If you think that you are “over the hill” at 40, 50 or whatever, take a look at this 703 pound bench press from 57 year old Will Crossen, Jr. He is a “normal” guy….who is abnormally strong.

Like anyone who is very successful at something, Will trained hard to perfect his craft. You don’t just walk into a gym and move iron this big. Take a look….and enjoy the interview.

Richard

There are a lot of great options for people who want to build their fitness.  Unfortunately, there are also a lot of products offered for sale that are basically useless.  This article is a quick primer on how to identify “junk” fitness products.

First of all, a product that promises “great results in only five minutes three times a week” should be looked at with great skepticism.  There are some five minute training drills that only a handful of supremely conditioned athletes can do.  For example, the the RKC kettlebell test involves snatching a 53 pound kettlebell overhead 100 times in five minutes.  Vanishingly few people have the strength and endurance to do this.  For the vast majority of people just starting training, you will get little value from “five minute” training.   Beginners simply do not have the physical capacity to do the high intensity workouts that will tax even the best conditioned athletes. 

On the flip side of this point, five minutes of training is better than nothing…..but not a lot.  You should expect to spend 30 minutes (minimum) and 60 minutes (maximum) in a training session that will produce strength development and improved cardiovascular capacity. 

A second indicator of a “junk” product is that it can only be used for one exercise.  Most of us have seen “infomercials” for abdominal machines that put you through the same movement with different degrees of difficulty.  The main problem with these devices is that most people quickly outgrow them.  When this happens, the “one trick” device winds up in the garage, or at a yard sale. 

In direct contrast to the “one trick” devices are things like kettlebells or dumbbells that can be used in an almost infinite variety of movements.  Even light weights can be used in a wide variety of training that will continue to give the user a challenge for many years.  Free weights are the polar opposite of “one trick” devices.  There are a vast number of ways you can use them for many years….and they are simple and don’t suffer mechanical failures.

A third way to evaluate a potential purchase is whether the device will actually do what you need done.  If you are beginning a fitness program, you need something that will give your entire body a good training session.  As noted, many of the devices offered for sale will work one part of your body, and leave the other parts untested.  This can actually be a problem in that you will develop muscle imbalances, and the pains that go with them. 

There are very few machines on the market that will give you a good all around training session.  The ones that can do this are extremely expensive.  Free weights (barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells) are clearly superior to almost any machine in terms of versatility and giving good value for the dollar.  Another option that is growing in popularity are exercise sandbags.  Like free weights, sandbags allow you to do a huge variety of movements and train the entire body. 

Finally, you have to evaluate what benefit you will get from the fitness “gadget” as opposed to the value of paying a monthly membership at a gym.  The gym will give you a huge range of equipment and other training options.  For example, if you have to pay $100 for a product, you should consider what you would get if you spent the same $100 on a gym membership.  You might get up to three months of access to lots of different equipment in the gym.  You might even find that the product you considered buying was available at the gym for you to try out.  

Lastly, you might be initially attracted to a piece of equipment because it promised some type of result you wanted.  If you take the time to think how best to accomplish your goals, you may decide that a totally different strategy is better suited to accomplish the goals you want to attain.  In the end, you may decide to buy something totally different. 

I hope this helps you make good choices when considering how to invest your time and money in fitness equipment.  Here’s hoping that you are able to get great value for your money.   

Richard

People are often confused about what they need to do to be “healthy”.  A lot of people have no clear idea about just what steps they need to take to “be healthy”.  This short article is intended to help you understand what your health care professional can do for you, and what they really can not do for you if you want to be “healthy”.

First of all, it helps if we have a definition of what it means to be “healthy”.  For most people it simply means to be “not sick”.  That is, they can carry out every day life without any significant restriction because of their physical health.  If they have some chronic problems such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or some other condition that can be managed with drugs, they still feel they are “healthy” if their condition does not become critical.

The problem with this definition is that it does not take into account the posibilities of having “exceptional health”.  This is the type of health where you are able to do exceptionally challenging physical tasks and find that they are both fun and rewarding.  Rather than being managed in a state just above physical calamity, you are in a physical state where you literally have few limits on what you can do.  The idea of not being able to do almost any physical activity you want is far from your mind.

