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Let’s face it, trying to find a personal trainer ranks up there with some of life’s most difficult decisions. Choosing a college…starting a family…what to watch on Netflix this weekend?

A good personal trainer should always be a good listener, explain why you are doing specific workouts/exercises and will always prescribe a plan that will help you reach your fitness goals. Daunting as it is to choose a trainer, there are a few key areas to help you start your search.

1. Experience

Experience is an important factor in choosing a trainer, but first you have to define the specific experience needed for YOU. Because a trainer has been “in the business” for years doesn’t mean they’ll know the area you’re looking to improve. Instead consider some other forms of experience:

• Look for experience showed by happy reference-able clients. Each trainer should have stories of past clients they helped.
• Ask yourself, has this trainer worked with people who look, act, or sound like me?
• Look for experience outside the fitness environment. This could mean a trainer who has proven success in business, academics, military service, or personal endeavors. Top performers tend to bring their work ethic and attitude to all areas of life.
• Look for shared experiences or similar backgrounds. A trainer who happens to be a mother of 3 children can offer invaluable experience to a new mother who is nervous about returning to training.

2. Knowledge

Experience can take many forms, but you want to make sure that your trainer is in fact knowledgeable. The best trainers are lifelong learners and their resume should speak to that. If you are having a hard time locating their credentials, it’s important to ask. Most trainers will open the floodgates about their inspirations and influences. Some leading questions could be:

• How did you start your fitness journey?
• What are your biggest influences in health and fitness?
• What certifications do you hold?
• Do you recommend any websites or articles where I could learn more?
• What systems or progressions do you use to help clients achieve their outcomes?

3. The 5 Chimps Theory

In zoology, you can predict the mood and behavior patterns of any chimp by which five chimps they hang out with the most. What does this have to do with choosing a trainer? It means find a trainer who you want to be like. Consider what personal characteristics would best help you on your fitness journey:

Do you need a trainer who is serious and intense? Or are they quirky and can always lighten your mood? Keep in mind that you aren’t selecting the trainer you WANT, but the trainer you NEED!

Once you feel that a trainer has a background that aligns with your goals it’s time to explore how they engage with you.

4. You’ll know how much they care!

The initial meeting is the perfect time to gauge your trainers level of caring. A good trainer takes interest in your needs and listens to your concerns. They inquire about your health and fitness background as well as relevant personal information. Expect questions about injuries, conditions, and athletic background as well.

The trainer/client relationship involves more than planning a workout routine. It involves building trust, addressing challenges, and working together towards a recognized goal. Now the trainer should set clear expectations for what you can expect from training. The approach they use should have a clear progression and benchmarks to track your progress along the way.

5. Persistence trumps Intensity

As author Derek Sivers says, “If more information was the answer, we’d all be billionaires with perfect abs.” Most people have an idea of what they SHOULD do, but generally struggle with what they WILL do. When you begin a new routine, adherence is key. For your first month or two, your trainer should be helping you develop habits around fitness and other healthy practices. When you choose a trainer consider the factors that will encourage your training as well as remove potential roadblocks.

• Is it a convenient commute to the gym or park?
• How often will you be able to meet? What times?
• Is this a price that I am able to pay for each month/week/session?
• Is this an environment that is safe and comfortable?

It’s easy to find an excuse why you shouldn’t call, but let’s face it, you’re still reading this for a reason. You’re reading because you care. Because you have a goal. Because you’re ready to do what it takes.

So instead of justifying why you can’t right now. Why it’s not a good time. Why next month would be better. Think about what your life would look like if today you made the choice that changed everything.

1. I won’t “fit” in.

When you show up to a CrossFit gym, you’ll find a different scene than the one you saw on television. Guess what else? You might be farther along in your fitness journey than other people attending the class…

It’s surprising, but one of the biggest factors keeping people from the gym is not being as fit as they want to be. What a catch-22! So, before you rule yourself out from being able to complete the Workout of the Day (or “WOD” in CrossFit lingo) let’s try to view the situation with fresh eyes.

As CrossFit has grown in popularity you’ve seen the well-muscled men and women of the CrossFit Games. As you watch them run, jump, and hoist tremendous weights overhead you think to yourself “I could never do that.”

So, what do you need to do? Try to reach out to a local CrossFit gym and see what it’s like. Like in the popular romantic comedy, Hitch, when the date doctor played by Will Smith teaches his client to move in for a kiss. The man moves in 90% of the distance and lets the woman come in for the final 10%. That’s where CrossFit is going to meet you. By opening the door, you will have access to a supportive and accepting community.

Your coach will help you “scale” to give a similar workout as those athletes on TV. The difference will be with lighter weights, shorter duration, or fewer repetitions. Everyone has unique strengths and weaknesses, but they are always there for each other. 

2. CrossFit will make me too big/bulky.

Getting too muscular is a common fear that many women have when they do deliberate strength training programs. Developing bigger muscles is a process called hypertrophy. Hypertrophy will occur with a consistent resistance training routine. Training volume, caloric consumption, and hormones all play an important role in the growth of new muscle. Any person you see that appears too muscular may spend as much time training as you do at your full-time job. With that said, it’s one piece of the puzzle and most likely won’t happen on accident.

