I would like to say a big thank you to Paul Smith of Paul Smith Music and Julie Gardner of Jam DVD for creating our new videos for the site.  We have put together some new videos of the people who train at Personal training studios W10, their training and what their results have been like since training with us.  There are still more videos to be uploaded and we are currently in the process of creating more.  Let us know what you think of them.

Two weeks ago I did myself a gym related injury which turned out to be the worst injury I have ever had from the gym.  I never thought I would get an injury like the one as I thought this only happened to inexperienced people, but be warned it can easily happen, and its extremely painful when it does.

Two weeks ago I was performing bicep curls during my gym workout and towards the end of the workout I decided to throw in 2 cheat sets to go heavier than I usually would.  I have performed cheat sets for well over 10 years and have not suffered any problems, this time however I moved my neck slightly forward when lifting the weight up injuring my neck.  The problem with very heavy cheat sets is that it only takes a small wrong movement to cause serious damage, from now on I won’t be perfroming cheat sets again as they are a very risky maneuver.  When I yanked my head slightly forward I caused a facet joint injury my physio told me, this left me unable to move my head at all, I had to hold one shoulder 2 inches above usual and hold my head up at first just to relieve the pain.  I spent a few days predominantly in bed as the pain was too much standing.  Sleeping was a nightmare as I had to lift my head with my hand to move even a cm to the left.  When I did this injury I thought I had slipped a disk and it was all over.  When I found out it could be repaired I still thought I would be out of action for a good 6  months.  It took Sarah my physio only 7-10 days to get me back feeling good.  I highly recommend physio for sports related injuries and even when you think the worst you will often find out that most things can be fixed yet most people believe they can’t so don’t seek help, often leading them to get worse.

I highly recommend Westlondonphysio just off Kensington high street these guys are experts in gym related injuries, don’t spend time in bed thinking there is no hope leaving time to be a healer get to a physio as soon as you can.  I asked my physio if I had not had any physio and gone about treating it with the proper care and medication, how long it would have taken to heal I was told probably around 2 months to heal, that was a scenario I certainly wanted to avoid as working as a personal trainer having an injured neck is not the best advertisement for your business.

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If your trying to get in shape then you may find a heart rate monitor useful.  A heart rate monitor is a great way to monitor your heart  rate whilst exercising and check how many calories you are burning.  Heart rate monitors are all different if you are a beginner you are not going to want a heart rate monitor with all the extras that only an athlete would need, so read our reviews below to check which heart rate monitor is the best heart rate monitor for you.

Polar FS1

This is an entry level heart rate monitor perfect for someone who doesn’t want a heart rate monitor with all the extras but an easy to use heart rate monitor.  Simple easy to use buttons and a nice price.

Polar F6

A medium level heart rate monitor with some extras but not too complicated.  Certainly a step up from the Polar FS1 without becoming too complicated.  The F6 tracks calories in different heart rate zones as well as giving you a weekly summary of your workouts.

Polar FT60

A great heart rate monitor for someone looking to really improve their workouts.  This heart rate monitor allows you to set weekly fitness goals and do fitness tests.  The FT60 easily links up to your computer allowing you to transfer data.  Although this heart rate monitor is not cheap it will certainly give your workouts a real boost.

Garmin Forerunner 305

This is the top of the range when it comes to heart rate monitors.  This heart rate monitor comes with GPS tracking and the ability to create your own workouts as well as analyzing your pace, distance and calories burned.  The only downside is it doesn’t have a clock and its a bit bulky.  This heart rate monitor has great reviews and comes highly recommended by many athletes.

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As a personal trainer there are certain essentials you could do with owning that will really help your business.  Below is a list of these essentials that we recommend.

• Heart rate monitor – A heart rate monitor will allow you to track your clients heart rate through out your sessions, this will ensure they are working out at the level you want them to.  Polar is a good make of heart rate monitor and probably the most popular used worldwide.
• Peak flow meter – A peak flow meter allows you to measure your client’s ability to breathe out air.  Peak flow meters can detect if a client is healthy, asthmatic and the power in their lungs.
• Measuring tape – Use a measuring tape to measure your clients arms, legs, neck etc every few weeks so they can see their improvements.
• Scales- Most clients will want you to measure their weight through out their time training with you, your scales need to be accurate scales that don’t give different inaccurate readings each time they step on them like many sets of scales do.  Salter scales and Tanita scales are a good choice of accurate scales.
• Body fat tester – either calipers or accurate body fat scales should be used to measure a clients body fat every few weeks.  Stick to the Tanita ones, these are great.  Any of the scales with the handles I find to give the most accurate reading.

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Becoming a female fitness model is very similar to becoming a female fashion model accept allot harder as you have to get your body in incredible shape that really stands out above 99% of women.  As a female fitness model you need to look strong and toned but not bulky.  It is important to look pretty and be feminine not too scary and muscular.

