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One of the most common questions I get on 60 in 3 is a variation on “Are personal trainers worth while?” Now, I think I’ve discussed this topic in the past, but only in passing, so it’s worthwhile to spend a bit more time on it.

What Is A Personal Trainer?

A personal trainer helps you with your work outs by telling you what to do and providing encouragement and support as you work out.  A good trainer will work with you by asking about your goals and then designing a workout meant to achieve those goals.

A personal trainer will not help you with your eating.  They might provide some nutriutional advice, but that’s not really their job.  If you need help with eating then you should be talking to a nutritionist or dietician.  By virtue of their long association with the health and fitness industry, a trainer may have some of their own ideas about what constitutes healthy eating, but they’re not really professionals in this area.

A personal trainer is also not a medical professional.  They should not diagnose medical conditions nor can they tell you what to do about medical conditions.  There are some personal trainers that work at hospitals helping patients recover, but even they are not usually medical professionals.  If you need someone to help you with a medical problem, you should go see a doctor.

Do Personal Trainers Really Help?

That depends on what you’re looking for.  A personal trainer provides you with the following:

• Work out plan
• Support and motivation

Do these things help?  Well of course they do, but are they worth the money you’re going to spend on the trainer?

Workout Plan

This is worth it but only if you’re new to working out and only if the trainer is a good one.  A good trainer will spend some time with you discussing your goals, your past workout experience and your likes and dislikes.   Based on this, they will come up with a detailed workout plan that’s very tailored to you.  A bad trainer will ignore your specific needs and see you as just another hour long appointment to get through.  They will have you do some general exercises and then completely forget about you.

If you’re new and if you can find a good personal trainer then this workout plan can be incredibly worthwhile.  The exercises will be ones that are specifically meant for you and for your goals.  The trainer will take the time to show you how to properly do them and should explain what the goal of each exercise can do.  They can also educate you about exercise in general, enabling you to modify and develop your workout on your own in the future.

For people with more experience, this workout plan isn’t really worth it.  I know what I like and dislike, I try out new things all the time and I understand how exercise relates to my goals.  Therefore, I don’t really need a personal trainer to design a workout plan for me.  It’s nice to talk to trainers occasionally and get their opinions on various things, but it’s not worth my money to actually train with them if all I get is a workout plan.

Support and Motivation

Luckily for trainers, a detailed workout plan isn’t the only thing they offer.  A less obvious but more important benefit of training with a trainer is the support and motivation you get from them.  Again, this varies from trainer to trainer, but the good ones will support you through the rough times and motivate you to keep going.  They’ll provide an incentive for you to go to the gym, they’ll keep you interested, entertained and focused as you workout and they’ll keep you motivated through all those times when you just want to quit and go home.  That right there is a priceless benefit.

Most people aren’t unhealthy because of a lack of education.  We all know that we need to eat healthier and be more active and, with a little bit of research, it’s not hard to educate yourself about what that means.  So if we all know how to be healthy, why are so many of us unhealthy?  Well, it’s mostly about motivation.  Yes, we all know what we need to do, but it’s really hard to actually go ahead and do it.  It’s hard to avoid that last piece of cake and it’s hard to motivate ourselves to go to the gym when our favorite show is on and it’s cold outside and why the heck to I need to do cardio anyway!???!

That’s the real benefit of trainers.  The workout plan is a nice bonus, but a good trainer, one who can keep you motivated, is worth his or her weight in gold.

So How Do I Find A Good One?

Talk to people.  Ask your family, friends and coworkers if they know a good trainer.  Ask them if the trainer they worked with really paid attention to them or if trainer saw them as just another job.  Ask them if the trainer kept them interested in working out and motivated them to keep exercising.  Check to see if the people you’re talking to are still keeping healthy and fit since healthy long term customers are the hallmark of a good trainer.  Once you find a trainer, see how they treat you during the first few sessions.  Do they seem interested in what your goals are?  Are they listening to you?  Are they explaining what various exercises are and why they’re having you do them?  Or are they just standing there with a bored expression telling you to do another set of lunges?

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If you need motivation and have a bit of money to spare, a good trainer can be a priceless asset.  Just make sure you get a good one since a bad trainer can sap your will to exercise.

