Rob Hirsh Personal Trainer - Quads Gym

Happy Friday the 13th! Each Friday, we highlight health and fitness.  Welcome Rob Hirsh back to our blog today.  Rob weighs in (no pun intended) with Part Three of his helpful tips for recreational exercisers, weight-trainers, and bodybuilders. Click the following links for his introduction and Bulking Back & Biceps.

Rob is a personal friend and colleague of mine from Quads Gym.  We met while I was training, and we hit it off with our like-minded approach to working out and our passion for writing.  I look forward to sharing some of his writings with you in our next few Friday posts.

SOME THOUGHTS ON PERSONAL TRAINING

Like pumping iron, personal training has made a difference in my life. Over the many years I’ve been at this I have crossed paths with scores of cool people I would never have met, some of whom I’ve gone on to forge lasting friendships with. Earlier this summer I attended the high school graduation of the daughter of my longest team member; when I first met her she was a kid with braces playing hopscotch! But no matter whether my partnership with anyone lasts two days, two weeks, two months, or two years, I like to push, and praise, and teach. And yeah, laugh too. Where is it written that you can’t have fun and sweat?

While sometimes I’m a backboard for a teammate’s frustration at a stubborn body part that will not yield; and while it is true that more than once I’ve had a mild epithet thrown my way for pushing someone too hard…the fact remains that not from anyone, not once in 20 years, have I ever heard the words, “Gee, Rob, I’m really sorry I started training.”

All right, I digress. If you can swing a personal trainer, wonderful and good. But please—let common sense dictate. Be wary of a trainer looking for a huge commitment up front. A complimentary session to see how you click is not an unreasonable request from your end. If the trainer balks at that, walk away quickly. A good trainer will be eager to show you he’s for real. Once he’s got your money it’s too late to find out that he routinely shows up late or blows off appointments altogether, or spends your training session with an eye on his cell phone. In fact having a trainer is not unlike having a doctor or an accountant. Find a relationship that works—for you. If you see results and look forward to your sessions, then chances are you’ve struck personal training gold.

One further note: A good trainer does more than train—he educates. When I took over the training of a gal who had been with her former trainer for over a year (he’d left Chicago), she could not tell me what exercises he’d had her do for her lats—she didn’t know where her lats even were! To my thinking, this trainer had let his client down by making her wholly dependent upon him. Imagine a language teacher having you memorize sentences in French without teaching you what they mean! How are you to survive in France should you ever choose to visit? This poor lady was lost without her trainer—obviously the way he wanted it.

IF YOU TRAIN ON YOUR OWN AND LIKE IT THAT WAY…

Draw from as many sources as possible. When I was starting out I had few places to turn. In the pre-Schwarzenegger days bodybuilding magazines were an embarrassment, hidden behind the comic books on drugstore shelves. Today, Fitness mags can be found side by side with Cosmo. At Borders Books you’ll find entire shelves devoted to weight training! Grab a few books, order a latte, and plop down into a stuffed chair. You’ll feel your muscles pump up just reading. And of course there is the internet, a bottomless pit of information unimaginable when I was 15. Indeed, the sheer amount of information is daunting (and not all of it is sound, so beware). Knowledge is power. This carries over to the gym. Leave your IPOD at home. Don’t shut yourself off. Observe. Ask questions. People like to help.

In a future newsletter I will be offering my thoughts on building a home gym, which I have helped many clients do. If you don’t currently belong to a gym and are looking for one, you’ll have no trouble finding one close to home—Chicago is crawling with them. Check out a few before you part with your bucks. A good place to start your tour is the locker room. If it stinks and the floor is scummy with crap lying about, it’s a good bet the rest of the gym will follow suit. Look closely at the equipment. Are cables frayed? Do broken machines appear to have been that way for weeks? Are they covered with dust? Are empty water bottles and mismatched dumbbells rolling around the floor? Here is a gym where neglect is king. Walk out the door and don’t look back.

It is my hope that my little corner will be a place to which you look forward to returning again and again for guidance, tips, and above all—encouragement. Remember—you are not alone. If there’s something you would like addressed, leave a comment or please Click Here  to shoot me an e-mail!

Until we meet again, keep pumping!

Rob

—–

Readers:  Have you ever hired a personal trainer?  How was your experience with personal training?  Would you prefer working out alone or having a workout partner?

My Related Posts:

1. Bulking Back and Biceps with Rob
2. Rob Hirsh: Chicago Personal Trainer Interview
3. How to Pump Up Your Weight Training in the Gym
4. How to be a Hardcore Female Weightlifter
5. How to be a Hardcore Female Weightlifter – Part Two