Fat Loss for a Fee?
The Cost of Working Out

Some people wonder why they should pay a fee to hire a personal trainer when they could just workout themselves at a health club or in their home. Or, perhaps just follow the instructions from one of those fitness magazines.

Hearing this reminded me of a story/anecdote a plumber once told me.

He said, 'I can charge you $75 to come into your house for 10 minutes and bang on a few pipes. The reason you'll pay the money every time is because, unlike you, I know *WHERE* to bang the pipes.'

What a great point.

Whether you have access to a health club or countless fitness magazines, if you don’t know where or how to “bang the pipes” [on your body] it won’t get you the results you desire. However, a certified personal trainer can show you exactly where to bang your own pipes to get you in your best shape.

"It's not what you don't know that makes you ignorant;
it's what you do know that isn't so."

Here are a few things a personal trainer can do for you that you won’t know how to do – unless, you too, went through countless hours of exercise science education:

Fitness Assessment – this includes, but is not limited to, evaluating the following: fat percentage, muscular strength, cardiovascular heart rate recovery, joint/muscle range of motion, resisted range of motion, balance & coordination, and agility.

Program Design – after your fitness assessment a personal trainer can effectively design a routine for you that would take into consideration all the evaluation results. In addition, the program design also takes into account:
a. Your goals and whether they are realistic
b. Exercises with movement patterns that match your goals, i.e., training for a sport, daily life activity, or aesthetics.
c. The proper exercises to have you effectively reach those goals
d. The proper exercise sequence/order to do them
e. How often you’ll be working out (days per week)
f. Your recommended/suggested pre-post workout meal options
g. Lifestyle modifications necessary to achieve your goals

Workout session – now the trainer takes you through the actual workout to assure the following:
a. Proper warm-up specific to your goal (general or dynamic specific)
b. Correct form and body positioning for each exercise
c. Suggested speed of each repetition performed
d. Appropriate intensity for each exercise (weight for resistance exercises or speed/level if for cardio-conditioning)
e. Modification to an exercise if necessary
f. Keeping a steady workout pace (rest periods) specific to your goal
g. How many sets and repetitions specific to your goal
h. Motivation to continue with proper control and form when fatigued (mentally and/or physically)
i. Proper cool down methods

*You can also use this list to evaluate whether a trainer you are thinking of hiring cover these requirements - if not, look elsewhere.

So, you see there’s much to consider when working out effectively for muscle toning and fat loss. And, I didn’t even go into the psychological aspects of working out or what you should be doing outside of your workout sessions.

You can haphazardly go through the motions and hope that you’re “banging” the right pipes. Or, you can hire a certified personal trainer to assure you are doing things proper. The choice is yours.

Robert Garza, CPT, RTS