I’d Make the Worst Magician

Still no luck with the pictures, but I’ll get them going soon. Its hard to be walked through something like installing different programs step by step over IM with your sister. It makes troubleshooting nearly impossible, as the person that actually knows what she is talking about cant see what the moron pecking at the keys is seeing. But, soon.
 
Tonight I will be spending a lot of time at the gym and sitting in my apartment with all the lights out not making any noise after an awkward confrontation from the upstairs neighbor last night. Lets say it wasnt called for, and there are quite a few things I could barge into her apartment and confront her about, but I hate confrontation and WALKING INTO PEOPLE’S HOUSES UNINVITED so I would never do that. But instead of standing up for myself and telling her the GTFO (which i actually say in real life, I actually say the letters) I just appologized and will avoid her at all costs. Everyone I know hates this about me because then they have to listen to me seeth and complain and say all the things I wish I would have said in the moment. For weeks afterwards.
 
ANYWAYS
 
I recieved a question from Hallie in my email about ending personal training and going at it alone. It was kind of long so I will paraphrase.
 
Dear Kelly,
 
You Rock. I love your freakin’ guts.
 
Personal training session are getting expensive so Im thinking about leaving, but still have a few more pounds to go to reach my goal. How do I know if I am ready to go at it alone?
 
Loyal Reader,
Hallie
 
First off, thanks. I am very underappreciated.

Secondly, this will probably be confusing without taking you through all the training I have ever had. So I will kind of be revealing all the personal trainer secrets.
 
This is seriously a great question, though. Most people hire trainers to get to a certain goal: lose X amount of pounds, fit into my old jeans, be able to function without pain, etc. Lets assume your goal is to lose a certain amount of weight.
 
Not being able to afford sessions is a legitmate excuse and dont let anymore make you feel as though it is not. If your trainer makes you feel like crap about this, they aren’t a very good trainer. They should also sit down with you and form a plan for when you leave: no one trains forever.
 
That being said, in order to make a challenging plan to keep you on track on your own can be tricky. The hardest part is pushing yourself when you dont think you can go any farther, which takes a lot of discipline, and some people just cant do it. If you are one if these people i recommend staying with your trainer until you reach your goal, because maintainence is not as complicated.
 
So heres a general breakdown of what a routine entails:
 

• 6-12 exercises working major muscle groups (quads, hams, abs, back, chest, shoulders, biceps, triceps)
• some full body moves to get the heart rate up
• a cardio plan with progression
• stretching if applicable

You should be recieving atleast 30 minutes of cardio most days of the week (5-6) and strength training of all major muscle groups atleast 3 tmes a week with no more that 2 days rest inbetween sessions.
 
Strength training progression is all about building the muscle up to where it is comfortable and then switching it up again.
 
For example:
 
Start with a bicep curl. Curl a 10 pound dumbell 10 ten times. As sessions continue increase reps to 12, then 15. at 15, the muscle is not as challenged to bump the weight up to 12 pounds, but drop the reps back to 10. Build up to 12, then to 15. Now its time to up the weight again. This can take weeks or even monthes. You should be fatigued at the end of each set, maybe only able to do 2 or 3 more with good form. Once you aren’t fatigued at the end of the set, that how you know to move it up in either reps or weight.
 
THIS IS WHERE IT GETS MORE COMPLICATED
 
So take push ups. Easiest form is doing them standing against a bar at about waist height. Once these get too easy, you move to the floor with a SB at your hips. You will do pushups like a see-saw, your feet will move with your body. The next progression is ball at knees, then from there you move to the floor and do regular ol’ pushups. Then from there you are back up on the ball, with it at your feet. It would seem that after the knees you would move to the feet, but this is actually harder than a regular pushup because of the angle and then the lever length. this is what you learn during Personal Trainer training. We have a great knowledge of levers and progressions which help with making up new exercises and switching you all around all the time.
 
Cardio is the same way. Depending on where you are physically, you always want to start at a rate (lets say 3.5 mph) from here you would up the incline to 1, then up the speed to 3.7, dropping the incline to 0, then 1, then 2, then up the speed to 4, drop incline back to 0, then 1, then 2.
 
This is why people have trainers, so they dont have to know this crap. Also, they need that push.
 
This is just how a lot of trainers plan out routines. There are a lot of factors involved like energy level, order of exercises and the time and amount of rest in between but its pretty complicated.
 
Like I stated in one of my earlier posts, I think people pay too much attention to numbers and equations and such. Just move. As long as you are burning calories you will be fine. Dont get too caught up in how many at what speed and what to change. Just look online or in magazines for different things you would like to try. as long as you are working your hardest and changing things up occassionally, you shouldnt have any problem keeping the progress coming.