Podcast 21

What Role Does Guidance Play in a Person’s Ultimate Ability to Achieve Their Desired Results From Exercise?

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SHOW NOTES

When it comes to fitness results, the key to rapid, positive changes is having a coach who  can give you the accountability and motivation you need to work harder and more effectively while still being safe. Brian Cygan and Amy Hudson discuss why supervision is the key to effective strength training, and how when that’s combined with the digital feedback at the Exercise Coach, you can achieve the fitness results you’ve always wanted.  

  • It’s been said that the most forgotten variable in strength training is supervision.
  • There is plenty of research that verifies the personal health benefits of strength training but we need to remember that the vast majority of those studies are supervised. The researchers are effectively acting as personal trainers who are supervising and providing motivation and guidance.
  • Other studies have shown that supervised strength training leads to greater strength increases than unsupervised training. The smaller the coach’s class size, the greater the effect.
  • When researchers looked at supervised strength training with seniors, they found that when the supervision stops the results diminish or regress, even if the participant continues in a program on their own.
  • The supervision of strength training is the key to making it effective.
  • At the Exercise Coach, the coaches are present to make a difference in three areas: safety, effectiveness, and efficiency.
  • When we talk about safety we are referring to not only keeping a session injury-free, but also that workouts can be continued over the long-term. A qualified professional is going to be watching the form and techniques used while also choosing the right loads and machines for the task. Your workouts should be designed for you and your body, focusing on your current levels of fitness, strength, and ability.
  • The effectiveness of an exercise session is determined by the level of stimulus being applied to the body. Effort levels are of paramount importance and supervision provided by a personal trainer has to bring about higher levels of effort than an individual could manage on their own.
  • Studies have shown that people are capable of producing more force and working harder when someone is present and giving them verbal encouragement and accountability.
  • Digital feedback from the exercise machines, when combined with supervision, further increases a person’s ability to produce force.
  • In order for strength training to be effective, you have to pay close attention to form and technique. This is something that a trainer can provide more effectively than someone exercising on their own.
  • Many people fail to achieve the fitness results they are looking for from exercise because they are unable to exercise at the right intensity. It’s also possible to work at too high of an intensity and get injured. A coach helps you achieve the optimal intensity for your body.
  • The Exercise Coach creates plans that are personalized and optimal for each individual. When it comes to efficiency, clients never have to wonder which muscles to exercise or what to do next. The coaches get everything set up according to plan. This allows the client to focus on their form and their goal and makes it possible to deliver those results with a 20-minute workout.
  • When you work harder, it decreases the time it takes to see improvements in your fitness, which is why we optimize every second of every workout.
  • A trainer’s supervision means that you are going to work harder, but the encouragement of a good team will make it enjoyable.

 


 

The most forgotten variable within strength training is that of supervision. And it’s been stated, this is a quote, the key element to effective resistance training is supervision by a qualified professional.

Welcome to the Strength Changes Everything podcast. I’m Amy Hudson, Exercise Coach Franchisee, here with my co -host, CEO, and co -founder of The Exercise Coach, Brian Sagan. Thank you for joining us today on another episode of the Strength Changes Everything podcast. So today our topic of conversation is gonna be a really interesting one. We’re talking about why having a personal trainer matters for exercise results. And really we’re answering the question, what role does guidance play in a person’s ultimate ability to achieve their desired results from exercise?

So, hey Brian, how are you doing? And we’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

Doing well, Amy. Happy to talk about supervision today. It’s a big part of what we do at The Exercise Coach. You know, our view of what science -based strength training is all about at the Strength Changes Everything podcast. It’s actually been said that the most forgotten variable within strength training is that of supervision. And it’s been stated, this is a quote, the key element to effective resistance training is supervision by a qualified professional.

This comes from a paper authored by researchers, including William Kramer, who’s one of the preeminent exercise physiologists in the world. Again, the key element to effective resistance training is supervision by a qualified professional. Another point that I like to share with people that I think is often lost is there’s so much research today that shows the powerful personal health benefits of strength training, right? That’s what this podcast is largely about. I just think we need to remember that the vast majority of the studies that demonstrate that strength training is so effective and so good for our health are actually supervised studies.

the researchers are actually they’re acting as effectively a personal trainer. They’re supervising, they’re providing motivation, accountability, guidance, and so to a large extent what many studies about strength training are actually showing is that it’s very effective to have a trainer involved in strength training workouts. Other studies have actually shown that supervised strength training will lead to greater strength increases compared to unsupervised strength training. Not only have studies compared supervised versus unsupervised, but they’ve even looked at the ratio of trainer or coach to client or class member. And they’ve shown that a smaller class size, for example, will lead to better strength training results. So one study showed that one coach with five clients brought about better strength gains than one coach or trainer with 25 clients typically.

