As I work on my clients "files" if you will, I thought that maybe you'd like to see how I make a plan of action for my clients.
* An important note here. The public has an erroneous idea that a Personal Trainer is paid to count reps. There may be new, inexperienced, or just plain lousy trainers who do that, but for those of us who are professionals and whose profession is personal training, an important part of our day, is the "behind the scenes" work. This is where we construct our plan of attack for our clients.
I'll use a fictitious client, but I'm sure many of you will gain many helpful techniques from my example.
So let's say "Bill" is a 50ish busy professional. He doesn't eat breakfast, sits a lot at the job, has back problems, travels a lot, and doesn't sleep enough.
He wants to "lose some weight" and strengthen his back.
So where do I start? Let's start with the eating.
Since Bill has hired me, he knows that I am not going to pull any punches with his diet plan. Up until this point his diet hasn't been producing the correct results, so he had better lend his ear to what I have to say.
Bill has some options.
- His first step is to eat 5-6 small meals a day. Skipping breakfast, and eating whatever and whenever = poor or no results.
- He will either need to buy a book with healthy, and properly balanced meals, such as: "Mastering the Zone" by Barry Sears, or "Eating for Life" by Bill Phillips, and learn how to cook, or he could easily get personalized meals delivered to him from a place such as Sunfare.
So what is healthy? Or more importantly how should Bill eat to lose the fat? The two books above describe better than I can here, but most expert trainers will follow one of the two "formulas" mentioned above.
- One method, The Zone, suggests eating in the ratio of 40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% fat. ( I've found that this is the best diet for me.)
- The other method above is what many bodybuilders and fitness competitors use, which is 40% carbs, 40% protein, and 20% fat.
I know that I may take some heat for suggesting these are the only ways to lose weight. You may have your own version, or your own ideas, I can only suggest what has helped me, and numerous other professional trainers and our clients.
Lastly for today...I would look at Bill's water intake. People are better these days about getting enough water, but if you aren't you are going to have a harder time losing the weight.
Aim for 64 oz of water a day.
Resources:
Healthy and personalized high protein or "Zone" meal delivery
www.sunfare.com
