I interact with a lot of other personal trainers on forums, and here are some things that come up pretty frequently with new trainers looking for advice from more established trainers:
- How intense should a client’s workout be?
- How often should you change a client’s workout plan?
- Should you listen to clients who want more variety?
I want to take a moment to answer those questions, but before I do that, I want to paraphrase a response that a well seasoned trainer gave:
“You are a personal trainer, not a personal exerciser, right?”
So that begs the question: What exactly is a trainer? What exactly is an “exerciser”? A personal trainer is someone who trains you for a specific goal. . . Which differs from a personal exerciser in that an exerciser is just making sure you get exercise. Exercise doesn’t have to have a goal; it doesn’t have to have a method; it doesn’t even have to have a plan– It’s activity with the intention of keeping you active, and that’s it.
In contrast, a training session is just one piece in a much larger puzzle. During my consultation with each client, I ask them to sum up their health and fitness goals in one sentence– This forces each person to really examine their goals and make them clear and concise. From this goal, I can get started on a plan:
I look at how we would achieve this goal over the long term, and then break this up into smaller chunks (training periods); and within each training period, I can look at how the sessions should be structured. Even within the sessions, I can look at progressions that can be made and benchmarks that should be met. (Periodization is a lot more complicated than this, and involves more blocks and periods than I describe, but this is a very simple way of describing it!) When someone comes in for the first session, I already know how the next 3 months should be done, and beyond in most cases, because I’ve already planned that far ahead. . .
Because I’m a trainer, training someone for a specific goal.
So, to answer those initial three questions:
- How intense should a client’s workout be? As intense as they need to be to achieve their goal; keeping in mind that there are different ways to define intensity. From an exercise science standpoint, intensity only refers to the amount of resistance you’re using on each exercise, whereas we typically think of intensity as perceived level of exertion.
- How often should you change a client’s workout plan? A workout plan should be properly periodized, and should be changed as often as necessary for them to achieve their goals.
- Should you listen to clients who want more variety? You should listen, and take them into account, and try and work in suggestions where possible– However, keep in mind that you’re training them for a specific goal, and don’t compromise that.