Starting Over (again)

[arpeejay]

Or, That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles...

In July I started working out again after a mostly self-inflicted 18-month layoff. The trainer I hired, Brandon, was absolutely what I wanted and needed and in two months I made a heckuva lot of progress, gaining back the upper body strength I'd lost during the layoff and actually improving from where I was when I was training with Josh regularly in 2008-2009.

And then at the end of September Brandon quit.

Pfft!

After that I started working out with the one (count 'em, ONE!) other male trainer at the funny little gym-cum-cardio rehab clinic the hubby and I joined when moving to Oneonta. I knew in advance that Dave, who is my age and in great shape at 5'9 or so and 190 lbs., was "Mr. Functional," *not* "Mr. Meathead," but I figured I could prevail upon him to give me what I wanted, inasmuch as I was the client.

Well, not so much.

He gave it the old college try a time or two but mostly it was set after set (with exactly 1 minute of rest between each set) of "work the negative" and "control, control, control..." In two months I made, as far as I can tell, exactly ZERO progress, although I did pick up some good tips on *how* to rest between sets.

So today I fired him.

Actually, that sounds much more dramatic than the reality, i.e., I told him I'd given it some thought and that from now on I'd be working out on my own. Nothing personal, just that we have very different workout styles and that I felt like I needed to become less dependent on having a personal trainer.

Sigh.

Still, I did a good back workout today:

Bent over single-arm dumbbell rows (35, 40, 45 lb. dbs)
Standing cable low row (65, 75, and 85 kgs)
Lat pull down (110, 130, 135 lbs.)
Assisted chin ups
Skullcrushers with the EZ Curl bar (65 lbs.)
Overhead cable triceps extensions (70, 80, 90 lbs.)
Single arm cable triceps pushdowns (35 lbs.)
Two-handed dumbbell overhead triceps extension (50, 55, 60 lbs.)

Three sets of each exercise, 10 reps each set. As opposed to my last workout with Dave, which consisted of 168 pushups (7 varieties, 3 sets of 8 reps of each.)

He was psyched, I was "ho hum." Which is why he's no longer my trainer. What fires him up is NOT what fires me up and vice versa.

So we'll see --- wish me luck!

[The Magus]

I feel ya....in September I started with a personal trainer for the first time. He was a bodybuilder who had competed and placed in all natural competitions and - aside from some disorganisation on his part - was basically what I wanted in a trainer. Three sessions in, though, and he got fired from my gym.

Luckily his replacement (a powerlifter, but nobody's perfect) is a great guy, and I've been making loads of progress with him. I'm glad it worked out, because I'm not sure I would have been able to cancel my contract with the gym if it hadn't.

But no trainer is better than a badly matched trainer, so you made the right choice. Good luck, and happy lifting.

[TopHeavy]

Sounds like quite a decent back and tricep routine. My new favourite back exercise is the barbell row. I just added dead lifting back into my back & triceps day. It's a killer!

I explained to a personal trainer that I wanted to bulk up. He seemed to think that I was already big and maybe I should focus on being leaner. Nonetheless, we devised me a good bulking up programme which I have stuck to, with a few minor tweaks. I always work out alone. Personal trainers are too expensive and training buddies are often unreliable, I've found.

[BigLittleTim]

Try tricep kickbacks to finish off your tricep day. They work the muscle at a different range of motion from the usual tricep pushdowns/variations. Work for me.

[BigLittleTim]

Very popular trainer at my gym last year came in and everyone who wanted to muscle up hired him He was in his early 20's, perfect physique, very sexy. Good example of hiring a trainer who looks like what you want to look like.
Problem: His workout philosophy was to hit everything HARD, every set to total failure, no rest between sets. This worked for him, of course, because he's 24 years old and juiced up on 'roids. Just about every one of his clients, most of them big, buff, older guys in our 40's, get catastrophic injuries and have to take time off for therapy and recovery. Busted shoulders, knees, elbows... We all started hating going to the gym. The problem was that none of us had the confidence we should have had in our own experience and success. At some point you develop the self-confidence that you probably know as much as, if not more than, most trainers. After all, how many guys come up to me in the gym and ask ME how to train because they want to look like ME?