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I saw a comment this morning on my commute biking post.  The comment mentioned warm weather and implied that this would make biking impractical.  I gave my own answer in a follow up comment but I wanted to expand on that answer a bit.  First of all, thank you to the reader for leaving this comment, there’s always something I may have overlooked and it’s good to be reminded of it on occasion.

Now, let me make what I said in the comment a bit clearer. I don’t believe that warm weather should be an impediment to biking to work. You can bike early in the morning or late enough in the evening to avoid much of the heat. Showers at work can also help for those of you who are like me, and tend to sweat. That said, exercising in extreme weather does pose a health concern and that’s what I wanted to talk about today.

Exercise And Injury

There’s always the risk of injury when exercising, that’s just part of moving about.  The more you move about the more you increase your chance of falling, twisting your ankle or straining a muscle.  Sitting on the couch has very little risk compared to jogging for example.  Still, I believe exercise and being active is worth it because the extra risk you incur is more than outweighed by the health benefits.  However, there’s a point at which the extra risk becomes too high and that’s the point at which you should stop exercising and start resting.

When Is Risk Too High?

I can think of many cases where the risk of exercise is too high.

• Strenuous exercise when you have a medical condition - If you know you have a heart condition, you shouldn’t be working out without consulting with a doctor.  You may be improving your overall health but you’re also straining your heart.  Same goes for lifting weights when you know you have some kind of joint or muscle issue.  If you have a medical condition, talk to a doctor before you exercise.
• Strenuous exercise under poor conditions - Weather is a good example.  I’m willing to bike when it’s 100 degrees outside but only if I bring water and only for short rides (less than 5 miles).  If it was 120 degrees outside, I would probably rethink my biking idea.  Same goes for the cold.  I biked to work in New England when it was 0 degrees, but I drove when it was snowing because biking in a blizzard is just silly.
• Lifting weights with bad form - Using bad form is not just bad exercise, it’s also a higher injury risk.  Those folks you see in the gym swinging weights around and getting their whole body involved in a simple weight lifting exercise?  They’re just being stupid.  They’re not getting a good workout and they’re placing themselves at a much higher risk of injury.
• Continuing to exercise when you’re injured - I’m guilty of this one.  You feel a pain and you know you should stop working out but you keep going anyway because you tell yourself to be tough and hang in there.  Guess what, that’s the wrong approach.  Exercising with an injury is going to aggravate the injury, not make it better or make it go away.  Yes, not all pains are injuries and you should learn to tell the difference between a temporary ache and pain which signals an injury, but don’t take chances.
• Too much sun - Quite a few physical activities are outdoors which means exposure to the sun, which also means sunburn.  For those of you who still associate a tan with health, I have bad news, a tan is not healthy.  A tan is a signal that you have exposed your body to too much sunlight.  A sunburn is even worse and significantly increases your chances of skin cancer later in life.  If you’re going to be in the sun for any length of time, use sunscreen if possible.  A small exposure to sunlight (10 minutes or so) is fine and can even be healthy but anything longer is bad without sunscreen.
• Bad equipment - Poor exercise equipment has been the cause of many an injury.  That could mean broken machines at the gym or poor running shoes when jogging.  Either way, if you’re going to use equipment, make sure it’s safe.

How To Judge When A Risk Is Too High?

Unfortunately, I can’t tell you that.  Sometimes it’s obvious, like jogging with a heart condition.  Sometimes it’s not so obvious, like how to tell when your shoes are bad for running.  When in doubt, check.  There are a variety of resources on exercise, from physical trainers and doctors to online sites and books.  For example, there are sporting goods stores with professionals that will help you find the right shoe for your foot.  It’s far better to check in advance than it is to spend 3 months recovering from an injury that could have been avoided, believe me, I learned that one the hard way.

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Just remember, you’re exercising for the health benefits.  If the risk of injury outweighs those health benefits, then you’re doing something wrong.

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Every once in a while I like trying out a new way of working out. It keeps my workouts interesting plus it lets me try new things. As with eating, I believe that variety in exercise has many benefits.  However, variety is not what today’s post is about.  Instead, I’d like to tell you about the workout I tried out on Wednesday and how much I liked it.

