Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Weight loss chat

A space to talk openly about weight loss journeys and challenges. Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

The truth about what you should really get from a personal trainer and their 'real' professional levels

83 replies

Exercise1Girl · 10/02/2009 22:15

I see a lot of confusion and uncertainty amongst women concerning using a personal trainer.

As I've been PA to one of the highest qualified one-to-one Exercise and Nutritional specialists in the UK and Europe for near on 20 years now, I know precisely what a 'real' one actually is, what should be delivered,at what level and to what depth.

So if you need some very straight talking, clinically factual, no nonsense advice on what's exactly what in personal training, please feel free to ask away!

OP posts:
poshtottie · 15/02/2009 17:30

I do actually agree with some of your points. I have previously worked in gyms as an instructor and have worked as a PT within a gym enviroment but that was quite some time ago when Personal training seemed only accessible to the wealthier client. Nowadays it seems all gym intructors are doubling up as PTs aswell and maybe are not as knowledgable as they should be but it has become more affordable to a bigger market.

SalmonintheLiffey · 15/02/2009 18:08

*schizophrenic1Girl, I strongly urge you to have a week off work on mental health grounds.

This is hilarious ludicrous.

We don't show sufficient deference and admiration for your boss, so you wind yourself up into a self-righteous lather of indignation, and then pretend to be your own boss! as though that will draw a line under our right to be unimpressed by your startling arrogance.

Your writing styles are so similar, so dry and humourless, but yet, both long-winded, both articulate, both well-punctuated, but both containing occassional spelling mistakes (yes).

There is a real Barry Humpries/Dame Edna feel to all of this.

SalmonintheLiffey · 15/02/2009 18:10

Poshtottie, just because some people call themselves PTs when they really just work in a gym doesn't make exercise1girl right when she says that there are only a handful of Personal Trainers!

SalmonintheLiffey · 15/02/2009 18:15

Exercise1Girl, you are so busted honey , I just checked back, and you and your 'boss' just made the same mistake.

I think you should stop obsessing about biometrics for a bit, and concentrate on your mental health.

Can I call you Barry?

Lulumama · 15/02/2009 18:23

this is possibly the most bizarre thread ever.

my friend is training to be a personal trainer

i shall tell her right now, she is doomed to fail, as she will never be as good as 'The Boss'

DH used a personal trainer last year

i don't believe they discussed biomechanics, but DH lost weight, got fit and toned and looked pretty damn buff, so chacun a son gout, but we'll stick with that , ta!

poshtottie · 15/02/2009 18:28

Salmon, I was talking about gym instructors who have also done a PT course. Many gyms are trying to keep PT in house to maximise their turnover.

It has come a long way. Most PTs have to have some sort of qualification and insurance these days and any PT with any integrity should always continue their education with further courses and only teach within their limitations.

I remember a PT who had been a physical trainer in the army and used to work her clients so hard that they threw up at the end of sessions but they kept coming back

SalmonintheLiffey · 15/02/2009 18:49

Yes tell her lulumama, you don't want her to waste her life or end up embroiled in a major lawsuit!

I just took my physiology degree down off the wall and wiped a passing donkey's arse with it! The donkey was outraged, he wrinkled up his nose and said eeewooo get that physiology degree away from me.

Next, using the biomechanics from my Tuesday adult evening class, I plotted the trajectory of the donkey's leg from behind him to infront of him. I then plotted the information onto several 3d graphs, and then I told the donkey, "ok, donkey, you have clearance to walk".

I am still in touch with a couple of people from my ymca days. I must forward this link to my friend, she'd love it.

Ivykaty44 · 15/02/2009 19:11

This has to be the wankiest p thread ever talk about life on the insede?ffg sake. It is a wind up - isn't it? Girl1 is a troll clip clopping in lycra?

KnickKnack · 15/02/2009 19:53

LoL This is the funniest thread, brings a nice smile to my face at the end of a busy day

Liffey...can you link to the thread "the boss" is in, or what name is "he" using??

SalmonintheLiffey · 15/02/2009 20:16

Her post timed 16:32:37 today was supposed to be him!

They spend Sunday afternoons together.