What should be of interest to those of us past 50 is that it is possible to achieve ”exceptional health”.  But how one gets this is very different than achieving the condition called “not sick”.   The big difference is that to deal with disease and serious physical damage, you need to have a good medical professional.  Their job is to deal with things like cancer, serious illness and broken bones.  Their job is to use all their skill and available technology to get you to the situation where you are “not sick”.

If you want “exceptional health” that is going to require a whole different approach, and the key person in achieving this outcome is not your doctor…it is YOU.  Your doctor is great for dealing with all kinds of dread conditions, but if you want to achieve exceptional health it means you will have to get yourself in good physical condition, get your weight where it should be, and keep yourself in great shape.  There is no treatment the doctor can provide that will do this for you.

When you are seeking exceptional health, your doctor can give you advice, but the way you are going to get in good conditon is by training diligently, eating properly and learning everything you can about how to care for yourself.  This is not a ”visit the doctor and get a prescription” type activity.  You are the one who has to train, manage what you eat, and keep your mental focus.

Unfortunately, too many people believe (or hope) that they can get outstanding health by simply taking a pill or working out occasionally.   Reality is that you have to have a healthy life style if you are going to have exceptional health.

The good news is that almost anyone can achieve a very dramatic improvement in their physical fitness, and have “exceptional” health.  Recent studies reported by the Harvard University Health Letter indicate that it does not matter what age you are when you begin training and eating properly.  People well into their 70’s can transform their health and fitness if they adopt a healthy life style and train consistently.  The key is to get started now!!!!!

You can make a huge and dramatic improvement in your physical fitness at any age.  You can check out the free quick start course offered on this site.  You can also dig much deeper and see whats involved in transforming your life for the better by purchasing my six month transformation course called A Guide to Getting Younger After 60:  How to take Ten Years off Your Body. Click on the tab above to get your copy.

In reality, the choice is yours whether you want to have exceptional health, or simply be “not sick”.  That is the good news.  It is up to you….not your doctor.

Richard

When people begin a diet or a training program, they often never think about how fit they need to be when they start.  In other words, they have no clear idea of the real objective of their own training program.  This is equivalent to starting on a car trip with no idea of the destination.  Yet, most people seem to begin their programs with no clear idea of where they want to go. 

If you don’t have an idea of where you want to go, how will you know if you are even going in the right direction?

If you don’t have some initial idea of what you want to accomplish, you will have no idea if your work is helping you get where you want to go.  It will be easy to quit doing your training because you have no way to determine whether you are failing or succeeding.   

Here are some basic ideas that should help you decide what you want to do, and how effective your training program may be.

People often begin training with the idea that they want to be “healthy”. This is really a pretty vague idea, and it makes it really hard to decide what you should be doing, what you should buy, how you should eat, and what makes any sense for you.

Let me offer some ideas that should help you sort out your own objectives. 

People do physical training for two basic reasons:  1) Enhance their physical capacity to do a variety of physical activities; and 2) to look good.  If you work on building your physical capacity, you will often look better as well.  

Enhancing physical capacity basically means building muscular strength, endurance and capability to do a variety of tasks ranging from very simple things like daily activities to far more demanding things like running marathons.   Being “in shape” is always relative to what you are trying to accomplish.  

Many older people find that they don’t have the physical capacity to do simple daily tasks like walking any distance, lifting light objects, getting in an out of chairs, or climbing stairs.  People who have such a limited physical capacity generally have the goal of regaining basic functionality.  On the other hand, there are many people in their 60’s and 70’s who are involved in competitive sports who are working at trying to improve their times in the marathon or consistently shoot par on the golf course.  They are trying to enhance their physical capacity to perform extremely difficult and demanding activities. 