The Need For Continuous Improvement

If you’re a long time reader of 60 in 3 and have read some of my past series like the 4 day workout, you’ll know that I prefer to do sets of about 10 reps (repetitions).  That means I do an exercise like squats ten times.  I usually use weights that I know I can lift for those ten reps, but I try to pick something heavy enough to be challenging.  That means picking weights that I don’t think I can do for many reps than those ten.

In the past, I’ve been increasing the weights I use at a slow but steady pace.  This reflected the improvement in my overall fitness level.  For example, when I started working out I could barely bench press the bar on its own, about 45lbs.  These days, I usually bench press around 150lbs for my reps.  Unfortunately, I just haven’t been able to improve any of the weights I do for the past few months.  In fact, I was feeling as though I had reached a sort of plateau and that further improvement was impossible.   In and of itself, that’s not a bad thing.  Everyone has a point past which they cannot go.  Our bodies have limits and it’s good to know that limit.  However, I felt like I should be able to lift more but I simply couldn’t take that next step forward.

The Blowout Workout

I happened to mention this to a friend over the weekend, and he suggested I try out a new kind of workout.  He called it the Blowout Workout but it’s also known by other names.  Essentially, the blowout workout means you do half the repetitions with about 25% to 50% more weight.  So if I normally did ten bench presses with 150lbs, on Wednesday I tried to do 5 bench presses with 180lbs.

At first, this was a bit intimidating.  I was having enough difficulties with 150lbs, did I really want to try out this much more weight?  Yes, it was just five repetitions instead of the my usual 10 but that’s a lot of weight!  But I tried it anyway and I’m really glad I did.

The Results

I was able to do the five reps with the extra weight on each and every exercise I normally do.  In fact, in many cases I kept going and did 8 to 10 reps.  It was like my body had always been capable of this kind of performance but I was holding back for some reason.  All it took was a willingness to try.  I had convinced myself to try out the higher weight by telling myself that I was just going to do five reps instead of 10 and once I tried it, it just wasn’t that bad.

Breaking Through Self Imposed Limits

All this time, I was perfectly capable of exercising at a much higher level than I was.  So why didn’t I?  I’m not sure of the answer but I think it’s because I had convinced myself that I just couldn’t take a little more extra weight before the current weight became easy.  Well guess what, the current weight was never going to become easy until I tried something harder.  It was only when I challenged myself with something more difficult that I noticed how easy my current workout had become.

This is applicable in more than just weight lifting by the way.  If you’re trying to do something that’s a bit challenging, don’t just raise the bar a little, raise it a lot!  Challenge yourself way beyond your comfort level.  Maybe you won’t achieve 100% success, but that big jump in difficulty will make that little jump you were trying to make seem a lot easier.

Try It Out For Yourself

If you’re interested, the Blowout Workout is a very easy idea to implement.  Take every weight you’re using right now and increase it by at least 25%.  Now try to do five reps.  If you can do more, that’s great, but tell yourself that your goal is just the first five reps.  That will keep your focused and make everything seem more doable.  My only warning is that you need to be careful. You may not be used to this much weight and having another person around you to make sure you don’t do something silly is probably a good idea.

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Trying out new things is great.  Trying out things you think are impossible is even better.  It will make the things you think are possible but difficult seem very easy.

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Maybe you read 60 in 3 in the morning, right before you head to work. Maybe you read it in the evening before you go to sleep. You might even read 60 in 3 during the day, while you’re at work. Whenever you read this article, it’s still a good time for your ten minute workout. Yes, that’s right, you’re going to get up and workout regardless of time of day and where you are.

Lunges - Start with the lunge, one of the best exercises ever invented. If you don’t know what a lunge is, click on the link and you’ll get instructions complete with a video courtesy of Cooper’s guns. One note, we’re not going to be going as fast as the guy in the video. We’re going for a 5 by 5 rep. That means it takes you 5 seconds to go down and another 5 seconds to come back up. So while the guy in the video takes about 2 seconds to complete a lunge, you’re going to take 10 seconds.

Deadlifts - We’re going to follow the lunge with the deadlift. Again, click on the link if you don’t know what that is. Unlike the video, we’re going to do this with no weights. We’re also going to use the 5 by 5 rule again. So stand up and then slowly bend at the waist for 5 seconds until your fingers dangle down and hopefully touch the ground. If you can’t touch the ground, that’s fine, just try. Then take 5 seconds to straighten back up.

