As a fitness trainer, you’ll get many clients who want to lose weight or get in better shape. Some people generally have a faster metabolism and don’t worry about burning calories to lose weight.
On the other hand, some people have a comparatively slower metabolism, or their bodies store fat more quickly. This is the main reason people gain weight if other scenarios such as medical issues or pregnancy are ignored.
As a certified personal trainer, you’ll need to define the reasons why your client is gaining weight instead of designing hardcore exercise programs. Take a look at some of the dos and don’ts of weight loss training that personal trainers should be aware of.
If you’re interested in getting specialized fitness training certifications, check out the ones offered by W.I.T.S Education.
How Is Weight Loss Different From Fitness Training?
Fitness training caters to all forms of exercise and workouts to help people reach their fitness goals. It includes strength conditioning, muscle development, bodybuilding, medical fitness, and other exercise programs that a trainer might design for specific clients. On the other hand, weight loss training mostly focuses on reducing the body’s fat count with or without paying attention to the muscle count of the body.
Some people want to burn fat and get muscular, while others want to lose weight and become leaner. Both of these choices lead to different workout plans and diet plans. This is why a single workout or diet plan can’t characterize weight loss. Besides that, some people want to lose weight after a medical procedure or fight aging signs.
How Can Trainers Determine The Ideal Weight For Their Clients?
Before starting the workout programs, personal trainers must determine their client’s current health and fitness and determine the course of action to achieve their weight loss and fitness goals. To do that, the trainers must determine their client’s body type and any medical or genetic issues they might have and complete assessment tests to gather data to make good solid decisions on how to proceed.
All this information will help trainers determine the right exercises and diet plans to help their clients healthily lose weight. Based on the bone structure, height, and other similar metrics, it’s quite easy to determine the client’s ideal weight. But that doesn’t mean the ideal weight is suited for the client. This is where personal trainers determine how much weight a client should lose.
The Dos Of An Effective Weight Loss Program
Creating A Healthy Diet Plan
A healthy weight loss journey starts with a healthy diet plan. Cutting down meals isn’t going to solve the issue because the body needs all sorts of nutrients, even carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are vital for producing energy in the body.
However, too much of them can lead to fat accumulation. An effective diet plan has healthy meals in smaller portions. As a trainer, you’ll also need to ensure that cutting down on certain meals or adding certain foods to the client’s diet doesn’t cause any adverse effects. Always look to partner with a registered dietician so together the diet is safe and effective. Registered Dietician’s speciality in this area is also a good business move to share clients in both of your expertise areas.
Preventing Burnout Form Workout
The key to a good weight loss exercise program is making clients burn excess fat without exhausting the body. If your workout programs are too aggressive, the client won’t have the energy to do them properly. This can lead to poor form, and in the worst-case scenario, it can also lead to injuries.
So make sure the client can keep up with whichever type of workout plan you choose. Your exercise plan should also have proper resting time. Without proper rest, the body won’t be able to recover and can cause muscle fatigue.
Creating A Long-Term Plan
Weight loss is a journey. It’s not something a client can do in just a few weeks. That’s because the fat is attached to the body and burns slowly. That’s why workout plans should focus more on long-term results. If you push the client to burn a certain amount of fat in just a few weeks or months, their body will become extremely weak and start accumulating fat as soon as they stop working out. This will undo all the hard work. But slow progress will take longer and last longer.
The Don’ts Of Designing A Weight Loss Program
Vigorous Exercise Programs
The worst thing you can do as a personal trainer is design vigorous exercise programs for weight loss. These programs might give your client the desired results fast, but they’ll do irreparable damage to the body. Pushing the client too hard will lead to poor health and a weaker body susceptible to injuries and fatigue. Moreover, the client will be considerably weaker at the end of the program. This will also weaken their immune system and lead to poor health.
Diet Based On Starvation
It’s a common misconception that starving for weight loss is alright if people eat plenty of salads. This isn’t true at all. As mentioned before, the body needs all sorts of nutrients to function and stay healthy. Cutting them down for weight loss might help me lose weight faster, but I’ll hurt the body. So a diet based on starvation and only salads is a bad idea for any client looking to lose weight.
Short-Term Plans
Short-term options that guarantee considerable weight loss in a few weeks are hazardous for the body and the brain. Weight loss is a process and should be treated as such. And short-term one size fits all solution isn’t going to help any client. It’ll just make them push their body to the limit and starve to achieve the desired results. But as soon as the program ends, they’ll only be left with an unhealthy body and possible eating disorders.
On top of that, fat is the easiest thing to accumulate in an unhealthy body, so they’ll be back to their old weight levels just as quickly as they lost their weight.
Become A Certified Personal Trainer With W.I.T.S. Education
People wishing to develop their careers in the fitness business can choose from several personal health trainer programs offered by W.I.T.S. Education, a fitness training institute. We provide a variety of courses, including ones for certified personal trainers, medical fitness professionals, group exercise instructors, and youth fitness trainers.
You can register for our fitness management course if you want to start your own fitness business. We use practical in-person labs and interactive online classes with 5-star professors as our primary teaching methods. Our labs are spread all across North America.
Moreover, students can obtain course credits through the American Council on Education, which has close to 2000 member institutions. Our exams are the only ones NCCA accredited for written and practical skills. This help you enter the job and be ready for success. W.I.T.S. has one of the biggest university networks in the nation, and we help students find employment once they finish their courses. So hurry up, check out our courses and enroll today!