Tag: personal trainer

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Benefits of Foam Rolling

The Science Behind and Benefits of Foam Rolling

Foam rolling is a common practice in the Personal Training world.  You might have tried it before at the gym or at home, but if you’re not doing it before and after every workout you might not realize the added benefits of foam rolling. I’m about to tell you why you should work it in to your exercise routine.

Foam rolling with Self-Myofascial Release (SMR) is a technique used to inhibit overactive muscles and relieve tension in tight or sore muscles. SMR enhances flexibility, improves muscle tissue response, and reduces muscle soreness. It is difficult to know which muscles are overactive if you aren’t familiar with typical Human Movement Impairments, such as Upper Crossed Syndrome where one’s neck protrudes forward during push-ups or Pronation Distortion Syndrom where ones knees cave in and toes point out during squats.  If you want to find out if you have a movement dysfunction, talk to a Corrective Exercise Specialist and get assessed.  Untreated human movement impairments can lead to sore muscles/tissue trauma, inflammation, muscle spasms and knots, altered neuromuscular control, muscle imbalance, and eventually – injury.

So how does SMR work?  It stimulates the Golgi Tendon Organ (GTO) receptors through sustained pressure.  You roll along your overactive muscle until you feel that there is a knot or even a bit of pain. This is the poitn where you will hold the foam roller in place until you feel relief, for 30 seconds up to 2 minutes depending on the severity of your muscle tightness. There are varying levels of intensity you can choose based on the amount of pain you may feel when you foam roll. The more weight you put on the foam roller, the more intense it will feel. The first few times may hurt, but once you keep practicing and repeatedly work on the same muscles, it eventually feels good. My favorite benefits of foam rolling is that it can have similar effects to getting a massage. Not only do you save $65 on a massage but you can do it yourself and get all the knots out in a few short minutes.

foam-rolling-peroneal-muscles-side-plank
Foam Rolling the Peroneal Muscles in a Side Plank Position

When foam rolling in addition to stretching, you can significantly increase your range of motion and flexibility.  I encourage you to get started today by getting assessed, learning your corrective exercises, and practice, practice, practice!  It can take about 5 foam rolling sessions to start feeling relief and up to 4 weeks to start seeing improvements in your movement dysfunction.  It is best to foam roll your overactive muscles with SMR as a preventative strategy before and after each workout, before injury becomes an issue.  Once you complete an assessment with your Personal Trainer, you should be given a list of exercises that can help you reduce risk of injury and correct your muscle imbalances. You should start foam rolling at the beginning of your workout program.

Contact Kelly Gibson to learn exercises for Self-Myofascial Release.

Do you have a foam roller and want to start using it? Try my Stretching Plans with photos that include foam rolling techniques.

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    What is the Average Cost of a Personal Trainer?

    What is the Average Cost of a Personal Trainer?

    What is the average cost of a Personal Trainer? Female Trainers & Male Trainers

     

    If you are wondering what is the average cost of a personal trainer, you probably want to make sure you get the most bang for your buck!  When selecting a personal trainer, find out if they have the experience, positive customer reviews, and offerings that match up to your needs. Many trainers offer extra incentives for signing up for their program such as nutrition products or fitness books, nutritional coaching on the side, free Personal Training sessions for referring friends, or even rewards for being a good client. Most trainers offer a free consultation or discounted Personal Training session for new clients. Instead of committing up front to a big gym who tries to sell you on $75/session for a trainer that you barely know, I recommend that you find a trainer who will take the time to get to know you and show you a thing or two before you make a big commitment. Finding a Personal Trainer who can customize a fitness program to your individual needs is really important. You don’t want to get stuck with someone that gives the same workouts to all of their clients, or someone who doesn’t understand your fitness level. I have had so many people come to me and say that their last trainer was too hard on them and they got hurt. Be careful with who you choose and try before you buy a long-term package.

    What should I charge for Personal Training? Rates can range from $20-150/hour! As a prospective client, it is valuable to understand why Personal Trainers may have a high hourly rate. Much of a Personal Trainer’s income goes toward paying rent for the studio they work at, covering gas expenses (for mobile trainers), and purchasing necessary equipment for clients to use. For trainers employed by a gym, they are getting paid a very small fraction of what clients pay the gym – which in turn gives gym trainers very little motivation to go above and beyond for you. For independent trainers, building a positive reputation that brings in referrals is what makes or breaks them, so they are more likely to provide high quality service and go above and beyond for you. Also, a 40 hour work week doesn’t necessarily equate to getting paid for all 40 hours of work. Personal Trainers need to spend extra time outside of each training hour designing the workout, writing articles for marketing and advertising, building our websites, developing new nutrition or fitness lessons, staying up to date on fitness trends and learning new exercises, keeping ourselves in physically good shape with daily workouts and meal plans, taking mandatory continuing education credits to keep our certification up to date, answering business-related emails and phone calls, setting up and putting away equipment, and much more. Once you have a good sense of what you’d like to spend on a Personal Trainer, it might be important to take a look at what the average local Personal Trainer costs and decide what is most important to you — cost, quality, results, or personality match.

