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Unsure.. Need PT Melb south east suburbs

gtrb26dett

New member
Hi all,

I'm not sure if this is in the correct section. Anyway I have been trying to find PT for the last couple of weeks with no success. I can not find one that trains hard and is actually good not like the typical "gym trainers" who can not lift heavier then 20kilos and are built like house's.

Can anyone help. I'm located in the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne. I'm willing to pay around 60 for a session. I want to train at least 4 times a week. Also I'm a chick.

Any help would be great. Thanks
 
where abouts do you live? im in mulgrave. (not a PT)
 
Yes, I was having a bad hair day.
I deleted it...LOL

How did you go finding a PT OP?
 
I found one but then I got sick of travelling the distant. So now I'm like f* it I'm just going to join my gym and do it myself.
 
What did you want from a PTI, though? Because they can offer,
  • help in setting your goals
  • once goals are set, help in different ways to achieve them
  • motivation
  • accountability - ie you have someone to answer to, which encourages you to keep going
Most people have the biggest problems with motivation and accountability, they join gyms but then bail within a month. So depending on what you really want and need, a gym might be best, or a personal trainer might be best.
 
Well at the moment I don't want to pay for a PT as I have a few things I need to pay for. So I can't really afford a PT right now.

What I'm after is just little bit toner, higher fitness level that is all. I'm really fussed about my weight as I'm not fat just have love handles I hate but no one can really notice lol

I'm sure you all know what chicks want, just nice body, with a good ass lol
 
What did you want from a PTI, though? Because they can offer,
  • help in setting your goals
  • once goals are set, help in different ways to achieve them
  • motivation
  • accountability - ie you have someone to answer to, which encourages you to keep going
Most people have the biggest problems with motivation and accountability, they join gyms but then bail within a month. So depending on what you really want and need, a gym might be best, or a personal trainer might be best.
1. Any decent minded person can set their own goals.
2. Theres many ways to help acheive goals such as free forums, reading, watching videos, asking peolpe at gym.
3. Motivation is a poor excuse. Motivation is free, you should not have to pay some one to motivate you. If you aint motivated, then don't set goals.
4. Start a training log and abide by it, this gives you accountability and even more so if you post before and after pics.

And it's free.

I see PT's as teachers. If I wanted to learn to play an instrument I would go to a teacher because it takes a lot of knowledge and experience to teach some one to play which reading manuels and text books can only develope some one so far, but training in the gym is so damn easy, honestly it is. Watching videos (youtube is your tool), reading books /mags posting in forums, asking guys at gyms can sufficiently empower some one to train properly, there is no need to pay some one.
Dieting is just as easy through reading, asking questions and through trial and error.

PT's = waste of cash.

Sorry mate.
 
Yep, fair enough.

I understand about the $$$ issues, I'm getting married at the end of the year, then honeymoon next Easter, we have a mortgage - we're not hard up by any means, but we can't splash the cash around with indifference.

However, in some cases the extra investment can be worth it. Some people spend $1,000 on a 12 month gym membership, then after being sore or depressed stop going after a month, and 12 months later are back where they started, or worse. They might have spent another $1,000 on personal training, got the motivation and accountability to keep them going, and the knowledge to help them frame their progress.

Is it better to spend $1,000 to fail, or $2,000 to succeed?

Of course if you're motivated and have the knowledge, then you'll spend $1,000 to succeed, and all is good :)

But I would ask myself: how long have I wanted to change? What stopped me changing before? That thing stopping me, has it changed now? Those are important questions, because many people - I've done this myself - go through cycles of training a lot, then dropping out, then getting into it again, and so on.

Sometimes whatever was stopping us, a trainer and/or a gym membership can help that. Sometimes it can't. For example me - I'm a bit of an introvert, I like my idle time at home just pottering around. I can go for runs and do lots of pushups and things, but I'm unlikely to keep it up. And the gym, well... I had a membership at one, it was a mile away but there was nothing else there. Now this new gym, it's right next to the shops - so I have a reason other than workouts for going there. This makes me remember my membership every time I go past, and I combine the workout with shopping.

The gym works for me because it has a hard work atmosphere, I get into it. You know how when you walk into a library you instinctively drop your voice? Well, when I walk in a gym I instinctively want to work out. Like they said in The Castle: "it's the vibe."

As for PTs, once a month I have a session. There I discuss any niggling details, it helps keep me on track. I don't need the motivation or accountability, but I do need the knowledge. It's $50, and the membership is $56 a month - the $50 on PT helps make sure the $56 on gym is well-spent, I'm not just spinning my wheels going nowhere.

How do I afford it? Well, I used to have a slab of beer a month and eat a lot more takeout. Now I don't.

Not everyone needs a gym membership or personal training. But it does help a lot of people. I think of it this way: people who are born athletes need trainers to be champions, how can we average slobs do without them?

Most people drop out in their first month at the gym, lack of motivation and they're not accountable to anyone, so if I could only afford one of gym or personal trainer, then I would go for the trainer.

