Getting Started with Your Training Program and Early Expecations

Dave: I think most people just go to the gym, hope on the treadmill and go. I don't think that is necessarily where you would have people start, from my experience. How do people get started with training, what should they be doing, what should they be staying away from, and what are the common myths that people often wonder about.

Tanner: In my experience, with how I train my clients, I think the starting point is an initial brief consultation. Everyone that comes and trains with me is going to sign consent forms, liability forms, and do a health questionnaire. Beyond that I generally ask them what their exercise history is, what have they been doing lately, what's their routine look like? Have they been sitting on the couch not doing anything for two years or do they go to the gym three times a week?

Let's say that person says, "Yes, I work out three times a week," my next question will be, "Okay, so what do you do? Do you do strength training? Resistance training? Is it strictly cardio?" 

A lot of people will gravitate towards going to the gym, hopping on an elliptical, treadmill, or stair-master and do some sort of cardio for 20-30 minutes. They will then wander around the gym maybe looking to do some arms, a leg press, or maybe a machine that may not seem too confusing and then try and do a muscle group.

There's really not structure to that approach, and there is no set plan for that program. It's just kinda doing what you feel, in the moment based upon your current knowledge of exercise and machines and resistance training.

Where I come in as a coach, where this is my job to direct and guide people, is to get feedback on what their goals are. If that person comes to me and says, "My number one goal is fat loss. My secondary goal is strength." The movements i'm going to program will go hand in hand because what I do for people who want to lose fat is also very similar to what I will program for people who want to gain strength. The movements are necessarily different, the way that they eat will be different.

If you want to get stronger you should squat, bench, deadlift, press, and do a lot of movements that are going to be big compound movements in nature. Those same movements - squat bench, deadlift, and other accessory movements - are also going to cause weight loss as well. They are great movements that will burn calories and stimulate a lot of muscles. 

Because of their similarities in the results they can produce, naturally I'm going to select those movements on a regular basis for people who come and train with me. They're going to be prescribed these versitle movements but how they eat outside the gym and the nutrition program their on will be different based upon their number one goal.

Have Questions About Getting Started, Expectations?

If you have any questions you'd like Tanner to answer in a future video, please leave your question in the comments section below!