Leaning Press - Keep going with the press. Now the video shows a man lying on the ground doing these. We’re not going to do that. This is supposed to be a workout you can do anywhere and lying down at work is probably not acceptable. So instead of a lying press we’re going to do a leaning press. All you need to do is lean forward against a wall and then press yourself back into an upright position. Again, take 5 seconds to go forward and 5 seconds to push yourself back up.

Trunk Twist - Now lets work out that core for a minute with the trunk twist. It’s a very simple exercise as you can see from the video, and when you slow it down with the 5 by 5 rule, it becomes even more effective. Make sure you have some room around you since you don’t want to hit anything as you swing those arms; trust me, I’m talking from experience

Squats - And we’re going to finish it up with the squats. From a standing position start bending your knees until you reach a squatting position. Now stand up. Rinse and repeat using the 5 by 5 rule to make sure you slow it down.

A Note On Weights

This is supposed to be a quick workout that you can do anywhere. It’s halfway between a workout and a warmup routine and isn’t supposed to be very challenging. It’s just supposed to get you up off your butt and doing something physical. However, if you want to increase the difficulty a bit, feel free to hold something in your hands while doing this. I just did this routine while holding my laptop in my hands.\

Medical Disclaimer

Again, I’m not a doctor, nor do I know your specific medical issues. If you have some kind of problem, don’t be silly and attempt this workout. For example, if you have a serious back issue, don’t do the deadlift just because “that guy on 60 in 3 told me to do it!” Know your body’s limitations and check with a doctor before you do something dumb.

Time

5 exercise, 10 reps each at 10 seconds per rep. That’s less than 10 minutes. If you’re at work then think of it as a break that will make you more productive. If you’re at home, think of it as something a bit more productive than catching up on that last episode of American Idol or checking out new pictures on cuteoverload.com.

Not A Workout Substitute

Again, this is supposed to be a simple workout / warmup. It’s not a substitute for a real workout.  This is something you do in addition to a regular workout.

Repeat

Don’t just do this once.  You need to keep active all through the day and if you have a desk job like me then you should do something like this at least once every two to three hours.  So bookmark this page and then come back to it every two to three hours.  Make this a habit.

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Our bodies were designed with regular physical activity in mind.  They are not meant for sitting behind a desk for 8 hours.  Make sure you break up that monotony with a quick workout.

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Ok, so the pirate workout is a bit of a joke, but for those of you inquiring about my health, turns out everything is ok and I will not need to wear an eyepatch. Seems like I managed to scratch the surface of my cornea and that scratch got infected. So there was a whole lot of pain but nothing that can’t be fixed and no permanent damage. I’m staying indoors today because the medication makes my pupil dilate and that means that bright lights hurt a lot, but I should be ok by tomorrow. In fact, after my follow up appointment tomorrow, I’ll have a few things to share with you about my latest medical experience.

In the meantime though, being cooped up at home reminded me that I have some new home gym equipment which I haven’t mentioned on 60 in 3.

Soft Weights

Being a bit accident prone (my injured eye was caused by a clothing accident. Don’t ask!), I’ve been looking for weights which are softer and less injury causing. I’ve also been looking for something I can throw around much like a ball but with greater weight. In short, I was looking for a Medicine Ball (also called a kettle ball or kettlebell although those are slightly different).

What Is A Medicine Ball?

A medicine ball is a ball, usually made from rubber, with a handle on the side. The ball contains a weight on the inside which makes it far heavier than your normal rubber ball. In terms of usage, the ball can be used just like a dumbbell.

What’s So Good About A Ball?

• Softer - That’s great for people who injure themselves frequently like me. I can drop this on my foot and it’s far less likely to break a toe than an equivalent weight dumbbell.
• Built in handle - The handle on the ball makes gripping easier. You can put it around your wrist and not focus as much on the gripping of the weight.
• Maneuverable. Because of the strap plus the shape of the ball, it’s easier to do some exercises without banging yourself with the weights as you would with a dumbbell.

What’s Not So Good About A Ball?

• Weight is not adjustable - You need a different ball for each weight, unlike some adjustable dumbbell sets where you can add or remove weights to suit your need.

Can These Replace Dumbbells?

