Why just one Personal Training session a week is all you may need!
I get Personal Training enquiries daily and it still amazes me how many people think that they need to have 2-3 PT sessions per week to get results and/or to make it worth their time and money. Hence they will more times than not shop on price rather than base their selection on the skill-set, knowledge and ability of the trainer to guide them toward positive and long-lasting behaviour change. To give you an example, someone will look at say 2-3 sessions a week at $60 a session (a commitment of $120-$180 a week) as more valuable than one session with a trainer at say $90 for one session. Here is where I would argue that it is a bit of a case of false economy. The reality is that there are 168 hours in a week and if you complete just one Personal Training session a week, it is a 1% time commitment for your entire week. Three sessions a week equates to just over 2% of your week. What does your trainer set in place for the remaining 98% of your week? Are there any accountability structures put in place?
We work to ensure positive behaviour change over the remaining 99% of your week and help embed behaviours, routine and designed programming specifically for your needs and goals in a step-by-step process. In fact, we have four proven areas that if you as a client and we as your trainer set in place and are both accountable to, you are all but guaranteed to get the results you are looking for – in time. I say “in time” because we are all about sustainable change through education and guidance which in turn helps with behaviour change and embedding positive behaviours that evoke life-long habits. The four key areas are these:
1 – Fill in and be accountable to the Just In Time Personal Training calendar/logbook that we provide.
2 – Do the actual physical exercise/exercises to fill in the calendar with more ticks than crosses.
3 – Complete the attached nutritional management diary for four or more weeks.
4 – Use our OMRON body composition device weekly (takes just three minutes)
Most trainers run with the standard, “you need to do 3-4 sessions a week for 30-60 minutes”. We’ve all heard it a million times before and whilst true in so many ways for maximising results, the reality for most people looking into acquiring the services of a Personal Trainer is that they lack the motivation to do 10 minutes, let alone 30-60 minutes and then 3-4 times a week! What we focus on early is to evoke a positive feeling of success and just doing something for as little as 5-10 minutes a day for the first week (and/or suitable postural strengthening exercises and stretches) and then building up as they develop some form of routine. Of equal importance is the positive behaviour change and mindset that goes with it. As the picture of our calendar filled in shows above, the process of doing daily exercise and then ticking and crossing becomes a fantastic system of accountability and from there we build. The 98-99% of the time between sessions you are being monitored and your weekly exercise regime tailored and then tweaked each and every week!
Doing the actual exercise as set and agreed upon between the client and trainer and then modified weekly is crucial to attaining results and again I stress that the individual approach and specific programming that is done to suit each and every client is critical to getting the very best out of the client and the impending results to follow.
One of the key methods that we employ to help people improve their nutrition and eating habits is to fill in the nutritional management diary (Nutritional Management Diary 2016) for 4 or more weeks in a row. This helps us get an idea of how the person is eating and then we can work with them to make gradual positive modifications and educate them on all things health, food and nutrition-related. We get our clients’ to rate their food intake from 1-10 and then we rate it as well. Over time our numbers of rating get closer to one-another once a greater understanding of better nutrition is developed and all is in direct response to the exercise output and the OMRON results weekly. Ideally we aim to get a client to achieve a healthy and sustainable level of between a 6-8 out of 10. A 9 or 10 out of 10 is unsustainable and we are a firm believer in “lifestyle balance”, this is an area that is extremely important to help achieve this.
I have attached the 2016 OMRON 1 x per week example of one of our clients for over a year (whom only trains with me 1 x per week) and you will see just how effective it has been for him with weight loss, body fatpercentage loss, visceral fat loss and an increase in muscular percentage.
So why did I write this? I am an active campaigner in trying to improve the standards of Personal Training in Australia and I am fed up with just how lowly Personal Trainers are viewed as fitness professionals – due to that reality that the majority are just very poor at what they do. Many align themselves with supplement companies to boost their profits rather than a genuine care for helping their clients achieve results through healthy eating. The majority of Personal Trainers have done short courses and come out with minimal idea of how the body works, how to reduce injury risk and how to treat a client with integrity and empathy.
I urge you to read further through my other blog posts and make a wise decision with your selection of trainer as it is a sometimes expensive investment of both your time and money.
Kind regards,
Justin Moran
0411 798 934
Follow us on:
Instagram – justintimept
Facebook – Just In Time Personal Training
