Does gym fitness require a coach?

There has never been a standard answer to this question. It is neither an IQ tax cut like "If you don't buy a course, you're just practicing blindly", nor is it a stick to death like "all coaches are a scam". It all depends on your own situation and the reliability of the coaches you can meet.

I have been going to the gym for almost 6 years, and I have seen too many people go to extremes: one person was tricked into buying a personal training class worth 30,000 yuan just after applying for the card. The coach resigned within two months, and the remaining classes could only be replaced by a new coach who was fiercely aggressive when he started. After half a year of training, he developed effusion in his knees.； There are also cases where the rectus abdominis muscle separated three fingers after giving birth, and the urinary leakage became more serious after following random exercises on the Internet. After finding a coach who specializes in postpartum rehabilitation, it returned to normal after two months. The gap between the two is bigger than the gap between the fitness clothes you buy from internet celebrities and the sports equipment you can actually wear.

If you have a certain foundation in sports, you often go to the playground when you are in school, and you are willing to think about movements and training plans. If you come to the gym just to maintain body fat and occasionally push your strength limit, then there is really no need to spend this money. At most, when you encounter a bottleneck, you can adjust the direction by yourself by talking to a veteran who has been practicing for several years or a familiar coach. Just like someone who can drive a car, you can’t afford to spend money to find a partner to take you walking on the road. There are also those who only come two or three times a week and just want to run and ride the elliptical machine to sweat. They have no strong goals such as building muscle or adjusting their body shape. There is no need to join in the fun of personal training. If they can persist in moving, they have already won over 90% of people who don't come after getting the card.

But if you are a complete novice who doesn’t even know how to hold a dumbbell, or you have clear needs for muscle gain, fat loss, posture adjustment or even rehabilitation, don’t force yourself to try blindly. Last month, I met a young man in the strength area. He followed a short video to learn how to deadlift. He bent over and pulled up to 80 kilograms. On the spot, he slumped and couldn't stand while holding on to the wall. In the end, the coach helped him to the rest area to apply ice. Later, he went to the hospital to find out that he had an acute lumbar sprain, which would take at least a month. At this time, the role of finding a reliable coach is just like finding a reliable partner when you first learn to drive. He will first correct the most basic logic of movement force, hip, knee, and ankle alignment. Otherwise, the injuries you will accumulate by practicing blindly will cost you much more than a personal training class in the future.

Many people are resistant to personal training. In fact, the essence is that they are opposed to the chaos of the current industry where the threshold is too low. Many coaches can get a certificate after a week of training. They will give you a physical test without asking anything to create anxiety, and then chase you for the whole process to sell classes. When they actually teach movements, they can’t even get the direction of the patella movement right. When you encounter this kind of person, let alone spending money to buy a class, you can hide as far away as he wants to talk to you.

To put it bluntly, whether you want to find a coach or not, you should first find out whether you are here to move around casually or if you really have a clear goal to achieve. If you really want to find a coach, don’t rush to spend money. Take a trial class first and see if he will sell you right from the beginning, or if he will first ask you about your sports history and whether you have any old injuries, and then give you the details of the movements. Observe the state of other students he leads for two more sessions, and the probability of getting into trouble will basically be much lower.