To help you understand where you may be in terms of your own fitness, and where you want to go, I developed a twenty point scale that dipicts the various levels of physical capacity a person can achieve.  The list includes ten levels of negative conditioning to ten levels of positive conditions.  The levels of conditioning are rank ordered from 1 to 10, with 10 being the most extreme level in each case.  Let me begin by showing the negative scale for fitness.  The conditions I include are intended to be illustrative:

Negative Fitness Scale

1. Overweight by 5-10%
2. Some physical limitations -
3. High blood pressure – overweight 10-15%
4. Significant overweight  – hypertension – pre-diabetic
5. Chronic high risk for heart attack and stroke
6. Diabetic (type 2) – unable to do regular recreation –
7. Morbid obesity – unable to do routine physical tasks
8. Have suffered stroke or heart attack
9. Major loss of function
10. Incapacitated – terminal illness

This is a pretty grim list.  Your goal is to be on the positive side of the scale.  Here is the positive list.  Remember, the conditions are illustrative.

 Positive Fitness Scale

1.  NOT SICK
2. No physical limitation on every day activities
3. Bodyweight within 5% of target – normal blood pressure
4. Able to do mild recreational activities –  weight on standard
5. Able to do relatively demanding recreational activities
6. Can pass multiple strength and cardio fitness tests
7. Can participate in multiple non-competitive sports
8. No limitation on recreational activities
9. Able to participate in some competitive sports
10. Routine participation in high intensity competitive sports
11. Performs as an elite athlete in competitive sports

You will note that I stuck in an “11″ category for elite athletes.  This is because there are so few people who actually perform at this level, and they are literally “off the chart”.

You can use this scale in a couple different ways.  The first is to establish where you are when you start, and where you want to go.  This is important because it gives you a sense direction for your training, and an idea of how you are progressing. 

The second way you can use this scale is to evaluate different options for training or nutrition products.  For example, if a product promises to convert you from a -8 to a +9, you really need to be skeptical.  Pills and supplements alone cannot take you from a -5 to anything above a +1 (not sick).   In short, you can look at a product and assess how much difference it may actually make in your overall fitness.

The vast majority of people probably begin training at somewhere between the low to mid minus numbers, and the low positive numbers, such as “not sick”.  Their goals when they begin should be to move up the scale to a point where their physical capacity allows them to do whatever they may want to do with no real limitation.

it really does not make a large difference where you begin, because often those who are at the lower rankings when they start use this as a motivation to move to much higher rankings.  Literally, you are the one who determines where you want to go.  If you start at minus 4, you may want to go to a plus 5 on the scale.  Simply being “not sick” may seem like a big goal when you start.  As you progress up the scale, your goals may change.  This is just fine.  Where you want to go is up to you. 

Have a great day,

Richard

Many of you started diet and exercise programs as part of your “new years resolutions”.  When you started in January, you had a lot of enthusiasm and excitement about what you were going to accomplish.  However, as the weeks passed, it became apparent that staying with the program for an extended period was going to be difficult.  Many people who started the same time as you have already abandoned their programs, and reverted to their old ways….and it is only the first of February.

The short video below gives you some tips on how you can keep your commitment and get the results you want.  Check it out.

Have a great day,

Richard

Like a lot of you around the US, I watched the NFL football playoff games this past week end.  In the post game celebrations, the players always seem to say a lot of the same things: how hard they worked, how much they give credit to their team mates, and how grateful they are to win big games.  We hear this so often that it sounds a little like a canned line for TV.  However, if you really look at what they had to do to get where they are, these are NOT platitudes, they are statements about precisely why the individual players are where they are.  What can we learn from this?

If you are “over 60″ and feeling more than a little “out of shape”, the good news is that you can make some dramatic positive changes in the way you feel and look if you follow the NFL players lead about hard work and focus.  Many men and women over 60 have simply accepted the notion that they are stuck with poor physical fitness and health.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Granted that there are some limits on how much change we can bring about.  However, most people never get within miles of what is possible for them.  The reason?  They simply do not apply themselves to the task with the degree of diligence that is needed.  it is easy to be sucked into the notion that either “there is nothing I can do about my body and health”, or “I can take a pill or train 5 minutes a day and be just fine”.    In real life, neither of these ideas will get you very much.

In a recent book called Talent Is Overrated, Geoff Colvin reviewed the research on what separates world class performers from the rest of the population.  What has been documented in careful research study after study is that the biggest single factor in achieving success in any area of endeavor is doing the work needed to succeed.  That does not mean doing the minimum to pass a test, it means really putting in the time and effort needed to become really good!

