Personal Training Certifications

I just saw something horrible, and it made me upset enough to write this post.

I'm going to go a bit more in depth with personal training certificates.

The only ones "safe" from this post are PFT (personal Fitness Trainer) and some Kinesiology programs.

BUT

Let's start with my own experience.

I first off took the AFLCA (Alberta Fitness & Leadership Certification Association) at Red Deer College.

In order to become a Certified Fitness Trainer or whatever they called it, I don't quite remember, you had to take "fitness theory" and then a specialty, aka resistance training, aquatic training, elderly training etc.

So, in walks someone whom I couldn't help but raise one eyebrow. I'm going to keep this brief, but it could be expanded, and I'll go with this: She didn't look anything liked she belonged, and looked at if she were to pass out any moment from being malnourished.

I will say this, that fitness theory went decent. It was a 2 day course that basically rambled off mostly useless knowledge about levers, the names of the bones, along with some fun-filled word searches and the like to make sure you memorized these things to be able to impress your clients with your knowledge of the 2nd class lever.

The garbage part was the nutrition section. We were given Canada's food guide. The old one, not the new one. And a sheet from 1997 talking about how bad creatine is for you.

I don't need to say anymore than that.

Resistance training was where I got very upset.

I will pre-face with the following:

My working knowledge of the Human body was not as great as it is today, seeing as my course was 3 years ago.
The class I attending was comprised of mainly elderly women for whatever reason.
This was my first encounter with a "pro-trainer", which is the title for someone whom has been given the go ahead to certify/teach new trainers.

Every question I had was either answered incorrectly, or I was told "We'll come back to that."
To me it was simple things such as
"What about MCT's?"
"What is your opinion on the glycemic index?"
and I forget the others at the moment.

The practical part was even worse. We paired up, and had to demonstrate an exercise.
I remember that I picked the Deadlift.

Here's the funny thing: no one was corrected with what they did wrong. Some of the these people had never been inside a gym setting in their life, and were given zero correction.

Other than the following:

The instructor demonstrated her version of the squat.
Now, I do not expect a lot from a Personal Trainer, I have learned this.
But, from someone whom is a "pro-trainer" i expected a LOT.

This was horrible, inaccurate and flat out wrong and unsafe. I won't get into specifics, but let me tell you that squatting this was would eventually lead to injury and out of line posture.

We then were broken into teams of around 5, and each given a scenario to deal with.
We got a super easy one, a 20 year old male looking to build muscle.

I sat back and asked what the team thought. I could see the complete dismay across their faces. In other words, they were taught nothing so far. We hadn't even TOUCHED on program design, yet here we are, supposed to design a program.

I took the sheet, and set up Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength beginner routine for them. It was very humbling to see them whip out their notebooks and start copying down the routine I was writing and also taking down the words I was saying as to why and when to implement the program.

I got up to present our case to the class, and did so very well in my opinion.

Now, let me shoot one further thing your way. I have no problem with people giving me their opinion, or trying to sway my opinion. I love a debate more than anybody and everybody...

BUT

When it turns into a "you're a jerk" and other name calling events, thats when I either leave or become very, very upset and crush the other person with evidence, unless of course they are that stubborn then of course I leave.

So, of course I had someone say that I was wrong. I politely asked why. I was given his suggestion. I explained why the suggestion the other class member had given was wrong, and that was the end of it.

And sadly, I asked for feedback from the instructor, whom said nothing other than "This probably wouldn't work for very long."

Side note, it worked for me for roughly a year. I guess we have different opinions of "not very long."

Ahhh yes. my favorite and the moment I left the class.
We were asked to name compound exercises.
People said bench press, squat.
I said Deadlift.
she said, and I quote "No, that's an isolation of the lower back."

Wow.

Wow.

I got up, got my things, and that was it. I had enough of this buffoonery and was done.

My second example is with a Local Registered Dietitian.

For those of you who don't know what a RD is, they are someone whom I believe goes through 6 years of schooling, and is allowed to give nutritional advice to bring people back to health from sickness. Correct me I definitely could be wrong.

This is not to be confused with nutritionist, whom doesn't have the same schooling as a RD.

I attending a Personal Training seminar about injuries, which I actually really enjoyed and took a lot away from. And at the end we had a guest speaker, a RD.