My conclusion is that unless you are a total beginner, or just need some fine-tuning in your program for competing, you don't need a trainer.

BIG TIM

[Ragetiger]

Yeah I had a trainer that was like the one BigLittleTim describs. Hit hard zero rest and to make it worse constant curcuit. It's great for building endurance for running a damn marathon but not to build muscle nor lose fat. Got rid of him afte ra couple of months of no progress. Of course he thinks it was something I'm doing or eating.

Talking about training, ran into an interesting problem with some people when they do bench press. Some beleive the only way to do them is to allow the bar to touch the chest. However, I was taught to bring the bar till the upper arm and forearm form a 90 degree angle. (upper arm parallel to the ground, forearm perpedicular) Tried to warn them that touching chest with bar shifts the weight to the skeleton and the load goes off the pecs and onto the rotator cuffs when the elbows go behind the back.

[BigLittleTim]

Originally Posted by Ragetiger

...ran into an interesting problem with some people when they do bench press. Some beleive the only way to do them is to allow the bar to touch the chest. However, I was taught to bring the bar till the upper arm and forearm form a 90 degree angle. (upper arm parallel to the ground, forearm perpedicular) Tried to warn them that touching chest with bar shifts the weight to the skeleton and the load goes off the pecs and onto the rotator cuffs when the elbows go behind the back.

Right you are, Ragetiger. Also, use a bench with adjustable pins, to set the height of the bar AT THE TOP OF YOUR RANGE OF MOTION. Never start a bench press with your arms bent, at half full extension. You should start the movement with your arms fully extended, hands gripping the bar, and just SHIFT the bar off the pins at the top of the movement; then lower the weight into your first rep. Nything else puts a huge strain on your rotator cuff, not on the muscles where you want it.

Also, try to "touch" your shoulder blades together (although this is actually impossible) and slightly arch your lower back by flexing your glutes. Keep your feet on the floor and press THROUGH YOUR HEELS when benching. If you have short legs, big ass, and a TALL bench try putting a step platform or few 25lb. plates on the floor to "raise" the floor level at your feet so you can press through your heels while keeping your feet on the (higher) floor. All this, plus not going below parallel with the floor with your upper arms, should keep the stress on the pecs, where it belongs, not on the shoulder where it is a disaster waiting to happen.

Remember: muscles respond to added stress by getting bigger; joints respond to added stress by exploding.

BIG TIM

[BigLittleTim]

If your gym doesn't have benches with adjustable pins, have your workout partner give you a "lift off" on the first rep, i.e. Help you lift it straight up to full arm extension and then out a bit to clear the pins. When racking the bar on your last rep just reverse the movement by bringing it straight BACK into the rack at full arm extension and having your partner help you lower it back onto the pins.

BIG TIM

[The Magus]

Originally Posted by BigLittleTim

My conclusion is that unless you are a total beginner, or just need some fine-tuning in your program for competing, you don't need a trainer.

BIG TIM

Maybe you don't need a trainer, but I think they're still useful for anyone.

I felt that I was beyond being a total beginner, and I had no idea how much I had to learn. I think personal trainers can be valuable at any level of experience, BUT they have to be a good trainer who takes their education seriously, listens to their clients, and is willing to make adjustments based on different goals and abilities. I'm guessing that these kinds of trainers are rare, because I've met quite a few that aren't any better (and may be worse) than just reading an internet forum.

A trainer who gets you injured and makes you hate working out is a bad trainer. My trainer is always watching to avoid injury, pays close attention to my energy levels, knows how to motivate me AND get me to back off if my form is suffering, and is a decent guy to boot. I guess I won the personal trainer lottery.