Pic: Darren131
Have you been hanging off one leg, from a tree, holding a swiss ball, ranting some motivational mantra whilst doing a reverse ab curl. Or have you jumped single legged from an unstable bench, onto a swiss ball, commando roll into a Pump class whilst doing a single arm pull with a theraband. OK OK not funny and totally unnecessary…but you get my point?
Fads are a part of the industry, theres nothing we can do about that. Really, theres nothing we want to do about it either. I mean, some fads turn into some great useful products or ideas. Take a look at the Swiss ball for example. When that first came out, it was overused. The idea exploded into gyms and trainers programs everywhere. There wasn’t one person who was exercising that wasn’t doing so on a Swiss ball. There were some pretty strange things being done at that Swiss ball too I must say. But now, years later, the crap has been sorted through. Swiss balls are used in programs effectively. They are a great tool, and have evolved well.
The problem is, there is a LOT of crap out there. You need your trainer to sort through it for you, not throw it all in your face. They are the ones with the knowledge and resources. Its unfortunate, but the Health and Fitness industry is a marketing business. There are a lot of people out there to make money. Bit of bling in a program or class, people get excited. Fair enough too, we are always looking for new ways to exercise, variety is the key and you sure as hell don’t want to get bored doing something that a lot of us are forcing ourselves to do anyway.
Some advice for you. Your program should be tailored to meet your goals. You can do as much fancy stuff if you want, but ultimately you want to reach that goal. Variety is a key. A good trainer will keep you interested, mixing up your training a little, BUT always focusing on the end goal. Variety doesn’t mean jumping on the first thing that is out there. When you are looking for a trainer, don’t get dazzled, don’t let them throw everything they have at you. Let them assess your goals, check out your level, put a plan in place, and away you go. There are many great trainers out there, but you have to remember, its a business, people want to make money…some go about it the right way and some don’t. Just keep your eyes and ears open.