Personal Trainers Pretty much Suck on Average?

[UA_Iron]

well personally I have gone through 3 private trainers- the first guy was great untill we got into a fight & couldnt train together (ie dont get personaly involved w/your PT), the second one was a dingbat chick (never again!), the third one competited in bodybuilding inthe 70s & still trains the pros (3 of his guys are competing in the Olympia this yr).

so not all are bad, but men are better than women and older guys that competed are the best

I'm sure MsBeverlyHills could teach us all a thing or two about squats. Even if we didnt learn anything you'd have our full attention. Especially if you wear what the girls in my gym wear

 

[Isaac79]

I have ACE, what's a good cert? I asked around before and most people told me to get ACE, now I hear that it sucks.

 

[bignate73]

ISSA
NASM
NSCA-CPT or CSCS if you are degreed.

 

[bigdho]

ISSA
NASM
NSCA-CPT or CSCS if you are degreed.

I just attended a Thomas Plummer convention and NASM was there. Not a bad system. Seems like they really push functional training. Have you seen that new system I think its called body maping?? or something like that. Its supposed to find your weak points and then the cpu spits out a bunch of streaches and movements to improve the weak points of your body. To me its just another way to close a sale on the first visit. It is fun to do though.

 

[SlavikHavik]

Don't get me wrong, I respect a good personal trainer that has developed a decent physique and/or a solid amount of strength and trains his clients well and gets them results. But every gym I have trained at has had lameass personal trainers. It's a joke. The gym I go to now is one of the best in the area and the PT's look like they barely lift! They are usually young, cocky guys that try to look like Brad Pitt or something and have about as much strength as your old grandpa has if he got real psyched up after a win at a local bingo tournament. They have decent builds, but no SIZE whatsoever. Not unless you consider a 15" muscular arm big on a guy that's been training for years and has several training certifications and acts like he's the shit.

Also, I see them making their clients do the dumbest looking exercises all the time and I wonder, what's the point of that? Like today, as I'm walking out of the bathroom at my gym on my way to my car I see one of the REAL COCKY PT's having his female client do unweighted calf raises against a wall. HMM? Oh ya, he has her leaning on a stability ball that's on the wall pressing on her chest as she's doing her calf raises on the ground with no weight, no block for the stretch, and she's doing them with both legs, not one leg at a time. Try and picture the rediculousness ofthat image in your mind. I think it's safe to say she'd get a better workout walking up a nice size set of stairs in high heels carrying her purse. AS a bonus, at least she wouldn't look stupid, and at least the PT wouldn't be embarassing himself. What a joke!

Last week I saw one of the PT's having his male client do 45 degree leg presses with 50lbs. That's no typo. "50" heavy ass pounds. His client probably weighed 160lbs and even on his first workout could probably handle 180lbs no problem.

Finally, the biggest problem I see is these guys barely seem interested in their clients when they are doing their sets. They always have them use too little weight and not enough intensity. Not once have I seen a single PT at my gym put a client through an even moderately demanding workout.

Anyone have any stories of some lamo PT's you've seen, and some of the stuff they have their clients do that defies all possible logic and reason?

P.S. Good PT's are a great thing and valuable to a good gym. Bad PT's just suck worse than suckass.

You know what the problem with telling people to use heavy weights is.
They get scared. You and I both know that there not going to get anywhere with 50lbs on leg press. But the thought process of most of the 40 somethings that come through the gym and end up with one of the young trainers you were talking about is "hes going to train me like im 20 years old, im going to get injured."
Beyond that, they have there preconceptions about what sort of training gets you particular results.
If you give them 180lbs on leg press (4 BIG plates! right off the bat!) there going to think you didnt listen to them when they said they dont want to get huge, just get in better shape.
You would more than likely see alot of good personal trainers if it wasnt for the mentality of the public. What they want is a talking version of "Oxygen", "Shape" or "Mens Health". Because theyve looked into it a little. They have a few of those mag's hanging around. And if you tell them that they wont look like one of those muscle-women by working hard they wont believe you.
If they do what you say anyway and work hard. There going to so afraid that when all there fats gone theyll be a ripped muscular man underneath.

There are so many misconceptions out there, and unless your reputation proceeds you (ie: theyve been reffered to you by a friend, and not just picked you up because you work at that gym) you will probably have to abide by them. Because as anyone in any entry level position, your young and dont have much credibility.

And the worst part is, you get the best clients as you get older. (assuming your moving up and working towards your goals as a PT) The 16-29 year old males who really want to work hard, and improve there preformance, and arent afraid of injury.

But you get the housewives that the gym gives you when your just starting off who think because your young and male you dont understand them.

Bottom line, weather they know what there doing or not as a Young PT you wont have much success making your clients work hard.

Success comes from listening to them intently, and most of the time the customers these PT's Get just want someone to show them the ropes. Rarely will they come to you asking to be pushed hard. It happens, but thats not what they want most of the time.

Just my experience.

 

[PlayaPimp]

I agree that most personal trainers suck, but let me at least help you guys understand what PT's deal with

The average client is:
-unmotivated
-apathetic
-very out-of-shape
-severely posturally f-ed up

Yes putting these people on hardcore freeweight programs would probably help them more than crappy machines, but freeweights are likely to scare them and won't keep them motivated.

THey want to feel worked but not destroyed. Like why would you show up for personal training if you knew you were going to take a pounding by doing deads to failure.

