Personal Trainer
   
  PHYLOSOPHY at PHYSIOfitness™ Feel Good Centre
   
 

PERSONAL TRAINER
A personal trainer is a professional who educates people about physical fitness.

Personal trainers work one-on-one with clients either in a gym or in the client’s home. They help clients assess their level of physical fitness and set and reach fitness goals. Trainers also demonstrate various exercises and help clients improve their exercise techniques. They may keep records of their clients’ exercise sessions to monitor clients’ progress toward physical fitness. They may also advise their clients on how to modify their lifestyle outside of the gym to improve their fitness. Personal trainers usually must have certification to begin working with clients or with members of a fitness facility. Group fitness instructors may begin without a certification, but they are often encouraged or required by their employers to become certified.

 

What Personal Trainer Cannot do?

1.  They are unable to profile a musculo-skeletal system of the body kinetics and kinematics
2. They are unable to identify underlying strains and subtle stress that invariably surfaces during workouts
3. They are unable to isolate the fixators and stabilizors of a movement of any joints.
4. They are unable to identify foot placement defects and gait analysis.

Trained physiotherapist and Certified JFS practitioner, who are physiotherapists are able to give this comprehensive profile of the musculo-skeletal system that would provide the stretch index, weakness index and balance index that would prepare a person before they go for any gym training program.  This would ensure safe exercises and will not drop off the gym due to injuries, that normally invariably prevails.

 

PART 1

GO BACK TO NATURE, FROM WHERE WE HAVE COME??

We are designed to walk on soft surface, like mud, sand, grass – this is where mankind was first created.  Muddy area to keep the feet cool and supple; On sandy areas because man could find water for drinking besides the stream and river banks ; on grass to lie and relax; in the caves for shelter and night protection…..Can we deny this??

Look at our foot imprints when we walk on the sand. There is a certain accommodation of the body weight, with the lateral imprint and a room for rotation at the ankle.

This leaves behind an impression on the sand.

THE IMPRESSION!

This gives an indication that there is an accommodation of stress at every step taken while mankind walks to ambulate.

TODAY…
We walk on hard surfaces and the rotation that ought to have taken place in the ankle is been totally stopped.  What happens to the accommodation of our feet at every step taken to facilitating ankle rotation?  The impression seen of the footprint otherwise seen on the sand, now does not take place anymore? Stress at the feet is not neutralized.  It is taken to some place upwards in the opposite reaction plane i.e. to the shins, knees, hips, lumber of the spine and onwards to the thoracic spine. The stress suppose to be dispersed into the thorax through the spine that becomes a clear ‘S’ (seen from the side) when we stand, does not happens symmetrically.

This ‘S’ shape of the spine is so designed by nature to give a spring effect to whatever stress that it picks up during the day.  Its function is to disperse the stress to the thorax and to the muscles in the thorax symmetrically

 

 

    (Dato’ Dr. Bains giving a talk on our annual dinner in 2015)
 

Part 2

LETS GET BACK TO NATURE AGAIN….

If we go back from where we have come, then when darkness falls all human activities are suppose to be ceased. Meaning that mankind will now go to rest in the caves or on the grass or even on the heap of hay.  If we remember the ‘S’ shape we spoke about earlier; this ‘S’ shape now gets straightened.  At this point of time all stress accumulated and dispersed into the thoracic musculature gets nullified.  Gases exchange takes place and the wear & tear of the day is repaired & mended.  This takes place throughout the dark and the muscles recuperate from the work done during the day...

Today! With the introduction of light and electricity, man has started to steal from nature this supposedly the sleeping, resting and recuperating Time to stay awake doing various activities.  Now what happen to the hours of rest needed by the muscles of the thorax?  Does it really shed off the stressed picked up during the day? Or don’t we feel that our stress is not completely taken off from the shorter duration of time we now give our body to sleep?  Is it not only that our body has stress compounded? We are also carrying an unhealthy musculatures on our structure.

These musculatures that give strength to the joints and ligaments now will not optimally provide the needed elasticity.

This has brought about numerous conditions of the neck, back, knees and ankle pains.

Where are we leading…..?

Put part 1 & part 2 together as analyze by ourselves and see how healthy, symmetrically strong is our body.

We suddenly take up sports, suddenly decide to get to the gym and engage a personal trainer, who may have least idea of the above two parts discussed and the correlate the philosophy and determines the asymmetrical activity of the musculature.

So

Ask yourself:-

  1. How sure are we that our muscles of the body on the left and the right side are symmetrical at the time you take up gym activities?
  2. How sure are you that each time you are doing the gym work out, you are exerting equal amount of force on both the sides, left and right?
  3. How sure are you that the machines that you are working on have been manufactured with profound Research & Development?  The pulleys may not be welded accurately?
  4. What one should see when you engage a personal trainer?

THE QUESTION:

Success - The Anticipation
Does he/she understands the agronomical symmetry of the body and do they have any way of measuring this asymmetry?

Unnecessary and Unfair Exercises

Some trainers think of themselves of having to train their client hard so they feel pain. I remember watching one inexperienced trainer showing a beginning trainee how to use the cable machine for standing cable flyes (Cable flyes is an advanced exercise you see in those muscle books and guys doing them to refine their already developed muscles to bring out more detail for contest readiness!) to exercise the chest muscles! She was in a lot of pain the next day and the following days (she told me after becoming acquainted with her and her training). She didn't like the trainer or his training. The smart thing she did was to complain about it to his fitness manager. Her training and muscle soreness experience had a negative impact on her fitness and training because she nearly refused to complete the rest of her sessions!

Pretentious Knowledge and Ringgit Motivated
Trainers may also perform some highly advanced or "new" exercise to dazzle their client to show off their pretentious knowledge or the latest they learned from one of their certification courses. I saw one trainer demonstrate to her client how to do a squat while holding an exercise ball out in front of her with her back turned from the mirror facing the crowd in the gym! Do you think doing this exercise in front of everybody made her feel good and comfortable? I doubt it. Does the trainer do exercises like this herself? I think not. Basic core exercises are absent from trainers.

No Directional Goals
A needs and analysis should be a part of any health club goal assessment to tell you of your present fitness and set specific weekly and monthly goals to accomplish the long-term goal(s). A needs/analysis should discuss your medical history (any health problems or physical that would hinder movement or load placement), food habits, current cardio (if applicable), which supplements you are taking, weight training experience and how the trainer can tie all these components to help you by involving yourself in her/his "professional" personal training services. An assessment should involve taking measurements, weight and a body fat test to "measure change" in 4-6 weeks. The body fat test tells you how much fat and muscle weight you have and can determine your nutrition regarding amount of protein, carbohydrates, fat, total calories and food ratio. The purpose of an assessment is to involve yourself in your own fitness by setting goals but first having a vision of what you want to accomplish and an inner mission to keep you motivated to SUCCEED not fail!

You must carry out – ‘Joint screening’
carried out by a qualified & experienced physiotherapist.

 
For enquiry, please email to us: bainsphysio@gmail.com