Ivykaty44 · 15/02/2009 20:33

Perhaps they think - or barry thinks (barry is a strange name for a girl) that any publisity is good even on a sunday afternoon

Tis a shame for them

KnickKnack · 15/02/2009 20:38

oops, though he had started another thread...that'll teach me to post without reading the whole thread first (in my defence his/her posts were so dry they were sticking to the roof of my mouth, needed a gallon of lucozade sport to wash them down )

SalmonintheLiffey · 15/02/2009 20:39

posts that stick to the roof of your mouth, lol!!

Where are Barry and Dame Edna now!?

Lulumama · 15/02/2009 20:49

it is really commendable that someone wants to help people get the best from their PT and any excercise regime, and to ensure people aren;t being ripped off

but this is so not the way to do it

far too much self aggrandisement and dismissal of other professionals, which is just not terribly nice

KnickKnack · 15/02/2009 20:50

I'd say they're downing pints in the pub whilst discussing the finer points of biometrics

note to either of them: I find mumsnet much more fun if I leave the degree and the day job at work. Lifes too short

KnickKnack · 15/02/2009 20:56

Exactly Lulumama! There have been several posters over the years in the same field as me, they have often had different opinions and advice, some of which I didn't agree with...but not in a million years would I slag them off and say they were in any way less valid/less qualified than me.

Also there are many people, in all manner of jobs, with qualifications but no real experience Vs people with NO bits of paper, but with years of experience under their belt...who's to say which one is doing the better job?

Exercise1Girl · 15/02/2009 22:23

I've told the boss I'm coming off here as it's like talking to the wall.

Liffey
Pretending to be my boss is patently ridiculous, especially based on being a self proclaimed literary style expert all of a sudden...
My boss only came on to state he thought I'd put matters too strongly.

Knicknack.... for your friend who's setting out.....there are 30 odd others at the same professional level in the UK..with the 'bits of paper' and the experience too, so the boss is far from unique,as those 30 others as good as him.

No, the boss is not unique as the other 30odd would attest to, but the overall reaction on here is why so many get problems down the line and I guess nothing can change that until a visit to the physio, chiropracter or osteopath becomes necessary at some point in the future for at least some

As for pretending to my own boss; that's probably the most ridiculous thing I've heard in many a year and is patently untrue.

On an everyday basis, I reply on his behalf to e mailed questions put to him,transfering his answers from his notes onto e mail for the enquirers who ask for answers. Similarities, if any do happen are not surprising, considering that I've been involved in doing it for over 20 years

You're a qualified personal trainer Liffey yet you keep calling Biomechanics ..Biometrics, which is one of the basic fundamental personal training titles.Also it's worthy of note that Physiology degrees are considerably different to Exercise Physiology degrees, the active state and normal state are vastly different propositions.
Other professionals aren't being dismissed, just being made aware that the most important skill to aquire a well developed level in, is the one that everything else hinges on...namely one that enables good recognition of how a client moves and what makes them different to everybody else.

This area needs to be studied far more, as realistic levels of Biomechanics (not Biometrics) are not provided in personal trainer courses anywhere. Trainers need to study it much further and in greater depth to keep their clients truly safe.That's all.

No matter which way you cut the cake, there isn't a personal trainer training organisation in existence that gives them sufficient knowledge of this area. They have to go onwards themselves. So do pass on this link to anyone at all, as that statement is stridently accurate.

My turn for huge LOL here. To my knowledge, the boss has never asked for deference of any description at any time and he's the most helpful of guys. My intention was to relay what level of pro could help me answer questions for you on here, but the blind, uneducated and sadly flippant reactions to the sophisticated advice that could have been received to aid any number of personal training problems is a real shame.

The Cuban government have requested the boss go over to Havana in May, to look into the possibilities of a personal trainer school there, as the probability of a more relaxed regime looks likely . It's an exploratory project, but gives you some idea of just how much knowledge the boss has and I could have tapped that resource for you on here.

But between Liffey.... the qualified YMCA personal trainer,who doesn't know the difference between Biomechanics and Biometrics, thinks Physiology is the same as Exercise Physiology, and others who only want their personal trainers to be able to make them jog harder as a criteria, it really is a lost cause on here as you can't help people with intentionally closed ears

I hear definite echoes of those folk in Buckinghamshire being a future probability and the thought, none so blind as those who won't see ' comes to mind.

