Does Personal Training Actually Help?
March 25, 2008 by PFIA recent study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research says that yes, personal training does help!
The study was conducted on 46 women who were currently training in a health club for at least three months. Half of the women had been training with a personal trainer for at least three months, while the other half of the women were working out on their own. The study found that women who had worked with a personal trainer self-selected higher weights on the leg press, chest press, leg extension, and seated row. Training with more weight is associated with all of the positive benefits that we always hear about for weight training: increased bone density, increased muscle mass, increased basal metabolic rate, decreased fat mass, etc. In addition, the women who had worked with a personal trainer also used a greater variety of gym equipment than the women who did not work with a personal trainer. This is important because people who depend on machines as their only source of resistance training tend to become bored with their fitness routines which eventually leads them to stop coming to the gym! Lastly, women who worked with a personal trainer reported that they depended on thier trainer for resistance training information. This seems like an obvious conclusion, but it also means that these women were less likely to rely on information from the television, magazines, and relatives; all of which are less reliable sources of safe and effective information regarding fitness and nutrition than personal trainers.
What does all of this add up to? It means that as a trainer you will be seen as an information source, people will depend on you to give them a workout that uses a variety of equipment in the gym, and your clients will train at higher intensity levels and will reach their goals faster than the people who are just coming to the gym on their own!
