Good personal trainers don’t grow on trees and aren’t bodybuilders.  There are a lot of qualified and experienced fitness professionals out here looking to help people.  You all just need to know what you’re looking for and how to find them.  So here’s my take on what people should look for when hiring a personal trainer…

Finding a qualified fitness professional to whip you into shape is just a few mouse clicks away if you visit the National Strength and Conditioning Association’s (NSCA) web site.  The NSCA is the worldwide authority on strength and conditioning and is the first fitness-related certifying agency to be accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies.

The NSCA offers the gold standard certifications in the field for fitness professionals.  Along with the NSCA, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) is the other certifying organization that offers a meaningful certification.  Traditionally the ACSM was involved with professionals working in clinical settings, but in recent years, they have broadened their certification offerings to include those working with people from healthy populations.  The ACSM employs an extremely high standard for all of their certifications.

I built my business according to the guidelines developed by the NSCA with regard to staffing, philosophy and every other meaningful aspect of the business and have seen firsthand how the NSCA’s principles are based in legit science and, as a result, produce rock solid results for our clients.  My partners and I and all of our employees hold the NSCA’s highest certification – the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) – and we all train our clients according to NSCA guidelines.

There are many factors that need to be considered before you hire a personal trainer, but I like to start with the certification.  Your personal trainer should hold an NSCA certification – either the Certified Personal Trainer or CSCS designation.  If you cannot find an NSCA certified trainer look for a trainer with the ACSM designation.  And remember membership in these organizations is not the same as actually being certified.  A lot of trainers who aren’t certified will advertise that they are members of these organizations with the hope that potential clients will be satisfied that membership is indicative of some kind of proficiency in the field.  A membership in these organizations can be obtained by anyone willing to pay the dues.

A serious fitness professional should be willing and able to make the commitment to earn a valid certification.  The cost is more than reasonable given the importance the certification holds, and the test truly prepares candidates for the realities and responsibilities of the job. In addition to the certification, there are a variety of other important factors such as college education, experience and references.

Every trainer should be willing to provide you with their resume that includes their educational background, certification status and certificate number, years of experience and a list of at least five clients that you can speak with.  You should also ask the prospective trainer what their training philosophy is and what their athletic background is.  My advice is to stay away from bodybuilders and distance runners.  Also, ask the trainer if their workouts are machine based or ground based, and if they use single joint or multi-joint exercises.

Training sessions should involve very few, if any machines.  With the exception of the pull down machine and the seated row machine, you should spend all of your training time on your feet and not sitting or lying on equipment. You also, don’t need to have your trainer watch you spend long stretches of time on cardiovascular machines.  This you can do on your own.  Run from anyone who shows an unwillingness to share any of this info with you.

There are many factors that go into making a decision about what trainer is right for you. But if you look for a valid certification and know answers to some key questions you will have a much better shot at hiring somebody who knows what they are doing.

Whether you workout at home or at a commercial gym you should be spending the vast majority of your time weight training with dumbbells.

Flat out, dumbbells are the most versatile pieces of exercise equipment that you will find in any gym.  If you train with dumbbells you can adapt any exercise in at least three different ways, and all of these variations are superior for developing strength and improving fitness than are their barbell equivalents.

Let’s take an old favorite of mine, the military press.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with what a military press is, here’s a quick explanation.  Basically, “militaries” are performed by standing with your feet shoulder width apart while holding the weight at shoulder level before pressing the weight straight overhead so that the arms are locked, and then lowering the weights back to the shoulder.  During the pressing movement, the posture is upright and the legs do not contribute at all to the lift.

If you use a barbell to perform the military press – obviously- both arms work at the same time to produce the upward and downward phase of the press.  Thus we have only one barbell version of the military press.

Doing the military press with dumbbells gives us at least 5 different ways to do the military press; both arms pressing at the same time, alternating arms pressing, holding dumbbells in each hand but performing 10 repetitions with one side before switching to the other side, holding one dumbbell at a time and performing 10 reps with one side before switching to the other side, and “curl and presses” where you start with the dumbbells at your side and perform a biceps curl them to get them to shoulder level before pressing them overhead.  And there are more, but by now you should get the idea.

Dumbbells give you the chance to develop unilateral strength – one side at a time – because both of your hands aren’t fixed to a barbell.  In the above example, even if you are pressing two dumbbells at the same time you are developing unilateral strength because each side is working by itself to produce movement.  Weight lifting exclusively with barbells – bilaterally – can lead to muscular and strength imbalances that you might not notice until you try to use dumbbells.

I’ve had people tell me that one side was stronger than the other because it was their dominant side, when in reality this imbalance was due to always training with a barbell.

Actually, in my exercise tips section of the site I will regularly provide info on a variety of dumbbell variations that you can include in your workouts.  But I will tell you now that you can do every exercise with dumbbells that you can do with barbells; squats, dead lifts, bench press, rows and even explosive, Olympic style lifts as well.

