benefits of personal training

I just got evaluated by a new personal trainer yesterday, and my arms feel useless today. The soreness of an intense workout is always a nice, albeit uncomfortable, feeling.

When you've been playing the rehab game for as long as I have, you eventually make some pretty cool discoveries. Different methods often yield different results, and because the type of injury I had requires comprehensive healing (strength, coordination, sensation, general corporal symmetry), I've had to experiment in comprehensive ways.

In fact, few people could have put together this resource, the Rehab Revolution for you, but me. Because even your doctors and therapists? Despite however much training they've had or how many patients they've seen or gotten to know with a similar experience to yours or mine, if they haven't been through it themselves, not even they know the big picture.

So my tip for today is for you to find yourself a personal trainer. Why a personal trainer and not a physical therapist? you may ask, and it's a valid question. At this point, it could be dreaming big to even be able to pull yourself up -- why shoot for someone who trains athletes?

Because athletes are in the best shape humans are possibly able to be. In my opinion, the only useful kind of dream is the big kind of dream. (Who was it that said that you must always shoot for the moon, because even if you miss, you'll still land among the stars?)

Physical trainers also see the body for what it is, one interconnected organism that works together as a sum of its parts -- and a good trainer will catch you when your form is messed up, when you're setting yourself up for future injuries, push you hard enough to challenge you when you need it and also modify when you need it. They are flexible to your personal needs and if you find a good one, they should also have a fairly good working knowledge of general well being and also what is neurologically effective stimulation.

A personal trainer should advise you on your diet, your exercise, motivate you, and bring you new ideas. He or she will also emphasize bilateral exercise -- because even if you're like me, with an affected side, they know that working both sides of your body avoids muscle atrophy on either side and prevents "super side" syndrome (opposite to whatever you may have going on now), a concept many physical therapists don't incorporate into the routines they have you do. (I actually had to explain this to my therapist after I had worked steadily with a trainer for a couple years, and fortunately she did adopt both sides to my exercises.)

And like any kind of mentor, a trainer should be observant and have a good rapport with you. You'll be seeing this person on a regular basis, so make sure you find a good fit, as I'd mentioned in a previous post.

What else is cool is that when a trainer does his job right, he'll be pretty up-to-date on the latest research or discoveries in the health and fitness arena. You'll learn a lot from a trainer that you won't learn even from certain doctors or therapists (like not strength-training the same muscle groups, other than your core, two days in a row -- or using new equipment).

At the same time, don't cross out therapy altogether. The two align well side by side (as long as both your trainer and therapist know what you're doing with the other). Therapists obviously will have immediate, and sometimes direct, access to current research on your condition and also will be much more specialized toward your (fairly uncommon) condition.

My qualm with therapy is that it is regarded as a medical need, to such an exaggerated extent that they will discharge you once you are rendered "functional." Oh, I don't need any more therapy because I can put on my own clothes and go to the restroom without falling? Clearly, there's no more room for improvement?

On the upside, physical therapy is usually covered by insurance -- to a certain extent, of course. But unfortunately these limits to therapy that the industry puts on it is sort of ubiquitous. I find that getting prescriptions for therapy get covered when they're spaced out, so finding therapy back-to-back would be difficult, if not impossible.

Which is why a trainer is a nice option. Since it's not really considered medical, you could theoretically have ongoing training without need of a script from your doctor. This is the kind of thing to concern yourself with once you begin tackling more advanced exercise.

Consider personal training -- it's really great, anyway, to get lots of perspectives on things you should be doing. Every different expert opinion contributes one or more facets of the infinite aspects of recovery.


To our healing,
Pamela