Throughout my years as a personal trainer, dating back to when I was a trainer at a local fitness facility and beyond, it has been my duty to pay attention to people’s technique. Sometimes, especially with people that do not have a trainer or know what they are doing, their lifting technique is lacking. This has been true to some degree when clients have been with trainers. Just because someone is a Certified Personal Trainer, it does not mean that they know what they are doing. I’ll use myself as an example. When I first started as a trainer in Colorado back in 2002, I had no clue what I was doing. I remember having people perform exercises that I had no right taking them through. The rounding of the low back during lifting, not knowing what the exercises were actually targeting… just randomly taking people through these workouts. It was almost like I put names of exercises in a hat and just picked them randomly. I had no clue. To think people were paying me upwards of $60 per hour because I worked at a reputable gym and was a Certified personal trainer.
One can get their personal trainers certification online for a measly $50 if they wanted to. That is how easy it is to get one. Pay attention to that, ANYONE can become a personal trainer! Now, most gyms, at least the ones that have a good reputation, will only allow some of the more recognized ones… IDEA, NASM, CSCS, CrossFit. Don’t get me wrong, these are all good certifications, but just because someone has a good certification please do you homework on that individual. Ask for references, get a few FREE workouts first to see if they know what they are doing. The internet is a great tool to resource out and see if YOUR trainer is giving you good advice on technique and form. There is no substitute for experience. Make sure your trainer has a good mentor, someone that is there and can teach your trainer if they should have a question.
So in short, now is better than later when it comes to your health. Finding a great trainer/exercise program can go a long way towards providing you with a healthier and more productive lifestyle. The last think you want to do is spend YOUR hard earned money on someone, especially in these economic times, get injured because of their incompetence, get turned off by their incompetence and never fully get the benefit of what a great trainer can do for you. We are in the information technology age, use it wisely.
My name is Aaron Palmer. I own a training and massage business called Gator CrossFit. I am one of 1,000 affiliates of CrossFit worldwide. I have been a personal trainer since 2003 and a Licensed Massage Therapist since 2006. Though CrossFit is predominately focused on increasing power, speed, coordination, balance, lean muscle mass, athletic performance and injury prevention, that is just the start of what we do here at Gator Crossfit. We have the understanding and knowledge to help people with any form of soft tissue and muscular injuries. Our corrective exercise background stems from helping people in pain such as Disk rehab, CORE conditioning, postural evaluation and correction and much more. The bulk of what we do is CrossFit training and we currently train members of the Gainesville SWAT Team, local military, Rugby and Lacrosse players and the everyday Joe and Jane.
As a graduate from the University of Florida with a degree in Exercise and Sport Sciences, understanding the body and what it take to make it truly efficient has been a passion of mine for a long time now. Being a competitive triathlete has given me the understanding of what it takes to be a success in athletics.
Please visit our company website at [http://www.gatorcrossfit.com] to learn more about us and what we do.
Thanks
