don’t need to perform cardio to get lean it’s all about calorie balance”. The truth is all weight loss is thermodynamics, and if Homer Simpson knows this you should too. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed only transferred. So if I consume less than I burn I will lose weight. What I got wrong is cardio, even walking, burns more calories than weightlifting. It’s also great for your heart health.It is recommended by the American Heart Association to have 1 hour and 30 minutes of cardio a week for optimal heart health.
- Focusing on proper technique will be better than increasing weight early on. Every coach, myself included, has had some sort of injury through training. Most injuries happen by going too heavy early on. Keep in mind that weightlifting is a skill. You have to practice it many times to be able to do it. Performing high-weight exercises early on is like attempting to carve a marble statue without learning how to use a chisel. You will mess up. Practice and master your craft.
- Sleeping is your biggest tool in recovery. While sleeping this is the time your body goes through its repair and rebuilding phase. If you do all your workouts and eat “well” your results will not be optimal if you do not have a proper sleep schedule. If you have things(Kids, work, busy city)that interrupt sleep in your life you should scale back intensity in the gym to make sure you recover properly. As an adult aim for 6-8 hours of solid sleep. Keep the environment dark, cool, and free of distractions to sleep more soundly.
- Know how to set effective goals. Using SMART( Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timebased) goals is a great framework. The key is to start small enough to build momentum, but challenging enough to keep you interested. Make sure that you give yourself enough time to do it. Reliably checking in every week, with yourself or even a friend who has a similar goal helps you adjust if change is needed.
- Building Habits is the best way to reach your goal. Think of your goal as the finish line. It is simple to get your goal written down. It is a whole other ball of wax when it comes to achieving it. The best way to make sense of it is to engineer it into small habits that will move you toward your goal. Goal: Lose 10 pounds. To lose 10 pounds you need to be in a calorie deficit. The best starting point is with the food journal, gather your data to make better decisions. After two weeks of journaling your intake review the data. Let’s say that you notice you get hungry before the end of your work day. That leads to you going home and opening every cabinet looking for a snacky snack. Anyone who has looked for that snack after work knows damn well it won’t be one handful of chips. Instead of getting rid of your chips look at what you did early for lunch or breakfast in the food journal. You see that you’re lacking protein in both meals(Protein helps with satiety). Now for two weeks find ways to have lean protein for every meal. Make sure as you add new habits maintain your previous ones to continue to build on. The biggest key is to always find something that is sustainable for the long term. Quick fixes only lead to a crash and burn.
- Fruits and Veggies will do more for weight loss and general health than anything else. I say this because fruits and veg, are usually low-calorie nutrient-dense foods. If the goal is weight loss, have Fruits and Veggies that you can eat without high-calorie dressing. You can eat these until you are full or even stuffed. The only problem you will have is a bloated stomach and more bowel movements due to the higher amounts of fiber.
- Be consistent and accountable. If you can do something every day it will work better for you than making one big huge effort every now and again. When building habits to achieve your goals make sure it is something you can do 8/10 in a week. Unless you live in a vacuum have unlimited money, or are training for a show; things will pop up. Give yourself kindness and allow some deviation every now and again. You have to set a way to be accountable to go back to what you know you should be doing.
I hope this list will serve you well over your journey. Sometimes as personal trainers and coaches, we forget that our job isn’t that of being all-knowing. We are guides on the sides to help out clients every step along the way towards their goals. If you are finding these difficult to do having accountability with a coach is helpful. As well as finding some more personalized techniques to help you achieve it faster. If you need that accountability fill out our free intro form and see what our coaches can help you with!
