Having (sort of) been a personal trainer, as well as a weights enthusiast for a few years now, I have a lot of credibility with my friends. I have a lot of people I know who ask me to "train" them.
Now if they were giving me 50+ dollars per hour, I'd do a postural assessment and try to correct muscle imbalances through flexibility work, etc. However, mostly it's "hey help me get going." Which I have no problem with.
So what I'll do is I'll tell the person to come with me while I train. The program I put them on is very simple and machine-based.
Leg press
Weighted hypers
Calf Raise
Machine chest press
Lat pulldown
Machine overhead press
Machine or cable rows
Some kind of curl
There's no finding RM's. It would be almost pointless; the exercises are all unfamiliar; they'll be in a completely neurally untrained state, rendering the RM's inaccurate.
The weight progression goes very similarly to the program I outline in my "HST by feel" thread. I have them start arbitrarily at an extremely light weight (far below 15RM), increment very gradually, and use a slow-ish cadence. This is great because it helps new lifters work on form and also develop the mind-body connection that will be necessary if they want freeweights later.
I basically have them repeat each weight once before incrementing it. No zig-zagging since we're already repeating everything. Depending on the start point and strength gains, you can have a 10+ week cycle without going to negatives.
Additionally, being so deconditioned allows much more weight repeating while still making progress.
For everyone I've put on this, they've fairly rapidly changed body composition while adding strength. One guy over two 10+ week cycles dropped 20 pounds while adding size. Not too shabby.
Some eventually ask me about freeweight motions, which I'm happy to show. One guy now has an almost half-freeweight routine, just because he wanted to progress the difficulty of his movements. It worked because the program is more flexible than traditional HST.
Now if they were giving me 50+ dollars per hour, I'd do a postural assessment and try to correct muscle imbalances through flexibility work, etc. However, mostly it's "hey help me get going." Which I have no problem with.
So what I'll do is I'll tell the person to come with me while I train. The program I put them on is very simple and machine-based.
Leg press
Weighted hypers
Calf Raise
Machine chest press
Lat pulldown
Machine overhead press
Machine or cable rows
Some kind of curl
There's no finding RM's. It would be almost pointless; the exercises are all unfamiliar; they'll be in a completely neurally untrained state, rendering the RM's inaccurate.
The weight progression goes very similarly to the program I outline in my "HST by feel" thread. I have them start arbitrarily at an extremely light weight (far below 15RM), increment very gradually, and use a slow-ish cadence. This is great because it helps new lifters work on form and also develop the mind-body connection that will be necessary if they want freeweights later.
I basically have them repeat each weight once before incrementing it. No zig-zagging since we're already repeating everything. Depending on the start point and strength gains, you can have a 10+ week cycle without going to negatives.
Additionally, being so deconditioned allows much more weight repeating while still making progress.
For everyone I've put on this, they've fairly rapidly changed body composition while adding strength. One guy over two 10+ week cycles dropped 20 pounds while adding size. Not too shabby.
Some eventually ask me about freeweight motions, which I'm happy to show. One guy now has an almost half-freeweight routine, just because he wanted to progress the difficulty of his movements. It worked because the program is more flexible than traditional HST.
I get bugged a lot with "hey man, you're all into weights, you gotta show me sometime!" I'm like, "sure, totally
