I’m A Personal Trainer And These Are The 9 Tips I Always Give

These top nine training tips come from nearly two decades of personal training and working in weight rooms. Get advice on ideal exercise selection, progression, and alignment. We’ll also cover tips for exercise motivation and keeping up your fitness routine when you’re short on time.

I share these tips with clients to ensure they develop good technique and exercise habits. Following the recommendations can increase exercise effectiveness and safety, getting you the most out of your workout.

If you’re ready to level up your routine and get pro tips, grab your water bottle, and let’s go!

9 Training Tips To Keep In Mind

I’m sharing the top nine training tips I always share with my personal training clients. These recommendations can help you achieve optimal results by making your workouts safer and more effective.

Focus On Alignment

Proper exercise alignment is crucial for effectively targeting the intended muscle group and reducing injury risk. Even exercises focusing on a single joint need the entire body to be appropriately aligned for support. The whole body is interconnected, so even hand, foot, and head positions can alter muscle activation and exercise safety.

For example, neck alignment affects upper-back posture. In a head-forward position, the upper back rounds, stressing the lower back. Weightlifting in this position increases back injury risk.

Conversely, lifting with the neck in a neutral position allows the ears, shoulders, and hips to be stacked in line. This alignment protects the back from excessive stress and puts it in a position designed for weight-bearing.

When performing back squats, the feet and head positions play important roles, although the exercise focuses on knees and hips. Squatting foot stance impacts the targeted muscles, with a wide stance and increasing glute muscle activation. 

Additionally, a wide stance with a 0° foot angle or a narrow stance with a 42° foot angle can increase injury risk. This is due to the increased force on the knees and hips in these positions.

Hand position, in exercises like push-ups and rear delt flies, can alter which muscle or muscle head is targeted. During a rear delt fly an inward-facing palm position activates the posterior deltoids better than a hammer grip.

Regardless of the exercise, aligning the whole body from feet to head is essential. Since body position can shift during an exercise, check your alignment throughout each set.

Choose Suitable Exercises For Your Level

As a personal trainer, I am most often asked, “What’s the best exercise for…?” However, there is no one best exercise for achieving a fitness goal. The best exercise for you is the one that is appropriate for your current condition.

Exercise guidelines vary with age, health conditions, and exercise experience. Just because an exercise is trending on social media or popular with other gym-goers, doesn’t mean it is appropriate for everyone. Your exercise program should be unique to your specific body, fitness level, and goals.

It doesn’t matter how effective an exercise is if it isn’t suitable for your health, fitness level, or experience. Performing a move with incorrect form or working at an intensity beyond your body’s ability increases injury risk. Misalignment, poor technique, and overloading are common causes of exercise injury.

Don’t focus on fitness trends. Work where your body is today and build strength and stamina over time. Training with patience and self-compassion gets you results safely and more effectively than performing exercises your body isn’t ready for.

Change It Up

Incorporating variety into your workout routine can help avoid plateaus and keep exercise motivation high. The principles of progressive overload indicate that exercise intensity should increase gradually through upping exercise weight or repetitions. Muscles can also be continually challenged by altering exercise angle, order, or resistance type.

I recommended using the 2-for-2 rule for progressing resistance training loads. This rule says to increase weight if you can perform two extra reps per set for two consecutive workouts.

Different types of resistance equipment can work muscles in slightly different ways. Variable resistance, like resistance bands, increases resistance through the exercise’s range of motion (ROM).  This contrasts static resistance, like dumbbells, where the resistance remains the same.

Cable machines put constant tension on the muscle throughout the exercise’s entire range of motion, or ROM. This differs from dumbbells, which have less tension at a lift’s initial and end phases. Cables provide greater exercise ROM and working through a full rather than partial ROM is better for increasing strength.

Altering an exercise by adjusting its position or angle can also increase its challenge. For example, elevating the heels 3 centimeters during a squat can significantly increase quadriceps activation. 

Also, performing a bench press at a 30° incline rather than horizontally works the upper pectoralis major harder. The muscle activation rate for the upper pectoralis major in a 30-degree incline bench press is about 30%.

As well, There are countless ways to vary your workout routine to challenge your body and get results. Full body calisthenics, changing exercise equipment, and upping weights can help you and your muscles avoid boredom.

Something Is Better Than Nothing

When life gets busy and squeezing in a workout feels difficult, remember that doing something is better than nothing. Short bouts of exercise can keep your exercise routine on track and maintain or improve your fitness level. Exercise frequency of 1–2 weekly sessions can maintain muscle strength and mass, or even improve it.

One study found strength improvements with just three 13-minute workouts per week over 8 weeks. Research shows that muscle size and strength can be maintained for 32 weeks with one weekly session and one set per exercise. Older populations require two weekly sessions with 2–3 sets per exercise as long as the training intensity is the same.

Furthermore, exercise volume is more important than frequency when building muscle mass. Performing 12–20 weekly sets per muscle group is ideal for increasing hypertrophy in men. Two weekly workouts can accomplish this by performing 2–3 exercises per muscle group with 4–6 sets each.

