Are You Making These Healthy Food Mistakes?

Food Fads Kale! Seaweed! Goji berries! When you hear aboout a food that curbs this disease or that condition, you might want to dive right in. If some is good, more must be better, right? Not so fast. The right amount of the right types of foods is great for you. But if you overdo it or choose the wrong kinds, it can backfire. Since every good-for-you-food has its limits, focus on the big picture.

 Too Many Brazil Nuts

Selenium is a nutrient that you need -- but only about 55 micrograms (mcg) of selenium a day. Just one Brazil nut has 68-91 mcg. That's more than a day’s worth! Too much selenium can cause problems including diarrhea, nausea, skin rashes, hair loss, and even serious effects like trouble breathing, heart and kidney failure, and heart attacks. Adults shouldn’t get more than 400 mcg per day.  That’s no more than four or five Brazil nuts, if you don't get selenium from anything else.

 Picking Your Own Mushrooms

These wild and wooly fungi are tasty, loaded with nutrients, low in calories, and may even lower your risk of cancer.  But before you forage in your local forest, keep in mind that eating the wrong kind of mushroom can lead to anything from an upset stomach to death. So only hunt for them if you’re an expert or are with one. Otherwise, get them from your grocery store to be safe.

 Grapefruit Plus Certain Meds

This splashy citrus could cause problems if you have some prescriptions, like statins for your cholesterol. Grapefruit can make your body absorb more of the medicine than normal, which could lead to side effects. It may be more likely with some statins than others. And the same thing could happen with some drugs that treat other conditions. So if you’re gaga for grapefruit, ask your doctor if it will affect your prescriptions.

 Greens and Kidney Stones?

Just about everyone needs to eat more veggies. Dark, leafy greens like spinach are some of the best. But if you tend to get kidney stones, you’ll want to watch how much you eat. These greens have a lot of oxalate, which can cause kidney stones. If you’re at risk, your doctor may recommend no more than 40-50 milligrams (mg) of oxalate a day. And half a cup of greens can have close to 10 mg of it. So you can have a couple of servings, but don’t pack huge amounts into your green smoothies.

 Too Much of the Wrong Fish

Fish are rich in protein, low in saturated fats, and high in good fats your body needs. The catch? They absorb mercury. That’s a problem for anyone, but especially pregnant women because it can harm the baby’s nervous system. Each week, you can eat 12 ounces -- about two meals -- of low-mercury fish like shrimp, canned light tuna, or salmon. Avoid high-mercury fish like:
King mackerel
Orange roughy
Shark
Swordfish
Tilefish

Can You Get Too Much Water?

Most days, you likely don’t drink enough of it. It's not easy to get too much. There are two main exceptions. One is a mental health condition where you compulsively drink water. The other is when you do a lot of hard exercise, like marathons, and you down too much water instead of a sports drink.

Coconut Oil Overload
More and more people have started to cook with coconut oil. But many nutritionists are still skeptical. Why? While coconut oil does have fats that boost your good cholesterol, it’s also bursting with saturated fat. Your best bet? Limit yourself. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 13 grams of saturated fat a day. Just 1 tablespoon of coconut oil gives you 11 of those.

 Olive Oil: Drip, Don’t Drown

Olive oil may actually be good for your heart. But even the best fats are loaded with calories. So limit yourself to 2 tablespoons a day or less, including what's in your food.  If you overdo it, you could gain weight, and that could offset the good you thought you were doing.

 Potatoes: Don’t Go Green

Potatoes naturally have solanine, a substance that can make you sick if you eat too much. It’s highest in the eyes, sprouts, skin, and any green parts of the potato. Still, you’d have to eat a lot of potatoes before you had a problem. A person who weighs 100 pounds would need to eat 1 pound of completely green potatoes before getting sick. But don’t forget to remove the eyes, sprouts, and green parts, just to be on the safe side.

 Nightshades and Joint Pain

Potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers are all nightshades. They’ve gotten a bad rap because of solanine.  Some say it causes joint pain, but there’s no research to back that up. In fact, yellow and purple potatoes may help with swelling, which could ease pain. Still, you know your body best. You may be sensitive to some vegetables, so if they bother you, avoid them.

