11 Things Every Personal Trainer Should Be Doing For Their Clients

They say one bad apple spoils the whole bunch. Unfortunately, when it comes to the personal training business, there’s no shortage of bad apples. And it’s true: they give the rest of us a bad name. To raise the standard and elevate the field, I implore you not to be one of the bad apples. Luckily, doing the 11 things below will put you well on your way to being the Honey Crisp of personal trainers (i.e. the best!).

1. Base the training program on your client's goals.

Personal training isn’t about you or your goals. It’s about the client’s. That’s why it's called PERSONAL training.

For example, just because YOU are a powerlifter, that doesn't mean all your clients wants to squat, bench, and deadlift as heavy as possible. If they just want to "tone up," then by golly your sole job is to help them do it.

Or, just because you think big quads and boulder shoulders are sexy, that doesn't mean every client feels the same way. If your client doesn't want bigger quads and wider shoulders, then keep the quad and shoulder training to a minimum (within reason).

Gumby Goals: Takeaways from the FRC Seminar

This past weekend, I was one of some eighty-odd personal trainers, strength coaches, physical therapists, chiropractors, and other movement professionals who descended upon Pitman, NJ, for the FRC seminar at Endeavor Sports Performance (the gym where I’m currently interning).

What’s the FRC seminar? It’s not for the Finnish Red Cross, nor is it on functional residual capacity (of the lungs). Rather, it’s Dr. Andreo Spina’s “Functional Range Conditioning.” The FRC course came highly recommended by my friend, esteemed colleague, and Instagram sensation Hunter Cook, so I was very excited for the opportunity to attend.

If you’ve ever seen Hunter move, you might assume that FRC is only for circus performers and people who want to be able to overhead press while doing a split (see video below). Moreover, the name itself, “Functional Range Conditioning,” kind of sounds like a bunch of buzzwords strewn together haphazardly. At least, it did to me when I first heard it. In actuality, each word in the name has a very precise meaning, and FRC isn’t just for people as Gumby-like as Hunter.

Podcast Ep. 6 - Kevin Mullins Fitness

Curious what it's like to be a TWO-TIME finalist in the Men's Health Next Top Trainer search? How about being selected as one of Women's Health Magazine's Ten Insanely In-Shape Male Trainers?

Meet personal trainer Kevin Mullins

In Episode 6 of the Fitness Pollenator (Video) Podcast, I chat with personal trainer Kevin Mullins of Washington, DC, and get answers to the above questions and so much more, including

• How Kevin came to be a personal trainer and strength coach
• The biggest mistakes trainers and coaches make
• Why habit-based nutrition trumps a cut-and-dry diet plan
• How Kevin became active in the fitness blog-o-sphere
• What supersets are and how best to combine exercises
• Which of Kevin's many continuing education certifications he finds the most useful

5 Things You Should NEVER Do in the Gym (Backed by Science)

Certain exercises and training practices will break your body down over time, pretty much regardless of how well executed they are. Here’s a list of 5 Things You Should NEVER Do in the Gym, with references to the scientific literature to back each one up. Be sure to read to the bottom so you don’t miss anything.

Which of these 5 things do you do/recommend?

Deep squats

Deadlift

Low intensity cardio

Lift before puberty

Lift heavy weights when "toning" is the goal

poll

1. Deep squats

Due to the excessive anterior translation of the knees past the toes and the resulting high compressive and shear forces at the knee joint, deep squatting greatly increases the risk of injury to the menisci and ACL (Escamilla 2001), as well as development of arthritis (Hefzy et al. 1998). In addition, squatting below parallel does not increase muscle activation (Escamilla 2001). Finally, the deep squat position is rarely required in the majority of sports, so its functional benefits are minimal (Schoenfeld and Williams 2012). For these reasons, deep squats should be avoided.

Brief Lessons in Biomechanics: Moment Arms

Back in middle school, I remember learning about simple machines like ramps, pulleys, and levers for the first time. Like every other kid in the class, I was probably thinking, ‘Why should I care? I’m never gonna use this crap!’

