Anyone who knows me know I have very strong opinions about personal trainers.... the range of good and bad is crazy! I have seen, and experienced, bad PT's. By bad I mean those who don't listen to your goals and just train you like they train themselves, they don't communicate with you outside of your sessions so you could be eating shit (As I was) but going to your session and seeing no results (admittedly that is my fault but I think a PT should be looking at your diet too!), and my biggest pet hate with PTs... CHIT CHAT! I think i'm paying them a pretty hefty price to get me results, not to chit chat with me outside of a standard rest period.
So when one of my besties told me about some PT she signed up to I kind of totally dismissed the idea straight away as I cannot see what benefit they will bring me... I train, my diet is good, I am very self motivated!
HOWEVER.... she went on to tell me that he was offering a free consultation to find out about me, 3 FREE 1 hour PT sessions, then if I wanted 3 additional sessions for £50. So I actually thought why not? £50 for 6 PT sessions is nothing really especially when the average cost of a session is £25 - £45 for most PT's.
So.... here goes!! Could this PT actually have any chance of changing my mind?
Session 1: Consultation
So upon speaking to Dan he asked me to pop in for a consultation to discuss my goals and current lifestyle!
He was extremely friendly and polite when I first met him and VERY professional which is important to me as I find some PTs can be quite unprofessional (15 mins late to sessions, texting, having cups of coffee whilst you're slogging away!) Dans only down side so far... no Green Tea!! (Had to mention this as I am admittedly the only person who would ever ask for a Green Tea in such a situation).
We chatted for a long time (I am quite the gabber as most of you know) about what I am hoping to achieve. I took my current training plan with me and he spent some time looking over this which I thought was good as he didn't just brush it off and say "no I can do this with you". He was honest, I think he realised pretty quickly that I knew what I wanted, was very motivated and didn't necessarily want a PT... so maybe he had his work cut out!!
He asked about my diet (wahoooo.......finally a Personal Trainer who wants to know what you're eating!!!!). My diet is consistent and bang on to be fair so he couldn't really comment too much on it as when it comes to food I have learnt that you simply cannot out train a bad diet... get your nutrition right and the rest will come. BUT... I have to praise him for simply asking and spending some time scanning through my log of food for the past month (Again... I think he was a bit shocked by how bang on with it I was...or maybe how geeky I was! who knows).
After about 60mins of chat I left feeling ready to see what he could do for me. I knew something wasn't working in my current lifestyle as I wasn't seeing the results I wanted, so I knew he could offer me something.
1st Session.... The Fitness Test!
I shot myself in the foot didn't I? When I arrived he told me he has tweaked his standard fitness test as after our chat he realised I was probably fitter than quite a few of his clients he saw! So I ended up doing some HIIT session (12 mins of exercise) but what a killer!! He taught me something straight away.... Measure your cardio! not through time but by how many of each exercise you do! i.e. how many mountain climbers are you doing in 30seconds. He also showed me that my cardio i.e. hiit training on a bike or stepper is no where near as effective as the burpees, mountain climbers, steppers etc!! He gave me some food for thought straight away!
We then took measurements, pictures and heart rate etc. I realised quite quickly that Dan was equally as geeky as I was.... with a spreadsheet set up for me already, a little book with my name on to track my work outs and progress, a massive data geek. This was my type of PT. My past experience of PT's is writing things on their phones, not logging your week on week progress with activities you were doing, or scribbling things on scraps of paper.
We then spent the last 20 mins of the session looking at deadlifts.... I will get onto our weight training in the following sessions as this was just a taster!
Sessions 2 - 6.... the real taster sessions
So I am combining these sessions as all have a similar format...
Each session starts with another 12 mins of HIIT training! WOW!!! I have never had a PT who makes you do cardio! and this was always my biggest issue. I AM carrying some extra weight, I am wanting to lose some body fat so why would I NOT be doing cardio? I hate cardio. BUT when a PT makes you do hiit training you do it! I personally think all PT's should incorporate some cardio into their sessions but non of mine ever have... just simply stated it's all weights weights weights.
So... I got my cardio out of the way! This is a relief for me as I wouldn't do that type of cardio on my own, nor would I push myself so much so I love this part of the sessions (even though at the time I am cursing him , out loud). He has 4 different hiit sessions planned and his plan of action for future sessions is for you to beat the last session you did.... I am EXTREMELY self competitive so this works for me.
Weights wise... So we cover:
1. Deadlifts.... obviously!
2. Squats
3. Bench Press
4. Single Arm Rows
5. Lat Pull Down
6. Shoulder Press
Of these I do all already but bench press and shoulder press!
I quickly learnt that my form had slipped on most of these, I was having trouble with my knees in squatting and struggled to progress my weight... Dan saw the issue straight away and fixed it for me. Deadlifts, I was constantly doing Romanian deadlifts we switched the style and my god does it make a difference! I get an all over work out from these instead of just my hammys!!
Lat pull down and Single arm rows.... I had increased my weight quite a lot on these but Dan made me go right back down and master my form! I felt weak and frustrated with this but cannot believe how much difference I felt from them! Slowly but surely the weight is increasing again!
So some Pro's of the sessions so far?