But that's something you have to decide for yourself.
 
Any decent minded person can set their own goals.

In principle, yes. In practice, to set goals you need some knowledge, and some people just don't know where to start. If I were to take up AFL, I couldn't set goals for my training because I just don't know enough about it. Lots of people don't know enough about general conditioning to start.

Theres many ways to help acheive goals such as free forums, reading, watching videos, asking peolpe at gym.

Definitely. However, don't forget all the bullshit broscience, add in the genuine science which is often in heaps too much detail - it can really overwhelm people. I've seen it many times, trainers or online experts talking about hypertrophy and ATP recovery and isolation and adduction and - "mate! I just don't want my belly to stick to my missus' belly during sex!"

A good trainer can cut through all that nonsense.

Motivation is a poor excuse. Motivation is free, you should not have to pay some one to motivate you. If you aint motivated, then don't set goals.

Nice theory. In practice, nine out of ten people who sign up for a 12 month gym membership don't go after the first month. That's why they get you to sign up for a year, if they expected you to come regularly they'd let you pay by session.

If everyone had the motivation to begin with, we wouldn't even need gyms, and all those absercisers wouldn't sit collecting dust under the bed until being returned to Cash Converters.

Sometimes people need a push start, once they're pushed along for a bit the engine starts and they can keep moving under their own power. Psychologists tell us it takes about 90 days for a new habit to form - good or bad. That's why Centrelink gives no help to people for the first three months after they lose their job - most have the habit of working, so they'll get back to it quickly, those who don't lose the habit of working, and need help. That's why new jobs have three months as the trial period - heaps of people bail on jobs in the first three months anyway, but if they stick that time out they'll usually stay a couple of years.

If you smoke or work out or take the train instead of driving or go to a new job or whatever for three months, you'll probably stick to it.

And everyone has down periods, especially if they reach some plateau of strength, fitness, fat loss or whatever. It can be good to have someone who'll help get you moving again.

Start a training log and abide by it, this gives you accountability and even more so if you post before and after pics.

I agree. But that's not everyone's style. Look around just these forums, lots of people don't have training logs, most don't have pictures. People get embarrassed, think, "oh no what if my progress is slow or stops, people will make fun of me," and so on.

Again, gyms and/or trainers are not for everyone. Lots of people don't need them. But they can help lots of people.

I see PT's as teachers.

I do, too. But teachers don't only impart knowledge. They also give motivation and accountability - that's why at school we had homework and exams :)

PT's = waste of cash.

Many of them, yes. Maybe for you. But not for everyone. I've had good results with the help of PTs, and posted pics to show it.
 
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Well why do people pay PT's?
1. Because they have not put the time in to learn how to train, their pholosiphy is, "The PT will show me how to do it". What they do not realise is that most PT's lack experience. I in my 19 years of training have only once seen a PT show his or her pupil how to do squats, it's always leg extensions and maybe leg press. "Squats will hurt your back" is the reason why. I have never seen a PT show a pupil deadlifts, never. These days it's a chest press machine and not barbell or dumbell presses.
It's not dips for triceps it, kickbacks. You see what I'm getting at Kyle?
2. Motivation. Some people will pay PT's because they think "If I'm paying for a PT I must go". Well if the only reason you are going is because you are paying then may as well not go becasue you are going for the wrong reason. Some one who really wants to change their body and lifestyle does not need to pay some one to keep them motivated, it comes from within.

I don't want to confuse paying for a PT and paying some one for advice. Some guys have been training for years and may want advice on competition preparation which can definatley come down to experience or training through injury whicjh also equires an experienced head.
Most PT's that I have seen have little experience and it shows from their body shape, scrawny stick legged 22 year olds who have just completed a 6 week course and have done 3 sets of chest press or dumbell kickbacks. what experience do they bring to the table. If I go to guitar lessond i want a guy who has played for years and can run his fingers up and down the fretboard like a champ, it would stand the same for a PT or any other person who wants to impart knowledge on a pupil..


End rant.
 
Yes, many PTs are crap.

But I don't see how that's different from any other profession, to be honest. How many times do we have headaches with car mechanics, electricians, real estate agents, doctors, at restaurants, and so on?

Lots of people are crap at their jobs. Lots are sort of alright but get judged harshly. A few are good.

You've not seen PTs show squats and deadlifts - well, I saw it last week as I described in my workout journal, the PT was killing some time before his client showed up, and was advising a couple of newbies to the gym. When he went to his client, he passed the guys on to me. Again, I have a lot to learn, but I know stuff like, "um, don't go knock-kneed when pressing up."

I'll be recommending squats and deadlifts where it fits with the client's health and goals.

This reminds me of when people say, "Asians are bad drivers." That's what the shrinks call "confirmation bias." If you're not Asian, then when some dickhead cuts you off in traffic, or pulls out from a park into traffic without looking back, if it was another white bloke, he's just a dickhead - but if he was Asian, it's a bloody Asian. You remember him. You don't remember the 2,000 Asian drivers you passed that day who were no problem, you just remember the one dickhead.

