If you're looking into hiring a professional trainer, it can be hard to choose the right one for you. The best trainers will sit you down on the first meeting, ask you all kinds of questions, and figure out exactly what you need--all before you ever touch a weight. By doing this, the trainer will be able to create the exercise program that suits your needs best--and one that will give you the best results.
Here are some questions your trainer MUST ask you in the first interview:
1. Have you ever had health problems?
The list of health problems is broad and will include: heart attacks, cardiac surgery, chest pains, high blood pressure (over 140/90), smoking problems, high blood cholesterol (more than 200 mg/dl), heart murmurs, arrhythmia, ankle swelling, rheumatic fever, vascular diseases, phlebitis, fainting, shortness of breath, bronchitis, asthma, emphysema, stroke, high blood fat levels, emotional disorders, recent illnesses or hospitalizations, drug allergies, arthritis, and orthopedic problems.
2. Do you have diabetes?
Many professional trainers are not qualified to train those with major health risk factors, and diabetes is one of these risk factors.
3. What is your waist size?
Men with a girth of 40 inches or greater and women with a girth of 35 inches or greater will be considered obese, and many trainers aren't certified to train obese people.
4. Do you have an abnormal resting heart rate?
This is another major risk factor, meaning your trainer may not be certified to train you.
5. What are your goals?
This question will help the trainer to create a diet and exercise program specifically for you. Both long and short term goals must be taken into account in the creation of the program, so you need to come prepared to answer this question.
6. What are your eating habits?
Your trainer will ask this in order to see how they can adjust your diet to improve weight loss, weight gain, or weight maintenance. This will include the number of calories, the type of foods eaten, the timing and size of the meals, and the number of means per day. They will also ask about any supplements you're taking.
7. Have you done resistance exercise before?
Trainers will want to know about your resistance exercise past, as it will help them to create a program that will deliver optimum results. They will want to know what type of routines you have done, what time of the day you are accustomed to training, how long you work out, how you target the various muscles in your body, and what kind of exercise you prefer.
Once the questions are done, it's time to move on to a few very important tests:
1. Weight Measurement Test
The weight test will be a necessary evil, as it will help the trainer figure out how much weight from fat you'll need to lose. They will first test your total body weight, and a lean body weight test will follow. Simply subtract your lean body weight from your total weight, and you have fat weight that will be burned through your workouts.
2. BMR Test
The Harris Benedict formula for determining basal metabolic rate is:
Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X weight in kg) + (5 X height in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)
Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X weight in kg) + (1.8 X height in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)
This will tell you how many calories your body needs in a day, which will help the trainer to know how to modify your diet according to weight loss, gain, or maintenance goals.
3. Heart Rate Test
The trainer will need to determine your heart rate in order to know how hard you can push yourself. Using a stopwatch, take your pulse and count the number of heart beats in 10 seconds. Multiply that by six, and you have your resting heart rate. (Example: 7 beats in 10 seconds = 70 BPM) Your maximum heart rate is your age subtracted from 220 (220 - 25 = 195). When doing workouts, your target heart rate will be about 60 to 80 percent of your maximum heart rate.
The trainer will need to do these tests in order to help you train safely.