Role of a personal trainer

Have you ever...
Got your health screened, joined the gym & started a diet, but it doesn't work?
Ran for hours, hours and hours but the weight does not seem to bulge?
Have a health issue, the doctor recommends you to start exercising, but you are not sure when and where to start?
Here are some of the benefits that what a Personal Trainer can do for you!

Disclaimer: Written below is purely based on our own personal opinion of why you should get professional advice from a Qualified Personal Trainer.

1. Establish goals

Body sculpting, training for marathons, increase your back muscles to reduce back pain, to carry your new born without feeling tired? Different people have different goals which calls for different actions. A Personal Trainer role to assess what the clients requires and prescribe the exercises accordingly. Some goals can be big such as "I wish to lose 20 kg of body weight within 1 year", so it is up to the trainers to break down the goals, set targets in between to achieve adherence and eventually hitting the final goal. 

You may not even have a definite goal that you want to achieve as the doctor that recommends you to start exercising, and that is fine as long as you take the first step. You may eventually figure one out with your trainer in the process, if not, don't fret about it as you are keeping yourself healthy for many years to come.

2. Exercise programming

After establishing your goals, you will need a personalize training program that challenges you adequately.
If your goal is to lose weight, your initial goal would not be to squat 200 kg for 1 time, rather it would be something simple such as squatting 30 times with proper form in one single set.
Likewise, if you are looking to run a marathon, your initial goal would not be to bench-press 100 kg for 8 times, it would be to achieve good running stride and frequency.

There are various ways to train your body to get fitter and healthier as long as the trainer recognize your goal and does not super-impose one form of training method on the clients. Cross-fit , calisthenics, bodybuilding , iron-man, athletic training, strongman, power-lifting, Spartans, functional training; all these are valid training program as long as you can achieve your goals. Certain clients prefer to train bodybuilding style , certain clients prefer just body weight training. It's up to the coach to incorporate the exercises according to what they like initially. Don't like doing barbell squats? Do squat jumps, viper squats , medicine ball squats. The trainer should be able to devise another form of exercise to challenge your body.

3. provide basic nutrition guidance

your trainer should at least have a basic understanding of nutrition as it is a important part in transforming your body. They could be advising you on what to eat/avoid or they can point you in the right direction on where they get their nutrition information from.

A few basic questions to ask is:
What is macronutrients, calories and how we can adjust that in order to achieve our target?
What is micronutrients and do we really need supplements to achieve our goals?
What is the difference between fried chicken wing and steamed chicken breast?

4. safety ! safety ! safety !

We cannot emphasise more on this can we?
Safety in training is longevity in health and fitness.

Contrary to belief, the gym is actually a very safe place to start exercising. Beginner who want to try exercising alone can always start out with machine which are straight-forward and usually there are simple instructions on how to operate it, if not you can also ask around as most are willing to help. You can also start with body weight exercise as there are many videos on YouTube/Facebook channels which teaches an individual how to progressively squat etc.

Remember that training is not about making yourself feel super exhausted each time, the key is to progress through the training program set out for you. Train smart, Train safe.

5. accountability

Personal Training can be expensive and costly, which is why you have every right to demand all of the above from your trainer.
Some trainers may assess you on a daily basis, some may be when you check in with them, some may be once a month, some not at all (you might want to reconsider though). But please take note that everyone have:
7 days in a week
24 hours a day
168 hours per week
Approximately 672 hours per month
So if you think that your trainer can create magic with just 8 hours a month, then be expected that it might not happened.

Yes, we are very much accountable to you in terms of prescribing exercises, providing diet guidance and trying to adjust your lifestyle.
But please, we would also need your help to be accountable for your own actions for the rest of the time because it takes two hands to clap.


We hope that the points above can help you determine why and what a Personal Trainer can do for you.