5 things a good personal trainer would never do

Posted on by Andris Z

In every field, there will be a few different ways of doing things. Although other careers will have people doing things differently, all with the end result being positive, there are some things a personal trainer really shouldn’t ever do. When it comes to being a Personal Trainer, some things are non-negotiable as they can lead to injuries, bad experiences for clients and eventually, the loss of a client base for your business. Australian Institute of Fitness Victoria Fitness Coach, Christopher Meggyesy, lays down the 5 things a great Personal Trainer would never be caught doing.

1. LOSE FOCUS

A great personal trainer’s client focus doesn’t ever waiver. There are some Personal Trainers out there that remind me of Dory from Finding Nemo; very easily distracted. Your clients are paying for YOUR time. From the moment you greet your 10:30 client to the moment they leave, the great PT is 100% about their training. Whether it’s fixing technique, handing their client a water bottle, or just being the motivation they need, it’s all about your client. Whoever it is that just walked in the gym, they can wait. If you’re a personal trainer and you are constantly getting tied up with other things, checking your phone or chatting with other people during a client’s session, you may find some clients parting ways with you and finding someone new.

2. DOESN’T PROGRAM

The great PT will have every moment of the training session accounted for prior to beginning the session. It’s pretty obvious when the PT is umming and ahing about what’s next for the client, they’re winging it. A PT should know what is happening at each minute, what will be covered and how to get the best workout completed specific to the client within the time they have booked with them. If a PT seems to be lost, chances are they aren’t really sure of what the client needs in order for them to reach their goals. Remember, those who fail to plan, plan to fail.

3. TRAIN EVERY CLIENT THE SAME WAY

Every client is different, aren’t they? They have each got their own little quirks, health concerns, and movement deficiencies. So why are there so many cookie cutter programs out there? Each program should be tailored to the client’s needs, that’s part of what your client is paying you for. One of the first things a personal trainer should be doing within the first session is asking what a client’s needs and wants are, what their goals are, what they hope to achieve and also ask about the client’s past history with exercise. A PT should understand completely what a client is capable of doing (and not doing) and working on the areas they wish to work on in order to achieve their goals. Because everyone has different goals, everyone’s session should look and feel different.

4. LOOKS AT THEIR PHONE

iPhones, Android phones, Windows phones, even your old Nokia! No matter what the brand, having one in your hand while you’re taking a session, regardless of the intention, just looks like a distraction. You may very well be timing your client with your stopwatch app, but to the outside world and any future clients that may see your session, they can’t tell the difference between timing a client, and swiping right on Tinder. Clients are paying for the time and attention of a trainer for a reason. The best PT’s should ditch their phone for the whole session and their focus directly on the client at all times.

5. DOESN’T WALK THE TALK

Let’s face it, you are your own brand. Prospective clients start forming opinions about you the second they see you. In that first second, how are you marketing yourself? That first second might come when you turn up for your 5:30am client on a Monday morning, and a brand new member to the gym sees you as you walk in the door. Do you look (and smell) like you just rolled out of bed, or do you look clean, neat and tidy with an awesome smile? Ask yourself, who are you more likely to hand over your hard money earned to? Someone who looks and acts like a professional, or the slob that just rolled out of bed? Feeling and looking fit and healthy is going to also rub off on the client’s. A client is going to feel more motivated to get up early and get a great workout completed if their PT looks like they’ve already completed it and are now feeling (and looking) fantastic.

A trainer should be there to help, motivate, assist when needed and provide the right training and fitness advice possible for each and every client. Getting to know a client is a must-have and being able to provide the right workout for each client is a necessity. If you’re a PT and you find yourself doing some of the above things, it may be time to step back and take a look at your role and look at ways you can address them and help your clients to reach their full potential once more. If you’re a client and are noticing some of these “red flags” with your own trainer, it may be time to take a look at other trainers in the area who may be able to help you succeed. 

Source: https://bit.ly/2ou8xkK

Visit our website and join the mailing list! Our app is coming soon:

http://fitradar.me/

Exercise makes you happier than having money

Posted on by Andris Z

Exercise makes you happier than having money, according to Yale and Oxford research.