When it comes to being a fit person over the age of 50, 60 or 70, the biggest single factor in determining how successful you will be is the quality and quantity of the work you do to get in shape.  Like it or not, the biggest single factor in your ultimate success will be whether you do the work needed to have the physical fitness of a much younger person.

Most of the fitness programs designed for seniors are either sold with the promise of quick results from very little effort, or miraculous transformations because of the properties of some medication.  Neither of these has any merit. If you want exceptional results, you have to do some exceptional work.

What do I mean by exceptional work?  One of the key elements of exceptional work is the idea that you have to do the right things to become fit….not just go through some mindless set of exercises.   In short, you have to work smart, not just work hard.   This involves building your body through a series of progressive movements that allow you to build balanced and comprehensive strength.  You have to eat properly and consistently.  You have to take supplements that are appropriate for the training you are doing.   You need to develop the mental approach to your life that will support all the other things you are doing for your health. 

Most people want effortless solutions to their problems.  If they are out of shape and feeling bad, they want to be able to take a pill and feel great.   The problem is that no matter how earnestly we may want  these things, the fact is that great accomplishments don’t come about without a lot of focused effort.  Everyone want’s a great healthy body, but the only one’s who actually get to have one are those who actually do what is needed to get a great body. 

OK you ask…what do I have to do?   To get you rolling on the right path I have developed a program that covers the physical, mental and nutritional aspects of getting into great condition.  This will help you start the process of literally taking a decade (or more) off your body.  The book A Guide to Getting Younger After 60 is where you start transforming yourself into a much “younger” you. 

The book is available for immediate download from this site.  If you want to see some of what is involved, you can try the”quick start” mini course available for free from this site.  The free course will give you a taste of what you can do to make a major transformation in your physical and mental well being.

You have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.  If you don’t like the course, you can return it for a full refund.  If you do like the course, and do the program, you will be rewarded with a dramatic positive change in your youth and vigor.  There is no time to take action like right now! 

To a Great Future for YOU!

Richard

There are a lot of myths about senior fitness that are generally accepted without question.  As you will find out, some of the most important of these are just plain wrong.  Chief among the incorrect ideas is that if you are over 60, you can’t become fit and strong. 

At the moment I’m 70 years old.  I have been involved with training people of all ages since I was in high school.  What continues to surprise me is that there is a “general consensus” that people who are past 40 will decline dramatically, and over 60 you can forget ever being physically fit again.  This line of thinking seems to be that there is little or nothing that a person can do to improve their conditioning (and their quality of life) after they reach middle age.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Reality is that almost any of us who are over the age of 60 can make dramatic positive changes in our physical conditioning and overall health.  The main thing in our way is not the inevitable “march of time”, but the fact that many of us believe there is nothing we can do to change our situation.  Because we believe we can do nothing to improve our physical health and fitness, that is exactly what we do…..nothing!  And guess what?  When we do nothing, we indeed fall prey to the “march of time”.

None of us will live forever.  What we can do is take steps to insure that the time we have left is spent in the best health possible for each of us.  This does NOT mean that we take ever larger quantities of prescription drugs.  To achieve the best health we can have there are three essentials…that most people already know:

• Regular exercise
• Proper eating and diet
• Being mentally active

The regular exercise part is where most of us over 60 seem willing to accept a pretty low standard.  If we work out at all, the general approach is to do a few modestly challengin exercises, or some “5 minutes to fitness” program and stop there.  Granted, training for 5 minutes is better than nothing….but not much.  The first big myth that we seem to have accepted is that we should accept really low levels of fitness as all we can achieve.  I submit to you that this is completely wrong.  There are plenty of older folks, myself included, who work out at levels of performance and intensity that would put most high school kids to shame. 

The reality is that there are some limitations that come as a consequence of aging.  However, these limits are not nearly as significant as are generally believed.  Most men and women over age 60 can train themselves to a level that would astonish many 30 year olds.  The key is that you have to do this training gradually and build up your strength and endurance over time. 