Furthermore, when researchers have looked at supervised strength training and looked at it among seniors, they’ve shown that when the supervision goes away, the results diminish and actually the participants really Even if they continue in some kind of a strength training program on their own, without the supervision, they actually go backwards again. So I really don’t think we can emphasize enough just the value of professional supervision and strength training. When we think about our coaches at the exercise coach, Really, we’re trying to make a difference in three areas our coaches are there to make a difference in three areas, mainly, and that’s safety, effectiveness and efficiency. So why don’t we talk a little bit about that how coaches can make a difference in these three areas.

Perfect.

Yeah, Brian, that sounds like a great plan. Obviously, we’ve made the case if you’re a listener of this podcast before for the importance of strength training. But what you’re saying based on the studies that you’ve cited already is that the supervision of the strength training is really the key to making it effective. And so, yes, let’s dive into each of these elements, safety, effectiveness, and efficiency when it comes to the supervision given within the context of, let’s say, our exercise coach studios. Let’s start with safety. So what are the elements of state safety that are important when it comes to supervised the supervision of the exercise session?

Well, I think there’s a number of them. You know, when we’re talking about safety, we’re talking about keeping an exercise session injury free. And we’re also talking about making sure that workouts can be performed over the long haul, that they’re sustainable, that they don’t lead to overuse type injuries. And so a few of the things I think about would be movement technique, would be exercise technique, a qualified professional, supervision is going to be watching the form that someone is using during a strength training workout for the purpose of keeping the exercise safe. Another thing that trainer is going to be looking at is going to be proper breathing.

This is very important in strength training that we’re not holding our breath, which can lead to things like exercise induced headache. Setting up proper breathing ranges of motion on any machines that are being used in a workout, and setting up machines correctly, choosing a proper load for an individual, proper resistance levels. This is really important for keeping things safe.

Yes. And our certified coaches at our studios are trained in these exact things. So every individual may come in at a different place and what’s appropriate for one person may not be appropriate for everyone else. And, you know, there are a lot of exercise programs that may be considered to be a one size fits all approach, but the key to the safety element is that your workout should be designed for you. and your body and your current levels of fitness, strength, and your ability levels. So that is awesome.

Brian, let’s transition now into the effectiveness piece. So what role does the guidance and the supervision play in the effectiveness of an exercise session?

Well, the effectiveness of an exercise session is really all about the quality of the stimulus that is applied to someone’s physiology. We know that means basically the highest degree of effort being applied in that exercise session, or really the right or optimal degree of effort being applied in an exercise session. So that’s really the aim when we talk about the effectiveness of a workout. Exercise is really just a physiological demand that we place on the body to trigger the body to produce adaptive responses. And that’ll only happen if the exercise, in this case, the strength training is intense enough to actually serve as a stimulus that will trigger these changes. So effort levels are of paramount importance.

The supervision provided by a personal trainer has to bring about effort levels that are better than this individual could achieve on their own and really are optimal for this individual. And this will mean that trainer has to bring some motivation to the table. some support and some encouragement and accountability. We know from studies again that people just during an exercise session are capable of producing more force and working harder when someone is present and giving them verbal encouragement and providing accountability. And then something that’s unique about our approach at the exercise coach, being technology enabled, it infuses another element, which is digital feedback, real time digital feedback. And it’s really interesting that there’s studies that show that then when we place digital feedback on top of that supervision, that further increases people’s ability to produce force.

It’s like it actually makes them stronger in their workout. And this is with people that are trained, so experienced exercisers, and people that are untrained, people that aren’t experienced exercisers. So supervision, verbal encouragement, and digital feedback is this really powerful experience and strategy for people that is at the heart of what we do at The Exercise Coach. And then one more thing would be. just the direct loading of the muscles that we are intending to strengthen. So this is sort of related to proper form and technique.

But in order for strength training to be effective, the resistance that we use has to be used in such a way that we are loading the musculature that we’re intending to load. So it’s a form consideration. The point is, it’s not just about safety. that form and technique s necessary for maximum wo Perfect.

We actually have coined at the exercise co intensity training. And i possible levels of intensity to exercise. You can start at your far left side with low intensity. The next one in the continuum would be a moderate intensity exercise. Then the third one would be right intensity exercise. And then all the way on the other end would be high intensity exercise.