    Here are some of the average costs that I found: The National Strength and Conditioning Association conducted a recent survey of prices and found an average of $50 per hour with a range of $15 to $100 per hour. I’ve seen celebrity trainers charge $150+/hour. Prices do vary depending on region, according to Hagerman, and naturally, they will be higher in urban areas than in rural ones (1). According to the president of NBFE, the average hourly rate for a trainer is $65 per session. However, trainers can charge as low as $25 per hour, depending on geographical location and their experience (2). From calling and asking for prices from local trainers in Chandler & Tempe, independent trainers charge between $45-65/hour and gym trainers typically charge $60-80/hour. Personally I don’t recommend price shopping unless you are truly on a tight budget. Price doesn’t tell you whether or not you’ll LIKE your trainer. If you do like a trainer but can’t afford their one-on-one prices, ask about small group training which is typically 2-3X cheaper. I truly believe that if you find a trainer who you can connect with and enjoy being around, you will be more successful because you will look forward to seeing your Personal Trainer every day and will stick around long enough to get long-term results. If you choose a cheap trainer based on price alone, you are more likely to quit before you see results and go back to your old habits.

    My prices are as high as $65 for 60-minute 1-on-1 personal training or as low as $10 for 30-minute group training in a long-term program. I offer a range of prices so I can help people regardless of their budget. I would like to help people who cannot afford the average cost of a Personal Trainer in Arizona. I have 2 years of experience with dozens of positive customer reviews, and I want to stay flexible within client budgets to be an affordable Personal Trainer for women in the Phoenix area.

    If you find new information regarding personal training rates or pricing of programs that I can add to this article, feel free to share with me here.

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    Staying Fit Beyond February

    Staying Fit Beyond February

    by: Christie Bartlett, Guest Writer

    Keeping up with a fitness and healthy eating routine while keeping a busy lifestyle is definitely hectic. Even if you have fallen off the wagon with your fitness plan, it is never too late to jump back on. If you are like me, a working mom with two kids, you understand how little time there is left for staying fit. To help you utilize the spare time you have for continuing your fitness and nutritional plan, consider the following tips:

     

    1. Keep fresh fruit within sight on the countertop or kitchen table and hide sweets, or just don’t buy them at all! Seeing healthy food is a good reminder that you can make a healthy choice when you are craving snacks. Also, keep fresh veggies cut in airtight containers in the fridge for another healthy, quick snack.

    2. Make a 12-week fitness and nutritional goal and track your progress week-to-week to staying fit beyond February. It is much more motivational when you actually see yourself making progress! Break this 12-week goal down into 12 weekly goals that include a reward for meeting each goal. For example, if your fitness goal is to increase the intensity of your workout and your nutritional goal is to only eat dessert twice that week, reward yourself with a new book or movie that you have been wanting. It’s the little things that make us happy when we are pushing ourselves very hard.

    3. When making plans, plan your fitness and nutritional goals for the week and not just on a day-to-day basis. This way you are not scrounging for a plan when time doesn’t permit for those emergency moments such as “Mom, I’m hungry!” or the baby-needs-a -diaper-change, right when you were ready to plan today’s fitness program or nutritional menu. Use break time at work to create your weekly plan or ask for some help with the kids for half an hour to get your plan laid out.

    4. Keepin’ it Cool: If possible, make meals that you can freeze. Having premade meals that you only have to pop in the microwave or stick in a preheated oven will save a lot of meal preparation time throughout the week. It is best to prepare multiple freezer meals at a time, which ultimately makes clean up a onetime event instead of several by preparing separate meals all week. Staying fit can be a little easier with pre-planned meals.

    5. Try to work out early in the morning before the kids wake up, or in some cases, after the kids go to bed. It can be stressful having the kids interrupt your workout.

     

    For the original post, go here: Staying Fit Beyond February PDF

    Join the Vegan Challenge to make sure you are Staying Fit beyond February!  It makes all 5 of these tips perfectly easy to follow!

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