I'm saying this because any real advanced professional advice would be lost on here, based on the responses of the 'limited' people who've made their comments.

Whatever the comments now, (I shan't be back,so don't bother with replies) and totally regardless of the obvious comments that will ensue, the points I've made are still factually sound, but unfortunately, clinical truths are not an easy pill to swallow for those who are actually part of the problem, and it's always such people who produce the 'gobbiest' reactions.

You never know, someone, somewhere on here, as a result, one..just maybe one woman.... might insist that their personal trainer is capable of testing their physical ranges and responses before working out and thus, not receive exercise that is wrong for their personal mechanics, and so avoid bringing forth the possibilities of a legacy of injury in later life.

As I said, don't bother posting replies, but in our files alone last year we received 674 e mails from people significantly injured by qualified personal trainer exercise prescription (their training times 12 weeks to 12 months) and not one of them had received a full Range of Motion Test..and the average eventual emergence time of the problems caused was 8-12 months.....think on, as those are again..hard facts.

OP posts:
moondog · 15/02/2009 22:25

Hurrah!
She/he/they are back!!

'The Cuban government have requested the boss go over to Havana in May, to look into the possibilities of a personal trainer school there, as the probability of a more relaxed regime looks likely . It's an exploratory project, but gives you some idea of just how much knowledge the boss has and I could have tapped that resource for you on here.'

Fucking hilarious!!!!!

Exercise1Girl · 15/02/2009 22:31

PS.

The office is an annexe of the boss' home,so the work scenario is close proximity so grow up Liffey.I expect you have to be up early tomorrow to attend your handwriting and script analysis lectures!

Like I said..not knowing a simple basic phrase like Biomechanics and calling it Biometrics makes a statement..just like Physiology, is the same as Exercise Physiology...not.

Sorry..I forgot.you're a qualified Personal Trainer though aren't you!!! Being part of the problem itself must be very tough to stomach when it's highlighted, so I can understand the venomous protestation noises! Bye.

OP posts:
moondog · 15/02/2009 22:31

Oh do carry on.

Exercise1Girl · 15/02/2009 22:34

Lol..I was just leaving actually Mr Moondog..but the Cuban bit is completely true, Raol Castro's admin confirmed it in September of last year.

Don't they say that dogs 'laughing'. especially when there's a moon involved, is an errrr..imbalance factor..hope you're better soon.

OP posts:
warthog · 15/02/2009 22:45

i get ya exersizegirl, as someone who's suffered at the hands of a pt.

ThingOne · 15/02/2009 22:52

Well, personally, I stand corrected, Exercise1Girl. But as there are only 30 folk in the country who meet your specifications it's unlikely that I'll ever have a Personal Trainer (with caps) and will have to put up with advice from lesser beings.

Can I just ask you a question? Why do you use the odd formulation "Hons 1st degree" and "Hons 1st graduate"? I've never heard these before. People talk about having an honours degree or a first class honours degree. Sometimes you see "a first degree in blah followed by a doctorate in blahdiblah" but not on its own. It does look rather as if you are hoping that people might misinterpret the degrees as first class ones when they are first degrees. In fact all you are doing is drawing attention to the fact that they are not first class. Which is fine, as we all know that academic achievement does not equal professional competence. So why the need to create a weird way of describing a degree to attempt to big up someone who has no need of it?

SalmonintheLiffey · 15/02/2009 23:02

It's not my fault you hung yourself exercise1girl.

btw, does 'the boss' know you're in love with him!?

My ears are zipped closed to biometrics because it is totally unnecessary. People have exercised successfully for centuries without biometrics. I don't have any obligation to respect your field. This is the first and last time I will ever give biometrics a second thought, and I will forever associate it with a bonkers loola exorexic who is in love with --her self boss. Get over it!

SalmonintheLiffey · 15/02/2009 23:05

"s for pretending to my own boss; that's probably the most ridiculous thing I've heard in many a year and is patently untrue."

But yet, the same spelling mistake! AW you two! AWw