 Maxed Out on Chocolate

It tastes great and has antioxidants and flavonoids, which can help lower your blood pressure and protect your arteries. But there are limits: Go gourmet. Lower-quality chocolate usually won’t have the flavonoids. Limit yourself to 1 ounce each day. Check the label of your bar to see how big it is.Stick to dark chocolate that’s at least 70% cacao to avoid too much sugar and fat.

 A Better Way

Make it simple. Instead of obsessing over a single food:
Fill half your plate with fruits and veggies. Split the other half between proteins and whole grains.
Limit how much sugar, salt, and saturated fat you eat.
Mix it up. When you eat a variety of good-for-you foods, you meet your needs and avoid overdoing it on any one thing.

Your Best Ways to Beat Belly Fat

 

Get More Fiber You don’t have to eat a bag of Grandma’s prunes. Leafy greens, whole grains, nuts, and beans are all good for keeping away the fat that stays deep in your belly. That’s called visceral fat, and it’s the most dangerous kind because it can wrap around major organs, including your liver, pancreas, and kidneys.

 Forget These Two Things

There are no “super foods” that burn off visceral fat. And you can’t tone it away with specific moves like crunches. Instead, look for ways to upgrade your eating habits and add activity every day. Think about your average week. Where might you be able to make some changes?

 The Best Thing You Can Do

While anyone can have too much visceral fat ( the deadly fat), it’s more likely if you’ve got a lot of weight to lose. As you start to take those pounds off, it will help your whole body, including belly fat that’s hidden out of your sight.

 Be Choosy About Fat

You can still have some! But limit the “saturated” kind that’s in animal foods, coconut and palm oils, and full-fat dairy. Keep the portions of those foods smaller than you might normally do, for instance. And check nutrition labels to  see how many calories and how much fat is in a serving. Look for fats that are better for you, too, like those from plant foods or fish such as salmon, tuna, and mackerel that are rich in omega-3s.

 Stop Trying to Outrun It

Still trying to “burn off” that belly fat by pounding the pavement for hour upon hour? You cannot out train a bad diet. Research shows that a few quick bursts of high-intensity exercise -- such as a 30-second sprint or intense pullup set -- may be more effective, and easier to fit into your schedule. You can add bursts of higher intensity to any workout. Just speed up or work harder for a brief time, then drop back to a more mellow pace, and repeat.

 Sleep: the Goldilocks Formula

When it comes to weight gain, shut-eye is a bit like porridge: Too little -- less than 5 hours -- may mean more belly fat. But too much -- more than 8 hours -- can do that, too. “Just right” seems to be around 6-8 hours. If you don’t sleep that much now, or if you tend to toss and turn, try to go to bed a little earlier, relax before bedtime, keep your bedroom cool, and try not to text and email right before you turn in.

 Forget a ‘Quick Fix’

Sorry, but cosmetic surgery isn’t the solution here. Liposuction doesn’t reach inside the abdominal wall. So it can’t get rid of visceral belly fat( the deadly fat). Likewise, crash diets aren’t the solution, either. You’re too likely to go off them. The slower, steadier option -- lifestyle changes that you can commit to for a long time -- really is the best bet.

Keep Calm

Are you stressed out? That can make you eat more fat and sugar, and unleash the “stress hormone” cortisol, which can boost belly fat. Stress also can make you sleep less, exercise less, and drink more alcohol -- which can add belly fat, too. It’s a great reason to take up meditation, work out, listen to music you love, or find other healthy ways to unwind and relax.

 Rethink Your Drink
Whether it’s a latte, a regular soda, a mug of beer, or a glass of wine, it’s got calories. And when you’re trying to unwind the numbers on the scale, water (or a smaller glass of your favorite beverage) might be a better choice. If you drink alcohol, remember that it just might make you throw your willpower out the window when you order your meal, too. Try to drink a litre of water daily.

 Don’t Smoke

As if you need another reason to quit. Smoking makes you more likely to store fat in your belly, rather than your hips and thighs. And that’s bad. Oh, and it’s also a cause of diabetes. And cancer. And heart disease. And lung disease. And … you get the idea. If you’ve tried before, try again. Tell your doctor, so you can get pointers on what might help you quit for good.