If you are looking for equipment for your home you might think dumbbells pose a bit of a problem from a space standpoint because you will need to purchase 10 or 12 sets of dumbbells.  Well, you’d be wrong on that count, as there are now adjustable dumbbells that pack 15 pairs of dumbbells into one pair.

So rather than clutter your workout area with a rack and 30 dumbbells – or even a home gym system or barbell set – you can now purchase one set of adjustable dumbbells that range in weight from 5 pounds to 52.5 pounds, and cost less than traditional dumbbell/barbell set ups as well.

Dumbbell training is the most efficient and effective mode of training that you can do in any setting.  No matter what your fitness goals are, dumbbells will help you achieve these goals better than any other piece of equipment.

Recently elliptical machines have been giving treadmills a run for the money in the category of “Most Popular Piece of Cardio Equipment,” as the elliptical allows people to get a good cardio workout with a minimum of impact on their joints.

If you are trying to decide which piece of equipment would be best for you, here are some factors to consider.

There’s no question that the ease of use associated with ellipticals – I think they provide an easier form of exercise – accounts for their ever-growing popularity.  However, ellipticals are also quieter and have fewer moving parts than do treadmills.

Even the best and quietest of treadmills will make a lot of noise when it’s in your home. In my facility we have both treads and ellipticals, the ellipticals require far less regular maintenance and over the past 6 years we have never had to repair our ellipticals but have had to do so several times with our treadmills. This isn’t to say that treadmills are unreliable, but with fewer moving parts and less impact on the machine, elliptical trainers are less likely to break down.

If you’re looking to push yourself, treadmills can provide a more intense workout than elliptical machines.  The results from a few studies seem to indicate that with regard to oxygen consumption, heart rate and calorie expenditure ellipticals can offer every bit the workout that treadmills do.  However, since people hold on during an elliptical training session they are not balancing and stabilizing themselves.

Developing and maintaining balance and stability is of vital importance to people of all ages.   When holding on, the machine provides balance and stability.  When working out on a treadmill and not holding on balance and stability are being improved.  Since most of us don’t hold on to anything as we go about our daily routine, this one difference makes the treadmill a better workout.  People who suffer from diminished capacity need to walk on a treadmill – even if they have to hold on – in order to develop balance and stability.

The Bottom Line: Even though they are noisy and take up more space, the treadmill is the way to go if you really want to push yourself during your workouts.  If you want a machine that you can put pretty much anywhere in your home and will give you a good low-impact workout, than the elliptical machine is for you.

If your trainer takes after the trainers on the reality show, “The Biggest Loser” it’s time to get a new trainer.  Rather than tell you – yet again – about the problems with the trainers on the show, I’ll let the following clip do most of the work.

Watch the clip and put yourself in the position of the client; would you want to be treated in this manner by any employee of yours?  Never forget that as personal trainers we are your employees, we work for you.

The personal trainers on the show, “The Biggest Loser” have won the fitness lottery, but have decided not to use their platform to represent the high end of the profession.  They disrespect their clients and the fitness profession with just about everything that they do on the show and have created a class of health and fitness victims.

I was fortunate to learn the right way to do things from some of the people who were responsible for personal training becoming a mainstream profession.  Back in the late 1980s I was taught how to be a personal trainer by the staff of New York City’s Plus One Fitness Clinic. Training members of Manhattan’s elite – show business, the financial business, the art and publishing world – we were taught that it was all about the client.  And it still is.

At some point over the past 20 years personal training became all about the personal trainer; in the mainstream the personality of the trainer became more important than the client.  There is no way that the antics of the personal trainers on the show, “The Biggest Loser” would have been tolerated by the clients or the management back in the day.

Your personal trainer doesn’t know what he’s doing if he treats you like you’re on, “The Biggest Loser.”

I’ve come to recognize plenty of telltale signs that a personal trainer isn’t giving a client their best effort. If your trainer does not employ a wide-variety of routines, this is a sign that she doesn’t know what she’s doing.

Personal trainers can fall into many lazy habits and you can tell a lot about a trainer by the lack of variety they use in their workouts.  If your trainer has you do the same workouts over and over again, it’s time to find another trainer. Whether they are lazy or uniformed, there’s no excuse for personal trainers who don’t vary training sessions.

The only thing that should be “routine” about your exercise routines is that they occur at the same time on the same days (and even that should change!).  If your trainer is giving you your money’s worth they should never have you do the same workout routine; a good personal trainer knows that there is the possibility for infinite variety in workout design.

Regardless of what the goal is for a given workout, there’s no reason that a trainer should always use the same exercises, in the same order, using the same weights, repetitions and amount of sets.  Even the warm-up periods should vary as dynamic flexibility exercises, calisthenics, jumping rope and other similar exercises can be combined to offer unlimited variety.

