Estimated reading time: 3 minutes. With the turn of the new year, a lot of people are going to be looking to start or restart their fitness journeys to try and achieve their health and fitness goals. One of the most efficient ways to do that is to hire a coach or personal trainer. You don’t have to go trawling online to learn how to do everything, you just pay them and they tell you! Easy peasy right? Sadly not, much like any profession, the skill and professionalism (and cost) of PTs vary wildly, and it’s not always clear who would be the best fit for you so here are some tips for what to look for before hiring a coach. oneQualifications. Do they have a valid level 3 personal training qualification from a reputable service provider, do they have valid professional insurance? Typically people will display their qualifications on their website (not having a formal website and only having a social media page is a bit of a red flag). twoHow experienced are they? Have they been working in the industry for a long time? Most people will cite their industry experience, and if they don’t, it usually means they haven’t been going long. This is fine, everyone starts somewhere, but the less professional experience should be somewhat reflected in the price. threePersonality. This is where social media can come in very clutch. Realistically you’re going to be spending a fair amount of time with this person, and if their personality doesn’t gel with you it isn’t going to be an enjoyable process, and will likely hinder your motivation to go to sessions as well as your enjoyment of them. It’s worth following people’s socials for a bit and seeing whether they’d be a good fit for you. fourProfessionalism. Personally, this one hits home the most, since everything to do with it takes literally no talent. Are they punctual, arriving early? Are they organised, do they get paperwork and programs to you ahead/of time? Are they reliable, do they give you plenty of notice for any schedule changes, or payment deadlines/processes? This one you really only get from references or once you’re already working with someone, but I strongly advise not sticking around if they struggle with stuff. fiveSpecialisation. If you have a specific health condition or are training for a specific sport, or level of sport, you may wish to investigate to see if they can facilitate your needs. Not everyone will be a specialist and that’s fine, it doesn’t mean they aren’t great coaches, but if you are concerned that you may require specialist/bespoke help, I’d do a lot of looking around and asking questions to find the right person. sixReferences. Ask them for references, or find former clients and get a vibe check for them. I particularly advise people who no longer work with them for this purpose, as they’re not under any great pressure to sugarcoat anything, so you’ll get an honest take. sevenPrice. As I alluded to earlier, the price for PT varies wildly, from the sceptically cheap to the eye-watering/celebrity-level price tags. Realistically the actual difference in service between the two isn’t as big as the price would suggest, certainly at the top end. It’s also a good idea to clarify ahead of formal sign-up the full payment option you are selecting, just so you’re aware of any additional fees or contractual obligations like cancellation policies or fees. That’s my list for helping you find a coach or personal trainer, I hope you found some of those tips helpful and if you’re looking for a PT in 2023, consider getting in touch with us! @atsapproved on all social media, and visit our website for our introductory offer that’s frankly ridiculous value.
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Estimated reading time: 2 minutes. With the fresh start, the new year brings, many people will be taking their first tentative steps into pursuing health and fitness, perhaps stepping inside the gym for the first time ever. It was once everyone’s first time in the gym, and there will be some nervousness and anxiety about going anywhere new, especially when you are a beginner. Here are some practical tips for your first few visits to any gym. oneCheck online or over the phone before going to see if they have any inductions or paperwork that need filling out prior to becoming a member or using the facilities. This will save you from having to feel rushed in your session or having to cut it short on your first visit. twoIf you have any health concerns about specific exercises and how they relate to you, especially if you have pre-existing health conditions, consult your GP or PPC first before engaging in any formal exercise program. threeWear clothes that you feel comfortable in. Whatever you feel comfortable, or the least uncomfortable in will be the best bet to start with. Try to pick things that won't impair your movement and you won't mind getting sweaty in. FourRemember to bring a water bottle and towel. Staying hydrated through your sessions is important, and having a towel to help clean the equipment after you’ve used it is just gym use courtesy. fiveOnce you’re done with a piece of equipment put it back where you found it. Most gym kit has a designated storage place and it’s just good manners to put things back where you find them. Even if some people struggle to follow this one.... sixDo your best to minimise using your phone during your session. Yes, there are use cases for apps, and some people like to record themselves to check their form or technique. But scrolling away on social media is a massive time sink and will not only lessen your focus on your session but will also likely mean you use a piece of equipment for longer than you probably could have. Hopefully, you found some of those tips helpful, and if you’re just starting out on your fitness journey this year I wish you all the best and hope you stick with it!