 Don’t Rely on Clothing Sizes

One company’s size 14 could be another’s size 12. A better method is to measure your waist. If you’re a woman, you want that number to be 35 inches or less. Men get up to 40 inches. The reason? You may lower your chance of having a heart attack, a stroke, or possibly certain types of cancer. A tape measure can’t check on visceral fat. But along with the scale, it can help you track your weight loss.

 Lift Weights

Think about hitting the gym instead of the trail. In one study, healthy middle-aged men who did 20 minutes of daily weight training gained less abdominal fat than men who spent the same time doing aerobic exercises, such as biking. Strength training is also good for women -- and it won’t make you bulky.  You still need to do some cardio, but make sure strength training is in the mix.

 

 

 

 

 

Habits

H A B I T S

“Habits are like cobwebs at first, cables at last” — Proverb
With the New Year come and gone, I thought I’d explore the relationship between our habits and the outcomes we experience in training and in life. The concept of “New Year’s resolutions” has always been interesting to me, primarily because so few people manage to keep them. Since the conventional route rarely works, let’s explore a less conventional approach...

What Are Habits?

Habits are consistent patterns that reveal our character and determine our effectiveness in life. Steven Covey describes habits as “the intersection of knowledge, skill, and desire.” In Covey’s representation, knowledge represents the paradigm we apply to a situation, or the “how to do. “Skill is the “how to do,” and desire is the motivation or the “want to do.”

Benefits & Costs

Anthony Robbins has suggested that we do not change “bad” habits until the negative consequences of those habits begin to outweigh the perceived benefits. For example, you might find yourself in the habit of eating a pint of ice cream every night before going to bed. You enjoy the experience of eating that ice cream, and, at least for the short term, that enjoyment greatly outweighs the negative outcomes of your habit, since it takes time for those extra calories to cause weight gain. After several weeks however, it becomes evident that your ice cream habit has caused you to gain15 pounds. At this point, the negative outcome of the habit is quite tangible, and because you have been eating that ice cream every day for weeks, you don’t get the same enjoyment from it that you used to. Because the negatives are now outweighing the positives, you’re now much more likely to change your ice cream habit.

Changing Unproductive Habits

Knowledge .In some cases, we are unaware of the negative consequences of our habits. For example, excessive intake of processed carbohydrates can promote inflammatory responses in the joints. You may assume that your painful joints are simply part of life, or the outcome of old athletic injuries. It isn’t until you reduce your intake of processed carbs that you realize the negative consequences of your former habit. On a similar note, we often do not realize the benefits of our good habits until we discontinue them for a period of time. We commonly assume that it takes discipline to change bad habits. It’s interesting to note that the word “discipline” evolved from the root word “disciple” which means “one who learns.” And in fact, when you encounter a highly disciplined person, you’re not looking at someone who gets his/her kicks from self-denial, but instead, someone who has learned that the negative outcomes of certain behaviours is not worth the benefits associated with them. It really comes down to self-awareness.

Skill

The skills required to change undesirable habits can be learned by anyone and are widely available to those who seek it. The primary skill involved is the simply decision to take action. I recently saw a great sketch on a television show, where Bob Newhart played a psychologist who billed himself as being able to cure anyone’s problems in 5 minutes. A female patient comes in whereupon he asks “How may I help you?” She proceeds to explain that she has a terrible eating disorder where sheets copious amounts of food, only to purge the meal shortly thereafter. “Is that all?” Newhart asks? “No” she replies, and begins to describe her terrible drug and alcohol problems. “Anything else? “Newhart inquires. “Yes,” the patient continued, explaining that she also has Obsessive-compulsive tendencies, and can’t manage to leave her house without making sure that the stove if off dozens of times.