She prefaced her talk with a brief bio. All fine. Until she said the following:
"...once we get the person's carbohydrate requirement out of the way..."

I shot my hand up, as always, with my dumb grin.

I said "Hi! Have you heard of an essential amino acid?"
Confused, she said "....yes"
"Have you heard of an essential fatty acid?"
"...yes"
"Have you heard of an essential sugar?"
"...no ?"
"Then why did you just tell me I have a carbohydrate/sugar/glucose requirement?"

She stammered for a bit, and I got up and left.

AS ALWAYS MEGA MARTY GET TO THE POINT!!!!

These certifications really don't mean much. Yes this is my own personal experience, but I can't see them getting any better anytime soon.

They're profit driven. The amount of people in my class was probably equivalent to the amount of personal trainers currently in Red Deer. And that was one organization, and one class. So there has to be unprepared people failing in this industry all over the place.

Here's the really scary part:

The misguided trainers believe what they're being shown, and what they're practicing, is correct.
Parallel this to thinking we're doing things to save the planet when in fact we've been killing it (not true, just an example).

And no, I do NOT need to hear people tell me "But Mega Marty, they're just getting people started." or "Not everyone needs to do things perfect etc."

Because its YOUR BODY. These people can/will potentially mess up YOUR BODY due to improper instruction.

Bottom line is that there is yet to be a perfect personal training certification put out there, and none of them are perfect. All have some decent merit, but don't base your judgement of the trainer solely on the certification.

Get A Trainer

Here comes a shameless, shameless plug. Mega Marty. There, now for the post!

As I have written, I don't care much for personal trainers. If you believe you have found a good one, keep him/her.

In my brief bio, I was in grade 11 when I first personally started lifting weights. Now, I have a pretty good memory so I remember a lot of my workouts, ranging from 16 years old to now at 25.

Here is the point.

I would have saved money, and gotten quicker, better, more sustainable results with a seasoned personal trainer/nutritionist.

I spent so much money on crap supplements, as always, attempting to make me bigger and leaner all at once. What got leaner was my wallet, and what got bigger was my hate for supplement claims.

The amount of time I took researching, and researching, and researching the perfect program was insane. I was trying to formulate some new, perfect workout program/scheme for me, because obviously me, being 16, knew more than all of the current professionals I listen to. Because of course, I knew more than them.

Here is the blog, finally after that introduction.

Hire a trainer.

Suck all the information out of him/her that is going towards your goal.
I tell my clients all the time "If I can't answer your question, and I don't find out very quickly the answer, I'd fire me in an instant."
That saying holds true to this day.

Program design is a big part.
Nutrition is a big part.
Timing/rest/recovery is a big part.

But as I went over in my last blog on consistency, who is monitoring it?

I tell all of my clients in the initial assessment that I am very strongly against training a beginner, or almost anyone for that matter, for less than a month.

Why? I can't do the work for you. Between the two of us, we need to come up with a way to teach you so that you'll learn, be able to preform the exercises on your own, with proper technique. This is not simple for most people. This requires work on both of our parts.

Also, nutritionally, this is very hard to do. In my very strong belief, training/programming is peanuts in comparison to nutrition. Nutrition requires much more work for the coach than training ever will, and I mean this in the sense of taking what someone is doing, have it work for them, adjust it accordingly, with health, performance, and body composition in mind.

I would have saved myself roughly 5 years of "fooling around" in the gym and be much, much closer to my goals if I had have hired a trainer.

I've mentioned this many, many times and I will do so again: I have a trainer, and for the rest of my interest in bodybuilding/nutrition/fitness, I will have one. To me, the money is VERY well spent, and the education from people in my field I highly respect is priceless.

If you want a full time trainer, and have the means to have one on one personal training, definitely do so.
you accomplish the following, assuming the trainer is Mega Marty approved:
-move more weight safely than you would by yourself
-be astonishingly more accountable
-have near perfect workouts
-zero guesswork on your part
-constant monitoring of progress
-goals be reached much quicker
-obtain ACTUAL supplement advice that WORKS

This is, of course, the dream.

But regardless of your endeavor for fitness, take it from me, do NOT attempt to read every magazine, every website, watch every TV program etc and expect to be able to do this on your own.

If you can read a book, and come in and teach yourself how to squat perfectly without assistance of anyone else, call me. I want you to train me.

Consistency versus Insanity

Here we go, this has to be said. This is going to be in true Mega Marty style. No holds barred.