If your personal training sessions seem to be all be the same – doing the same exercises in the same order, or worse, the same machines in the same order – you aren’t getting what you paid for.  If your personal trainer isn’t providing you with an always changing, always evolving training experience, you should look for a new trainer.

Exercise is less effective when your workouts never change.  The body is great at adapting, and doing the same workouts all the time is one of the main reasons people experience training plateaus.  You can spend a lot of time in the gym and get minimal results when your training routine becomes routine.

Your personal trainer doesn’t know what they’re doing if they don’t constantly change your workouts.

The International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism (IJSNEM) is a valuable resource for inquiring fitness consumers, as well as personal trainers and strength coaches.

The IJSNEM is published by Human Kinetics and presents, “original scientific investigations and scholarly reviews offering new insights into sport nutrition and exercise metabolism, as well as articles focusing on the application of the principles of biochemistry, physiology, and nutrition to sport and exercise.”

Now, a lot of science is included in the reviews and studies published in the IJSNEM, but for if you are interested in getting real, no-nonsense information check out the video review and visit the  Human Kinetics web site for more details.

I’d like to thank MsFitOnline for allowing my “Biggest Loser” video blog (Vlog) entry to appear on her site.

MizFitOnline is one of the most influential fitness bloggers on the Internet and last week I was lucky enough to have her appear as a guest video blogger on HealthAndFitnessAdvice.com.

In what can be filed under the heading of, “One Good Turn Deserves Another,” MizFitOnline was good enough to feature my video blog on the problems that I have with “The Biggest Loser” on her site, MizFitOnline.com.

Regular readers to the site know that I think “The Biggest Loser” represents all that is bad with the fitness business and how personal trainers are portrayed.  Check it out.

Try to complete the first level of the HealthAndFitnessAdvice.com Conditioning Gauntlet.

I don’t believe in using the scale as a measure of a person’s fitness.  I don’t care how much someone weighs and don’t view weight loss as being an improvement to a person’s fitness level.  Performance and capability is what rules the day and is all that matters when measuring the success of a fitness program.

Over 20 years as a personal trainer and coach I have developed a “Conditioning Gauntlet” that I use with my clients and kids that I coach.  The Gauntlet is split into 2 sections; the first section consists of pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, 60-yard shuttle runs and the broad jump, the second section consists of the split jerk, squat, military press, dead lift and snatch.

I use different guidelines for men and women, and there are 2 levels for each section that reflect difficulty and conditioning level.

Here’s level 1 of the first section of the HealthAndFitnessAdvice.com Conditioning Gauntlet for women.

• Pull-ups – 1 set of 3 repetitions
• Push-ups – 1 set of 25 repetitions
• Sit-ups – 1 set of 45 repetitions
• Broad jump – 7 feet (best of 3 jumps)
• 60-yard shuttle runs – complete 8 in 14 seconds (or under) each taking 46 seconds rest in between shuttles

Being able to perform any one of these tasks means you’re probably in pretty good shape, especially the shuttle runs.  However, any woman - of any age - who can complete these tasks consecutively is in very good shape.

When attempting to complete the Gauntlet allow plenty of time for a general warm up and do an abbreviated set of each “event,” and give yourself no more than 3-minutes in between exercises.  A word to the wise; don’t try to complete this test until you have actually worked on these events.  The shuttle run portion of the Gauntlet is extremely difficult – even for people who are in pretty good cardiovascular shape – and unless you’ve taken time and worked up to the 8 shuttles you will struggle mightily.

The HealthAndFitnessAdvice.com Conditioning Gauntlet provides an accurate measure of your fitness level and any woman who can complete this test – regardless of what the scale says – is in very good shape.

This week I’m honored to have as my guest video blogger MizFitOnline, one of the most influential bloggers on the Internet.

This topic wasn’t originally my plan for today’s Monday Facetime—-but I couldn’t get your comments on this post out of my head.

I was touched, saddened, heartened, inspired and, honestly, shocked  by the stories you shared.

The comment-snippets below sparked the above Facetime.

I’d be honored if you’d make the time to share your thoughts so we can compile an uplifting commentversation thread.

Last week’s comments (while entirely what I’d asked for and quite powerful) verged on sad.

I know we may not come up with one answer (as per the last comment below) but at least we’ll have a start.

I would love a tip post, Miz. How I can not duplicate in my children how I feel.

what I want my daughter to take into the rest of her life is that healthy and strong is beautiful. DD should find an activity she’s good at and enjoys, and then get out there and kick butt… .

I wanted to share that in your video when you said that your daughter would be enough just being who she is I cried a little. That’s all I ever wanted.

I think you may be correct that there is no one answer—-Id love to try and find one. Will you address this again?