Why You Should Consider Mobile Personal Training

If gyms are not your cup of tea, and you find it difficult to motivate yourself, it may be time to consider the benefits of personal training.  Personal trainers can help give you guidance, support and structure and make sure you achieve your personal fitness goals. The Natural Therapy Pages touched base with Troy Lange of Full Circle Fitness in Victoria, to find out more about their studio, as well as their home-based and mobile training sessions.

In your opinion, what put people off working out in gyms?

"I think it’s a mixed case of intimidation and maybe feeling out your depth. A lot of people new to training don't like to go into the areas of the gym where all the big boys are, which is fair enough.  Sometimes they can be a bit overbearing in a gym as far as equipment usage goes. It can also be a case of "now that I'm here, what do I do?" We run out of a boutique studio for the most part and it lets our clients be at ease as there are only going to be at most 10 people in there and they have the guidance from their trainer - so two of their biggest barriers of not going into a gym are taken away."

Is personal fitness all about self discipline?

"I'd say the majority has to come from the trainee. I can yell and scream (not that I do) and give all my best advice to a client but until they have really made up their mind to really make a go of it, drop some bad habits and be disciplined and consistent, there's not much more I can do. On the flip side, there are different things that we as trainers, can do to make this easier (goal setting, nutritional analysis and making up extra sessions for clients are three of our biggies."

Tell us about your mobile personal training sessions?

"We service a very local area (about a 2km radius) so that allows us to maybe be able to take a little bit more extra equipment than other PT's, as we can just stop by the gym.  What stands out though is our professionalism, our customer service and our thorough knowledge of various training methods, as well as our specific way of actually presenting them as a PT session. You can have two trainers with the same space and equipment, but both could deliver very different sessions, as far as quality goes."

How many people could one expect at a mobile session?

"At Full Circle Fitness we mostly do groups of one, two or three but we also provide boot camps in the summer and corporate training too, which means you could be doing groups of eight or more."

Where do they typically take place?

"For the most part they are house visits so we go to their houses and train them there, which is ultimately their choice. Fortunately, we service one of the wealthier parts of Melbourne so a lot of our clients have plenty of space and equipment to run a basic studio session in the comfort of their very own home. We also have two major park areas close by which we can use if the client wants outdoor sessions."

What about boot camp, they are all the rage at the moment?

"Yeah, they are because they are very easy to join (no memberships) so therefore it is easier to get friends to join you and the more support you have, the more likely you are to stick with it. The main problem with boot camps is that you actually get what you pay for, so that a $15 session looks good on paper but it's not at all personalised to YOU and most of the time they are just a random bunch of exercises put together with the aim to get you puffed. There is actually a difference between training which has an aim, and exercising which doesn't."

For those more comfortable in your studio, what facilities do you have there?

"The majority of our business comes from our in studio clients. As I mentioned before we have a boutique studio in South Yarra that has basically all that you need: treadmills, spin bikes, cross trainers, fixed bb's/db's, a chin up/dip machine, and a squat/bench press rack. For those lucky enough to be able to train at 9am, they have the luxury of getting the beam of sunshine that comes up over the buildings at that time which gives the studio a nice, comfortable and warm vibe, but we work hard as well."

What sort of qualifications do personal trainers at FCF have?

"All of our PT's have CERT 3/4 qualifications or an equivalent and we also hold fortnightly workshops where I'll guide them through something to improve the training of their clients whether it's postural based, technique based or even customer service based. I don't think it's what you learn before you become a PT that's important, it's what you learn once you become one that will take you to where you want to get to. I don't use anything I learnt through my qualification now, it's all been self education and hours of hours of research, and I expect the same from my staff."

Besides exercise, what else can I do to contribute toward my health and wellbeing?

• Manage your stresses whether they be physical or mental as cortisol (a hormone released during times of stress) is a fat storage hormone
• You need a plan and you need to stick to it, so if your schedule says to train you are meant to train at 6am in the morning - then do so. The longer you leave it, the more chance other things will come up later in the day.
• Think long term. You didn't gain that extra 10kgs in 6 weeks so don't expect to take it off in that time. Set small but attainable goals to keep your confidence up.
• Be honest with yourself. Pick your faults and/or bad habits then work out why you fall back to them and eliminate that reason.  So if you don't eat much protein because you don't have any in the freezer at home, then go shopping. With online shopping there is really no excuse to not go shopping anymore.
• Move! Walk, jump, skip, do something! The one major change in society today compared to our parent’s generation is our lack of movement. We drive; take elevators and even escalators that are right next to stairs! Accidental exercise, along with your regular training, can do wonders for body composition.

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