In short, you can reach some very high levels of fitness regardless of your age.  However, you have to build up gradually, and consistently increase the challenges in your training.  If you accept the “5 minute fitness” program idea, that is all the further you will ever progress.

To give you an idea of what is possible for you, I have prepared a “Quick Start” course you can check out for FREE.  It will be sent to you by e-mail and will give you a taste of what you can accomplish.   The course can by yours by simply signing up in the boxes at the right of this article. 

Once you see what is involved, I’m convinced you will be motivated to build the best body you can.  The whole idea is to be strong and fit so that you can have a great life in your 60’s, 70’s and beyond.  The quality of your life in these years should not be limited by weakness, chronic conditions, or self inflicted physical problems such as obesity, Type II Diabetes, hypertension and similar health issues.  You have the power to prevent most of these conditions, and to build yourself into a strong, healthy person.

To your great health,

Richard Schuller

Starting out trying to get fit can be a bewildering experience.  There are so many products and so many claims, it is hard for a senior trying to get in better condition to know what to do.  This article is intended to simplify senior fitness for anyone trying to get in better physical condition.

First of all, there are three critical components to any fitness program that will give you any results that you want.  These are physical training, nutrition and mindset.  You cannot omit any of these and expect to achieve any decent results.  I’ll discuss each of these briefly, and indicate where you can find more systematic information.

Most people want an “easy” solution to getting into better physical condition.  There are literally hundreds of products that promise miraculous results with little effort.  Rest assured all of them are silly at best and fraudulent at worst.  So many people want a “quick and easy” solution that the market is flooded with all kinds of outrageous junk.  Perhaps the most unfortunate consequence of people believing in these trash products is that buying them and believing they will work may actually undercut any chance these people might have for achieving real success.  The burned buyers may decide that any real change is impossible, and not pursue any legitimate programs.

Any real program of physical training will have you doing several different movements that cover all areas of the body.  Simply training your legs or your abs will not produce much in the way of results.  Certainly not the results you would desire.  Ideally, the movements will involve free weights (barbells and dumbbells) or some form of free resistance (ex: training bands or sand bags).  Training on machines is significantly less beneficial as these movements don’t require your stabalizer muscles to work, nor do they require any balance or coordination.   Machines can be useful for rehabilitation or for getting started training if the person is deconditioned.

The second key component of any training program is nutrion and diet.  To be healthy as a senior, it is essential that you eat properly and achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.  The nutrition part of the equation is insuring that you get proper levels of necessary nutrients.  These should come from your food.  If you wish, you can take dietary supplements.  However, these are supplements to a healthy diet.  Pills don’t take the place of proper eating.

The second thing you must understand (like it or not) is that calorie intake is the only thing that will determine whether you gain or lose body fat.  There are NO miracle diets that allow you to eat anything you want in any amount.  The huge body of clinical and biomedical research evidence indicates that calories are the only thing that count if you are trying to lose body fat.  Do not believe any claim that the body will allow you to eat unlimited or excessive portions of any food.  Claims for this are utter rubbish.  You should begin your healthy eating program with this understanding clearly in mind.

The third component of a senior fitness program is your mindset.  There is a tendency for people to begin fitness programs with great enthusiasm and then after a few weeks go back to no training and their old diet. There are many reasons for this, but the one that I think creates the most difficulty for people is that training (and good nutriton) are not part of their “familiar zone”.  This refers to the patten of activities and habits that the person does almost without thinking.  They may not be “comfortable”, but they are familiar.  They have been in place for a long time, and changing them causes a lot of upset. 

The mental dynamics of each person on a new diet will vary considerably.  However, the fact is that changing habits can be very difficult without a proper mindset.  People who have been living on junk food and eating anything that they wanted find a training diet like torture.  All the addictive convenience foods are not on the new program.  The portions seem tiny by comparison to the old ways.  Salads don’t seem quite as satisfying as eating a whole bag of cookies.  It is here that a persons mindset can intercede and alter how they look at their nutrition program.

