Small group personal training?

[jessnpaul]

I got a Groupon for a gym in my town that was offering 6 small group personal training sessions. I have 3 friends who belong to this gym and they've all been going around 3 months or so. They all seem happy there.

Last night was my first session. All we did was go on the treadmill for like 5 minutes. The trainer put me at a 3.0 pace, which is nothing for me (I regularly do between 3.5-4mph at home). I didn't try to amp it up because this was the beginning of the session, and I thought it would get harder and didn't want to wear myself out too early. He did play with the incline, which is not something I normally do at home (I know, I should). 

So then we did some fairly simple exercises... easy lunges, etc. Then we used a foam roller (which I've never done before) for the rest of the time. The whole thing was about 40 minutes, tops.

Is this normal for this kind of personal training? I really thought it would be way more intense. I didn't even break a sweat!

I go back Saturday morning so I'm hoping that maybe this was just a bad session and it'll get better. Or maybe I need to lower my expectations?

[shorewife]

If there are 6 people in the group then he's probably trying to do something as general as possible so as not to overwhelm or injure anyone who may not be in as good of shape as you. I think it would be okay if you told him the first workout was too easy.

[sadlebred]

I'd talk to the trainer and ask what the sessions involve. Could your group be more advanced? If so, ask him to customize the workout for your group.

[jessnpaul]

Jun 5, 2014 10:17:17 GMT -5 sadlebred said:

I'd talk to the trainer and ask what the sessions involve. Could your group be more advanced? If so, ask him to customize the workout for your group.

Sorry, the Groupon was for 6 sessions, there were only 3 people in my session last night (it can be 1-4 people). 

[rosiebear]

I'd talk to the trainer if the next session isn't better. I'm in a kind of similar situation - I signed up for a "boot camp" because last year I did the summer boot camp with a different trainer and it kicked my butt. It was a really good, really hard workout.

We had our first session on Tuesday with the new trainer and it was just way too easy. The problem is there are a lot of different fitness levels in our class, but the trainer has to figure out a way to offer a hard workout with modifications so that each participant can work to his or her level. If that doesn't start to happen today, I will talk to the trainer about it. Good luck!

[jessnpaul]

Jun 5, 2014 11:09:53 GMT -5 rosiebear said:

I'd talk to the trainer if the next session isn't better. I'm in a kind of similar situation - I signed up for a "boot camp" because last year I did the summer boot camp with a different trainer and it kicked my butt. It was a really good, really hard workout.

We had our first session on Tuesday with the new trainer and it was just way too easy. The problem is there are a lot of different fitness levels in our class, but the trainer has to figure out a way to offer a hard workout with modifications so that each participant can work to his or her level. If that doesn't start to happen today, I will talk to the trainer about it. Good luck!

I will definitely speak up next time. I mean, I'm about 15-20 pounds overweight (even though I'd like to lose more than that) so he probably didn't think I'd be up for the challenge. But I am

Thanks everyone for your input!

[bella9280]

Def speak up groupon or not you still paid. Ask if there is another group level and that you need more of a challenge.

[sugarbear]

Talk to the trainer.
I train a group of six women, all with different strengths and needs, and I scale the workout to each one. Obviously, your trainer needs to get to know you before he can scale it accordingly, but he should offer modifications of exercises right away.