Personal Training Articles
With a range of personal training guides and articles that are designed to help you understand your body and how to work out more effectively, the NRPT.co.uk has pulled together a range of guides, tips and information in one place.
Check below for some of our articles or why not check out our dedicated training section that has information about your body, training techniques and ideas.
Which Personal Trainer Qualifications?
Unfortunately in recent years there has been an explosion in the number of provider offering personal trainer qualifications and certifications. Why do we say "unfortunately"? We have seen a definite shift in the training of new PTs from providers. But is the problem a lack of a properly monitored personal trainer arena and more importantly, being able to directly compare courses in a framework that benchmarks exactly what each course provides head to head. Why is this important ...
By Ian Duncan
Target Heart Rate Zone
Whether you are looking to lose loss, improve overall fitness, or train for a race, knowing how hard you are working is essential to your ultimate success. There are certain parameters within which we have to work, and the ultimate determining factor is your maximum heart rate. Everyone has a maximum heart rate, a speed beyond which their heart cannot beat. For humans, this is typically around 220 beats per minute, although this decreases with age. Once you know your maximum...
By Ian Duncan
Which Strength Training Equipment to choose?
If you know how to use strength training equipment properly, you will dramatically increase the benefits from your workouts. Look around any gym and you'll see a variety of strength training equipment - while you know might what some of it is for, there may also be other items that you're not sure how to use. If you take the time to learn what each and every piece of strength training equipment is for, and what it has to offer you, you will open up a whole range of options for your...
By Ian Duncan
Workout with Free Weights
While machines are good to get you started with resistance training, free weights offer a host of benefits that machines just can't match. Chief among the benefits of free weights is their versatility. This has several advantages More exercises : Look around most gyms and you will find one, maybe two machines to work each body part. However, if you use dumbbells or barbells, there are literally dozens of possibilities. This is crucial as to get the most from your workouts you need v...
By Ian Duncan
Choosing Exercise Programs
Success with an exercise programme is about getting the right match between your goals and the workouts different workouts will help with different things, so it is vital to be sure that what you do on a regular basis is moving you towards your goals. For example, while regular cardiovascular exercise is great for improving overall health and fitness levels, there are other types of workouts that are more effective for weight loss. Choosing the right program therefore starts with being c...
By Ian Duncan
Exercise for Muscle Tone
So many people are wedded to the notion that lifting heavy weights will make you big and bulky, that suggesting that heavy lifting is the best exercise for muscle tone seems almost a heresy. However, according to recent research, the type of muscle bulk that bodybuilders develop is simply not likely for the average person. Not only do they not train hard enough, but according to experts, they would need to consume a lot more food to add serious muscle mass. In fact, people looking to lose ...
By Ian Duncan
Exercise & Depression
Indeed, many doctors now recognize that exercise is the most effective way to treat depression and anxiety related disorders. Our bodies were designed to move, and when we exercise regularly a range of chemicals are released that help to regulate mood and counter depression. Incorporating exercise into treatment of depression more frequently would be a huge boon for GPs it is estimated that up to 30 per cent of consultations to GPs and primary care facilities are related to a mental...
By Ian Duncan
Functional Training for Strength Building
Thats positive for you, because the more effective your clients workouts are the more they notice the improvements in their everyday lives the more motivated they will be to continue working with you. However, some people are confused by the term functional training. Of course, it can be argued that functional training varies from one person to another for a rugby player functional training would be very different from that done by a marathon runner but in general, it refers to training that ...
By Ian Duncan
Guide to Personal Training Franchises
With the popularity of personal training right now, there's an increasing number of PT's in the market. In tandem with this increase is the increasing number of personal training franchise packages that have become available. What Options for Franchising Are There? There are a number of routes for franchising models to take, from those that have no upfront cost at all, to those that require a more considerable upfront investment. The PT franchises that we deal with offer a busin...
By Ian Duncan
Part Time Personal Trainer Jobs
There really are plenty of opportunities for part time trainer jobs - in fact these positions far outnumber full time ones. Why Choose Part-Time? Part time personal training jobs allow you to have another position that is perhaps a more steady income stream either because that suits you, or because you want to build your client base over time. In this case, you can schedule your clients around their work schedules and your shifts/preferences. How Many Hours is Part Time? If you choos...
By Ian Duncan
Full Time Personal Trainer Jobs
What Makes a Full-Time Job? So there's actually two types of full-time personal trainer jobs. There's the kind where you work for a gym / studio and you are contracted to be there from say 7am - 3pm or 12pm - 8pm to fulfil training hours as well as other duties. Or, there's working for yourself where full-time means you are working 40+ hours per week at all sorts of times. The latter is more usual as many clients are only available on evenings and weekends, thus requiring you t...
By Ian Duncan
Types of Jobs in the Fitness Industry
Depending on your current skills, qualifications and preferences, if you are looking for employment in this field there are a wide range of different jobs in fitness you could be thinking about. Some of the most popular fitness and leisure jobs include: Fitness instructor Fitness instructors can work with groups or individuals to help them find the best way to get in shape. Personal Trainer Considered the glamour job in this field, personal trainers w...
By Ian Duncan
Understanding Thermo Regulation.
In fact, the whole subject of weight loss is inherently a lot more complicated than we generally give it credit for and involves a wide range of interactions between different hormones, muscle fibre types, neurotransmitters, proteins, and other substances that are well beyond the scope of this response to discuss. Research into Thermogenics Though there are a considerable amount of research studies looking at the processes involved, many have been carried out on small mammals, and it seems...
By Ian Duncan
UK Personal Trainers By Towns
The NRPT.co.uk has since 1999 been providing you with the easiest way to find out everything you need to know about personal training, trainers and even the providers of PT and fitness courses. Wherever you are in the UK we have probably got one of our members within a 25 mile radius of where you want to workout - and many of those trainers will want to come and help you discover just how fit you can be. Become a Personal Trainer? Just in case you've found us when you're actually l...
By Ian Duncan
Sports Equipment Insurance
Our Sports Equipment Insurance is an absolute must for any personal trainer. As an important part of your business, losing a large amount of sports equipment due to a break in or from leaving your car unattended for even two minutes, could ruin you financially. We believe that the investment is well worth the money and should ensure again piece of mind for you. You must be a paid member of the NRPT to be able to apply for the sports equipment insurance but contact us for more details if you h...
By Ian Duncan
