abarriere wrote: » I will ask my trainer, but I feel bad continuing to ask her if I am not longer going to pay for her services.
Cherimoose wrote: » abarriere wrote: » I will ask my trainer, but I feel bad continuing to ask her if I am not longer going to pay for her services. They hear it all the time - it's no big deal to them. It's part of their job description. Just apologize that you have to quit and ask for a program. There are some decent mass-marketed programs like NROL, but if your trainer is technically competent, their program may be superior to cookie-cutter plans.
cwolfman13 wrote: » There are a number of good programs out there, but you really have to sit down and think about what you're trying to accomplish. Programs like SL are good programs and excellent for building maximal strength...that is what that program is designed for...so basically, you're lifting like a power lifter all of the time...if that's what you want to do, that's great, but I think as a matter of general fitness, people pigeonhole themselves to these programs without really knowing why they're doing them...and basically, they get too "specialized" when, for example, being a power lifter maybe wasn't the goal. Other programs like New Rules and Strong Curves offer up more of a general fitness type of program and you will work in a variety of rep ranges. IMO, as a matter of general fitness, working in a variety of rep ranges (including heavy cycles) is optimal...but again, it just depends on what your goals are. I used to work with a coach weekly, but I've backed off to once per month...my primary lifts are of the Olympic variety and everything else is accessory...he doesn't give me a program per sei, but I have enough knowledge to work with what he's given me having worked with him since last September in combination with other programs I've done. I still work with him once a month, so he's always more than happy to let me bounce things off of him and he actually prefers me to write out what I did on a particular day and to take a picture of it and email it to him...from there, he often will give some suggestions and/or feedback as to mixing things up, changing rep ranges, new exercises to try, etc. My biggest issue with cookie cutter programs is not that they aren't good, but that people tend to stubbornly follow that program into perpetuity when they could benefit from branching out a bit.