Personal Trainer In Singapore - Choosing one! (Part 4)

In the final part we shall talk about guarantees. Yes nothing in life is guaranteed. BUT there should be some buyer security when it comes to something as important as your body. Come on even your MP3 Player has a 1 year guarantee (with reasonable conditions).

All fitness places and personal trainers in Singapore that are serious about the results of their clients will have a guarantee. It's not a "oh just do what you feel and anytime you can get your money back" kind. Rather it's in the sign-up contract.

If you:

• Train the way we ask you to
• Modify your diet the way we ask you to
• Rest and recover the right way

And this doesn't work - It's MY fault! you deserve a refund! I can't pay a person's time but the least I can do as a professional is to return their money.

On the other side of a coin, a client who just comes in to fool around (I have never had one like that but in theory its possible) I reserve the right to release.

Personal Trainer In Singapore - Choosing one! (Part 3)

Ok lets say you have no serious medical conditions, and you have found a nice training community. Whats next? The next thing is not usually budget. It is time. I believe that most people are not as worried about spending money as they are about wasting time. Thats the most scary thing. Time is our only non-renewable resource.

So. Saving time means you need to have the most time effective forms of training and nutrition.

These are the fundamentals of ANY proper training program for general fitness. If they are violated, you are probably wasting both money and time.

A good coach should (baring any pre-existing medical conditions) have you doing:

• Assessment - If you are not assessing, you are just guessing. There has to be continual assessment and adjustment to get you to your goals. It's like a guided missile. You start off in the general direction but you need mid-course guidance to hit your fitness targets.
• Free Weights - Machines indicate either a lack of care for you, or a lack of coaching ability
• Total Body Movements (mostly done standing up) - These movements use your whole body. Stuff like squatting, picking objects off the floor, chinups (and its variations if you aren't able to do a chinup yet, pushups. Stuff like that.
• Moderate to high intensity cardiovascular exercise. Low intensity stuff (walking on a treadmill/slow bike etc) is a waste of time (results wise) and a waste of money (you shouldn't need to pay anybody to watch you walk.

All clients from national level athletes, to regular working professionals of age 7-77 do total body exercises!

Personal Trainer In Singapore - Choosing one! (Part 2)

As you continue on your thought process to choosing a personal trainer in Singapore, the next thing to think about is the training environment.

This comprises of several things. The trainer (and his staff if he is more established and owns a private gym), the other members of the gym, and you yourself.

When these 3 groups of people come together its truly a beautiful thing. Why? not just because you get results, but because you KEEP the results.

You see, in the process of changing a life (which is what we are doing when a training company like Genesis Health & Performance works with a client) from old ways and habits to new ones, there are 3 stages.

Stage 1 is Awareness: I am aware that I am out of shape, or that I can't run fast enough, or that my pants no longer fit...That is when I may call in the services of a professional to help me form my situation

Stage 2 is Intervention: This is where My staff and I come in. We teach, motivate, assess, adjust, guide, encourage, whatever it takes to get each of our clients consistently good results. After an adjustment period, they end up doing well. BUT...

Stage 3 is Sustenance: This is where the true quality of the fitness service can be seen. This is where the quality of the coaching as well as the quality of the community is important. A good fitness company can provide the coaching. But what I tried to do to make our place special is the community. Not just the coaches but every single person in the company. From each staff member, to each gym member.

No random cursing, no gossip, no slander. Only positive words and actions. This builds a community that is like a 3rd home (yeah I'm borrowing the Starbucks idea) Work, home, then GYM!

This is the culture that I as the owner do my very best to set.

Part of Our Training Community Here at Genesis Health And Performance

Personal Trainer In Singapore - Choosing one! (Part 1)

There are several things to look out for when choosing a personal trainer whether in Singapore or elsewhere. There is the good, the bad and the unspeakable but in general there are several categories of personal trainer.

Here is the thought process that you need to go through when deciding:

Your current medical status.

A personal trainer is not a medical professional. That means that if you have a clinical problem or pathology he/she (Myself included!) is not the person to look for. It is perhaps even irresponsible for me as a personal trainer to take on a client who is having a serious medical condition or joint problem. If you fall into this category you need a therapy guy (chiro, osteopath, body worker, physio etc). Get well before you decide to get fit

If your problem is not acute (sharp pain all day!) then its possible that you have an inefficiency. This is not as "bad" as a pathology. A really good trainer can help you with this. That guy usually has a strong knowledge of bio mechanics and kniesology (how the body and joints move). And has in his "toolbox" an assortment of assessment and corrective training tools to get you both a corrective training effect as well as a fitness training effect. I.E. you get fixed and fit at the same time.

There is no "clear" line between these 2 medical states. But use a bit of wisdom to figure out which side you are on. A responsible professional will do what is best for you. Either refer you out or take you on as a client.

This is one reason I work closely with medical professionals (Orthopedic Doctors, Physios, etc) because its best for our clients to have a network of integrated services (personal trainers, medical, manual therapy etc) to meet any of their needs.

If this is you...you need a surgeon, not a personal trainer...