No. Both dumbbells and balls have their place in a home gym. However, I do think these are great to have for some exercises. They’re relatively cheap which means you can get a couple of sets for a low cost. I’d recommend getting some of the lower weights in these rather than dumbbells and then working out with both.

Is There A Recommended Brand?

I got mine from Ball Dynamics, the same people I got my exercise ball from. I’ve found them to be reliable and very competitive on prices. You can find their website here. As usual I would like to note that I am not affiliated with Ball Dynamics in any way. I don’t get paid to recommend them or any other product on 60 in 3.

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I like trying out new things, and these new balls were a lot of fun. The exercises are similar to dumbbells but different enough to keep things interesting, plus the cost was very low. Give them a shot, maybe you’ll find something that you like.

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If you’re a long time reader of 60 in 3, you’ll notice that I usually try to save money while improving health. I believe that health and wealth can easily go hand in hand. There’s no need to spend a lot of money on expensive gear, gym memberships or supplements. Most healthy choices end up being quite affordable. In fact, being healthy might save you money when you do things like walk instead of drive, eat at home instead of out at a restaurant or ride your bike to work. However, today, I’m going to change that a bit and tell you about the one place where you shouldn’t skimp, your feet.

Oh The Humanity!

Think about the the kind of life that feet lead when they belong to a person who’s interested in fitness.  They walk between 2 to 3 miles a day!  They go to the gym where they get pounded on for hours and hours.  They go running and have to withstand 100 to 200lbs of impact EVERY SECOND.  They go hiking and need to climb hills over rocky uneven terrain.  Sometimes they even go dancing and spend an evening shuffling around and getting stepped on.  In short, it’s a rough life, and while the rest of your body may appreciate it, your feet can easily get worn out.

Good Shoes Are A Must

Beyond giving your feet an occasional bit of rest, your most important means of protecting these valuable assets is shoes.  Which is why I’m going to tell you that shoes are the one area you shouldn’t try to save money on and instead go for the best quality possible.  That said, there’s no reason to go out there and buy a $300 pair of LED lit, computerized, pumped, Air Jordans, Racing striped, springs in the heels, Blu Tooth equipped sneakers from Nike.  Those aren’t quality, they’re just silly.  What I’m talking about is reasonably priced shoes that are also comfortable and quality.

At Work

Yes, good shoes begin at work, not at the gym.  Think about it, you spend an hour a day at the gym, but you spend 8 hours a day at work.  So the shoes you wear at work are a lot more important than your gym shoes.  Contrary to popular belief, you can actually get comfortable work shoes that don’t actually look like those old rubber shoes that nurses used to wear.  Just look for something with rubberized soles as opposed to hard leather.  For women, this is going to be a bit more difficult and I’m not going to pretend like I understand women’s fashions enough to give specific advice.  However, you really need something that combines looks and comfort if you intend to wear it for multiple hours.  The more padding on the bottom, the better, and the more natural of a position your foot is in, the better.

At The Gym

If you’re an avid gym goer, and especially if you’re a runner, you need a new pair of shoes every six months.  No, this is not my way of helping the American economy recover by encouraging more spending.  Your shoes wear out.  The padding on the bottom becomes more compressed and less springy the more you use it.  At the six month mark, your shoes no longer provide you with a cushion to exercise on.  That’s why you need to replace them with something that will protect your feet from the constant impact of working out and running.  Keep in mind, good shoes don’t need to cost a lot.  My running shoes cost around $100 and I occasionally find a good deal as low as $60.  So keep an eye out for deals.

If possible, you should also go to a store where they can help you get the right fit by looking at how you run and walk.  Different people use different strides and shoes that are comfortable for one person can be painful for someone else.

Personal Recommendation

I’m not going to recommend a specific shoe model because I know it’s not going to be a good recommendation for all people.  However, in general, I’ve usually bought New Balance shoes.  I’ve found them to be very comfortable, durable and reasonably priced.  If you’re in the Bay Area, I recommend a store called Sports Basement.  They have a great selection and I’ve always found their sales people to be knowledgeable and helpful.

NOTE - as usual, I am not connected in any way with Sports Basement or New Balance nor am I making these recommendations at their request.

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Your feet bear a lot of strain when you’re active.  Make sure you protect them with a good pair of shoes.

