I'm a Personal Trainer - AMA

[Watchkeys]

I generally group-train parents in the park after they've dropped their kids at school, but also work in a residential care home, and have some 1-1 clients with weight loss and muscle gain goals. I want to know if there's anything I'm not covering in terms of 'questions people are too afraid/nervous to ask'... hit me!

What's your no.1 tip for the motivation to start getting fitter/healthy? What drives you, I'm desperate to start a fitness regime but keep putting off 🥴

@Tg2023

We are genetically programmed to sit on our bums watching Netflix, eating Pringles. Motivation isn't coming, so don't wait for it. Accept that this is something you have to do, get it into your schedule with as little disruption as possible, and make it manageable. Then, do it, whether you feel like it or not. It's unlikely you'll feel like it at the start, because you've not experienced the benefits, but it will get easier when a) you feel more confident and b) you've felt the after-exercise benefits.

'Getting motivated' actually adds work to the process. Use the energy for starting, not trying to get yourself into the mindset to start.

Do you know what fitness regime you want to get into?

Why have I plateaued? Weekly, I do (consistently for the last 2 months) 4 x 45 minute morning swims, then on my lunch breaks I'll do an exercise class if I've been able to book on (yoga/HIIT with weights/ core/weight training) or weights at the gym. But both the scales and my measurements have been stuck for the last 3 weeks. Even though I deadlift 5kg more each week and go up with the kettle bells/reps of assisted pull ups too. So I'm improving, but my body is just like nope. Staying here.

@Hubblebubble Probably simply because the human body doesn't work in a linear way, and 3 weeks isn't very long in terms of body composition changes. If you're continuing to improve on your performance, your body logically cannot stay as it is, otherwise you'd be able to increase your lifts infinitely over years with no physical change.

One other thing: have you altered your diet to accommodate the changes you've achieved so far?

Also @Hubblebubble What is staying the same? Your weight or your body composition?

Do you have any education-type training you have to do to become a PT?

Do you know about hypermobility and how to help clients who have this? If so, beyond pilates and swimming do you have any suggestions for suitable exercise for people with hypermobile joints.

Thanks!

@GrouchyKiwi Yes, we have to be registered with CIMSPA, the professional governing body, so we have to do a course before we can start, and subsequent CPD to stay qualified.

With something like hypermobility, you'd need to see a medical professional, who could either issue information about what to do/avoid, or refer you to a suitably specialist PT. Sorry I can't be more useful on that.

I've noticed more muscle definition since I started, especially my thighs and upper arms. But nothings drastically changed over the last 3 weeks.

My waist measurement has stayed stubbornly the same and I'm really trying to reduce my visceral fat.

If you can remember when you first started to put weight on, @Hubblebubble , where did it go on first?

As the name suggests I am fat and nearly 50! I am a size 22/24 weighing in at somewhere between 18.5-19 stone. I am pretty unfit although do go to the gym and do half an hour of cross trainer a couple of times a week.

I also have lifelong knee issues, had some surgery but not fixed. This severely limits what I can do and what is painful. I worry that I will a, be judged for my weight and low ability and b, people will think I am just lazy when I say I can’t do something because of my knees (I haven’t knelt for 15years and any weight bearing while bending is very painful plus impact also results in significant later pain).

What is your advice to someone like me? My focus would be on fitness with hopefully weight loss as a by product but not the main aim.

Boringly predictable question: I'm overweight, short, size 14 and look pregnant with a sizeable c section overhang (thank you enormous babies). Holidays in less than 4 weeks, I'm exhausted, busy, lacking in motivation. What is the quickest way to feel slightly less shit in a swimsuit?

My stomach I think. I put on weight in pregnancy and am still one stone over a healthy bmi.

Due to medication I take for my kidney transplant (anti-rejection meds, steroids and blood pressure tablets which I only take as a precautionary measure). I find it hard to exercise for longer periods of time. What kind of exercise would you recommend to someone like me?

And thanks for taking the time to help

I have been dying to ask this question. What are the best exercises to build strength for carrying my baby in a front carry sling? It's really starting to pull on my upper back so wondering which exercises I should do? More back training or is it a core issue? Any help or ideas would be great.

@Watchkeys I'm now basing each meal around a protein and I'm tracking everything on mfp to help me stay in a calorie deficit

No we aren't. We are designed to hunt for food and eat it. Our environment is what makes us have a bad environment

If you do strength training first thing in the morning at what time would you eat and what would you eat if you were trying to reduce body fat?

It's both, @dailytalk We are not evolved to deal with the excess we have today, because our bodies are evolved to store as much fat as they can. The environment we're in isn't suited to the way we've evolved, because constant excess is, in evolutionary terms, brand new and unheard of.

If it's the first place you put fat on, it will likely be the last place for it to come off, because as soon as your body has enough energy left over to make fat, that's the place it puts it. I'd recommend that you use the Harris Benedict equation https://www.omnicalculator.com/health/bmr-harris-benedict-equation to ensure you've got your energy requirements calculated, make sure you've got a good macro split, and keep doing what you're doing. Plateaus happen naturally, and you might well experience a sudden drop once your weight starts moving again.

Persistence will get you where you want to be.

@Fatandnearly50

Do you swim? How long can you walk for?
Have you had a look at the calculator in my previous post and checked you're not eating above your requirements?
Who do you think is doing the judging of you?

I'm sorry about your knees - that does sound difficult to deal with. IS weight loss something that might help them, and if so, it might be worth lifting it up a bit in your priorities... if you focus on weight loss, using your diet, your knees might become able to do a wider variety of exercise, thus aiding your fitness goals. Does that make sense?

I have undifferentiated connective tissue disease and being investigated for an inflammatory bowel disease which I wouldn’t be surprised if I have. Exercise v important in managing these but can also exacerbate things. Ugh I dunno what to do. Started c25k again which is fine cardio wise but I get joint problems basically immediately. Is that just something I should work through and I’ll hopefully get stronger and have less pain eventually? Also running and exercise makes me need to go to the loo so that’s a stumbling block too 😄 but exercise is meant to really help too. Any advice?
I do enjoy kettlebells so maybe I should do more of that. Despise yoga. Like Pilates but don’t feel it does anything for weight.

@JenniferBarkley

Do you do any exercise at all already? What's your diet like?

I'd recommend dropping your calories to an appropriate weight loss level (200 - 300 below what's recommended by Harris Benedict, above), and get out for a walk/jog each day. If you don't run, do a run/walk/run, for 30 minutes if you have time.

I walk 15k steps every day. Do I need to do more cardio? Could I do something like skipping as I really hate running?

In addition, please could you let me know what resistance training I should be doing to keep healthy. Should I start weights? And how often? I am 53, in peri meno and want to be as fit as possible for as long as possible.

Thank you so much.