You don’t need to spend lengthy periods at the gym daily to maintain your fitness level or get results. Even with a busy schedule, infrequent or short sessions are still highly beneficial. If you don’t have time to hit the gym, try these at home workouts.

Move Slowly And Controlled

One of the most common mistakes I see in the weight room is lifts performed at an uncontrolled, rapid pace. This is generally accompanied by lifters swinging their limbs or entire torsos to heave the weights up.  Employing this tactic uses more momentum than muscle, increasing the likelihood of injury.

It’s recommended to move at a rate of two seconds for the up phase and four seconds for the down phase of the movement. Lifting at a controlled pace, without a swinging motion, requires the muscle to do all the work. It also promotes good lifting posture, which is key because postural misalignment can lead to bad exercise technique and injury.

Proper form for most weightlifting exercises involves maintaining a neutral spine. Slow and controlled lifting helps maintain good posture, as swinging can lead to misalignment and low-back stress. Lifts performed without neutral alignment increase the risk of muscle and lumbar spine injuries, including a herniated disc.

Studies show that technical error and overloading are two common causes of exercise-related injuries. The 2:4 second lifting ratio allows the muscle to work while you maintain proper posture and lifting technique. The load is too heavy if you can’t lift the weight without employing momentum.

Don’t Skip Your Warm-Up

Fast-paced modern life often makes it hard to squeeze in a workout. Even when you’re in a hurry and want to maximize your workout time, never skip your warm-up. Taking time for a dynamic (moving) warm-up, prepares the body for athletic performance and makes your workout safer.

Important body adaptations occur during warm-up, aiding optimal performance and reducing injury risk. For example, muscle temperature increases and the cardiovascular system is prepared to utilize oxygen more efficiently. Warm muscles decrease the risk of soft tissue injuries and better oxygen use allows the body to push harder.

Research shows that men who warm up before exercise with gradually increasing intensity have better aerobic performance and power output. Another study found muscle temperature stays elevated for 20 minutes following high-intensity warm-ups, resulting in improved jump performance.

Spend a few minutes warming up to maximize resistance and cardio training for the rest of your session. It’s a win-win: you’ll get better results by leveling up your output and reducing the risk of injuries.

Don’t Just Focus On Big Muscle Groups

The large, visible muscle groups that give the body a sculpted aesthetic tend to get the most attention. However, targeting the smaller and less visible muscles is crucial for well-rounded strength and optimal performance. These muscles provide stability to the body, contributing to posture, balance, and strength production.

For example, the deltoids are the large shoulder muscles that define the upper arm. However, the smaller rotator cuff muscles are key players in shoulder joint stability and function. Rotator cuff weakness is associated with increased injury risk, especially in overhead athletes.

Similarly, the rectus abdominis is an often targeted core muscle because it gives the six-pack look. The transverse abdominis and erector spinae are essential core muscles for trunk and spinal stability, but often neglected. Strengthening deep core muscles like the transverse abdominis and erector spinae stabilize the lower back and can reduce lower-back pain.

Dedicate 1–2 exercises to neglected muscles like the inner and outer thigh, deep core, rotator cuff, and calves. Strengthening these muscles can improve stability and balance, aiding in sports, weightlifting, and functional movements.

Make Short-Term Goals

Commencing an exercise program often involves big long-term goals, like losing weight, bulking up, or running a marathon. Process goals include setting a series of small goals to reach a big goal. One study showed that process goals were the best goal-setting type for achieving sports performance enhancement goals.

Accomplishing long-term goals may take several months or more, so achieving small short-term goals keeps you motivated. However, we can’t always see physical adaptations immediately, which can be discouraging. Setting realistic, measurable, step-by-step mini-goals helps you track progress toward the primary goal.

Make goals about gradually increasing the number of reps or sets per muscle you can do, or your cardio duration. For example, if you can do 10 push-ups now, aim to increase by one repetition bi-weekly. After a month, you can complete 12 push-ups to know you’ve become stronger.

These mini goals prove your program is working and that you’re making gains, even if you can’t see it yet. To stay motivated, set and track bi-weekly or monthly goals for all aspects of your program.

Invest In Appropriate And Quality Footwear

Our feet are critical in how the body absorbs impact and knee, pelvic, and spinal alignment. One of the simplest ways to take care of the body is to invest in activity-appropriate, high-quality footwear.

During high-impact activities, like running and jumping, the body absorbs the force of impact as the feet hit the ground. Thick, midsoled running shoes are designed to absorb shock, protecting the bones and joints from impact stress. They can also help runners improve sports performance.

Footwear is also important in weightlifting. One study showed that weightlifting shoes can increase balance during squats. Additionally, uneven weight distribution in the feet impacts alignment throughout the rest of the body. Supportive footwear can help with proper foot weight distribution.

With regular use, shoe support quality changes, which can negatively impact the lower limbs. 

Therefore, replacing athletic footwear before it wears out is also important.

Conclusion

These training tips can help you enhance your workout and get results. Follow the recommendations to improve exercise form and decrease the likelihood of injury. Our goal-setting and progression tips can also boost exercise motivation and keep you committed to your fitness goals.

Frequently Asked Questions