{"id":47280,"date":"2016-02-01T07:15:47","date_gmt":"2016-02-01T12:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=47280"},"modified":"2021-05-19T08:10:16","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T12:10:16","slug":"impress-personal-trainers-workout-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/fitness\/impress-personal-trainers-workout-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Ways to Impress Your Trainer Without Even Trying"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo: Pond5<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Personal trainers have one job: To help you work out. Specifically, work out stronger, better and smarter. And because they\u2019ve spent so much time on the gym floor (or in your living room with Daily Burn<\/a>), they have a few opinions on how to get down to business the right <\/em>way. Here\u2019s what not to do \u2014 but more importantly, how to get more out of your workout, sidestep injury and set yourself up for some fitness success.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> 11 Ways to Not Be \u2018That Guy\u2019 at the Gym<\/a><\/p>\n

6 Ways to Step Up Your Gym Game <\/strong><\/h3>\n

1. Go in with a game plan.<\/strong> \u201cSo often you see people at the gym roaming around aimlessly with little direction,\u201d says Kara Griffin, a certified personal trainer in Los Angeles and founder of Feel This<\/a>. Instead, she wants gym-goers heading in on a mission<\/em>. \u201cIt can be as easy as, \u2018Today I’ll do cardio for 20 minutes, strength training for 15, and stretch for five minutes.\u2019\u201d she says. It\u2019s simple, yes. \u201cBut at least you’re going into your workout with some kind of direction and intention. You’ll leave with your workout endorphin high but also a sense of accomplishment!\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Relax.<\/strong> Yes, you read that correctly. Even when you\u2019re going hard at the gym, you should make a point to stay relaxed. \u201cI consistently see too much tension in people\u2019s muscles, especially in their faces,\u201d says Jimmy Minardi<\/a>, personal trainer and yoga teacher in East Hampton, NY. \u201cPeople tend to be too stiff when they [work out], which can lead to muscular imbalances. Your shoulders should be back<\/a> and down, neck elongated, allowing you full range of motion in your body.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> The Dynamic Warm-Up You\u2019re Not Doing (But Should!)<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Get low. Like, really low. <\/strong>\u201cI wish people would learn how to squat properly \u2014 ideally so thighs are parallel to the ground at least,\u201d says Dara Theodore, an instructor at the Fhitting Room<\/a> in New York City and a Daily Burn 365<\/a> trainer. The squat<\/a> is one of the most common exercises and will make its way into a variety of workouts, discipline notwithstanding. To fix your form, she recommends starting with air or bodyweight squats first. That\u2019ll help you figure out where you\u2019re tight and what muscles you need to work on most.<\/p>\n

\u201cI clench my teeth when I see people do the slow, hunched-over kettlebell swing.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

4. Stay for the whole <\/em>class. <\/strong>How annoying is it when you\u2019re in the zone, powering through the last few minutes of a HIIT class<\/a> or trying to find final Savasana<\/a> on your yoga mat and someone steps on your mat to duck out early? \u201cIt’s disruptive to the rest of the students who got there on time and want to take the last few minutes to enjoy the workout,\u201d notes Becca Pace, a Daily Burn 365<\/a> trainer in New York City and owner of inyourpacefitness.com<\/a>. Just hang out for those final, amazing stretches \u2014 you already volunteered your time to the class anyway.<\/p>\n

5. If you\u2019re gonna swing, swing right. <\/strong>Kettlebell swings<\/a> are the bomb for blasting calories and toning you up all over \u2014 but they be can quite painful if you\u2019re doing them wrong. \u201cI clench my teeth when I see people do the slow, hunched-over kettlebell swing,\u201d says Rachel Mariotti, a personal trainer at Equinox<\/a> in New York City. \u201cSwings are supposed to generate power in your hips, keeping a nice, long spine and slightly bent knees.”<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> Try Daily Burn\u2019s Own Kettlebell Program Right Now!<\/a><\/p>\n

6. And if you\u2019re gonna lift, lift heavy. <\/strong>Doing crazy-high reps of super-light weights is a major trend right now due to the popularity of barre classes<\/a>. And while those are great, you shouldn\u2019t follow that means of weight training all<\/em> the time. \u201cIf you can comfortably and safely do more than 12 to 18 reps for three sets of anything, you need to lift heavier,\u201d says Brooke Sheely, a trainer in San Diego from YG Studios<\/a>. \u201cDuring at least three of my workouts a week, I try to stay in the8- to 12-rep rangeusing heavy weights \u2014 especially<\/em> for leg and booty day. You will<\/em> see results and you won’t have to spend hours lifting little weights. More bang for your buck!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wanna show off your stuff without being a show-off? Here, six tips for the gym that will leave personal trainers and class instructors proud. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,24,6,14],"tags":[289,76,341,343,160],"class_list":["post-47280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cardio","category-exercise","category-fitness","category-strength-training","tag-exercise","tag-personal-trainer","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2exercise","tag-trainer"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47280\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}