I work as a trainer and I can tell you that most trainers know less than what I learned in my 1st year of lifting in 7th grade. I'm not kidding. The mark of a good trainer is that he/she will be able to motivate you, prescribe exercise, and explain what the exercises are doing for you. Even then, if you find your trainer is asking you to spend a lot of time on the BOSU ball, or isn't at least preparing you to start doing squats, deadlifts, and bench press, I recommend running away as fast as possible.
The benefit of a trainer is that you have someone who can be with you often and, ideally, provide a high level of advice and encouragement. If you can find a great gym partner, the gym partner trumps the trainer every time. Hence,
Quote (Tear @ 7 Mar 2017 14:19)
just ask for help from someone who seems approachable at the gym .
happens to me all the time.
no one cares, save your 500-1000$ and just ask
plus making friends in the gym is always a bonus
I recommend
The Swoly Bible (book) for laughs and some practical advice in terms of gym "etiquette", finding a partner, and why lifting is so fun and yet so challenging. The "Gym Bro"/"Broscience" system is fairly descriptive of a typical gym scene.
I have to press you to get even more specific about your goals
You can't measure yourself up to what can't be measured. Feeling better and getting down to the low 200s is workable, but what do you want to do with feeling better? What is your empowering future? What job will you have, how much money will you make and how much will you contribute to your community or the world? It may sound a bit dumb to extend your goals in that way, but ultimately going to the gym is a lifestyle change and it should fit within a bigger picture of what you're going to do with your life. Be bold and imagine whatever you desire. Imagine big. But remember that the BIG goals, although primary, are achieved last. So you will want daily goals, weekly goals, etc. right up to 3 year and 5 year goals. You don't need to do that, but if you don't believe you can live a bigger and better life, I recommend doing it because if you find yourself taking steps forward you will eventually find your path.
In your exercise goals, what do you want to be able to bench? Deadlift? Squat? When? If you have no idea what goal to have, find a strong beast at your gym and find out what he lifts. Don't take his word for it, see him do it
These are just examples, but the idea I am expressing is that by setting a bunch of different types of goals, so long as we can keep track of it all without going nuts, you give yourself a mark to reach. If you take steps, you will reach your little goals first, and your bigger goals in time. If your goals are even remotely reasonable you can follow through and find greatness.
It's fine to be just OK, to get a little slimmer, to feel more energy ... but why not hit for the homerun? Get started with big ideas but also have little ideas. What you will notice is that the more your goals fit what you truly desire, the more you will see how they can and should relate to each other, and the more you will look forward to every rep and every set.
And now that I've told you to have a bunch of different goals, I'm going to sound like I'm saying the opposite thing and telling you that focus is the key to reaching your goals. You can only focus on one thing at a time, so when you are lifting, you focus on your lifting goals, when you're eating you focus on your eating goals, when you're at work or with friends, you focus on dietary or relationship practice. Every aspect of life is a skill, and the only way to get good at anything is to try, fail or succeed, and learn something new. I've added something about goals because, with absolute respect intended in saying this, if you're managed to get to 300 pounds and feeling low energy, you more than likely could use a bit of a push in the direction of goal setting.
Quote (dirTyMan @ 7 Mar 2017 15:47)
No. because if he's going in the gym with imbalances already straight lifting won't necessarily correct those and could further the imbalances. You can argue until you're blue in the face but I'm sticking by my suggestion and will recommended it to every person starting out in lifting.
I get what you're saying and if he can get that info early it's great. But if he needs to travel the world to get all the answers he needs he's never going to get anywhere. Also, your example above oversimplifies the process of knowing whether or not a problem is structural/physiological, random, or based on habit. A foot can turn out for several reasons and only one (unlikely) possibility is tightness in the calves. From the injury prevention and performance standpoints, corrections are important to address as early as possible, but I dn't think they're typically anywhere near as important as just getting started with decent form and some knowledge of anatomy.
This post was edited by RewtheBrave on Mar 7 2017 02:03pm