- Form is so much better, he is a perfectionist
- I have incorporated all 6 of the exercises into my normal day to day training at the gym so getting a better overall work out instead of focussing on exercises to pad the sessions out
- HIIT training every time.... Cardio has now become a big part of my training with me trying to do it 5 times a week thanks to Dan encouraging me to do this!
- Having a PT session booked in on a Tuesday night at 7pm and Saturday morning at 10am makes me train... I never train in an evening and have Saturdays off so this is making me do it on days when I wouldn't normally!
Some kind of cons of the session so far? (I say kind of cons as they aren't really that bad... I am trying to keep this blog as balanced as possible!)
- Dan is a mahoooosive baby....sore fingers, sore legs...he will tell you about them even when you're struggling to breath after the hiit sessions so you feel like slapping him.....although admittedly this makes me laugh but had to give it a mention!
- Self motivated... the bestie I mentioned above is going to this PT for motivation, I don't need that. Is motivation what you pay a PT for? I think quite a lot of the time it is but I'm ok as I am so I started to question whether I needed him.
- I felt like some of our sessions were quite slow to start with sometimes although I think this is partly my fault as I ask a lot of questions (the geek in me likes to know what is going on!) but up to session 5 I was thinking I could be pushed harder, we could fit more into our sessions! He can get quite distracted easily, however....keep reading and you'll see my opinion has slightly changed on this!
To buy or not to buy? That is the question!
So I came to the end of my 6 sessions and now had to decide whether to buy the sessions at his normal price! So it is £300 for 15 sessions (£20 a session) or you can do shorter blocks and the price increases!
I am quite flippant with my money however having booked some amazing holidays, changing jobs, studying, building my kit up for my make up work I knew I needed to really think about this and consider whether I thought it was worth it or not.
So.....I started thinking. What have I got from the sessions? I've not lost that 1 stone I want to lose (god damn it... haha!!) but I also know that would be impossible! I have improved my technique especially on my deadlifts and squats but could I go away and do this myself and keep practicing? Yes probably. Could I motivate myself to keep doing the cardio I am doing? Yes I could. Do I need the motivation? No as I am focussed.
BUT.... something in my mind and i honestly don't know what was telling me to stick with it and see how it goes. I think subconsciously I felt like it must be benefitting me as I wanted to keep training with him.. So, I paid for 5 sessions instead of 15 to continue to monitor how I was getting on.
The strange thing was as well I was recommending him to people I knew...So this could only mean that I rated him right?
The geek within...
So!! How was I going to track how I was doing?? As I mentioned above in session 6 things changed a little! I left feeling WEAK, feeling like we had really achieved something, feeling SO frustrated at myself.... That is GOOD for me. I need to feel like I am failing in order to push myself more and more!!
This has continued to happen... I am now 2 sessions in to our paid sessions and I feel like 1. my fitness has improved (smashing a hiit session this morning and beating the previous time I did it!) 2. Form has improved dramatically, really happy with the progress i am making! 3. Our sessions are harder, faster and more about DOING! 4. Even though Dan is, and always will be, easily distracted I now feel more comfortable just cracking on and we chat just in my reasonable rest periods which is good! not 5 min rests like some PTs have you doing so you can have that chit chat!!
So... these are how I feel and think but now I have my fitbit I thought right, lets see what my body is doing!! Admittedly calorie burning on a FITBIT is not precise, nor is it the right thing to look at however it enabled me to track our sessions consistently against my own!
So on average my own sessions I was burning between 220-240 calories in an hour, this includes some form of hiit training and weights with my heart rate ranging from 80 - 110 never going over 120!
In my sessions with Dan I am burning on average 340 calories in an hour with my average heart rate at 114. AVERAGE, not range!! My average in my own sessions is more like 95!!
So... the geek is satisfied. He is obviously doing something that I am not... whether that is pushing me more, enabling me to go heavier, making me do HIIT pre weights whereas I do it post (we have discussed this!), I honestly don't know what it is but this data has kind of sold him to me. I DO need him to train me as until I get my own training up to a similar standard he IS doing something for me.
So it is safe to say I am now 2 sessions into my paid sessions so 8 in total and I am now keen to keep training with him, but going to continue to monitor my progress in my own little way as I do & see how I get on!! Having a PT can be extremely expensive and I believe you have to be seeing some results from it because ultimately what's the point otherwise especially when you aren't doing it for motivation?
Has he changed my mind on PTs? NO, but he certainly stands out from the crowd in terms of his approach & his focus on cardio / weights in equal balance.
Has he helped me change things outside of our sessions? YUP! he massively opened my eyes to the fact that I am kidding myself when I think I'm active. Yes, I am more active than quite a lot of people as I do train 6 days a week but I train for 1 hour - 1hr 20mins a day from 24 hours.... That isn't ACTIVE! I do hardly any other exercise around that (even walking) so he has made me realise I need to be more active in general... walk more, start running, do some gym classes... hey i am even considering joining my friends netball team which is NOT me at all!!
So for me...I think if you are looking for a PT who is very honest (he will tell me straight when I am failing!!), who is good value for money (especially as he gives you some free sessions / discounted sessions to get you into it!) and who has his own studio so no gym full of people a massive benefit for so many people then I would definitely give him a go!
I will update you again after my next block has expired & we see how I am getting on!
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