So.

The definition that I like to use of insanity is the same that Einstein used.
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

This is what I'll be referring to for the rest of this post.

Now, we are told that consistency will make results happen, and will prevail in the end.

But, how long before consistency becomes insanity? How long before you should change it up? Before you should revamp what you're doing?

As most of you know, Mega Marty likes trick questions. Which this one half is.

YOU shouldn't be revamping anything yourself. Even I do not revamp things without the consults of liked minded people in my field, or if it isn't pertaining to fitness, I seek the wisdom of others to view my situation.

For the purposes of this blog obviously we're going with fitness/nutrition.

How long have you been doing this?
Are you revamping/reviewing too soon?
How do you know when to revamp?
Is what you're doing even goal oriented?

Most of you should have read my "Personal Trainers Suck" post. I still firmly stand behind that post.

My answer:

In the middle, as always.

Here are even better questions:

Have you given the new workout/nutrition plan/cardio plan/supplement plan an HONEST "go"?
Are you expecting magic in a week?
Did you revamp, or did Mega Marty or someone like minded revamp?
Have you had a forced switch ?


--And lets tackle that last one right now.
I honestly believe, especially when it comes to the way people look, I CAN HELP everyone IF...IF IF IF IF!!! they're willing to do what I prescribe. Sometimes it's too much, and I understand. Life gets in the way. Work. Stress. Kids. etc. I understand.

A forced switch is something along the lines of :
Work switch. new stress = new routine, new everything.
Financial switch- now you can't go back to your trainer (we're not generally cheap) and thus forced to switch on your own.
Goal switch- someone's asked you to do a marathon and you say "Hey I wanna do that!" and therefore things should be different (assuming physique was a goal).

Here is a tricky one that I've heard complaints with before:

Trainer/nutritionist switch - 2 types for this:
a) You're fed up with lack of results with your professional and therefore forced yourself out into someone new, or out period.
b) Your trainer isn't available at the time you need him/her, and now you're with someone new, either permanently or for "a bit"

Option B causes MASSIVE problems. Yes, there are many ways to get you to your goal. Most people will tell you that Mega Marty has vastly different views from your bosu ball wielding fitness professionals you see out there. Even they will vary slightly.
For instance, when I meet a new client whom of which has been with another trainer/nutritionist, I ask them for what they are/were doing.

Here's the funniest thing: some people believe I'm trying to "steal" other's methods such as Herbal Magic, Weight Watchers, etc.

Sorry to break your hearts, but those whom I learn from are not local, nor a multinational corporation only interested in your money.

I need it to see what you were doing, and see when/where/why/how it stopped working. If i don't know where you were, I can only guess. The less guesswork, the better.

So, I have to interpret what someone else was doing, try to understand their methodology, and go from there. This is what the trainer switch is attempting.

Personally, I hate the forced trainer switch (not of your accord, option B) because I feel its very undermining, confusing, and flat out detrimental to someone's progress. There are circumstances ie personality conflicts which require a new person to work with, but outside of select circumstances, this shouldn't be occurring.

SO

Let's recap:

1) consistency is needed, but should be monitored by someone(s) qualified to do so.
2) forced switches will occur, and should be minimized if at all possible if your fitness goal is a high priority.

To answer some of the questions I've asked up top as best as I can, when does consistency fail?

If NOTHING has happened in 2ish weeks, something should be revamped.

I personally like revamping diet first. so that is where I naturally look as a professional.

What could/should have happened?
As I've mentioned before, strength going up, fat going down, total weight loss/gain, etc etc.

2 ish weeks should yield SOME KIND of results.

This is where a pro comes in handy. I have had numerous numerous numerous occasions where people say "I'm not seeing any results" in 2 weeks or so, and I smile and ask "Are you going by just your weight?" and they usually say "well, yeah."
No matter how many people I educate, tons more are being baffled into thinking the scale is the end all be all.

ANYWAYS :)

Want to know my big big big secret?

Strength.

If someone's meal plan is the same
cardio is the same
routine is the same
strength is going up.

Change WILL OCCUR. This is where consistency IS A MUST AND WILL PREVAIL!!!

This has happened NUMEROUS TIMES!!!

I'll do a caliper reading... and BAM... bodyfat lost, scale weight the same.

Sorry folks, calipers don't lie because I'm the one doing them.

