Expanding a bit on my last post, I'm going to tell you what most personal trainers don't want you to know: that you have access to the same information they do.

Over the past, say, five years or so, there's been a proliferation of "new" training methods and tools that's been spurred primarily by the internet. The list of "innovations" is endless: bands, chains, pulling sleds, pushing sleds, tire flipping, kettlebells, battle ropes, dynamic warm-ups, etc, etc, etc...

Where do trainers learn about this stuff? Well, occasionally it's by word of mouth, from seminars, or because they already train at gyms that are more progressive than what's typical. Most times, however, they're getting their information from the internet. They log onto the YouTube channels of some of the so-called celebrity trainers out there, see them doing a whole bunch of cool stuff with their clients, then take this cool stuff into their own businesses and use it on their clients.

I have a few issues with this, as usual. For argument's sake, let's say your personal trainer tells you it's time to incorporate box squats into your routine. He's seen all the world class powerlifters and football players doing them online, he's heard the arguments about how box squats save your knees and how they interrupt the stretch reflex at the bottom of the lift, so he goes out and buys a box - or, more commonly, wheels a bench over to a scalloped squat rack - and tells you to sit down and stand up with a bar on your back.

Now, box squats - as well as a lot of other "innovative" fitness stuff - are great, but there are a few questions you should ask when your trainer decides to incorporate something you've never seen before:

Has he or she ever done this type of training before?
You can read all the books, go to all the seminars and watch YouTube videos until you're blue in the face, but there are things you pick up from doing things for a few years that you can't get from listening to lectures or watching others. If your trainer hasn't done the style of training he or she is trying to foist on you for at least a year, he or she has no business incorporating it into your program.

Where did your trainer get his/her information?
The best place to get training information is from the source, and when you find the source, you need to read every word of what's written, then go out and work the movements in question in your own workouts, hopefully under the guidance of a highly qualified coach who's learned whatever he knows directly from the source of the information. Too many trainers watch a few YouTube videos, throw exercises into clients' training with no idea how to perform the moves - much less program them intelligently - and get decidedly less-than-optimal results. From my vantage point, this is an epidemic in this industry. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, unless the imitation is so painfully warped that it looks nothing like the original product and stalls the progress of your clients.

Why is your trainer making you do this?
There's a certain - and unfortunate - "coolness" factor when it comes to some of these newfangled training processes. Many trainers I've observed simply want people to see them doing something innovative. They'll introduce some new exercise, or some gimmick, for the sole purpose of having a crowd of people notice them doing something outside the box. They think people in their gym will say, "Hey! Phil the Trainer has that guy tap dancing on a stability ball with chains around his neck and a kettlebell on his head! How cutting edge! I'd better write that guy a check fast!"

Think about it...