February 22, 2012

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Personal Trainer Qualifications

February 16, 2012 By

Careers in personal training have lately gained immense popularity due to more awareness on the need for exercising for better health. Here’s how to become a personal trainer

Shape your personality traits

It takes much more than being physically fit to be a personal trainer. Having important personal traits like good communication skills will make your work easier, making you more efficient. Patience, listening skills and motivation abilities are other traits that one can gain by personal practice.

Personal Trainer Qualifications

It’s deeply vital to be knowledgeable, in the subject of training. This not only hones your skills but also boosts your clients trust in your training abilities. Getting certification from accredited and widely known institutions of training is the answer to having a career as a personal trainer.

Qualifications needed

One needs certification from an accredited and widely known and certification organization. This not only increases your knowledge and skills in your career but also boosts clients trust on your training abilities.

Seek the experience

Once you have the certification it’s important to go out there and look for opportunities to train and gain experience in your career. This can be achieved by looking for jobs as a trainer in the right places like fitness clubs or gyms. Another way available would be establishing your own fitness centre as a trainer.

The first step towards becoming a professionally qualified personal trainer is ensuring that the training provider is registered and genuine.  This is paramount because if you get your personal trainer’s skills from an institution which is not recognised, then the training will be futile because you won’t have qualified to be a professional personal trainer. Hence it is important to do a background check before enrolling in any institution to be trained as a personal trainer.

Besides having trained in a recognised institution, a genuine personal trainer should also be a member of a recognised professional group.  This is because a personal trainer who is not in any regulating group comes up with their own rules and conditions which might be harmful to the client. But a personal trainer who is a member of a recognized group gets stipulated guidelines in which to follow and hence maintains high levels of integrity.

A competent and qualified personal trainer should also possess sharp assessment skills. This is because the trainers have to critically examine the client’s weakness, strength and health fitness. A wrong judgment by an unqualified personal trainer can be dangerous and result to fatal accidents.  Thus it is important for the personal trainers to be sure and accurate while making their clients’ assessment to avoid misjudgements.

As a qualification to becoming a competent personal trainer, individuals should also be knowledgeable in other health fields. These fields include; exercise prescription, health screening, nutrition and testing protocol.   Knowledge in these areas comes in handy when a client has some special health conditions. Consequently the trainer will know how the condition is handled and hence recommend the appropriate routines.  Furthermore, the trainers can apply their nutritional knowledge to advice their clients on what to eat so as to achieve their fitness targets. Hence it’s paramount for competent personal trainer to poses ample knowledge in all the relevant and related fields.

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How much exercise should I be doing per week?

January 14, 2011 By

Ideally, you should try to participate in physical activity for 30 minutes 5 times a week; this does not necessarily mean going to the gym, you can include any activity which raises your heart rate and makes your muscles work. You do not have to complete your 30 minutes in one go and you can include lifestyle activities, such as walking to the shops or taking the dog for a walk, but you should try to do some more intensive exercise during the week.

Why is exercise important for healthy living?

Exercise is important for a healthy body and a healthy mind. Exercise has a range of health benefits and can also provide a welcome outlet for stress and anxiety. Exercise helps to keep body weight stable, improves circulation and muscle tone and also makes you feel better, as it releases endorphins. Exercise is beneficial for people of all age groups and can be highly beneficial for people with certain health conditions, including osteoporosis, diabetes and osteoarthritis. Exercise can also help to reduce the risk of several serious illnesses, including heart disease, strokes and diabetes.

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Best ways for keeping fit

January 14, 2011 By

Why is exercise important?

Exercise is really important for healthy living, for both your body and your mind. Exercise has a huge range of health benefits and can also help you to de-stress and improve your self-esteem. Exercise is important to keep the body ticking over and functioning effectively and will also have a positive effect on your physical appearance.

What are the benefits of exercise for healthy living?

Exercise has an array of benefits for physical and mental health:

Physical benefits of exercise:

  • Reduced risk of heart disease, strokes
  • Prevents high blood pressure
  • Lowers cholesterol
  • Improves muscle tone
  • Keeps body weight stable, which helps to prevent obesity
  • Reduced risk of cancer
  • Increases strength and flexibility
  • Improves circulation

Psychological benefits of exercise:

  • Increases self-esteem
  • Reduces stress and anxiety
  • Helps people with phobias, panic attacks, anxiety, depression and schizophrenia
  • Improved sleep patterns

Exercise is also hugely beneficial for children’s healthy living, as it helps to strengthen their bones and muscles, improves their self-esteem and confidence, reduces stress, keeps blood pressure stable and keeps body weight stable, which helps to prevent weight gain and obesity.

Exercise can also be highly beneficial for people with existing health conditions, including osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, diabetes and high blood pressure (also known as hypertension). Exercise can also be used very effectively during rehabilitation when an individual has had a serious accident or injury, for example, a spinal injury. Exercise helps to rebuild muscle strength, improve circulation and increase mobility and flexibility.

How much exercise should I be doing?

The government recommends doing 30 minutes of moderate physical activity five times per week. This may include lifestyle activities, such as walking the dog or walking to the shops, for example. It is not necessary to do 30 minutes in one go. You may do three sessions of 10 minutes, for example, as long as it adds up to at least 30 minutes.

Fun ways to keep fit

Many people associate exercise with unpleasant memories from school or spending hours sweating in a gym. However, this does not have to be the case and there is now a huge range of physical activities on offer to make healthy living more fun. Here are some examples of fun activities:

  • Rowing, canoeing or kayaking
  • Hiking and trekking
  • Rock climbing and abseiling
  • Dance classes, including ballroom dancing, salsa, Zumba and hip-hop
  • Spinning and aerobics classes
  • Team sports, including football, rugby, netball, hockey
  • Swimming
  • Cycling
  • Working out at the gym
  • Walking or jogging

If you feel conscious exercising in front of other people, you can also buy home gym equipment or you could get an exercise DVD to do at home.

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