Or measurements. I've had numerous males that wear baggy clothes that can't "see/feel a difference" but when measurements/bodyfat measurement comes, down. arms go up.

"oh... huh that's pretty good eh?"

yes... yes it is.

Insanity?

When everything has stalled.

Yet you're changing nothing.

Expecting some miracle to come and ZAP you have results!

Errrrr no.

Strength same
cardio same
diet same
routine/work same.

No results.

No kidding really? I would've thought otherwise. (sarrrrcasssmmmmmm)

This was long, and confusing I know, but it has to be said.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If it is broke, and a pro says "yeah, that looks broke to me too" then fix it.

Nuff said.

Dr. oz, The Doctors, and other Exercise/nutrition related TV shows

ahhhhhhhhhh yes.

it is growing sadly, especially amongst my new clients.

the ludicrous questions, or even statements, that comes from one of the following 3 primary sources:
1) TV show called "The Doctors"
2) TV show called "Dr. Oz"
3) TV show called "The biggest loser"

These shows are making my job....er.....well:
interesting
infuriating
hilarious
painful
saddening
more work

but most importantly, much more needed.

I'm going to be frank and short here in this post. I honestly can't believe some of the flat out CRAP that these shows lay onto the general public. want to know the funniest thing to me?

I haven't seen an episode of any of these shows.

but the advice these people are giving are insane. to dumb it down:

1) these shows are focusing on superfoods. Remember Opera recommending the Acai Berry? even today people are thinking that if they consume a serving or some amount of this Acai Berry, they're magically losing fat, bettering their health, getting antioxidants (which people have no idea what they are/do), etc.
2) Scaring them from things that they shouldn't be. they are sadly ruling out fantastic things such as certain exercises, types of exercise, certain foods/groups, or even mis categorizing some supplements.
3) creating their own fads (not unlike the Acai berry). I wonder if these are profit driven or not?

and more specifically at the biggest loser,
4)recommending/showing people ridiculously intricate/unsafe exercises that the general public either want to try or believe they can accomplish, let alone the unrealistic expectations for weight/fat losses

some of the questions are crazy, as in
"I've heard that if i walk 5 times per week, because of my age, I'll lose fat and gain muscle?"
"They said not to take multi vitamins as they are toxic for me"
"The people on biggest loser are running, shouldn't I be running then?"
"For women I've heard to ditch my carbs, is this right?"

I'm not getting into it anymore than this, but I will say the following definitive statements:

-some of the things they say MIGHT have merit, but the general public WILL misconstrue what they are saying to over exaggerated levels.
-all of their stuff has to be taken with a BIG grain of salt.
-I wouldn't trust any "doctor/physician" with nutrition at all. Most of them know briefly what will take you from sick to "fine/normal" nothing about performance or to improve upon "fine/normal"
-ask people more educated people in the nutrition/fitness field ( Mega Marty ) for their opinion. hopefully someone that has a track record, and Has been doing this line of work with lots of success.
-do not just go off of their word/suggestion solely. I actually implore you to gather questions and do your own research (that includes asking someone you trust/is more knowledgeable)

That is all. For more information on the biggest loser, Lyle McDonald has summed it up MUCH better than myself. Copy and post this link into your window.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/biggest-loser-feedback.html

Things I've learned in the past year

As the year goes on, I should hope i continue to learn. there will be VERY few things that will completely change the way I think, but so far (and this should/will be updated as I remember things) this is the list of my revelations/wisdom I've gained for the past year/bit.

1) fruit might not be as useless as I once thought. yes, when it comes to getting superiorly lean, I believe it might not be the BEST choice, but in terms of the offseason/leaning down from relatively big weights, its a DECENT carb source. yes, I still hold true that for the most part it refills LIVER glycogen first instead of muscle, but it still seems to be able to convert well. I use this SPARINGLY (not as the only carb source) but its still another decent option from what I've been learning.

2) the FEEL of the muscle becomes increasingly important. I'm going off of my clients and most particularly myself in here. I tried out the "move the big weight regardless of feeling with still great technique per say". It came back to squash me. lets put it this way, if you can't FEEL the muscle, aka you're doing bench press, which does work the chest, and you can't feel the chest, AND YOU'RE NOT A RANK NOVICE, then you need something else if you're trying to train chest. In the past 3 ish months, my chest has grown more than ever by picking some exercises that I can actually feel the chest working. I have NOT ditched my philosophy on heavy weights and muscle mass correlating heavily, but if you can't get a proper contraction, you will need to pick an exercise that allows this. this is also NOT NECESSARILY ISOLATION, but maybe a "weirder" exercise, that is still a compound. I know this is confusing... but it is something that has changed my training of myself and clients a lot...