If you’d like guidance and support on getting started, or how to get the results you want from your fitness and exercise, feel free to give us a shout. @atsapproved on all socials, except Tik Tok because we’re old. Estimated reading time: 3 minutes. Are you keen to start your health and fitness journey, exercise, and return to the gym? But are you just swamped with all the information out there? Or just don’t have the time to sift through it all? Maybe you just want the fastest route to where you want to go. You’ve read our other blog posts and realise there aren’t any real shortcuts, but there’s still an optimal route of travel and you want to be on it. You should consider hiring a coach. Obviously, that’s coming from me, a coach. However, those are some of the most common reasons I hear when I ask people what they’re looking to gain by working with us. They want someone else to handle the plan and they just execute whatever that plan is. Which makes sense, if your car starts making funny noises, or the check engine light comes on, 9/10 folks are going to take it to a professional to get it sorted. Could they look up the fault, get the equipment they’d likely need to do the repairs, and then practice a bunch while they mess up doing it the first few times? Yes, they could, but most people don’t have that kind of time or headspace to care that much about saving a small amount of money when compared to the time investment. You can always earn more money, you can’t get time back. What does coaching look like? (With ATS anyway).Obviously, every coach is different, but if you’ve been on the fence about working with us or a coach in general, here’s an idea of what to expect.
Once things are in motion we regularly keep track of how you’re feeling about where we’re headed and possibly change up things as we go. Our main goal is to become irrelevant, so along the way, we’ll chat about why we’re doing certain things, how we think about putting things together, and how we make decisions.
If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, please feel free to hit us up @atsapproved on all social media or via our contact form or clicking the button below. Estimated reading time: 2 minutes One super simple step you can take to improve both health and body composition without setting foot inside a gym is to eat more protein. First off let’s cover what proteins actually are. Without getting mega sciencey (this isn’t that kind of blog) proteins are molecules made of things called amino acids (this is important later). That’s all well and good, but what do they look like in our day-to-day lives? Here’s a very delicious-looking picture of some. Photo credit: Jetfit We see eggs, red and white meat, fish, milk, cheese, nuts, some grains, and some seeds. One thing I work with clients on is getting some form of protein eaten at every meal throughout the day. Proteins have some fairly unique properties which make them really handy if you’re looking to change your body composition, potentially reduce/eliminate cravings, or work towards a weight loss goal. Protein is incredibly filling (if you’ve ever been to one of those meat places where they have the red and green cards you know what I'm talking about). It reduces levels of certain hormones that make you feel hungry (those are a thing) and boosts levels of a peptide that makes you feel full. Due to how they are built at a molecular level, they also physically take longer to digest, leaving you feeling fuller for longer. Or potentially in the meat sweats for longer if you’re like me. Are meat and dairy your only protein options? What if you’re vegetarian or vegan? There are tonnes of protein options that aren’t animal products, however, this is where the aforementioned amino acids come into play. Your body needs certain amino acids that it can’t make for itself, these are called essential amino acids. Meat and dairy proteins each have all of these amino acids, making them what people call complete sources. You get everything you need, from one place. Plant and non-meat protein sources (unless specifically combined like powders) don’t have all of these amino acids in just one place, so you have to make sure to eat several sources in order to get the complete profile of amino acids. Like assembling Exodia in Yu-Gi-Oh, except for getting jacked.
