Personal Trainers: Answering "What now?"

What to do in the gym?

A personal trainer can tell you what to do in the gym. But so can any of hundreds of websites, and dozens of good training programs you can find on the web.

Part of the real value in a personal trainer is that your trainer can answer two important questions - "What next?" and "What now?"

"What next? - All programs, good or bad, will eventually stop working for you. Either you will progress past the limits of the program, or past the limits of linear progression (adding weight to the bar each workout).

When your gains run out, or the program proves to just not be working for your specific goals, a good trainer can answer, "What do I do next?"

"What Now?" - Even more important, how do you adjust your workout when life intervenes? An injury, illness, fatigue, stress - many things can derail your workout. If your workout plan says "bench press" and you've injured your shoulder, now what? A good trainer can answer that, on the fly, during a workout.

This is the most important part of the personal trainer's job - having the knowledge and experience to change your workout in reaction to changing needs, changing goals, and changing circumstances.

How can I do this myself?

Ask yourself, what if? What if I get hurt? What if this stops working? What if I need to substitute out because of missing or broken equipment? What can I do to keep getting a training effect? Know yourself, and learn what you can about training so you can make your own decisions.

Quick Tip: Demonstrating Strength vs. Strength Training

Quick Tip:

When you are lifting your friend's fridge, shoveling snow, picking up a heavy water cooler bottle, etc. - you don't care how much training effect you are getting. When you pull a one-rep max at a powerlifting meet or weightlifting meet, you aren't worried about how much stronger this one lift will get you. The goal is to move the object, make the lift, and do so safely and effectively. This is demonstrating strength.

In the gym, the goal isn't to lift the weight per se. The goal is to get stronger, so that when you demonstrate your strength it's there for you. It doesn't matter how heavy or light you go in the gym if you can't go heavy when you need to outside the gym. This is strength training.

Outside of the gym - maximize what you can do safely and effectively. Inside the gym - get the most out of your training, don't try to put the most in.