Fast forward a decade to my graduate studies in biomechanics and movement science. It turns out this stuff is my jam!

As a matter of fact, the human musculoskeletal system is nothing more than an intricate network of levers (bones), with muscles acting on them to produce movement.

As such, this system can be analyzed in light of simple machine principles like leverage, or mechanical advantage, and the primary topic of this post: moment arms.

The upshot? Direct and purposeful applications to resistance training, of course!

Interview with Taiwanese Calisthenics Group, GIN'-A'

Below is an interview I did with the Taiwanese calisthenics group GIN'-A'. In Taiwan, calisthenics are referred to as "street workouts," and the people who do them are often really coming from the street. "GIN'-A'," which means "the children," was started in order to spread the word about calisthenics.

I thought GIN'-A' came up with some really terrific questions for me. Enjoy the interview, and be sure to 'Like' GIN'-A' on Facebook. For the Chinese version of the interview, see HERE.

GIN’-A’: Hi, Travis. Nice to meet you, and thank you for accepting our request for this interview. Can you please simply introduce yourself?

Travis Pollen: Hi! My name is Travis Pollen. I’m a 25-year-old graduate student studying biomechanics at the University of Delaware in Delaware, USA. In addition to my schoolwork, I’m a certified personal trainer. I enjoy practicing, teaching, and blogging about calisthenics and weightlifting.

G: I first saw your video on Frank Medrano’s Facebook page, and I can’t lie, it really impressed me. So here I am, sharing some inspiration with the Taiwan people. First of all, what is your impression of Taiwan?

T: Thank you so much for watching my video! I had a great time making it. I hope it inspires people to get up and get active. Although I’ve never been to Taiwan personally, my best friend’s family is actually from Taiwan. He’s been there many times, so I’ve heard a lot about it and seen pictures. It sounds like a terrific place, and I’d love to visit someday!

The Bioenergetics of Training

A keen understanding of the energy systems at play during exercise is crucial for trainers and fitness enthusiasts alike.

Knowing the difference between terms like "fast glycolysis" and "aerobic metabolism" enables us to target each specifically. The upshot of this know-how is improved exercise selection, program design, and RESULTS from our hard work.

Below is a handout my mentor and I adapted from the NSCA's Essentials of Strength and Conditioning (3rd edition) by Baechle & Earle. It contains all the practical information you need in order to apply the scientific principles of the human body's energy systems to your training right away.

Enjoy!



Click here to download the PDF:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BweoQIuhXZAqVHZsQkdnTDI5RHc/view?usp=sharing

Podcast Ep. 4: Mobility 101 with Matt Ibrahim

For this episode of the video podcast, I have on Matt Ibrahim of Mobility 101 to talk all things -- you guessed it -- mobility!

Matt's mission is to bridge the gap between the worlds of rehabilitation and performance. He's an up-and-coming expert with an extensive résumé that includes three years of clinical experience as well as internships at some of the best strength and conditioning facilities in the country. Matt is currently in the process of applying to school for his DPT (doctor of physical therapy) degree.

In this episode, Matt and I discuss...

Brief Lessons in Biomechanics: Taking Care of the Spine

Hi! I’m your friendly neighborhood biomechanist, the Fitness Pollenator, and I’m here to impart some quick lessons on how to take care of your spine. Enjoy!

The Importance of A Neutral Spine

Just about everybody knows that picking things up off the floor with a round back is dangerous, but did you know that an overly arched back can be just as bad?

The resultant force due to gravity always acts straight down. Viewed from the spine, this force can be broken down into two components:

(1) a compressive force that pushes the vertebrae together along their longitudinal axis, which the spine tolerates well, and

(2) a shear force that pulls the vertebrae apart transversely, which the spine doesn’t like nearly as much.

In the image above, you can see that the size of the resultant force due to gravity is the same for both the neutral spine and the arched spine. However, that nasty shear component is clearly larger for the arched spine than the neutral one.

