Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Everyone Deserves a Personal Trainer

If you've ever watched anyone work out under the watchful eye of a personal trainer, you know how great the experience can be. If you could have your own trainer, you could have your specific body type analyzed, your fitness goals planned for, and a diet and exercise regimen devised especially for you. At at least $50 a pop though, ordering a session with a personal trainer, to most people, can only be one of those things that they hope they'll do when they win the lottery.

Have you noticed how things tend to drop in price the moment they move from the real world to the virtual? That's what the online personal trainer website FitOrbit tries to do. Sign onto this website they promised offer you a personal trainer online for no more than two dollars a day.

So what is it that you get for the money with this online experience? Do you get some kind of a virtual software personal trainer who has been fed a few standard lines to utter in the right places? Because that simply wouldn't be a personal trainer.

That's not what FitOrbit offers you at all; the price, if you order their service six months at a time, it works out to $10 every seven days on average. And what you get is a real life qualified personal trainer who does everything a regular trainer would do, providing you with a complete fitness and diet plan, and advice whenever you need it. The only thing that differentiates the $10 experience you get at FitOrbit from the real thing is the fact that you don’t have your trainer standing next to you.

Signing up for this service, you're right away presented with a questionnaire that you are supposed to fill out to be easily able to pick a personal trainer who suits your needs. You start out by giving FitOrbit in-depth information about what exactly you are looking for in a fitness exercise routine. Whatever it is, losing weight , firming and toning your body, becoming a musclebound muscleman, cheerleader or whatever, this is where you mention it.

And then comes the fun part: you get to choose from among a bunch of trainers you can see yourself working with. Usually, the trainers you get come with some serious amounts of professional certification – from the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Meeting up with your online personal trainer, you'll find that it makes for a satisfying experience. You'll get to speak at length about everything that you feel a personal trainer would need to know about your worries and your hopes. Once hired, a trainer comes back after a day or two with a personalized diet and exercise regimen. If it doesn't seem to match your expectations, you could always ask for help in understanding the logic behind what you've been given.

FitOrbit’s diet help system can be pretty helpful too. They ask you about your preferences and then put down a meal plan specifically for your expectations. They dodn't just give you names of the dishes you are supposed to cook though. They'll usually also give you recipes for everything. If you aren't the kind of person who appreciates this much intrusion, this particular function may not be for you.

The system isn't all there just yet, of course. But you do get the distinct feeling that you are working out with a personal trainer for real when you use the system. Never did a person make better use of use $10 a week.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

When Are You Ready to Become a Private Personal Trainer

Many new personal trainers are excited to break out of the standard gym jobs, and move into their own personal training business. However, there are a few things that you can do to ensure that you will be incredibly successful when you finally spread your wings.

Get at least one or two years worth of experience at a reputable gym. While you may not enjoy working for someone else as much, you will gain valuable experience when you are part of a program that has proven to help so many people. As well, having a few years of experience working with a gym can help a potential client make a decision about your skill level, and how willing they will be to work with you. In addition to the reputation that you will gain, you can also work closely with other personal trainers, which becomes important when learning to network, or when you first start out in the personal training world. Get their advice, and listen to what works best for them.

In addition to the reputation that you gain from working in a gym, be sure to also gain education that matches your desired training methods. Have two or three degrees or certificates in the personal training field can help to show that you know your theory, as well as your practise. As well, many of the techniques that are taught in these courses are essential tools that you can use with your clients in everyday life. By increasing your broader knowledge, you will be able to work with a larger variety of clients and personality types.

You should also have a client base. While you market yourself, you’ll need to eat, so be sure to have a couple of clients lined up at the get go, so that you can count on their support, as well as their networking abilities to bring in even more clients. Make good contacts, and be sure not to burn bridges with other personal trainers. The fitness world is a tight knit one, and you never know who you might be offending.

Overall, by starting off in a gym, building your skills, increasing your reputation, education and knowledge, as well as your client base, you will be able to achieve those first steps in setting up a strong private practise doing personal training.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

The Importance of Education as a Personal Trainer

Starting out as a personal trainer does involve a lot of dedication and commitment to lifelong learning of the trade, as well as learning of techniques and motivation for your clients. Education doesn’t stop when you get a certificate, or graduate from a college or university. You should continue to keep yourself up to date, and continue to upgrade your courses.

One of the main reasons why this is so important, especially for new personal trainers, is that as you begin on your training journey you will need to use many of the different perspectives that you gain through knowledge based courses to help create effective solutions to the problems that your clients are faced with. The more techniques you are knowledgeable about, the more likely you are to be able to find a solution that is the right match for the client you are training.

General certifications are a great way to start out, but be sure to expand your knowledge rapidly, and find your interests. Believe it or not, many clients will choose to come to a trainer who has a knack for a certain type or style of training, because they will be looking for the quality of your work. Delving into a particular stream of knowledge can greatly benefit you. If you work with clients that have issues you can be passionate about, you’ll find yourself discovering new ways to solve their problems. If you are not well informed about a topic, be sure to create a strong network of people that you can refer your clients to. Even if you can’t answer their questions directly, they will appreciate the fact that you are resourceful, and are able to help them find the information that they need.

Remember that your clients will be looking at your certification, to a certain degree. Some people just want to know that their trainer has some kind of formal training accomplished, while others are looking for a trainer that has gone through specific courses. By constantly upgrading the education that you are receiving, you will broaden your client base, and you will be sure to attract more clients in.

The other great thing about various courses that you take is that many of them can count towards college and university degrees, so be sure to do your research and pick strongly accredited courses so that you get the most value from the courses and certificates you choose to get.