The 6th Element
Piggy backing off of Kevin’s blog. I believe a sixth element is also “imperative” to a training session. We can learn everything we need to know by experience, by reading EVERYTHING, studying and conducting our own programs with trial and error. Preparedness is the stepping stone, and the first step in being a good personal trainer.
I love being prepared. Organization is my strong suit I would say. Hopefully the team at SOMA VT would agree, but who knows as I keep losing track of the towels. Our schooling prepared us for what to expect. If someone has an injury, we are prepared with contraindicated (bad) exercises to stay away from, and exercise or movement we know would help. We were taught how to work around side effects from medications, how to target specific muscles and create a heart rate response to exercise. We were taught the physiology of every organ and energy system, and how they respond to that elevated heart rate.
I won’t run through the other 5 elements in the previous blog, but I do agree with every single one of them. Your trainer should be prepared, on time, you need to trust them, feel like you are learning from them, and above all else, enjoy working with them. Here is where that sixth element comes in. Your trainer needs to be…..adaptable.
Sixth Element….Adaptability
Life, uh, finds a way. (Jurassic Park). The goal of getting into an exercise routine is to create better habits. With the development of those new habits, comes new activities, or newly found confidence to try things you haven’t done before, or tried in a long time.
In school, one of my professors flew into the classroom one day and started just ranting. Much to my confusion, there was a point to the rant. “You can write the best damn exercise program in the world. It can have every major muscle targeted, it can have all the best, and new fancy equipment, and it can be a perfect 60 minutes. That is not life.” It is true. We can write the best program in the world, and that same day, that program can get thrown out. Whether you walked longer than you thought, picked up your kid the wrong way, got lost in the woods or found yourself being more active than normal, the program will and should change.
We must be able to adapt on-the -fly to how your body is responding that day. That is one of the biggest perks to having a consistent training schedule. As coaches we get to know your movement patterns more in depth, and can tell if your body is more tired than normal, even if you are not aware of it yet. If you are having new pains, or tightness, maybe a heavy deadlift session isn’t the right course of action that day.
As coaches, we prepare and adapt. Thinking on-the-fly is part of the job description, and in all honesty, it makes this job even more fun. We get to recruit our critical thinking skills and choose the best alternative movements to ensure the best session we can for that day.
If you have questions about getting started with personal training, semi-private training, or are interested in booking a consultation, please reach out to the SOMA VT team. We look forward to training with you!