Finally, the patient had fully detailed her numerous psychological problems. Newhart reflects for a

Moment, and then simply says “OK, here’s what you need to do: STOP IT!”
“Huh?”
“STOP IT!”
“But...”
“Just STOP IT!”
“I also pull my eyelashes out”
“Stop that too”

Substitution

Unfortunately, simply stopping your bad habits, in and of itself, is an insufficient strategy. A much more effective plan is to substitute a new, more productive habit in place of the one you’ve decided to end. For example: Sitting in front of the television at night is the enemy of good eating habits. You’re being bombarded with tremendously effective food commercials, and you’re in close proximity to the fridge. If you find that you’re most vulnerable to making poor eating choices at night, this could be the reason why. If you can terminate the night-time TV habit and substitute it with (for example), a bike ride, a lot of good things start to happen:

1. You’re away from the pervasive food commercials and the access to the fridge

2. You’re burning calories while you exercise

3. Exercise tends to blunt your appetite

4. When you exercise, you’re more likely to eat right, as a way of further leveraging the good effects of the exercise

Motivation

The motivation required to change bad habits comes from the realization that the benefits you experience from your habits are not worth the negative outcomes of those habits. The following is an exercise to help you become more aware of the benefit/cost ratio of your habits.
Spend a few minutes on this exercise right now:
My 3 most effective/empowering training/nutritional habits are:

1.

2.

3.

My 3 most destructive training/nutritional habits are:

1.

2.

3.

Now take a moment to identify the benefits or rewards you experience from each habit, and also the negative outcomes (if any) of each habit.
Example: Under the effective habit list, you may have listed that you eat 5 times a day (as opposed to 2 or 3). The benefits of this habit are that your energy levels are more stable, your cravings for sugary foods has diminished, you can eat more without gaining weight, and that your body composition has improved. The negative aspects of this habit are that itis occasionally inconvenient to eat so often, and that you need to give more thought to meal preparation than you used to. Are the benefits worth the cost?

Momentum

The nice thing about establishing new habits is that most of the hard work takes place in the first3-4 weeks...after that initial period of time, the amount of effort required to sustain the new habit diminishes considerably. The bottom line is that whatever strategy you choose to change undesirable habits, at some point, you simply need to take action; you need to interrupt the pattern. You might find it helpful to recall a positive experience from your past as you managed to stop a bad habit. How did you do it?

Was it worth the effort? Was it really as hard as you had anticipated?

 

It's Time for a Change

                            The great physicist and one of my personal heroes Albert Einstein once remarked "The measure of intelligence is the ability to change".

     What he meant was that being able to adapt to your situation and changing surroundings is a key part of intelligence. Resisting change is futile because life is always changing and this ability to adapt largely explains why the human race has made it this far as we have.   The ability to constantly change and improve how you train and compete is also a key requirement in sport, and with 2018 dawning, Einstein's quote got me thinking about the changes I made last year to my training, lifestyle and nutrition  Did I simply plough on regardless or did I - on the basis of new scientific evidence - change my approach for the better?

   As a Professional Personal Trainer and founder of LA Success Fitness Training, I am very fortunate. I get to read about the very latest scientific findings from the world of nutrition and performance and how to practically apply this knowledge to boost performance and help my clients reach their goals efficiently and safely.  And yes, thanks to this knowledge, I was able to make positive changees. 

In 2017 alone, some of the key findings that we reported on and which helped me personally included:

        

        What still doesn't work and what still does.

 

       Specific resistance exercises that can cause you serious harm

 

         Improved swimming performance thanks to new findings on hand positioning during freestyle and optimum breathing patterns to develop a smooth stroke and increase endurance.

        
    Better pacing strategies during run events and the role of the mind in executing them.

        
     A new approach to strength training that enhance endurance while being quick to perform and easy to integrate into an endurance programme.

        
    How to use hot-weather training as a substitute for altitude training in order to boost endurance.

        
      Why the traditional approach to carbohydrate nutrition (i.e. plenty at all times) might not work for endurance athletes seeking the fastest race times rather than just good training times!

       
      How to use new theories on muscle and tendon function to maximise running efficiency while minimising effort.