Pointers in the right direction-

• Create a portfolio, this may be expensive and take a long time to create, so save up and spend time getting good photos done.  Your portfolio is what will sell you to the agencies and magazines.
• Get a good photographer, someone who works already with female fitness models, look in fitness magazines and ring up agencies to see who they suggest you use.
• Concentrate on building defined abs but don’t go too extreme.
• Look at fitness magazines and see who the popular fitness models are and try and get your body to look similar.
• Make sure you live close to where the agencies are and always arrive on time to meetings and shoots.  Living in a big city like New York or London is your best bet.

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Millions of people around the world lift weights regularly and tons of teens want to get huge to impress the girls at the beach, so imagine how many people want to become a bodybuilder or think of becoming a bodybuilder, loads!  So is it competitive?  Yes, very, and is there a lot of money in it when you are a pro, some, but still a lot of Pro’s struggle and it is only the very top few that make a great living out of it as it is not a mainstream sport.

Unless you have incredible genetics, that means narrow hips, wide shoulders and thick legs you are unlikely to make it, although some have in the past like Frank Zane, it is very very hard.  Look at bodybuilding magazines and compare yourself to people in the same weight and age categories as you and see how you compare.  If you beat him and become number one of most shows you will still struggle to pay the bills, you need to be right at the top to make a good living.  Look at Kai Greene for example one of the top 10 bodybuilders in the world, he still finds it hard to find enough money to eat.

Don’t give up everything to become a pro bodybuilder, if you give up college and you don’t make it as a bodybuilder what do you have to fall back on, the only jobs available will be bouncer work or removals.

Enter contests and see how you stack up against the competition, speak to pro bodybuilders and ask them what they think of your chances to become a pro is, thats what I did.  When I seriously wanted to go all the way I asked a Pro to look at my physique and tell me what he thought my chances were.

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Whether to go freelance or work for a big health club like Fitness First is something all PT’s face at one time or another.  In our personal trainers forum this is a common question debated about amongst different PT’s in the personal training jobs section. But what actually are the pro’s and con’s of the different choices.

Freelance personal training job benefits-

• You are your own boss
• You take home every pound you make
• Potential to earn a much higher salary where there is no limit on what you can earn
• Work the hours you want to work

Health club personal training job benefits-

• Constant flow of new clients to target
• All the equipment you need to train your clients
• Fixed salary to pay the bills with monthly regardless of the market

Freelance personal training job negatives-

• Salary fluctuates with the market
• Highly competitive market very hard to find clients

Health club personal training job negatives-

• Gyms are often busy making it hard to provide good one on one service to your clients e.g. waiting to use treadmill as it is already being used by someone else
• Health clubs make you work really hard making a lot of money out of your laboring and paying you very little in relation to what they are taking from the customers.

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If you have developed a great looking muscular physique then you may be surprised at how easy it is to get some work, muscular athletic guys with well defined abs are in demand.  You do not need to be a huge bodybuilder to become a male fitness model but you certainly need to have definition and some quite thick muscle mass.  The most important thing is the abs, all the companies want killer abs, that means defined blocky abs not just a trim looking waist.  If your a muscular male you are much more likely to get work in fitness modeling than in fashion modeling, you will not get paid as well as fashion models but there are much more job opportunities.

Your first jobs as a male fitness model won’t pay well, lots of guys go in for fitness modeling to impress their friends and girlfriends, or to put pictures on their personal training website to help boost their personal training career.  Fitness photographers will either pay you a flat fee for your photos upfront or go 50:50 on the sale of the photo with you afterwards.

Getting fitness modeling jobs relies heavily on location to, you need to really be in a major city like London where you can easily travel to photo shoots, if you live too far away they will often not be interested as you may find it difficult to get to locations on time regularly.

Some pointers in the right direction-

• Mail your unsolicited photos to the editorial staff at magazines.
• Email your photos to fitness photographers who do the photos for major fitness magazines.
• Don’t worry about being in the perfect shape in your photos, the photographers can tell what you will look like coming up to the shoot so if your bulking currently it’s not a problem.
• Make sure your photos you send in focus on your abs and make sure to include a face shot.
• If asked for body part photos make sure to include just that, don’t put your head in that same photo it distracts from the muscle group and makes your muscle look smaller.
• Send in your body measurements with your photos e.g. arm size, neck size, chest size, height, weight etc

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I used to perform cheat sets regularly so that I could apply the maximum amount of weight possible to the muscle, however, after pulling my neck rather badly recently I tend to avoid them.  Although I have been training for over 10 years, and I certainly would not recommend them to beginners, I pulled my neck as with cheat sets you swing the body it is very easy whilst doing this to pull a muscle.  If you keep proper form it is unlikely you will get an injury, I believe by keeping proper form and thinking about it at all times you are unlikely to get an injury throughout all your years of training.  I have met bodybuilders who have injuries regularly, these bodybuilders that spring to mind do cheat sets all the time and tend to have poor technique.  I have met bodybuilders with great technique and form who have never had one injury in the past 20 years.  One injury can put you out for months, is it worth it when you can get the same results, if not better from avoiding this type of working out.

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One of our regular clients Isaac Lidsky has just completed his video testimonial, which has just gone live on Youtube.  Hear what Isaac has to say about his training experience at Personal training studios W10.