Thursday evening rolls around and it’s been a long day at the office, but you’re gonna do it today, the dreaded “leg day.” It’s time to go through the motions at the health 
club during it’s peak hour. Don’t get frustrated waiting for that sweaty dude on your machine to finish his sets so you can go home….keep your cool. Stay focused it’s leg day. My trainer told me to do 3 sets of 10 on the Leg-Extension-Machine, Hamstring-Curl-Machine, Leg-Press-Machine, Calf-Raise-Machine, Hip-Abduction-Machine, Hip-Adduction-Machine, blah, blah….
The Problem:
Sounds boring right? That’s because it is, so many health clubs push these old 
school circuit’s of machines to new members promising results. I have reluctantly taught these circuits in the past, one year later checking back with the members of the health club who have stuck with these programs and have achieved little to no results. Does this sound familiar, 3-Free Sessions with a Trainer? Your excited, you have a trainer…turns out you get some second-rate-rep-counter, getting paid minimum wage, who shows up late dragging through his hang over form the night before, and could care less about delivering weight loss and fitness results.
For example, The-Keiser-Air-Resistance-Circuit is often used as part of a gym orientation. The problem is that THESE MACHINES HAVE NO ECCENTRIC RESISTANCE. A traditional lift has two phases, the Concentric Phase of the lift and the Eccentric Phase of the lift. During a chest-press the Concentric Phase is pushing the weight up and the Eccentric Phase is lowering the weight. Go try a Keiser-Air-Resistance-Machine, I promise you there is no eccentric resistance. You only get half the benefit of the lift and half the results, what a waste of time! Call your trainer out. I would bet that half of the trainers out there do not even know what eccentric and concentric means.
The Solution:
Alright, if you read my blog it is no secret that I am a fan of functional training. Save time and get results, try doing lunge or squat variations. We sit at the desk all day, in the car, on the couch….so do not train sitting down. Train for movements and not muscle groups. Life does not happen in these isolated planes. Movements will convey to daily life and sport. In addition, you will tone butts and guts, burn fat, and build muscle.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
2 comments ↓
I agree with you 100%. But I disagree that all trainers who offer free training are unqualified. Some trainers would like for their clients to actually trained with them before the clients pays. There are trainers who are so good that they realized that if a client trains with them they will appreciated the quality of training that they provide. I personally would not want anyone to pay me money if they wasn’t comfortable or excited about training with me. Being concern that trainers are not qualified is important but I find the best way to know a trainer is to train with him before a client have to pay any money. Allowing the prospective client to make a honest evaluation of a trainer by going through several workouts with them before he pays is the best solution for everyone looking for a trainer. It just might save him some hard earned money.
It’s not a bad idea to offer a free personal training session to a potential client “if” your business is struggling or “if” you are launching a new boot camp. This can be used as a means to market and build clientele.
However, giving away your service devalues you as a fitness professional. The better solution would be to offer a free fitness assessment. This should include; medical history, postural evaluation, fitness and weight loss goals, lifestyle questionnaire, exercise testing, body composition, and a nutritional evaluation. During the exercise testing you can give a teaser session to win them over.
Your certifications, exercise science degree, and experience were not free!
Leave a Comment