         The hazards of high volume endurance training to long-term bone health, and how athletes can make dietary changes to keep themselves in tip-top condition

·
         How to utilise resistance training more effectively to enhance fat loss and increase muscle tone

 

 These findings are just a few from dozens and dozens of published  articles and papers I researched during 2017. Importantly, all articles and paers are based on peer-reviewed scientific evidence. Not "my mate reckons this" or  "I read somewhere that" but based on recent science and our best understanding of the truth at current time.

Looking Forward !

     Applying these findings doesn't make me especially intelligent - the credit lies with the scientists who diligently carry out this research so that we can all benefit. But I am a firm believer in the old adage: "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always had".

The good news is that if you're someone who strives to be the best you can be, you too can reach new heights in 2018.

     Here at LA Success Fitness Training my goal is to continue to provide my clients  with the latest thinking and best practice to get ahead of the pack. And in the year ahead, I will be there for you every step of the way. You don't have to be Einstein to see what the potential benefits could be! Let me help you separate the training myths from the science based facts

 

Training prepares you, Education sustains you !

 

 Eric Hartzell

LA Success Fitness Training

MNSCA    CIIS     MACSM

 

 

 

Exercise’s That Ages You Faster

   Exercise that was once considered the most effective way to look younger, get leaner and more fit…now linked to accelerated aging, inflammation and chronic age-related diseases. (Plus, what you can do instead to slow the aging process down to a crawl — so you can burn off age-related weight..and look and feel YEARS younger!)
      According to science, there’s a difference between chronological age and biological age, which means you can be 50 years old and literally have a body of a 40 year old. I’m sure you’ve met someone that not only looks 10 years younger, but has boundless energy and stamina. That being said, I’m sure you’ve seen the exact opposite as well, someone that looks and acts much too OLD for their actual age.
      So what’s the deal?  Is it genetics?  I know it sounds like the most reasonable answer.  But genetics have very little to do with how fast or slow you age.  Believe it or not, YOU have way more control over the aging process than you think. 
    Seriously, it’s not science fiction… you CAN slow your aging process, BUT only if you know what to do.
...And I’m not talking about having to take anti-aging pills or hormone supplements.  Nope.  This is much safer and more effective.  It’s something you can do on your own.
    There are countless men and women who have cracked the code on aging and have literally slowed down their biological clock to a crawl.  And I’ll show you all the effective anti-aging tips and tricks in just a minute, but first let’s look at what happens as you age…

 1.Your metabolism slows down to a snail’s pace as you age.  This makes burning fat and losing weight next to impossible.

 2.The hormones responsible for all of your youth-like qualities such as healthy skin tone, strong lean muscle, robust energy and insatiable sex drive, start declining more and more each year that goes by.  And if you’re not proactive, your youth enhancing hormone levels may drop so low that there is no turning back.

 3.Aging makes your bones weaker and more brittle by robbing your body of vital minerals that are essential for strong bones.  This is why so many elderly people suffer from hip fractures that can lead to even more serious medical complications.

 4.It’s not just your physical qualities that get negatively affected by aging…your brain suffers as well.  Your memory, your ability to solve problems, and your decision making skills all start to decline and worsen each year.

 5.And here’s the real kicker:  After 40, your biological age starts to speed up and age faster than your chronological age!  In fact, for every year that passes you can age up to 6 months extra.  That means when you turn 42, your body is essentially turning 43…if you keep this up, at 48 your body could be as old as 52!!

    These are the harsh facts, but it’s the truth.  However, it doesn’t need to be this way.  YOU have the power to slow aging and prolong your youth.  When you apply my anti-aging strategies, you’ll be able to REVERSE the aging process by greatly slowing down your biological aging well below your chronological aging.

 Here’s what you can expect when you use some of my anti-aging strategies:

   1.You’ll re-ignite your metabolism, reprogramming your body so you can readily start burning fat right away.

   2.You’ll reboot your endocrine system, creating a resurgence of youth enhancing hormones so can get infinitely more energy—and replace flab with lean, strong muscle while boosting your sex drive
  3.You’ll fortify your body by regaining bone density and building a solid foundation.
  4.Boost your brain power, enhancing memory and improving your cognitive function making you as sharp as a tack
  5.You’ll dramatically decelerate your body’s aging process.  So, your biological age will age slower than your chronological age—making you look and feel younger each year that passes.