The things that you eat have a direct impact on how you feel, and the prospects for living a full life.  If you think of your new program as a friend that will help you live longer and better, it is a lot different perspective than thinking of the program as being the teacher that lays down the rules.  Doing good things for yourself is something you can be proud of.   Most people tend to look at diet and physical training programs as something inflicted on them from the outside.  You can decide to look at this as something good you are doing for yourself, your friends and your family.  Everyone around you will benefit from you being in good health.

If you want to check out more information on training, nutrition and mindset in senior fitness, I have a FREE quick start course available on this site.  You will get a sample of each of these at no cost to you.  Simply sign up for the free “quick start” course and you will get a lot more information about all of these topics.  Simply check out the box on the right side of this page.

For a LOT more informaton on all of these topics, you can check out my book A Guide to Getting Younger After 60.  There is a lot more in there that can really help you get on the right track and stay there.

Whatever you do, it is really important that you take action.   Defering the decision will probably mean you don’t do much of anything.  The quick start course is FREE and there is no risk to you. 

To your good health

Richard

When you join a health club, one of the things you need to consider is the social environment of the club.  How you fit in the prevailing social atmosphere will have a lot to do with whether you will keep training there, or should join in the first place.  One of the reasons to take a trial workout at a club is to see if the social atmosphere is one where you feel comfortable. 

The big issue for most people starting training is whether they feel intimidated or otherwise uncomfortable when they train at a club.  How uncomfortable people feel is a direct result of how much they feel “different” from the other people training at the club.  Regardless of age, when people first begin training, they feel like everyone else “knows what they are doing”, and the place is loaded with “Ken and Barbie” types.  That may be the perception.  Reality may be somewhat different.  However, if you are new to the club, perception IS reality.

Feeling intimidated or “out of place” is normal when you first enter a new club.  One of the reasons is that everything seems unfamiliar, and you may feel that everyone is “looking at you”.   In about 90% of the cases this is not what is happening.  The “Ken and Barbies” are  either looking at their own reflection in the mirror, or at each other.  A new person training, especially a senior, is virtually invisible. 

If you feel “alone” when you start, remember that everyone else in the club probably felt the same way when they started training.  It takes a few workouts to begin feeling like you belong in a new place.  If you keep training at roughly the same time, you will probably meet a few people who also train at the same time.  Over time the club will become part of “your territory”, and you will be one of the “regulars” who new people look at and assume that you “know everything”.

The bottom line is that feeling comfortable in a new situation often takes time.  Most people will quit rather than deal with a little discomfort.  Humans are hard wired to seek short term comfort.  Unfortunately, this means that we do a lot of things that are damaging to us in the long term.  Overcoming the feeling of “strangeness” in a health club is in your long term best interest.  Leaving because you don’t feel “comfortable” makes you feel OK in the short term, but will subvert your quest to become more fit and healthy.

With that in mind, be aware that different clubs may be dominated by different groups of people.  In general, the larger the club, the greater the diversity of people who will train there.

Most clubs, especially larger ones, will have a mixture of social groups training there.  In big clubs you will find several different age groups, types of training (weights, yoga, aerobic dance, etc.) and people at all different levels of fitness (beginner to pro).  Most of the time the established groups (eg. 20-something) will tend to train together and ignore everyone else.  

In places like the YMCA or a neighborhood center, there will generally be a lot of different people training. There will be many different ages and fitness levels.  There may be a few “superstar” types, but in all liklyhood there will be some beginners, with the greatest number of regular patrons being “regular folks” of all different ages.

There are some specialty clubs that only accept women as members.  You will tend to find these almost exclusively in large cities, as the economics of the health club industry tends to require that clubs be open to both men and women.  If same sex clubs are an issue for you, it might be worthwhile to consider training at home until you have progressed to the point where you feel comfortable in a regular health club.  You can also train at Curves or some similar place until you are ready to train at a regular club.

There are a few high end clubs that offer exclusivity and are in essence private social clubs.   They offer the prospect of social networking for business and some other on site options such as cafes, meeting rooms, etc.  If this is what you want, be certain to take a complementary training session or two to see if the promises are likely to be realized in your particular situation.

Regardless of the equipment or the social atmosphere, doing the training is the only thing that will produce the results you desire.  Where you train is infinitely less important than the fact that you are consistent, and keep to your training schedule and nutrition plan. 