Maintaining a neutral spine position (by tightening the abs and glutes) during both bending and overhead movements means that more of the force gets transmitted through compression as opposed to shear, keeping you safer and pain-free.

Podcast Ep. 3: Functional Training w/ Karl Safran

I met Karl Safran, owner and operator of No Bull Training in Huntingdon Valley, PA, for the first time two years ago when he came to lecture at NTPI Philadelphia. From the minute he started talking, he had the entire class hanging on his every word. The way in which he broke down human movement was like nothing we had ever heard before. So simple, so elegant, so exciting.

From that day forward, I knew I had to learn everything I could from Karl. Over the following three months while still in school, I went to No Bull Training once a week to shadow Karl. As soon as I got home from these visits, I would race to my computer to type up all the things I'd learned that day.

After I graduated from NPTI, I was fortunate enough to work for Karl for several months before going back to school for my Master's. The time I spent at No Bull was invaluable to my growth as both a trainer and a person. Karl taught me so much, not only about training, but also about life.

I got a chance to catch up with Karl for the third episode of the Fitness Pollenator Podcast. We chatted about what "functional training" means for him and his clients, who his biggest influences have been, and the importance of mindset when it comes to training.

You don't want to miss what he has to say.



To listen to just the audio, click here.

BretContreras.com: Lower Body Training for the Amputee and Able-bodied Athlete Alike

My resistance training journey began one fateful evening, a decade ago, in a crowded high school weight room. My teammates and I, still dripping wet from swim practice, gathered around the athletic trainer as he attempted to explain the intricacies of the barbell high pull.

Fancying myself no different from my peers -- despite having been born an above-knee amputee as a result of a congenital birth defect -- I approached the bar and got to work on my first set. It didn’t feel quite right, but nobody said anything, so I figured I was doing okay. I did a couple more sets in a similar fashion and then headed home.

Lo and behold, my efforts to mainstream myself had some nasty repercussions. I woke up the next morning with excruciating low back pain and was relegated to the plate-loaded deadlift machine for the rest of the season. It wouldn’t be until eight years later that I would gather the courage to attempt another barbell lift.

What went wrong that first day? Likely a bad case of lumbar flexion, in addition to a gross compensatory pattern favoring my intact side. Could it have been avoided? With careful exercise selection and implementation, yes.

The trouble is, there's a serious lack of strength training info out there for us amputee athletes. As such, I've taken it upon myself to develop a catalog of lower body exercises geared towards the amputee -- as well as anyone looking to develop strength and symmetry in their hamstrings and glutes. And come on, who doesn't want a better backside?!

This resource is now complete and available to the masses. It even includes over a dozen short and sweet videos of me performing all the exercises.

Here's the link:

http://bretcontreras.com/lower-body-training-amputee-able-bodied-athlete-alike/

BretContreras.com: Which Glute Bridge is Best? An Amputee Case Study

I'm tremendously excited to share the link to my first guest blog post for The Glute Guy, Bret Contreras! Not only is Bret a wicked smart leader in the fitness industry, but he's also a terrifically nice guy.

My post chronicles a case study I did using EMG to determine which bodyweight glute bridging variation is best. It's a little heavy on the science side of things, but I know you'll enjoy it!

Here's the link: http://bretcontreras.com/glute-bridge-best-amputee-case-study/

Cressey Performance: Performance Enhancement Done Right

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to stop off in Hudson, Massachusetts, for an afternoon on my way to Boston. What’s in Hudson, you ask? Not a whole heck of a lot — besides, of course, the Mecca of sports performance facilities: Cressey Performance. Being in such close proximity, I just had to complete the pilgrimage to see what CP was all about.

Evidence-based or Shmevidence-based

The fitness industry is currently at war. It’s the evidence-based guys versus the bro scientists, and both sides will stop at nothing to shove their methodology down your throat.

The war is over how best to consolidate science and practice. The evidence-based camp evaluates the entire body of knowledge in order to form an opinion on an issue. In hierarchical order by level of evidence, this includes all meta-analyses, review papers, randomized clinical trials, and case studies on the topic. After all these options have been exhausted, expert opinion and anecdotal evidence are considered.

