5 Things you should NEVER say to your PT

At our personal training gym in Crawley, we love having a chat with our clients and finding out how their week has been, but there are certain things we sometimes don’t want to hear during a training session:

1. “I can’t do that!”

If we didn’t think you could do it we would not ask you to. Everyone is at a different ability and fitness level and we will only push you within your capabilities. If we believe you can do it, so should you!

2. “Why am I not making any progress?” (From the person who has not attended a training session in 2 weeks!).

Need we say more. If you don’t put in the effort and make changes to your diet and/or exercise, you cannot expect to see changes in your body composition.

3. “I want to look like him/her.”

You hired a personal trainer, not a plastic surgeon. We cannot change your genetics or sculpt you into your favourite celebrity. We can however work together to help you make the most of your body, improve your confidence and have fun doing it.

4. “Can we do sit-ups today? I really want to get rid of this fat on my tummy.”

We’ve lost count how many times we have said this, but you can’t lose fat from a specific body part by exercising it. This is known as the ‘spot reduction myth’. We are all unique and as much as you may not want to hear it you can’t chose where you lose fat from first.

So doing endless crunches or sit-ups may help strengthen your stomach muscles, but they won’t reveal six-pack abs if you still have a layer of fat over them.

To lose fat you need to be in calorie deficit. If you are consistently sticking to your calories, strength training at least 2-3 times a week, attending all of your training sessions and getting your steps in you will see results. Our transformation wall is proof of that!

5. “I must not have worked hard enough last week. I wasn’t sore at all from my workouts.”

We are not here to make you sore. We are here to make you better and stronger.

Exercise does not need to be painful in order to be effective. DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) is not the goal of your workout. In fact chasing pain could cause injury and lead to lack of adherence.

All you need to remember is that pain will not led to more muscle; an effective training plan and progressive overload will.

That’s not to say that you won’t experience some DOMS, especially if you are new to lifting weights, have changed up your training program or have returned to exercise after injury, but it should not be the deciding factor if a workout was good or not.

As personal trainers in Crawley, our role is to motivate our clients to beat the weights or reps they lifted last week. Standing beside them screaming “‘Come on! The pain will be worth it!” just isn’t us.

If you want any help or advice or to know a little bit more about what we do please complete the contact form below or click here to get started and we would be happy to help!