Recently on Instagram I asked you to send ANY questions that you have about personal training; what it’s like, what to expect, how it’s different than workout classes, and more! If you’ve been listening to Hey, You Got This Podcast, you also know that she’s my partner in (podcast) crime!

Stacia and I went to high school together. We shared friend groups, but I truly never would have suspected we would reconnect in our thirties. After watching her journey to becoming a personal trainer on Instagram , and finally reached out to her in the spring of 2019. I was REALLY unsure if I would like personal training (and wouldn’t it just be somebody yelling at me???), but I started working out with Stacia in June of 2019, and have never looked back. I’ll share more about working out with Stacia soon, but I’ll tell you this: her approach to fitness completely reinvigorated my relationship with my body and my love of fitness. And in the process, I made an incredible friend!

I’ve learned a lot about fitness and what a personal trainer is from working out with Stacia. It’s very far from what I expected it to be. Today Stacia is answering every single question that you guys sent in about personal training, what you should expect if you’re recovering from an eating disorder, and more. I hope you enjoy!

If you have more questions for Stacia after you read this post, her social pages are listed below, or you can leave a comment on this post.

Reader questions answered by Stacia O’Block, Personal Trainer. You can follow her on Instagram, or learn more about her fitness programs here. She’s also half of Hey, You Got This Podcast!

My name is Stacia O’Block and I am a NASM Certified Personal Trainer and PN1 Nutrition Coach with 4 years of experience empowering hundreds of women to and today I’m here to share my expertise with my top tips, strategies and advice for anyone thinking about embarking on a new fitness endeavor.

Stacia, it seems like everyone and their moms are becoming online fitness coaches and in the world of #fitspo I don’t know who to trust and listen to.

Trust me, I get it. Navigating the world of online fitness and training can make it really difficult to find someone who is not only qualified but that will help you in reaching the specific goals you are setting for yourself.

The biggest piece of advice I offer when people start looking for someone to work with is to find someone who is not only knowledgeable and experienced but someone who has values that align with your own. Want to lift super heavy and focus purely on strength gains? Find yourself a personal trainer who specializes in powerlifting. Want to find ways to increase your mobility and function in day to day activities? Find yourself a personal trainer who specializes in functional and mobility training.

For example, I specialize in helping women feel strong and confident in their bodies through strength based at home workouts. These are great for people who don’t want to spend a lot of time at the gym and want a simple and effective way to move their bodies and feel good. I would not take on a client who wants to compete in an aesthetic based competition because although my clients may experience compositional changes in their bodies through working with me, that is never the goal or the focus of our work together.

While certifications are a great place to start, don’t just assume because someone has a long list of certifications that they are the right fit for you. It’s called personal training for a reason and it has always been important to me that the people I work with are a good fit for both me and them. Also, I know it may seem tempting but try not to pick someone just on their aesthetics and remember that just because someone looks the part doesn’t mean they are automatically qualified to instruct.

Also, if you are dealing with any chronic pain or injuries, it is important to make sure your trainer is equipped with the knowledge to support you and provide a program that isn’t going to exacerbate any issues you may have. While there is such a wide array of knowledge and skill sets in the world of personal training, I would say that as long as the trainer is knowledgeable, committed to making sure you are staying safe, there to answer questions and be supportive then you should feel comfortable moving forward.

When I first started out as a trainer, I trained a client who spoke no English and had a translator. I trained a woman who was just recovering from chemotherapy. I trained a woman who had a congenital birth defect. Each of these clients required me to do a lot of research, get creative, and ask questions. I made sure to communicate with them to ensure they were comfortable and cared for. Not every trainer takes this time and cares for their clients but there definitely are trainers out there who do!

Another thing that I see so many women run into is struggling to find a trainer who doesn’t promote harmful diet culture rhetoric or encourage disordered eating for those who may be struggling with an ED. I have had trainers tell me that I can only eat a certain amount of calories and severely restrict the amount of carbs I consumed and it contributed to my disordered eating, so I totally understand this fear.

There are many trainers who are not informed or knowledgable on how to work with clients who are recovering from an ED. The same way that there are Registered Dietitians who specialize in working with clients with ED’s, I think it is important to have that discussion with your trainer to make sure that you feel safe and comfortable that working together isn’t going to trigger your ED and that their program doesn’t involve behaviors that are triggering for you.

Can’t I just do the workouts I see on Instagram, why should I bother with a trainer or a structured program?

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I know it can be tempting to save all the workout posts on Instagram and pin those 10 best moves for amazing abs, but all you are getting from these are a workout. Although getting a good workout in is fantastic, there is a big difference between working out and following a structured training program designed by a personal trainer.

A workout helps you sweat and a program helps you train to increase strength, endurance, mobility while building skills to last a lifetime. Instead of putting your effort and energy into a random combination of workouts without any direction towards a specific goal, I definitely recommend finding a program that lines up with your goals so that you can make sure you make the most of your time and are being efficient and effective.

Now the last thing I would want for you is to either become overwhelmed by taking on too much too quickly or set the wrong goals when starting out. Throughout my many years working with clients, one of the biggest barriers to their success has been trying to do too much all at once and getting quickly burned out.

It’s for this reason that within The Total Body Confidence Breakthrough 8-Week Program I offer two success path’s to take clients down. For beginners without much experience with consistent movement, I start them down the slow and steady path so that they can build skills, habits, and confidence without getting overwhelmed. Then once they have established more healthful and helpful habits through the program, we increase the intensity and up the number of workouts the client does each week.

When it comes to setting goals, I also make sure to help clients set process goals instead of outcome goals. Too often you start a new fitness program with the hope of losing X amount of weight or fitting into X size dress and then even when you have been successful at consistently showing up and feeling good, if you fail to reach these goals it can be discouraging and make you feel like you want to give up.

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The truth is, you have very little control over outcomes. You can do all the “right” things and still not reach the outcome you were hoping for. I keep telling clients the story of how I recently started a more intensive workout program and have been consistently showing up for each workout for 6 weeks and I have GAINED weight. Now if my goal when I began was to lose weight, I would be devastated. However, my goal was to challenge myself to start increasing my strength and I have been able to do that each and every workout and it feels amazing. What a bummer it would be if I let the scale determine how good I felt instead of focusing on all the positive improvements beginning this new program has had for me.

If you are struggling to get started, sometimes the best thing you can do is to put on your favorite sneakers and take a five minute walk. Do 5 squats. Hold a thirty second plank. Pick something so small to accomplish that you don’t feel overwhelmed. And if that is all you get done for the day, give yourself a high five and move on and do it again the next day. Eventually that 5 minute walk becomes 15 minutes, those 5 squats become 10 squats or that thirty second plank becomes a minute long plank. Do what you can with what you have right now and always muster as much kindness and compassion as you can for yourself on this journey.

If the idea of starting a structured program sounds like too much to take on right now, a great place to start is my FREE Total Body Confidence Breakthrough Mini-Course. I have planned out 5 days of quick and simple activities to start you on your journey

If you are like heck yes Stacia, I am ready to go! Then I definitely encourage you to check out The Total Body Confidence Breakthrough 8-Week Program. Inside this program you will have lifetime access to 36 at home workouts that only take 30 minutes of your time and 2 kettlebells! No gym membership required, no need to set aside an astronomical amount of time in order to get an effective and feel good workout in. You will have access not only to an amazing training program but also all the materials you need to build healthful and helpful habits that will last a lifetime.

MORE FITNESS!