And what we share with clients is many people fail to achieve the results that they’re looking for from exercise because they aren’t able to exercise at the right level of intens and to engage in a chall to stimulate those muscle they’re working at too lo On the other hand, it’s al at too high of an intensi of motion or at a load th for your body and get inju coach, what we aim to gi of every workout is that exercise. And this is exactly what you just described, Brian.

So perfect.

Yeah, that’s good.

Well said.

Thanks.

Well, let’s hop into third one here, efficiency. So we’ve covered safety. We’ve covered effectiveness. Let’s talk about how supervision plays into the efficiency of somebody’s engagement in an exercise program. What difference does it make there?

Well, at the Exercise Coach, we are creating plans that are personalized and optimal for each individual. And so we always know where we’re going. And we’re always doing a workout on any given day based on this overall plan. But it’s designed and ready to go when our clients walk in the door. One thing about efficiency is that our clients don’t have to think about, well, What am I going to do over the coming weeks? And what am I going to do for my next workout?

And today, even when I’m about to start my workout, you know, how, what should I do today? And how do I set it up? our coaches are doing that for our clients. Their workout for the day is always designed according to plan and ready to go for them. And furthermore, it’s literally being set up by our coaches, like each machine, each weight stack that might be used, and just the order that we’re going to do things in for the optimal workout. And then as we move through that sequence, through that workout, Our coaches are keeping track of everything that’s happening.

Our coaches and our technology are doing the record keeping for our clients. So they never have to think about that. So it’s just kind of this really turnkey experience for them. They get to just walk in and just bring their motivation and keep their focus on effort, and form and that goal that they’re after and kind of get lost in the workout experience as they’re guided along by the coach who’s really worrying about and keeping track of all the details. for them. And this is all necessary for us to deliver the results that matter most to each individual client with just a 20 minute workout.

Being able to do that and do this in 20 minutes is about the right intensity level. As you said, that’s how we’re able to deliver results in a brief workout. But also it’s about the system that we use, the system that has our coaches ready for our clients when they show up with a planned out workout and one that they can move efficiently through keeping track of all the details as they go.

Yeah, Brian. And when you describe that, you really do paint a picture of the experience. that you have going into your workouts at the exercise coach that your trainer has thought through everything and is responsible for guiding you through the session to really optimize every single second you are working out. So when you think about it, when you’re working harder because your trainer is there to supervise you, It will collapse the timeline. It will take you to see improvements in your fitness because you’re working harder. So we want to optimize every second of every workout, which will necessarily decrease the amount of time it takes you to really feel the difference, have more energy, be stronger, move around better.

And those are really, really important. And it increases clients motivation to keep going because they’re able to enjoy those benefits relatively early on because they’re seeing that progress made in a short amount of time.

Yeah, you bet.

I think you said it just right. The supervision of a trainer means you’re going to work harder, but the encouragement of a good team of trainers means it’s going to be enjoyable. It’s going to be harder work, but you’re going to enjoy coming when you have a friendly neighbor. team of coaches that cares about you as an individual, it kind of helps take the edge off the burn that’s necessary to get the results that matter most to you.

Absolutely. So if you listen today to this podcast and you have a safety concern that’s been maybe holding you back from starting an exercise program or doing any exercise, or if you’ve been discouraged in the past because you haven’t been able to really see any progress doing it on your own or any of these apply to you, I’d really encourage you to do yourself a favor and visit an exercise coach studio near you so you can see an experience the way to build strength, to improve your fitness and functionality under the guidance of our expert coaches who are friendly and motivating and ready to serve you. And if you’ve been kind of stuck, I’d like you to picture yourself, you know, six months from now, stronger, more energy, moving better. What would those changes in your physical body mean for your everyday quality of life? And how would they improve the quality of your life if you had those changes in your body. And of course the opposite would be true to, you know, picture yourself six months from now if you remain on the sidelines, not engaging and effective strength training as we’ve talked about today.

Well, as we know, you will be weaker, you’ll be less mobile, you’ll arguably be more vulnerable to joint pain or things like that, that may be getting in your way right now from where you are today. And so we encourage you, don’t let any of these barriers stand in your way. Give yourself a chance to check out an exercise coach studio near you so you can check out the approach that allows so many of our clients to experience the results that matter most to them under the guidance of our expert coaches. All right, thanks for listening to the Strength Changes Everything podcast. We’ll see you next week and remember, strength changes everything.

This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical condition is strictly prohibited. Consult your physician for any medical condition you may be having. In no event will any podcast or blog hosts, guests, or contributors, Exercise Coach USA, LLC, Gymbot LLC, any subsidiaries or affiliates of same, or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, or agents, be responsible for any injury, loss, or damage to you or others due to any podcast or blog content.

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