In the next installment on how to select a health club, I’ll cover the things that may cause you to quit.

Have a great day,

Richard Schuller

If you join a health club, one of the things they will encourage you to do is contract for the services of a personal trainer.  You need to determine whether this is a smart investment for you.  The key for you is to buy what makes sense for you.  That will be different from one person to the next.  To help you make a smart choice, I’ll offer my observations based on: 1) having trained in a LOT of different gyms; 2) knowing a lot of personal trainers; and 3) being a licensed personal trainer myself.

For openers, you need to decide why you would need a trainer.  They can provide you with the following things: 1) a workout program; 2) help in doing the exercises properly; 3) give you personal support while training; 4) help you feel less uncomfortable in the gym when you are first training. 

The first issue is having a workout program.  You have the option of using the free introductory program you can down load on this site. This will get you through two months of training.   You also can buy my book for $29.95 that will give you six months of training programs with directions on how to perform the movements, select the weights to use, the number of movements, etc.  You can contrast the cost of these options with the normal fee for a personal trainer which runs from $50 per hour to $100.  That charge is for each session.

One of the questions you may have if you are new to physical training is whether the trainer can give you a “better” program than you can get from a book.  My answer, based on having trained for over 50 years in multiple gyms and for multiple sports is as follows.  If you are untrained or completely out of shape, anything you do will have some positive impact.  In short, if you go to the gym and do random movements, it will be better than doing nothing, and you will see some (modest) improvement.  If you do the programs I offer, they will give you a comprehensive training session and you should see solid progress.  There is no magic program a personal trainer can devise for you that will give you better results than one you can get from a book or the free program I provide.  It may be different but it will not be better.

The only thing that will give you the results you desire is you must do the program and do it regularly.  If you don’t do the work, you will not get any results. 

If the trainer helps you establish a regular schedule of training, and helps you feel more at home in the gym environment, that is great. Some people find this to be well worth the investment.  You are trying to establish good habits and having someone who will hold you accountable and keep you on the path when you want to stray off is sometimes worth the investment.

If you don’t want to spend the money on individual training sessions, many gyms offer classes where you train in a group of people.   This can be a great way to establish your training habits, and find the social support that keeps you training.  It is up to you, and what is going to work best for you.

Having made some comments about trainers that may sound critical, I’ll now offer you my opinions about how they can be very useful to you. 

First of all, most trainers take their profession very seriously.  Most study and constantly keep up on the professional literature.  The cool thing about trainers that can be a huge help to you as you get more fit is that most of them have a specialty.  That is, each of them will have some area of sports or fitness where they excel.  All of them know the basics, but their real advantage to you can be in the areas where they have genuine expertise. 

For example, one of my trainer friends is a specialist in training people for racquet sports and golf.  (You will see video training programs from him on this site during 2011).  He really knows these areas well, and can help you prepare to do you very best in these areas.  At the same time, he would not even claim to know how to train people for “power”.   Another trainer I know really knows how to teach dance, aerobic dance and similar types of dancing conditioning.  She is great at teaching this…but would not be your first choice if you were trying to upgrade your tennis game.

In my own training, I pay two different personal trainers to work with me in area where they are specialists.  One knows powerlifting, and the other teaches swimming.  Both of these trainers actually function more as a “coach” than a trainer.  They provide me with very focused and specialized instruction on how to improve my skills in each of these areas.  Their real value to me is their ability to help me improve performance in each of these areas.

If you are using a trainer (or coach) you should expect to see concrete results from the training.  In this case, you need to have established some way to measure the improvements you want to see.  If you are training for the first time, you should see increases in strength, flexibility and endurance on a continuing basis.  If you are hiring someone to help you build on an existing base, you should see specific improvements in your performance that are tangible and measurable.  If you “feel” like you are improving, it would be a good idea to have your own set of criteria to measure this.  Otherwise you are spending time and money for no identifiable effect.

In summary, when it comes to your decision on whether to hire a personal trainer, you should be very specific about what you need them to do…and what it is worth to you.  Then, decide how you will evaluate their value to you as you progress. 

Have a great day,

Richard Schuller