Why Use Programs Based on Someone Else's Needs?
Tailored workout programs put your needs first. Instead of following a cookie-cutter program, customized workouts are designed with only you in mind. Because let’s face it – one size does not fit all. By identifying your strengths, biggest obstacles, and experience level, you can achieve real sustainable results.
Working out, exercising, getting fit, being physically active plays an integral part of an active and healthy lifestyle. A certified Personal Trainer can play a critical role in helping others learn how to become more physically active and, more importantly, make it a regular habit. The biggest challenge is helping clients find ones that are suitable to their interests and abilities.
A Personal Trainer can build tailored workout programs for you while keeping in mind where you are at in terms of individual goals and hurdles. This will enable a Personal Trainer to build a program that matches you both physically and emotionally.
Tailored workout programs designed for the purpose of achieving a specific, desired outcome should include:
Building and maintaining rapport with each client.
A health risk and needs assessment to determine an individual’s current health status and to identify any special factors.
An appropriate application of the variables of exercise program design. (For example, exercise selection, intensity, repetitions, sets, tempo, rest interval and post-training recovery should all be consistent with the individual’s health status, training experience, current fitness level and desired goals.)
Sufficient intensity, volume and frequency of the workouts.
Adequate periods of recovery after workouts.
As you can see, there are many factors to take into consideration to build a tailored workout program for each individual to obtain his or her desired results. If you are considering to begin a workout program, it is critical for you to choose one that will help you to achieve specific results that align with your goal.
This article will help you to understand how a Personal Trainer analyzes various elements and creates a strategy while developing workout plans for each individual.
How A Personal Trainer Builds Rapport
Three attributes are essential to the establishment and maintenance of successful client–trainer relationships. What makes rapport unique is that it is an ongoing process, which means that health and fitness professionals must always be mindful of the following attributes, regardless of how well they feel they know a client or how strong of a relationship there might be.
Empathy is the ability to experience another person’s world as if it were one’s own.
Warmth involves an unconditional respect for another person that offers acceptance, regardless of his or her individuality or uniqueness.
Genuineness is the ability to be honest and open.
Empathy is one of the most important skills for health and fitness professionals, particularly when building tailored workout programs for clients who are struggling to overcome barriers that may have been holding them back for years. A Personal Trainer can demonstrate empathy by:
Being attentive.
Being conscious of how cultural and ethnic differences affect communication.
Distinguishing between factual messages and those composed of feelings and emotions, which often are expressed via nonverbal communication.
Being cognizant of how a client’s emotional patterns change based on the topic being discussed.
Being empathetic to a client’s struggle better positions you to understand his or her mindset and facilitate ongoing behavior change.
Analyzing Client Assessments
Personal Trainers continue to build rapport with clients while also utilizing a health-history questionnaire and preparticipation health screening to identify individuals in need of medical clearance before beginning an exercise program or before increasing the intensity, frequency and/or volume of an existing exercise program. During the first client session, it is necessary to review the health history and conduct a preparticipation health screening.
The purpose of reviewing a health history and conducting a preparticipation health screening is to identify current physical activity levels, the presence of cardiovascular and/or metabolic disease, signs and symptoms of underlying renal, cardiovascular or metabolic disease, and any possible stressors that could affect the body’s response to exercise. If a client who is beginning tailored workout programs presents with renal, cardiovascular or metabolic disease or symptoms of such a disease, it’s important that he or she receive medical clearance before participating in regular exercise.
Reviewing the health-history form with the client provides a Personal Trainer with both the opportunity to ask questions related to the client’s overall health and to identify common areas of interest upon which further rapport can be established.
Tailored workout programs doesn’t need to be overly complicated to be effective. A Personal Trainer can manipulate a few of the variables, such as intensity, repetitions or rest intervals, can change the demand on the body and produce vastly different outcomes. A few factors responsible for each individual’s specific training outcome include:
Gender
Age
Existing fitness level
Training experience
Genetic profile
The amount of time allotted for rest and recovery after exercise
Nutritional intake
Hydration
Other emotional and physical stressors such as pressures from work or family
Benefits of A Tailored Workout Plan
A Personal Trainer will select specific exercises to create your tailored workout programs and the order in which they are arranged. While building your customized program, a Personal Trainer will consider the following elements:
Each exercise in a program should address an individual’s needs while also being relevant to his or her training goals.
Selecting and organizing exercises into a logical sequence based on an individual’s current strength, training experience and movement skill, which makes a pre-exercise assessment essential for long-term success.
Equipment available to use with a particular client; some in-home clients may have little-to-no exercise equipment while others may have memberships at a gym.
When it comes to developing a workout plan, it’s not quite so black and white. There are many variables that influence exercise selection and programming. There are a few important factors to keep in mind that shed some light on why there’s no such thing as “the best” exercise.
The Enjoyment Factor
From a behavioral perspective, it’s important that movement is enjoyable. The more people enjoy the exercise experience, the more likely they are to make physical activity an integral component of their lives, which is ultimately what has the greatest impact on their health and well-being. Health and fitness professionals should choose forms of movement that resonate with their individual clients and truly support their overall enjoyment and success in the exercise experience.
The Unique Needs of Individuals
Health and fitness professional should include exercises and movements that are both safe and effective for their clients. Because of this, it allows Personal Trainers to recognize that there is not a “one-size-fits-all” approach when it comes to building tailored workout programs. Although humans may be of a similar structural design, we each have unique considerations and factors that affect our physical abilities. These, in turn, influence the selection, sequencing and progression of exercises that ultimately will safely and effectively best serve clients.
With an understanding that each person has unique needs and goals for his or her exercise experience, a Personal Trainer can appropriately select and tailor movements accordingly. This requires an understanding of program design and progression principles. Also knowing how to manipulate variables to meet individuals where they are presently and help them progress toward their personal goals and improved health and fitness in a safe, smart and successful way.
Bottom Line
While there are many exercise programs and certainly ones that may be more effective than others, at the end of the day there is no single “best” exercise that is perfect for everyone in the same exact form. When you work with a Personal Trainer, you can expect tailored workout programs that are built for you and only you according to your specific needs and goals.
The bonus of working with a Personal Trainer is that you will also receive guidance throughout your training. This includes feedback, resources, education, and continuous support. Although you could purchase a generic program and get some results, you have to consider the following questions:
Will you learn the what, why, and how from that particular program?
Will you have support through challenging obstacles and learn how to navigate through them?
Can you ask specific questions and receive answers in a timely manner?
What kind of resources will you have access to?
Who is checking in with you to see how you are feeling about your training?
How can the program be adjusted if you have a medical condition or injury?
What it all comes down to is that when it comes to exercise and making healthy lifestyle choices, a Personal Trainer understand that every client is unique, with varying levels of skills and motivation. Understanding client motivations and attitudes about exercise can help a Personal Trainer tailor communication and expectations to accommodate each individual’s needs.
Cookie-cutter programs are quite risky and may or may not be the best option for you to be successful in reaching your goal. However, partnering with a certified Personal Trainer who can create and adjust a workout plan according to you and your unique goals tremendously minimizes your level of risk and significantly increases your chances of successfully accomplishing your goal. Ultimately, you have to ask yourself how much do you value your health?