  • Researchers at Yale and Oxford may have proven exercise is more important to your mental health than your economic status.
  • The scientists found that, while those who exercised regularly tended to feel bad for around 18 days a year, non-active participants felt bad for 35 days more on average.
  • The team also noticed that certain sports that involve socializing can have more of a positive effect on your mental health than others.

It’s clear exercise has health benefits both physical and mental — but what if we could actually prove it was more important to your mental health than your economic status?

According to a study carried out by researchers at Yale and Oxford, we may have done just that.

In the study, published in The Lancet, scientists collected data about the physical behavior and mental mood of over 1.2 million Americans.

Participants were asked to answer the following question: “How many times have you felt mentally unwell in the past 30 days, for example, due to stress, depression, or emotional problems?”

The participants were also asked about their income and physical activities. They were able to choose from 75 types of physical activity — from lawn-mowing, childcare, and housework to weight lifting, cycling, and running.

Those who keep more active tend to be happier overall

The scientists found that, while those who exercised regularly tended to feel bad for around 18 days a year, non-active participants felt bad for 35 days more on average.

In addition, the researchers found that physically active people feel just as good as those who don’t do sports, but who earn around $25,000 more a year.

Essentially, you’d have to earn quite a lot more for your earnings to give you the same happiness-boosting effect sport has.

That doesn’t mean, however, that the more sport you do, the happier you are.

Too much exercise can be detrimental to your mental health

Exercise is clearly good for you but how much is too much?

“The relationship between sport duration and mental load is U-shaped,” said study author Adam Chekroud of Yale University in an interview with Die Welt. The study found that physical activity only contributes to better mental well-being when it falls within a certain time frame.

According to the study, three to five training sessions each lasting between 30 to 60 minutes per week is ideal.

More than this, however, can have the opposite effect — in fact, the mental health of those participants who exercised for longer than three hours a day suffered more than that of those who weren’t particularly physically active.

The scientists also noticed that certain sports that involve socializing — i.e. team sports — can have more of a positive effect on your mental health than others.

Despite the fact that neither cycling nor aerobics and fitness technically counts as team sports, these activities can also have a considerable positive effect on your mental health.

Source: https://bit.ly/2J66b4H

Please visit our website and join the mailing list. Our app is coming soon: http://fitradar.me/

Collaboration between developers and non-developers in FitRadar

Posted on by dzidai

Initially when we worked on the idea of Fitradar several people were involved – among them were sports club manager, designer, and developer. Everyone put his ideas on the table and after several brainstorm meetings we came up with initial requirements for our future product. Later all who participated in user requirement creation became in one or another way a tester. The user requirement authors knew the best how the app should work, so they were the ones who could verify the application’s design and the functionality.

Now when we have a tangible product, the people who laid down the requirements want to make sure their ideas are working properly in the application. Some of the features are possible to test via User Interface, like design and navigation. And in this case a screen is serving as a medium of communication between developers and testers. People who are testing the application can take screenshots and explain the problem to developer in a demonstrable way. But how to make sure the business logic implemented in application is behaving according to the requirements. Developers implemented it according to their interpretation of requirements. Although we used UML diagrams tables and pictures, many times the only way to describe the business logic was a human language. And as we know human language is quite ambiguous and fills the gaps with a lot of assumptions and that inevitably leads to misinterpretation. One way for non developer to test the applications business logic is to try to invoke it from a UI and see if it works correctly, but developers and QA know that in such way we are covering just a small portion of test cases. So there must be a better way for user requirement authors, would it be Quality Assure, Business Analysist or any other team member, to make sure the business logic he proposed is functioning as expected.

I already wrote about the test strategy in our team and well known test pyramid. The lower level tests are written by developers and only time when they need an input from other team members is the time when they are interpreting the requirements. Once the requirements are clear they can write the code and accompanying unit tests. Even UI tests can be written with little help from non developers, but the part where user requirement authors start to play important role is functional tests. In case of our app the UI is separated from the rest of application and most of the business logic happens on the back-end. So the functional tests in our team include back-end API tests and mobile application API tests.