Plus people usually have severe muscle imbalances and postural problems. Those need to be corrected through a combination of flexibility and core stability ball work. Otherwise if you throw people directly into a heavy weight program it will make their imbalances worse.

so have some sympathy for pt's, even the good ones probably start out doing shit that appears lame to most gym rats. It's out of necessity, not everybody is going to make iron such an integral part of their life as we have

I';m a PT and totally agree, doing deads to failure and squatting huge weights or light weights can be potentially dangerous to clients... even some athletes, and who wants to train with a trainer that got them hurt, the workouts we take our clients through are sissy, bullshit workouts to people like you and me, but to them it is a huge change and commitment, and also platueas do occur, these people are not very dedicated so it is our job to SLOWLY help them make a LIFESTYLE change, by helping them see continuous results to keep them motivated. What may seem simple to you and me can make the HUGEST differences in someone's self esteem and confidence. not everyone is in it to look great, yea that is a plus, but some just want to play with their kids in the yard, or even live long enough to see them graduate, PT is not as big of a joke as you guys make it out to be. Ease up a little

 

[PlayaPimp]

I guarantee Bignate that I could STEP UP to the plate and do a FAR better job than any personal trainer at any gym I've ever met or seen do, but, and this is a big BUT, it wouldn't be worth it for me to go out and take one of these guys jobs because like BIGDHO said, I probably wouldn't get hired because I'd get the clients immediate RESULTS and I'm not some cocky salesman. Also, members would either be very happy with the progress they make and stick around and their wouldn't be a high turnover rate of new clietns coming in for me which would probably get me fired, or they'd get pissed at me cuz I actually made them work hard enough to get results.

Either way you look at it, the majority of PT's at gyms are indeed lamo because of the business side of it and because they are lame enough to put people through non result producing wack routines even if they know it sucks.

I respect good PT's. Guys that make a living off of it and have their OWN PT business and get their clients results.

And btw, it seems like everytime I go to the gym people ask for advice on something or another and I offer it freely and I know it will work. Just yesterday a guy was starting to lift weights and he wanted to do squats, but wasn't sure how to, so I showed him what I would consider to be the finer points of good squat technique in a power rack. I went about my back workout and as I finished up a set of dumbell rows I happened to witness perfect squat technique from the same guy I just instructed. So I know I could do it ALOT better than any PT I've encountered that worked for a gym. I walked by to get a drink and told him his technique was very good and he said thanks and I could tell he was gonna keep it up. Sometimes you just "know". That was for free and better than any PT in that gym will ever do.

Seriously, you showed a guy how to do a squat with good technique??? great a video can do that. Some PT's do suck u are right, however showing someone how to do a squat does not say you can be a Good PT

 

[gettinstrong00110]

This is all so familiar to me, i was at a health club and it was full of spiky haired, skinny, polo shirt wearing imaginary mr olympia syndrome suffering faggots.
I spoke to them on many occasions and all the weight training they had was a 3 day!! course, thats 3 days!!!!!!! to learn wat takes a lifetime to master. they would perform barbell rows without about 120lbs the weights swinging about everywhere, back rounded legs str8, it was so comical. Then when we were having discussions about correct form etc they would say shit like "wat do i do, im a personal trainer thats wat so i think i know more than u", too funny. i mean fair enough most of the time there only required to train wasters that just come in for a month after new yr then give up, but occasionaly they do need to train someone that has an idea of wat hes doing, but they dont have the knowledge. im sure people will argue with me on this but i personally dont think someone is qualified to do pt unless they have a good physique to show that wat they know and there theories work!!

 

[textridave]

What about the PT who do not even follow their own guidelines? PT should be some of the fittest and healthiest people. The majority of them are but my gym has the one guy who as a huge belly giving instruction. I could never pay for a service about trying to get myself fit from a PT who is not fit themselves. It makes no sense to me.

I would like to find one but a good one cost alot of money. I have some but not enough to pay for a good one.

 

[calveless wonder]

This thread is retarded.........Ghettostud you need to look at the bigger picture and not your narrow little scope of viewing things. You've obviously never been a trainer or been around a wide variety of gym types other than the muscle heads.

Not everybody is trying to be a pro bodybuilder and has their own goals. A good trainer just has to be fit, have concrete knowledge and a good personality to be a good trainer. the average person is intimidated by a huge BB type anyways. Why? Because that's not an attainable goal for a person that just joined the gym. Some people want to be monsters and some people just want to be healthy and fit. Why prejudge based on size? it's ridiculous. Anyone who thinks a trainer has to be a monster is just viewing things based on their own goals. Coincidently I actually got more clients after i lost alot of weight during a hard time in my life, because i didnt have that intimidating juicehead look anymore...


Granted, most PT's do in fact suck.....why? Because you have to have a certain combination of elements to be a good trainer. It's a business so of course you have to sell, but you have to also be a motivator, able to establish a rappor with your clients and of course work people out effectively so they acheive their results.Most people have one or two of the qualities but only good trainers have all of these above...and those are the ones that excel in the industry. Ever wonder why the turnover rates are so high in gyms? It's because very few possess ALL of those qualities. I

The level of commitment will always vary with your clients but if you can tinker and adapt to your clients they will always at least acheive something.

Most trainers can't break through their clients because they don't realize the reason they're there....It's the fact they're insecure about themselves. Anybody will go a great length to stop insecurity, it's about you creating that image for them and making it feasible.


Most clients are beginners.....if you put them through intense workouts all the time they get discouraged and dont look at working out as fun anymore. Part of the job as a trainer is making the workout fun. That's why after muscle specific training i'll do boxing or some type of other fun stuff with my clients.
A good trianer will have a grace period, work them out hard but not to the point of passing out....and then progressively increase the workload as their commitment increases.