3)people overestimate progress they can accomplish in a month, and underestimate the progress they can make in a year. and for my advanced trainees, they overestimate the progress they can make in a year, and overestimate the progress they can make in 4-5 (in terms of becoming a bodybuilder/successful figure competitor)

4) genetics CAN be overridden, with the proper coaching and listening. NO, i cannot magically make you jamie eason or Arnold, BUT WE can take your crappy bodyparts/weaknesses to quite the new level with some very interesting exercises. usually, no you can't do this on your own. you have to have someone who has experimented with weird stuff (MEGA MARTY PLUG!) to be able to get those things up. this was the case for my chest, back width, and biceps. everything is going MUCH better from dumb little things I've changed that I would have never have done a year or more ago, because it didn't fit my heavy heavy heavy mandate.

5)Free Meals have a lesser purpose to me and my clients now. I unfortunately trusted a lot of the "community" on free meals, and unfortunately they offer very little (if any) physiological help. only psychological.. which still has its great uses.

6) this MAY be the biggest change so far, is my view on LISS (low intensity steady state) cardio. for men, everything DEFINITELY holds true... but for women.. things have changed. I'm recommending SOME (but no means solely) interval training (and i have my own version of intervals I use) to my women that I deem able/worthy. obviously not a 300 lb lady fresh off the boat. but yes, it is a tool im learning can really be effective for some women...

That is it for now, BUT I'll be adding more! If you know something else I have been talking about lately that I haven't mention, feel free to shoot it my way!!!

Majoring In the Minor

I forget whom I've stole the basic gist of this from, I believe it might have been John Berardi, But none the less, this is a very important issue.

Some clients know it all.

Some clients know more than myself (pffft right :) )

These clients could tell you the absorption rate of Leucine versus isoleucine versus valine. They can tell you the exact moment your post workout anabolic window is at its optimum capacity. They can tell you where the Apple is in relation to the banana on the Glycemic index.

Yet they are overweight, have terrible training programs, or better/worse yet, have never yet set foot inside the gym.

huh?

That is right. I have a LOT of people say " Mega Marty, what do you think about the acai berry?" or " Mega Marty, I was reading today about ab exercises, and I know you should breathe, hold the contraction, and do a 6 second negative on the..."

wow.

I usually smile, and say "okay, how was your nutrition today?"
"errr... not so good BUT i found out that I need to do blah blah blah"

This is what I mean.

Most people like to Major in the minor. in other words, they know minute details that they don't even know how to apply to themselves, let alone what the big picture is.

This stems from friends, TV shows (I'm getting back to that awful topic soon), magazines, co-workers, or any other medium for that matter.

you wouldn't believe the questions I've heard even if I posted them. or, you might even blush and realize you were the one that asked it or something similar to your friends/trainer/nutritionist.

I have a couple clients, that shall obviously remain nameless, that are VERY very smart when it comes to nutrition. they honestly have a lot of things figured out that most people don't know about or don't care about. Such topics are calorie partitioning, carb cycling, various supplements and how/why they work, proper timing of foods/combinations etc.

yet they can't tell me how many oz of chicken they have at each meal. This is something that honestly happened.

where am I going with this? THIS IS WHY I AM HIRED FOLKS.

the reason I have a job is to teach you these things if you don't know them.

BUT

if you, for example, don't know how much chicken you've eaten at a meal, don't expect me to get into a 2 hour conversation about what the difference is between omega 3, 6, and 9.

Yes, I want you to learn. I want you to learn a lot. but I am NOT going to information dump on you. that means I'm not going to give you so much information all it does is confuse you. yes, i have gotten carried away in the past and have rambled on. I use analogies ALL THE TIME (thanks to Chris Aceto) to help clients that WANT TO KNOW understand.

once again I'm trying to beat into people's heads that the basics are needed.

even the intermediates people are shooting right past and going to the advanced stuff.

pick the easy stuff. get down the easy stuff. then jump into nutrition 4334.