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It never fails, get three people together in a gym and ask them to discuss their workout and inevitably the conversation will eventually turn to machines vs. free weights. If you’re completely clueless about this argument, it comes from the fact that some people prefer free weights like dumbbells and barbells while others like to workout on specialized machines that offer a narrow range of choices for exercises per machine.

In fact, most gyms are set up to have one area in which people work out on machines and another area in which people use free weights. for beginners, this can be a little confusing. After all, it seems like these two options are identical. I can get on a machine and do some curls or I can use dumbbells. I could use the leg press machine or I could do some squats. What’s the difference?

Form Is Better On Machines

As I’ve said before many times, form is very important when you workout. You want good form in which you slowly and gradually move the weights around. You want to primarily use the muscle group which you intend to workout. That means if you’re doing curls, you shouldn’t be swinging your entire body around trying to lift those weights.

For the purposes of good form, machines are better. Machines force us to have good form by stabilizing our whole body. For example, when I do a curl on a machine, I’m sitting and my upper body is relatively immobile due to the various supports on the machines. That means it’s only my biceps which are doing the work. With free weights, I’m free to swing more body parts around which could contribute to bad form. In fact, you can see that if you click on the free weights curls link here. The person working out is swinging back and forth, which is bad form. By way of comparison, look at these machine curls here. You can see that the whole body is much more stable and only the biceps are working. Do free weights have to mean bad form? Not at all. It’s very possible to achieve good form with free weights, but it’s somewhat easier with machines.

Muscle Recruitment Is Better With Freeweights

What the heck is muscle recruitment? It’s that thing your body does when you lift something and need to maintain your balance. Think of it this way. When you do a squat, you’re lifting a weight up with your legs. Your leg muscles are doing most of the work lifting straight up, but your body also recruit quite a few smaller muscles groups to maintain stability, to keep you upright and to prevent you from falling over. If you did the same exercises with a machine, less of your body would be involved.

Muscle recruitment is a little like form. It means more muscles are involved in the exercise than just the ones you wanted involved. The difference is that bad form means you’re making things too easy for those primary muscles. You’re replacing the work they’re supposed to do by doing it with other muscle groups. Muscle recruitments means you’re adding more work which is being done by other muscle groups.

Take a look at a free weight squat here, vs a machine press here.  Both have very good form and in both, the legs are doing the same amount of work.  However, with the free weight squat, the user is also recruiting other muscle groups to keep himself upright and stable, which the machine press does not do.

Less Injuries With Machines

By their nature, machines limit the potential for injuries.  You’re not going to drop a weight on your foot, you’re not going to move your arm into a weird position and tear a tendon and you’re not going to find yourself pinned to the bench with too much weight on your chest.  Machines are in fact safer to use since they limit the range of things you can do.

More Accurate Progress With Machines

It’s easier to measure progress with machines since the movements and weights are always the same.  For example, if I use the example of the machine press vs. the squat I showed above.  The machine press is easy to adjust for less or more weight, but what about the squat?  My body weight ranges up or down a few lbs every day.  Since I’m also lifting my body weight, that could make things harder or easier.  Also, as you lose weight, exercises with freeweights could feel easier because you’re lifting less weight.  Finally, you could adjust your form or grip to make things harder or easier, something that’s more difficult with machines.  For example, if I’m doing a bench press, a narrow or wide grip on the bar could make things harder or easier.  With a machine press, there are places for you to grip, which means you always grip in the same spot.  All of these things combine to make machine workouts more precise.

Even Workout For Both Side With Free Weights

With machines, you typically workout both sides at the same time.  For example, when you do curls, you’re doing them with both hands at the same time.  This is not always true, but in general, that’s how most machines are set up.  That means one side could be doing more of the work and you might not notice it.  In fact, many people, when doing two handed exercises, will let their dominant hand or leg do most of the work.  With free weights, and specifically with dumbbells, it’s impossible to let one side do more of the work.  So you end up with a more even workout for both sides.

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So have we solved the argument?  Well, not really.  Personally, I’m a free weights fan.  However, I believe that most people who are new to the gym start out with machines before they use free weights.  That will help you learn good form and how to avoid injuries.  In the end, the best workout is the one you feel comfortable with.  The differences between free weights and machines are relatively small and both are far better than not working out at all.

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