   Now I need to warn you… what you’re going to read next is probably going to go against everything you’ve ever heard before.  BUT that’s because very few people actually know how to slow their aging process. 
  Think about the so-called “experts” giving you anti-aging tips… what do they look like? 
   Look, I’m not one to judge by looks alone, but as far as anti-aging is concerned I’m taking advice from the people in the scientific community and not someone on Youtube or a website selling anti-ageing products

      Now, here are the 3 WORST mistakes you must AVOID if you want to slow the aging process and increase your metabolism to burn fat, boost your youth enhancing hormones to get more energy & stamina, and build a lean, strong, healthy body:

  1. Cardio:Too much cardio can make you age FASTER
    Too many people think that cardio is the answer to everything related to weight-loss and fat-loss.  And although cardio can be helpful (if done properly), it does nothing to slow the aging process.  In fact, it does the exact opposite!.  Doing long frequent cardio sessions will break down your muscles and increase the production of free radicals.  These free radicals are nasty little things that damage the cells in your body and accelerate aging.
    Don’t worry if you’re concerned about your heart health.  There is a much more effective way to improve your cardiovascular health, which I’ll cover in just a minute.  And here’s the best part: it takes only 1/3 the time of a conventional cardio workout AND it also triggers your youth enhancing hormones instead of those nasty free radicals that age you faster!

 2.  A Low-Fat Diet:NOT eating fat makes you age faster

     It’s hard to believe that “low-fat” is still a dietary recommendation because science has proven that fat is not the cause of weight gain or heart disease.  In fact, since the introduction of the fat-free diet, the world has gotten more fat and sick than it has ever been before. 
     Fat is not the enemy.  Fat does NOT make you fat.  In fact, fat is an absolute must if you want your body to look and feel younger!  Why?  Because healthy fats are an essential source of good cholesterol, which is KEY to producing the hormones that enhance your youthful qualities.  (Not all cholesterol is bad, by the way — good cholesterol is a crucial component of healthy skin tissue, making your skin more supple, glowing, and youthful).  If you’re following a low-fat diet, you’re depriving your body of the nutrients it needs to slow aging and keep your youth.
 3. Yoga:Yoga is great for relaxation, but is NOT best for fat-loss
      Yoga has been around for thousands of years and it’s still around after all this time because it’s very effective for things like improving your inner consciousness, mind-body connection and spiritual health.  However, it should NOT be considered an effective form of exercise.  Sure, some movements are difficult and physically challenging.  BUT strictly physiologically speaking, yoga lacks the necessary components to stimulate your body to build lean muscle, burn fat and most importantly… trigger your youth-enhancing hormones to help slow aging.  Yoga can improve your flexibility and calm your mind, but it will NOT stimulate your “youth” hormones

 

 

 

 

Top 10 Mistakes Personal Trainers Make

      Throughout my career I have been fortunate enough to work with and be taught by many different strength coaches and experts in my field and have been able to get a look at what works and what doesn't work in regards to program design. Recently I talked with many of the industry’s leading professionals about the common mistakes they have seen over the years. Originally I only planned to use notes that I took down to better myself as a
Professional Personal Trainer but soon realized that the information that they were giving me could benefit many others out there and so I put this together to identify the biggest program design mistakes in the hope that you will be able to avoid making these in your own programs.

Mistake # 1: Not assessing Clients.
Assessing clients is a huge part of program design but it is all too
often left out. There are many ways to test a client and obviously,
you can’t  spend hours on functional tests but this doesn't mean that you cannot assessyour client. Before workouts even begin you can talk to the client
to get a feel on how they are doing, during warm-ups you can assess,
during the workouts you can look for things that need to be fixed ifathletes don't respond to cues.

Mistake # 2: Creating Programs based on one training methodology.
All too often strength and conditioning coaches and personal trainers build training programsaround their own individual bias. Maybe they used to be a Bodybuilder,an Olympic lifter, a powerlifter, or a strongman and so when they sit down to write their training programs often they are will look like they are designed for that sport. For instance if you come from a powerlifting background you may decide to bench, then do board presses, then rack lockouts followed by another tricep movement. Buthow effective is this going to be a developing the client for anythingother than the bench? There’s so many different methods out there toimprove a clients performance that you need to keep an open mindtake pieces from all of these training methods and figure out what ismost applicable to your athletes and put them all together in yourprogram.

