6 Things That Annoy Personal Trainers
By Noelle Walker at New Fitness Personal Training
I titled this as 6 things that annoy personal trainers but what I am really going to talk about today is 6 things that annoy me personally and any fitness professional that has education, experience and knowledge behind them. Unfortunately this is not the majority of personal trainers out there.
You will find personal trainers out there that don’t know what they’re talking about and inflict their so called information onto you. Yes this is a sad state of affairs but there you have it. At this point there is not much we can do about it except try to educate and dis spell myths and untruths about the fitness industry in general. This is what I will continue to do because people need to know what is true and factual and what is not.
Intermittent Fasting
I have written an entire article about Intermittent Fasting if you want to read it here
It annoys me to no end to listen to people talk about the benefits of fasting and how much better Intermittent Fasting is and how it gets you weight loss results faster. It annoys me when people try and say that it’s better than eating a well balance diet. It isn’t better, it’s actually worse. The reason being is that it promotes binge eating, slows down your metabolism and basically sends messages to your brain that the body is starving. It is also inefficient for lifting weights. Finding the strength to move weight in the gym while hungry is very difficult and your lifts will suffer. I had a client who insisted on doing Intermittent Fasting and every time she came in for a workout she was drained of energy and could barely move through the workout. That’s what Intermittent Fasting does. Don’t do it. Eat regularly throughout the day 3-5 times a day with a balanced meal plan. You will lose weight and have energy!
Carbohydrates Makes You Fat
This is by far the stupidest thing I have heard thus far as a fitness professional. I have been listening to this nonsense ever since the Atkins phase. People stopped doing Atkins because researchers and Doctors deemed it unhealthy and even dangerous. Now we have Keto. This will also happen with the Keto diet. Keto is fairly new and so there isn’t any long term data or research on this diet. But in the coming years there will be more long term data and it will be the same result. The result being that Keto is dangerous and people shouldn’t be on it.
Let’s talk about why Keto is not healthy. It almost eliminates Carbs. Carbs are your body’s primary source of fuel for energy. What does this mean really? It means it PREFERS Carbs for an energy source. Even if you are relying on fat for a fuel source it’s not as efficient. A lot of the fat you are taking in on a diet like Keto will be stored as fat. Why? Because that’s what the body recognizes as being an excellent way to preserve you so you won’t starve. The only thing the body cares about is staying alive and dietary fat looks like the fat in fat stores.
Carbs almost never gets stored as fat unless you are eating too much. Don’t be afraid of Carbs. They give you energy for your workouts and also aid in muscle growth due to glycogen. I know it can sound complex but the best diet is a diet higher in Carbs.
Custom Meal Plans
I supply clients with custom meal plans as part of their fat loss diet. Nutrition is key when trying to lose fat. It works in tandem with your workout plans and so that is why I give them to clients. They are all designed by registered dietitians designed for weight loss.
Sounds great right? So why is it that clients sometimes don’t follow them? I can understand if you don’t like the meal plan or you find foods on there yucky and don’t want to eat or prepare them. I totally get that but when the client says the meal plan looks great and then doesn’t follow it, it kind of drives me nuts. It’s a mild irritation at most but still. Follow the meal plan. It has all the macros, micros and calories requirements on it that you need. If you don’t follow the plan, then you risk going over on calories or not getting enough protein.
The Treadmill
I see many people at the gym walking on the treadmill. Why? Because they want cardio to be easy? It shouldn’t feel easy, it should feel slightly uncomfortable. Not only are they doing the laziest cardio, they are also doing it super slow. I’m not sure if it’s because they are just lazy or they think they are in the fat burning zone which is not a thing by the way. There is no such thing really. You are not going to burn fat and calories by doing something super slow. I wrote an entire blog post on this subject. You can find it here
If you like walking, walk outside. It’s better because there are hills and uneven terrain and you might even find yourself walking faster . If you walk super slow outside you won’t reach your destination or get anywhere so you are more motivated to pick up the pace. There are also way better cardio machines at the gym than the Treadmill(unless you are running) such as the stepper, the elliptical, the stair climber and the arc trainer. They burn serious calories and fat. Don’t walk on the treadmill at the gym anymore! Please!
Calories In And Calories Out
In order to lose weight and fat, calories in and calories out are the only thing that matters. Yet people come up these crazy ideas that it’s not about the calories. But it is. Nothing has changed on that subject. There are no new studies or data that suggest that this isn’t the case. But so many people actually think that calories don’t matter or it’s the type of calories that matter.
While I agree there are certain food groups that have a thermogenic effect on food such as protein, burning calories or eating less calories is the major factor in losing weight. You either need to burn more calories than you eat or eat less calories per day or both. It doesn’t matter what you eat. If there is a deficit in calories somewhere you will lose weight. You can lose weight eating donuts or cookies or pizza, although I don’t recommend it. Remember we are strictly taking about weight loss and as long as there is a reduction in calories, there is a reduction in weight.
So stop saying calories don’t matter. They do!
YOGA
I wrote a blog post called Yoga. Is It Right For You? You can read it here
The thing that irritates me the most when I hear people talk about Yoga is that they think it’s going to cause them to lose weight or lose fat. They talk about it like it’s a workout. It’s not. It’s meant to be a practice. a form of meditation. At best you will gain flexibility from it. You are not going to lose weight by doing Yoga. Yoga doesn’t build muscle so you can lose fat nor does it burn calories like a good cardio session.
Yoga is awesome but it’s awesome for meditation and balanced mind. It’s also great for added flexibility. It’s not so great as a workout for losing fat and calories.
Please stop telling me you do Yoga as a workout!
So there you have it. 6 things that annoy me as a personal trainer. There are more things that bug me but these are just just a few. I just simply implore you to educate yourself and not believe everything you see on Youtube and Instagram. More than eighty percent of those people are not actual fitness professionals and have no education or knowledge regarding the subject. Don’t be fooled!