Most athletes find they lose inches in all the right places even with increased muscle. Clothes fit better, they have a healthy appetite, and even look better naked! 

3. Don’t a lot of people who do CrossFit get injured?

Do people get injured participating in CrossFit. Yes.

People also get injured while jogging, moving furniture, walking their dogs, and shaving their legs in the shower. Injuries come from a lack of focus, preparation, or by not listening to our bodies. In fact, the injury incidence in CrossFit fits into a category with most other recreational training activities.

The functional movements used in CrossFit model the movements we complete in everyday life. Practicing fundamental movement patterns reduces the risk of injury and helps us become more confident and competent. A quick internet search will show you the tremendous success stories of individuals who have used CrossFit to overcome past injuries and debilitating diseases. 

4. CrossFit will make me worse at my sport.

If you have concerns, talk to a CrossFit gym who has trainers with experience in your sport of choice; football, baseball, triathlon, golf, and snowboarding athletes all can use the CrossFit method. CrossFit can support their sport with workouts built around the various stages of their competitive season.

CrossFit is “constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity.” It is a system of general physical preparedness (GPP). Being more prepared can benefit all athletes as they adapt to and overcome the rigors of their sport.

CrossFit is also designed to increase work capacity. Moving loads that are heavier, moving them faster, or moving them farther are all examples of increased work capacity. A football player who can perform more work will be stronger on each play he participates in. Increased work capacity will help an individual and team succeed in any sport!

Second week of the Open!  After completing 18.1 and getting a feel for the Open competition, it’s time to put your training and conditioning to work in these next two workouts. This week is an interesting workout, or should we say workouts, and is a little different than anything we have seen before.  Not only does it have a movement that we have never seen before, dumbbell squats, but also throws a variation by having multiple workouts with a common time cap.  This weeks workouts are:

Workout 18.2

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 reps for time of:
Dumbbell squats
Bar-facing burpees

Men use 50-lb. dumbbells

Women use 35-lb. dumbbells

Workout 18.2a

1-rep-max clean

Time cap: 12 minutes to complete 18.2 AND 18.2a

The goal of this workout is to get through the first part of the workout as fast as you can.  Not only is this workout scored on the time that it takes for you to complete it, but finishing early also means that you will have move time for 18.2a.  Now trying to finish as quick as possible doesn’t mean to go all out and crash.  As we saw from the games athletes, this workout can be completed unbroken in under 5 min, but only if you are at that elite level.  For most of the rest of us, this is going to take a bit longer and we aren’t going to have 8 minutes to recover and go for that max effort clean.  Just like last week, this is a workout that needs to be paced, such that we can keep moving the whole time.

Starting with the dumbbell squats, the biggest goal is to not put them down and use this time to regulate your breath.  Make sure each rep counts and that you are below parallel with full hip extension at the top.  You don’t want any no reps.  Also, putting the dumbbells down is going to be a big waste in effort to pick them up again and clean them to your shoulder.  If you need to rest, take a quick pause at the top, get a breath and get back into it.  Try not to take long pauses on the squats.  A key thing to come in and work on before the workout is how you are going to hold the dumbbells during the squats.  The only requirement is that the dumbbells must rest on the shoulders.  Take this time to find a grip that will allow you to relax your arms as much as possible and focus this part of the workout on your legs.

As for the burpees, unfortunately, we are all familiar with burpees and there aren’t a lot of secrets, especially with this years new standards.  This year we must jump back with both feet and then bring both feet forward at the same time.  Stepping back or forward is no longer allowed for RX standards.  However, there are still a couple things to think about.  There is no requirement that you need to stand all the way up, and you shouldn’t.  Try to stay as efficient as possible by finishing the burpee and jumping right over the bar. Also, as you jump, the most efficient it is do a 180 degree turn and set yourself up for the next burpee.  Once again, find a pace on the burpees that is good for you and you can keep up the whole time.  For some, it is best to take a quick rest while at the bottom.  Others find this hard to breathe.  Either way, if you have to take a break, make it short and try and keep moving.  Remember, the faster you finish the more rest you have before the cleans.

There are a lot of transitions, so it’s important to set up your barbell and dumbbell close together and make sure you are efficient between the two movements.

On to the cleans.  Hopefully we have all made it to the clean and there is enough time that we can take a quick breather before the time runs out.  This is where setting up the initial weight is going to be important and depends on your skill level.  If you are a higher level athlete and are fairly certain that you will have plenty of time for the cleans and a little rest before you start, set your initial weight a little higher and work up from there.  The challenge is to try and get your heart rate down as much as possible before you start, but still have time to do as many reps as possible.  For those of us that might finish with less than a minute left, have your bar setup with something that you know you will be able to do even if you are fatigued.  The best thing about this workout is that you can have two people to change out your weights, so if you finish earlier that you thought, you can always have them put more weight on as you slow your heart rate.  It will be a little more difficult to have them rip the weight off as time is expiring.  The worst thing would be to get all the way through the workout and then not get an 18.2a score because you had to much weight on the bar.

As always, have fun and push hard.  This is a workout will challenge athletes at all levels.