Interview with Personal Best
By admin at February 14, 2012 | 3:46 am | Print
Company Name: Personal Best (Australia) Pty Ltd
Trading Name: Personal Best
Phone: 1300 732 378, 0419 665 046
Website: www.personalbest.net.au
Brisbane City
316 Adelaide Street
Brisbane QLD 4000
Ph: 07 3211 9930
Toowong
3 / 535 Milton Rd
Toowong QLD 4066
Ph: 07 3876 0777
Kenmore
3/ 2105 Moggill Road (Cnr Merlin Terrace)
Kenmore QLD 4069
Ph: 07 3378 5005
1) Can you tell us a little bit about you as a personal trainer and the services, training you offer to your clients?
I specialise in the area of weight loss providing an overall plan to help people gain lasting results. It’s not just about the exercise and eating plan but also the head stuff. At Personal Best, we provide training in the form of personal training, group training (indoor), a running club and Boot camps so we can create a training plan to suit most people. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMwzTiaywpY&list=UUQA8GH8UMWRfS3xXSMza8hA&index=1&feature=plcp
2) What’s the history behind your passion for personal training, how did you get started training people?
I started in the area of sports (basketball) coaching and after having worked as a coach for 15 years, decided to broaden my field and started training general population type people in the area of optimum performance and weight loss. Whether it be an elite sports person or someone who wants to get the most out of their life, my mission is to provide opportunities, accountability and support to help people gain whatever it is they want to achieve. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp7jD_aUF4E&list=UUQA8GH8UMWRfS3xXSMza8hA&index=11&feature=plcp
3) It seems that as Australian’s we keep trying to get fitter, but not too many out there manage to achieve their goals. What is the secret behind a successful personal training program?
There is a general perception that a decreasing number of people are maintaining healthful and fit lifestyles. This is not so! There is an increasing number of people taking greater care of their health and leading more active and healthful lives than ever before.However, the people who are not leading healthful lives or are considered overweight or obese are becoming more so. The divide between the healthful and unhealthful is growing. The secret to narrowing this divide is education, accountability and support and helping people to find the real reason why they want to be healthful.
4) Personal training is surely not just about “doing exercise” , what can you tell us about the physiological part behind any training? How important is the motivation and the mind set?
I assume this question is asking about the psychological aspects of training.
Without a clear purpose of why a person wants to exercise or gain a greater level of health and gain the associated benefits, the exercise is futile. As soon as an obstacle is presented to them, e.g. lack of time, injury, the exercise will be put aside. Once this clarity of purpose is gained, a more effective plan can be put in place. Note: It may be necessary to work through a variety of sabotaging factors before reaching this point.
5) What makes a good personal trainer?
A personal trainer needs to develop a rapport with a client and develop an understanding of what works best for each individual. This includes understanding their dominant learning style(s), preferred accountability measures and preferred means of support.
6) Tell us a little bit about your personal training sessions and classes, what type of training can someone expect while working out with you?
At Personal Best, we provide training in the form of personal training, group training (indoor), a running club and Boot camps. We can therefore create a training plan to suit most people. The exercise provided is functional in nature to help people be more effective in their daily lives. It is most important to provide training in the areas of strength, flexibility and cardio-vascular fitness. It is also important to regularly change each individuals training program in each of these 3 areas. This periodisation of training will cause a greater level of adaptation and therefore greater results, whether that be for weight loss or optimal performance. I believe that everyone should be treated like an athlete in relation to training techniques and programming even though the volume and intensity of exercise may be less.
7) How important is nutrition in the path to achieve any personal training goal?
Whether it is weight loss or creating optimal performance, nutrition is paramount. Unfortunately, many of the diets that are currently promoted are not good for your overall health and certainly not going to provide a platform for optimal performance. As an analogy for the macronutrient, fat, You can compare the fat that you consume in your diet to the oil you put in your car engine. If there is too little, your car engine will not operate efficiently, to the point that the engine may cease and not work at all. If you have too much oil in your car engine, the engine compression will decrease, causing inefficient operation of the engine. With even more oil, the excess will run into other areas of the engine, causing very sluggish performance.
8.) We all know there are many personal trainers out there, what do we need to ask to a personal trainer before starting a program, how can we guarantee we are a good match to work together?
Firstly, one should confirm that the trainer is qualified, registered with the governing body and has adequate insurance. Then it is a matter of assessing whether you feel the rapport is suitable to create an effective working relationship. It may also be helpful to talk to a current or previous client of a particular trainer that can offer insight into the training methods and effectiveness of a that trainer. Always ask questions! Too often we just accept what we are told. We seem to have largely lost our childhood ability to ask ‘why?’
9) What is a normal day in your life as a personal trainer?
My personal role has changed in recent times as I spend more time developing and educating other personal trainers, working with corporate groups as well as working with specific weight loss clients not only as a trainer but as a coach.
10) Can you tell us about a personal training success story that can inspire us? Maybe one of your students? Maybe your own?
A couple of testimonials
I turned 40 last year and decided instead of dwelling too much on my age I decided to set myself a fitness goal. I had never been a big runner, but decided I would train to complete a half marathon and at the same time reduce my body fat. I put together a training plan where I increased my cardio training from twice a week to 5 sessions a week and also included 2 days a week of resistance training, not only did I see a huge improvement in my aerobic capacity but I was also losing approximately 1% of body fat per month and my body shape was changing rapidly. I feel a lot more athletic and can actually see muscle definition now which have I never seen before. I feel the best I have ever felt and can’t wait for the next half marathon.
- Jodi Ince
Croydon
We have been clients of this service since its establishment at Auchenflower, in 1999. What better testimony than we remain satisfied clients to this day. Neither of us had experienced personal training before Personal Best. However, our busy lifestyle as self-employed small business owners required a flexible, accessible and cost effective approach to fitness. Large set classes or self directed learning at the general gym had not yielded the results that we were seeking. We needed understanding and maximum flexibility to cope with our differing personal needs and very busy lives.
Personal Best has helped us both achieve goals that sit comfortably with our age and stage in life as well as including some dreams. For example; while one of us had a history of running the other had not – but had always wanted to. Personal Best’s David Blair has encouraged, planned and trained this now very fit 54 year old woman to achieve a sub 30 minutes in October 2000 in a 5KM run. As a couple, running is now part of our lifestyle.
The environment at Personal Best has been another factor in our satisfaction with the service. We have watched as David and Shane built a team of trainers and a good client list. At the same time, they have always maintained their focus on our changing needs and on us. We admire their enthusiasm and energy for their business dream and also their commitment to service quality. We now feel confident in the hands of other trainers on their team who have embraced their flexible approach to sessions but also their tenacity in pushing fitness goals with sometimes-sluggish bodies.
We wish them well as they assist other clients to reach their fitness goals.
- Dr. Keith Adam – Occupational Physician and Partner
Kerry Adam – General Manager
11) Now, for the last question… we invite you to plug your personal training service. What makes you a Top Personal Trainer. what message do you want to send to anyone reading this and thinking of contacting you to start their personal training program?
Motivation, education and support – the 3 keys to my personal training service. Personal training is not just about improving a particular facet of fitness. It is about creating a body that performs optimally and creating the life that you deserve to lead.