Speaking of getting jacked, if you are participating in exercise you’ll want to make sure and have adequate protein intake so that your muscles can recover between bouts of exercise. Different forms of exercise have different demands on muscles, resistance training for example places a much higher demand on muscles than running. Your muscles need those amino acids to repair after exercise, however, if you aren’t providing them through diet, your body will break down other less used muscles for the parts it needs. Hopefully, I’ve convinced you to start getting some more protein into your daily diet. If not, maybe we should chat about it? Hit me up @atsapproved on all social media, or down in the comments. Estimated read time: 4 minutes. Starting anything that’s brand new can seem very daunting. There’s so much information out there how do you know what’s correct? Where do you start? Shouldn’t you work out your goals first? Should you do a bit of exercise in the house first before going to the gym? If you can relate to any of these concerns then this is the post for you. Let’s get into it. OneAside from if you have an ongoing health condition, you don’t need any prior clearance to exercise. You can just get stuck in straight away at the gym. You should go through a PAR-Q questionnaire on your first visit to the gym and if you aren’t sure about any of the questions, you should consult your doctor. twoYou don’t need to have your ducks in a row regarding your goals prior to going to the gym. If you’re considering going, it’s likely from a desire to improve your health or physique. That’s enough of a goal to start with, you can sort out the details later, maybe even check out one of our posts about goals. threeYou don’t even need to set foot in a gym. This sounds a bit counterintuitive coming from someone who runs a gym, but the easiest first step to take on your health and fitness journey is the first one out of your door. Walking outdoors and in green spaces is a great start to improving your physical and mental health. fourTry out a new activity or class with a friend. It’s even better if both of you are new, you can go and learn together as well as get some exercise. There’s a massive selection of sports, activities, and classes out there, I strongly encourage you to try out as many as possible. Ever thought of trying archery? Cricket? Salsa dance classes? fiveReach out to a coach or PT on social or by email. I very much live by the rule of ‘if you don’t ask, you don’t get’. It’s very likely that people who work in the gym are really keen on helping you get to where you want to be (that’s why I’m here anyway). If you have specific questions or want to see if they’d be a good fit for you personality-wise see if they do a consultation or low barrier offer. If you’ve got this far through the article and are currently undecided as to starting your health and fitness journey, I'd like to offer an incentive offer to get you started. six It might seem like your goals are so far away that they may as well be unachievable, and you may as well not start. I’d like to dissuade you from that line of thinking. Something is always better than nothing, and the most important thing you can do is to take insufficient action. This is particularly important if you’re feeling anxious about your lack of exercise, or concerned about potential negative health outcomes of a lack of physical activity or less than stellar nutrition. Anxiety is designed to prompt action, so take insufficient action. sevenDon’t worry about if you’re doing something ‘right’. There’s a lot of fear surrounding doing things ‘wrong’ however a lot of emerging literature regarding injuries is shining a light on the issue, and you aren’t as fragile as you might believe. You aren’t going to hurt yourself at the smallest miss-step and the benefits of regular exercise far outweigh the likelihood and magnitude of injury that might arise from exercise participation. eightGyms are more than just buildings with weights in them. Well maybe not Pure Gym, but there are a lot of smaller-scale gyms across the country, where you’ll likely find a very welcoming and supportive community, it’ll be like Cheers, except with a different kind of bar. nine Nowhere was built in a day. I dislike giving all the credit to Rome, especially as even the Romans would be impressed at how long the Edinburgh council takes to patch up pot holes. Try your best not to think of this as a results-based endeavour, exercising should hopefully become a lifelong habitual activity, like reading books, or brushing your teeth. You don’t complete the gym, there are no end credits, but you do get to reap rewards throughout. tenSaving the best till last. One of the most efficient things you can do to start your health and fitness journey is to get in touch with me or John here at ATS. If you want someone to guide you through starting and progressing your health and fitness journey, sort out all the jargon and polarizing information on the internet, and enjoy nerd movie/tv/videogame references then you should reach out and have a chat with us. @ATSapproved on all social media, or just hit us up in the comments of this blog.
Estimated read time: 2 mins Goal setting isn’t just for the new year, realistically if you’re looking to achieve something you’ll have to set up some form of structure in order to get there. So today I will go over how I approach goal setting for myself and my clients. We’ve talked previously about meaningful values, which will help you establish what might be an excellent goal to work towards. But how do you practically go about that? There are some things that are more helpful than other in terms of structure, and helping avoid the mental health pitfalls that can come from an overfocus on goal orientation. Firstly, we need to establish a goal hierarchy and at the top of that particular pyramid are our superordinate goals. These will typically be big-picture concepts that resemble values (see how that worked out?) than more classic goals (in a SMART format for example). In the fitness sphere let’s put our superordinate goal as ‘be healthy’ Now that sounds pretty vague, what do we mean by being healthy? Well, that helps in filling our next step, which is our intermediate goals. These are more specific and provide a decent direction of heading towards our superordinate goals. In the case of ‘be healthy’ they might look something like this:
Finally, we can break down these intermediate goals into our subordinate goals which are very specific and precise goals, that specify what you’re going to do here and now (maybe not right now).
This structure quite nicely breaks down your bigger value-based goals and helps you make up some small, specific, manageable chunks that you can get knocking over straight away.
You may also find that some of your intermediate goals overlap with some other superordinate goals, which is great, however, you should keep an eye out for any time that an intermediate or subordinate goal might conflict with either another intermediate or superordinate goal. Hopefully, you found this helpful and if you want any help with setting some goals or how to build your own goal hierarchy, consider getting in touch with us. @atsapproved on all social media. |
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