 Mistake # 3: Teaching variations as progressions.

It seems there is a current trend that in order to teach a squat you
must first teach a bodyweight squat, then a dumbbell squat, then a
front squat, and then a back squat. This is not a progression but a
series of variations. A progression should follow a specific plan of
teaching a motor skill or a skill through that plane until it becomes a
complete skill. And then you start adding a load or other external
variables to that skill.Let's look at the squat. First you would teach athletes how to do abodyweight squat, next you would want to teach them how to squat
with a piece of dowel or PVC pipe, next you would add the bar andlastly you would add weight.

 Mistake # 4 : Not being able to justify what is in your program.

There is so much information available on the Internet now and so
many personal trainers are coming out with innovative exercises that it is very
easy to get caught up in the latest and greatest and forget about what
it is we really need to achieve with each training session. I am not
saying that you should not include other exercises but make sure you
are including them for a reason and not because you read somewhere
that you should. If you can’t justify why everything in your program is
in there, then it shouldn’t be in your program.

 Mistake # 5: Lack of Attention

Often the personal trainers lack attention to details and will allow the client to getaway with not doing things properly. You must spend time teaching
your athletes the fundamental basics and techniques to executing the
lifts before you begin to load up the weight. We cannot expect a
client to know that they are performing a lift incorrectly if they have
never been taught how to perform that lift correctly. Once you know
they can perform the lift it makes it easy to give feedback in regards
to whether they are squatting low enough or not, whether they are in
the correct position or improper positions etc.

Mistake # 6: Number Inflation
For some reason some personal trainers decide to throw the
rule book out the window and allow clients to perform lifts incorrectly
in order to lift heavier weights. Unfortunately, although this
may look good on paper in the long run it does nothing but hurt the
client. This is a lose, lose situation.

 Mistake # 7: Pushing too hard

Personal trainers often push their athletes too hard in the weight room.I see it everyday. It isimportant to take into account everything that goes on in a clients
life and know when it is time to push and when it is time to back off.
When designing your program remember that there are a lot of things
outside of the weight room that have a huge affect on clients (diet,
sleep patterns, school, relationship, etc) that need to be taken into
account as well as the demands of training itself. Often personal trainers will
mistakenly think that there clients are giving them a low level of
effort when in reality the client is giving it their all but they just have
not recovered from a long ,hard week.

 Mistake # 8: Too Much Volume

By the time you factor mobility work, dynamic work, agility work,
lateral speed work, linear speed work, plyometric work, strength work,
power work, and conditioning you end up with a huge list of possible
exercises and often people get carried away and try to include it all in
one workout. A lot of times people just – you try to spread that out
and it's really easy just to get carried away and just use way too much
volume. What is interesting to me is I have yet to work with an
athlete who didn't respond to a workout that focused more on quality
than quantity.

 Mistake # 9: No long-term plan

Believe it or not there are many personal trainers out there who do not have an
organized plan and have no idea what their end goal is for their
clients. When you sit down to write a program you should always
ask yourself where do we want to end up? Where do we want them be
in six months,12 months. When it finishes?  Where do you want the clients fitness levels to be at ? Etc. Then once you have figured out where you want to end up you work backwards and design a program that will help you achieve those goals. The biggest mistake you can make is not having your goal written down and just trying to do things week by week. If you don't have that end goal then you are not going to know where to start or what you need to do each week.

Mistake # 10: Copying someone else's program
Many personal trainers  believe that if they copy the top guy on the internet or Youtube training program then they will become successful. However, using a program with the mentality that one size fits can become very counterproductive to both the athlete at the end goal. Because, generally the programs that are copied are designed for really advanced athletes and this means that beginning athlete might get overwhelmed by the demands of the workouts. Of course you can always learn from other programs but it is important to find out for ourselves what our clients need and be able to create a program that meets those needs.