Meanwhile, bro scientists don’t feel the need to wait around for the lab coats to tell them what they already know. In order to form their opinions, they generally pick from the bottom rungs of the evidence ladder (anecdotes and expert opinion), often shunning real science in favor of guruism. They feel that their own experience, based on decades of work with thousands of real people, is superior to any laboratory study. 

The evidence-based approach excels in its acknowledgement and avoidance of biases in search of deeper truths, like the mechanisms behind why particular practices works. The bro scientists, on the other hand, are typically content with an ‘if it works, it works’ mentality, even as new research flies in the face of their age-old, tried-and-true practices.

The scientific method is not without its shortcomings, however, and anyone who calls themselves “evidence-based” had better recognize its limitations. Statistics lie. Authors of reviewer papers are not without bias. External validity, or the degree to which the findings of a study can be generalized, can be suspect. That is, just because something worked in the lab setting with a specific target population does not guarantee it can be applied equally well out on the gym floor to another group of people.

Furthermore, say, for instance, a study compares two different types of training and shows no difference between the two. What this really means is that, on average for a group of people, the two types of training do not differ significantly. What this doesn’t mean, though, is that one type of training wouldn’t necessarily be better for a particular individual. This individual variation is exactly what makes training an art in addition to a science.

Both sides of this battle clearly have their strengths and their weaknesses. Likewise, they each tend to get carried away with their own approach -- the evidence-based practitioners demanding that every claim be backed by a peer-reviewed journal article (or three) and the bro scientists selectively ignoring high-quality research if it contradicts their own strongly held views.

While both the evidence-based and bro science approaches have their imperfections, neither extreme should be foolhardily rejected nor embraced. The more sensible approach is to take the middle ground -- to merge the science and the art. The good news? Industry leaders like Alan Aragon, Bret Contreras, Brad Schoenfeld, and Nick Tumminello are doing just that – fusing their knowledge and keen understanding of the science with their own decades of experience in order to inform on practicable gym floor applications.

Here are a few ways we can take cues from these scholarly individuals:

1. Considering all the levels of evidence, not just the highest or the lowest.
2. Being simultaneously open-minded yet skeptical. We must consider viewpoints besides our own, while also taking everything with a grain of salt, no matter how smart or credentialed the informant.
3. Reading the scientific papers (entire papers, not just abstracts!), assessing the merits and limitations of the studies, and coming to our own conclusions. We can’t simply take someone else’s word for it.
4. Gathering information from a variety of sources, not just one or two of our favorite fitness professionals. Expert opinion is just that: opinion. Plus, even the experts disagree, so it’s vital to expose ourselves to multiple perspectives, not just the ones we always seem to agree with.
5. Trying everything out -- first on ourselves, and then on our clients -- before pronouncing anything bunk. Only after embracing something completely can we be certain as to whether or not it really works.

By following these steps, we may one day end this ugly war and seamlessly intertwine the science and art of training.

6 Best Ways to Engage in Continuing Education

You're fresh off your personal trainer certification test. You've memorized the origin and insertion of every major muscle in the human body. You know the perfect way to design a workout. Theoretically, you even know the corrections for all ten of the most common mistakes in the squat.

Finally, you can ditch the textbook and get on to training clients! Or can you? In fact, your textbook certification will prepare you for only a fraction of the issues you'll face on the gym floor. The attachment points of muscles are just the beginning of an in-depth understanding of functional anatomy. The squat corrections presented in the book will not work for every client. And there are actually an infinite number of ways to design a workout. You'll come to find that no single one of them is perfect, nor does any one work with every client.

For every short chapter of that certification textbook, volumes upon volumes have been written. Moreover, new research comes out every month debunking old myths and shedding light on new best practices. To stay up on the latest information, you must realize that the real learning begins the moment you step foot out of the testing center. There are countless ways to engage in continuing education. Here are the six best.