Likewise, in 19 years of training at gyms, I think it unlikely that all the PTs you ever saw were crap. Some had to be good, just by accident, like the lottery. When they're doing alright you don't notice them, only when they're idiots.

Yet again, they're not for everyone. Nor are gyms outside the home. Lots of people get good results without a PT or a gym. But lots get good results with them, and could only have got those results with them.

Now, if only Shrek had a proper workout journal or something where he told us about himself, then I could look at his chosen profession and say how because I met a few useless ones, they're all useless and nobody should hire them ever. :p
 
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I agree there are lots of crap people at their jobs, it's something consumers must be aware of.
I should clarify that not all PT's are incompetant, I know ther are many good ones, but my point stands at why do we actually need them when lifting a weight and peronalizing a program does not require to be paid for, but rewiring a house does because you need to be a licensed electrician and takes years to learn and become acredited, lifting a weight does not.
 
Again, it's a knowledge thing. The things which seem so simple to experienced people like us are quite complex to the typical gym-going person who spend eight hours a day at a desk.

Just think of all the newbies you've seen come into gyms and forums, the mixture of myth and misinformation they have.
"I want to get toned."
"I don't want to get bulky."
"I've been doing heaps of crunches but still can't see my abs."
"I eat pretty healthy."
"What's wrong with drinking every weekend?"
"I do inclines to build my upper pecs."
"I play hockey, so I don't need to work out my legs."
"But girls can't lift heavy weights."
"Beginners need 200+g of protein a day."
"You can only get big muscles by taking steroids."
"Everyone should do split routines."
"Flexibility will hurt strength / strength will hurt flexibility."
"Bodybuilders aren't really that strong."

And so on.

That broscience can really overwhelm people new to it all. Add in the actual science with all its latin words and "well, it depends", factor in that people are actually individuals and can't do some exercises and/or will prefer others, and...

The human body is a pretty complex thing. Add in the mind and it becomes really crazy.

A bad trainer will make it worse. A good one will make it better.

The client can be good or bad, too. I wouldn't take on one guy on this site because he needs to deal with his mind before he works his body, I wouldn't take on another because he begins by assuming that I'm an idiot and no-one has anything to teach him, and there's nowhere good to go from there. But I'd take on gtrb26dett, she's open-minded and wants to improve herself, and I wish her the best of luck.
 
Just think of all the newbies you've seen come into gyms and forums, the mixture of myth and misinformation they have.
"I want to get toned."
"I don't want to get bulky."
"I've been doing heaps of crunches but still can't see my abs."
"I eat pretty healthy."
"What's wrong with drinking every weekend?"
"I do inclines to build my upper pecs."
"I play hockey, so I don't need to work out my legs."
"But girls can't lift heavy weights."
"Beginners need 200+g of protein a day."
"You can only get big muscles by taking steroids."
"Everyone should do split routines."
"Flexibility will hurt strength / strength will hurt flexibility."
"Bodybuilders aren't really that strong."
It's because these noobs have not empowered themselves before embarking on a body changing quest.
all those questions are very easily answered with a tiny bit of research, you do not need to be shown or told these by some one else.
Also even if a noob was to not get it 100% or even 80% correct in the way or diet or split routine he would still gain and over time they will realise where their errors are. I was told to eat cream buns and pizzas when i first started training and went from 57kg to 75 with no fat gain, but eventually i realise that I could not keep gaining with adding fat mass and I learnt and In my day there was no internet or forums and PT's were ridiculed because they were always (mostly) the less muscled individuals and sadly still are.


I' gotta fly now.
thanks for the disussion Kyle.
 
Yeah, and Asians are mostly bad drivers, and chefs are mostly alcoholics, and accountants are mostly corrupt thieves.

:mad:

Typical bloke. "Everyone else is stupid, no-one could possibly have anything to teach me." :D
 
I love my PT. He has got me attempting to do things I would never imagine. And he is genuinely interested in his job. If I start expressing an interest in something, he will research it, takes courses, etc. But he can't do this with all of his clients. I have watched people in the gym simply refuse to do things. Women who will not lift heavier weights, people who will not attempt a full squat. Yep, it's ironic that people pay a PT to make them train and then refuse to co-operate, but they do. Think people need to remember that PTs have to work with the client they are given. Working in a gym made me realise this and was the reason why I chose not to pursue it as a career.
 
I imagine that after a time, the PT will develop an instinct for who will refuse to do what, am I right, Bree?

So then they might start almost never recommending deadlifts or squats, if you know they're going to refuse, why bother having that confrontation... especially since the stuff you might be able to persuade them to do, if you've had a confrontation and refusal about something else, they'll reject it, if you've had some peace they'll accept it.

Sound about right?

My experience is more that most gym instructors and PTs just don't care. They're doing their job by form, someone gave them a checklist of things to do and they follow it. But again, this is pretty common in a lot of jobs. Do the minimum work to avoid getting sacked.
 
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