Having a personal trainer to push you to your limits while you are training increases body mass and muscle strength compared to exercising on your own, says new research.
Health on Female First
A ground-breaking, three month study at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine in California, found that personal training has a dramatic impact on fitness levels.
The study found that during a 12-week period, those who had a personal training session three times a week increased their lean body mass by 3.3 pounds, increased muscle strength by 42% and increased muscle power by 10%.
We caught up with Carl Martin, personal trainer at Equinox, to speak about the survey.
The new study shows that personal training sessions are more beneficial – why do you think this is?
There are many reasons why personal training sessions work. To begin with, choosing a skilled trainer who knows how to manipulate variables such as sets, reps, rest, load and time under tension to name but a few, means that you can feel confident that they will adjust your programme to suit your specific needs to ensure you achieve results. A good trainer will be armed with a plan which is periodised for the client, allowing them to track results, progress and regress where applicable, and plot the outcome based on adherence. Knowledge of anatomy, physiology and kinesiology help the trainer to tailor a programme to the specific requirements of the individual, making the programme specific and effective for that particular client.
Do people need a personal trainer for every session that they do?
It depends on the client and their specific needs, very often clients do complete training sessions in addition to their scheduled personal training slots. However, the best scenario is for us to see a client three times a week, and for any additional sessions to be prescribed by the trainer to compliment the clients' regime. In order for us to help achieve the goals the clients are looking for, we need to be able to control certain things, specifically form and intensity. There are 168 hours in a week, so there is a lot of time that a trainer cannot control. The time spent with a client often needs to counteract some of their other activities in the remaining 165 hours. Enough stimuli needs to be provided to the body in order to create adaptation and change. Along with this, rest is important, allowing for this adaptation to occur. Using the super-compensation model, 3 times a week provides enough stimuli to the body for it to adapt, whilst providing adequate rest for the body to recover. Education plays a large role here also, as the time spent within sessions should be a learning experience. A good trainer will teach, not just show someone the way.
What are the benefits of having a personal trainer?
-Education and knowledge obviously play a big role in the benefits of having a trainer. If this isn't enough, sometimes the mere adherence to seeing a trainer for planned sessions provides enough motivation for a client to achieve outcomes they hadn't done before. A lot of clients we see here at Equinox have highly stressful careers and are in positions of power, and sometimes the last thing they want is to plan and track their own performance in a gym environment. Leaving it up to someone else to plan and monitor takes some stress out of going to the gym. Having an appointment in the diary can also encourage the adherence to a training programme. The level of accountability goes up when another person is involved, and can often provide the stimulus to the person that is required. The importance of setting aside time for you is often overlooked, and the appointment with the trainer helps to make the time effective.
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