The personal training session is an opportunity to sit with an athlete.  You provide me with the what and why of your goals, it is my job to help you determine the how.  As such, every personal training session looks quite different, tailored specifically to your needs.  We might work on physical skills or we might not.  Here’s the personal training pyramid, the mix of levels we might address depending on where you are at in your fitness journey and where you are hoping to get to:

1) Mindset
It all starts with your specific goals and your personal challenges.  As Ben Bergeron recommends, before you start climbing the ladder, let’s make sure it is leaning up against the right wall.  What are the challenges standing between you and accomplishing your goals?  How do we work around and adapt the programming to address injuries or other pre-existing conditions?  How do we bias the programming to your needs?  Are you training for strength or conditioning?  Are you looking for muscle building or weight loss?  Is your focus performance or sustainable fitness?  Where are you getting stuck?  Everything starts with mindset and some PT sessions our greatest outcomes will come just from this conversation.

2) Nutrition
Abs are revealed in the kitchen.  Whether your goal is improved performance or body composition, the kitchen holds the secrets to your success.  Most of us only train once per day but eat three times per day.  That’s 21 opportunities per week to make an impact on your health and fitness.  Our approach here will again be determined by your specific goals.  A beach body with 6-pack abs will require a different adjustment than just a basic, sustainable eating plan.  Competitors might want to discuss how to maximize game day performance and post workout recovery.  In all cases my focus is on using real foods and developing sustainable habits to support your goals.

3) Physical Training
This is probably what you think of when you think of personal training.  And there is a good chance we will work on one or more of the following physical goals:

a) Mobility – Without it, everything else is challenging.  We will prioritize improved mobility first and foremost so that you have the movement foundation through which to best express your athletic abilities.  If mobility is a limiting factor for you, you can expect me to assign you some homework to develop a quick, simple, daily mobility practice to support your health and fitness.

b) Strength – Loss of strength puts more elderly people in the nursing home than any other condition.  You need a basic level of strength to retain your functional independence.  And if you have athletic competition on your mind, strength is the physical skill you need in order to be resilient and resistant to injury.  We can certainly bias your in-gym training to meet your strength goals but, if you’re meeting with me, you will probably also be taking some homework home with you.  Original Strength, isometrics, even bodybuilding exercises might play a role in building your strength base.

c) Conditioning – If you are planning to compete you are going to need conditioning but you also need to understand that conditioning is activity-specific.  There is a level of specificity required when planning your conditioning program.  Are we just building your work capacity?  Are we building your aerobic base?  Or is your sport anaerobic?  Should we be using intervals?  Is your focus recovery?  We will want to give you some conditioning homework and discuss how to bias workouts to your specific competition goals.

d) Breathing – Whether you are looking to improve your health or your competition performance or accelerate your post-workout recovery, breathing is the key to managing your physiology and neurology.  Correcting your breathing patterns can help to unlock your movement skill, improve your mental game, reduce your anxiety and increase your strength and recovery.  Top athletes are efficient breathers and many have adopted a deliberate breathing practice as part of their training regimen. 

4) Skill
Whether we are discussing developing your pull up efficiency or improving your squat snatch, once we’ve addressed possible limiting factors like strength, our biggest payoffs will come through skill practice.  Effective skill practice requires a different approach to your daily training and some extra practice time.  We will analyze your movement patterns and work to optimize your efficiency to both improve your performance and keep you healthier. 

5) Sport
If you are a competitive CrossFitter with a solid strength and conditioning foundation and an advanced skill set, your biggest competition gains might be derived from developing a strong event game plan.  At this level it is all about strategy and tactics.  Learning and practicing appropriate pacing, emphasizing transitions and focussing on the little things like hand placement, ground markings and how to correctly place your skipping rope down will help you prepare to optimize your performance potential. 

There is so much to work on and athlete needs are so diverse that no two personal training sessions look alike.  As a coach it is very rewarding to see you making progress and it is satisfying helping you overcome obstacles and challenges in pursuit of your goals.  What will your personal training plan look like?

Monday WOD

Equipment: Barbell or dumbbells or alternative

Warm Up
1 min Deadbugs
1 min Windshield Wipers
1 min Bird Dogs
1 min Judo Push Up Rock
1 min Leopard Crawl
1 min Crow Pose
1 min Plank (Left/Centre/Right)
1 min L-Sit
1 min Full Body Rock
1 min Samson Lunges
1 min Squat Hold
1 min Handstand Hold
1 min Scales right
1 min Scales left

Tech
Thrusters

WOD
Thrusters
3-3-3-3-3-3-3

Cool Down