The way how we helped the non developers in our team understand the implanted business logic was by using some principles of the Domain Driven Design and Behavior Driven Development. I should say not everything what Eric Evans described in his book “Domain Language Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software” was applicable to our solution, but some aspects really helped us to establish a good way of collaboration between team members and today I wanted to share those aspect of DDD:

  • Ubiquitous Language, the term introduces by Eric Evans, helped our developers and the rest of the team speak the same language. The main idea of Ubiquitous Language is to create a common vocabulary of a given business domain that both domain experts and developers would speak. It was quite easy to establish since in the process of creation of user requirements both developers and non developers were present and developers knew quite well the business domain. Most of the value of the common language we started to see when developers had to read their implemented logic to non developers
  • The next step when the vocabulary of app was created, was to create the API methods that non developers are able to understand and follow. In order to achieve this API methods were written on such abstraction level that only domain vocabulary was used – all the technical details were hidden in the underlying classes and methods. Even logical operations were converted in to the methods that expressed the domain concept.
  • Once the API methods were in place, the business logic authors could participate in API review. But even then there might be a flaw in the requirements itself. And so we needed to write tests expressed in domain language. For this purpose we use some aspects of Behavior driven development, particularly we used Cucumber language (Gherkin plugin on Android Studio and SpecFlow extension on Visual Studio) for writing functional and UI tests. Since the Cucumber language is intended to be used not only by developers but by regular humans as well then everyone who contributed to our application’s user requirements was able to add tests as well.

Visit our website and join the mailing list. Our app is coming soon: http://fitradar.me/

Top 10 Benefits of Personal Training

Posted on by Andris Z

From helping you reach your fitness goals to figuring out how to exercise safely with a chronic condition, learn the top 10 benefits of personal training and why it could be one of the best investments you’ll make in your overall health and well-being.

1. Motivation

Most of us work harder in the presence of others. Having a trainer by your side can provide the encouragement, energy and motivation you need to jumpstart your routine. A trainer can also help you set goals, create a plan to accomplish them and celebrate the day you reach them.

2. Consistency

Do you find it difficult to stick with a program or habit? A trainer can hold you accountable and help you overcome all the excuses you might use to avoid your commitment to exercise. It’s a lot harder to skip the gym when you know someone is waiting for you.

3. Clarity

Fitness can be confusing. There is a lot of information to sort through. Eat this, not that. Cardio before or after strength training? Your trainer can help you find credible information and provide direction on your fitness journey. A trainer can help remove the guesswork so you can put all your energy toward accomplishing your goals.

4. Confidence

The gym can be intimidating. Working with a trainer allows you to become confident with how to perform exercises, use machines and navigate the facility. After a few sessions, you will feel ready to tackle the weight room on your own. Even better, an ego boost during exercise can promote stronger self-confidence and self-efficacy, which can help you stick with your exercise program over the long term.

5. Avoid Injury

If you are new to exercise or find that some movements are painful, it is worth hiring a trainer to be certain that you are moving in a safe and effective way. Taking the time to learn proper exercise technique can improve your results and prevent annoying injuries.

6. Individual Attention

When it comes to fitness, everyone is different. Your unique body mechanics, experience, goals, fitness level, likes and dislikes can guide your trainer in creating a plan that is specific to your needs. With a program that fits, you are more likely to maintain the habit and see results.

7. Sport-specific Training

Do you want to run your first 5K or prepare for a backpacking trip? Looking to shave some strokes off your golf game? Your trainer can design a fitness program specific to your sport, which will improve your performance and reduce your chance of injury during the event(s).

8. Training With Medical Conditions

Exercise is beneficial for preventing or managing many common chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and hypertension. However, exercising with a medical condition requires additional precautions. A knowledgeable trainer with experience training clients with chronic conditions can design a program that ensures your safety and provides a positive exercise experience.

9. Aging Gracefully

Our bodies change as we age. Perhaps the exercises you used to do no longer work with your body, or maybe you’ve stopped seeing results. A trainer can help you adjust or adapt your program as you age, which will allow you to maintain functionality and strength.

10. FUN

Believe it or not, exercise can be enjoyable. A savvy personal trainer can make exercise both effective and fun. Group or buddy training can be a great way to increase enjoyment, make exercise social and attain the services of a trainer for a cheaper rate. And simply working with a trainer who you like and respect can be enough to provide you with more gratification from your workouts.

Visit our website and join the mailing list! Our app is coming soon:

http://fitradar.me/

P.S. Source: https://bit.ly/2ZegcjW