D-gal this is your well.....

Transform

Do not know if its been started so here goes.

1. How do you do your initial screening with new clients.

2. Your back ground and best lifts/accomplishments

3. your overall goals for your gym and yourself.

4. arnold (steroids) or steve reeves (natural)?

Hanley

Good shout Transform.

Similar to above;

1) Background
-qualifications
-prior work experience
-how'd you move into PT
-how have you found opening your own place (has cost been prohibative?)
-what's your plan for attracting clients going forward
-have you noticed a downturn in business in the last 12-18 months?

2) How many clients do you see per week and what your average charge?

Obviously you don't have to answer anything that's too sensitive or you just plain don't like the look of!!

Cheers!

floggg

What'a been you're greatest success/accomplishment so far in you're capacity as a PT?

What has been you're greatest failure?

What is you're ultimate fitness goal?

cardio,shoot me

did anyone mistake you for a girl considering ur account name like me

MagicMarker

cardio,shoot me wrote: »

did anyone mistake you for a girl considering ur account name like me

I think I can answer that question for her him.:)

J-Fit

LOL! I thought it stood for Dublin Girl/Gal!

cardio,shoot me

as did i and magic marker apparantly

d-gal

Transform wrote: »

Do not know if its been started so here goes.

1. How do you do your initial screening with new clients.

2. Your back ground and best lifts/accomplishments

3. your overall goals for your gym and yourself.

4. arnold (steroids) or steve reeves (natural)?

With clients it's a little different with everyone, depending on who they are and what is there experience etc.
You can be much more in depth with an experienced athlete with doing something like kinetic chain analysis compared to a newbie.
Probably the only main thing is an hour long chat before even hitting the gym, you pick up so much on old forgotten injuries and the likes!

My background is an avid sports player mainly in rugby but by the time I got out of youth teams I was already picking up what coaches were doing wrong so I really wanted to fix that hence my job today.

I have so many different goals from both business and personal point of views. From a business side I do want to set up a chain of private training facilities but from a personal side I would like to be an S&C coach for a world class rugby team. So hopefully I can achieve both.

Arnie or Steve... I respect both their types but I am a huge defendant of steroid use purely because of media's bad publicity of it. I want the public to be educated on the matter before making a statement about it. Anyways natural and steroid enhanced, I don't care as long as they have worked hard for it.

d-gal

Hanley wrote: »

Good shout Transform.

Similar to above;

1) Background
-qualifications
-prior work experience
-how'd you move into PT
-how have you found opening your own place (has cost been prohibative?)
-what's your plan for attracting clients going forward
-have you noticed a downturn in business in the last 12-18 months?

2) How many clients do you see per week and what your average charge?

Obviously you don't have to answer anything that's too sensitive or you just plain don't like the look of!!

Cheers!

I have not noticed any down turn in business. I think it's because my clients realise how important their health is and their physical appearance. Majority of clients have cut back on drinking and going out, saves them a bundle!

Attracting clients is based on I am a completely different PT to the majority of Galway. A lot of fat loss clients are on agility style drills, kettlebells and trampoline work for instance.

Opening my own place has been a little costly but the recession has helped with discounts on rent and equipment. Things like showers, electricity and air con are the pricey things.

I charge on average €50 a session. Galway is a good bit away from prices in Dublin but maybe I will go up after the Summer. Have around 35-40 sessions a week but it does vary

d-gal

cardio,shoot me wrote: »

did anyone mistake you for a girl considering ur account name like me

ya a stupid idea on my part on the initial joining up!
Full name is Dave Gallagher, often nicknamed Gally but that was taken from what I can remember!

d-gal

floggg wrote: »

What'a been you're greatest success/accomplishment so far in you're capacity as a PT?

What has been you're greatest failure?

What is you're ultimate fitness goal?

Best success is training a guy to run 10 marathons in 10 days, very interesting, he ran 100's of marathons beforehand and did a PB on the 7th marathon of the 7th day, extraordinary!
Greatest failure is when teaching a guy a squat and he damaged his knee, never came back to me, always felt it was my fault. Not a major thing but still was very hard on myself.
I don't really have an ultimate fitness goal, I really don't know why, I consider myself a good athlete but would prefer to help a potentially brilliant athlete instead

Baldie

What's your current training routine?

BobbyOLeary

What do you think of CrossFit?

Zuppy

What is the area of training most lacking in marathon runners?
Squats? Recovery? cross training?

J-Fit

How did you get yourself out there as a PT? I'm currently training a fair few teams but want to branch into personal training but not sure how to go about it? Sorry for the purely selfish question!

Hanley

Thanks for the responses so far Dave!! A few more for ya...

1) What qualifications do you hold?
2) How did you get started in the industry? (and at what age)
3) Was it hard making the tranisition from being employed in a gym (presumably!) to going on your own?
4) How many hours per week do you work on average?
5) Is your quality of life better now that you're on your own?

Brian?

Do you ever give up on clients and let them go?

BossArky

If you weren't in fitness what would you be doing?

What is your favourite weights exercise?

What is your favourite cardio exercise?

What is the easiest thing to teach a client?

What is the hardest thing to teach a client?

What is worse: snakes on a plane or sitting next to Markus Ruhl on a plane?

d-gal

Baldie wrote: »

What's your current training routine?

Going thru a strength cycle with 4 sets of 4,4,8,4 - 3rd set gives a shock to your system - I highly recommend it. For cardio I am doing tabatha intervals varying from sprints, trampolines, steps and kettlebells.

BobbyOLeary wrote: »

What do you think of CrossFit?

Never taken part but like the general idea of it - keeps your system guessing and it often takes you outdoors which is always a bonus

ZuppyLurk wrote: »

What is the area of training most lacking in marathon runners?
Squats? Recovery? cross training?

Intervals. Plain and simple. Especially for the higher athlete. Run either 1 or 2 miles at a high pace, rest and repeat 5-6 times. So effective. For beginners it's really easy, just run and run and run, get the miles into your legs or you will blow up in the big race.

J-Fit wrote: »

How did you get yourself out there as a PT? I'm currently training a fair few teams but want to branch into personal training but not sure how to go about it? Sorry for the purely selfish question!

Only advice I can give is get talking to everyone and just promote yourself. If you get even one client and your a good PT then they will refer you to a friend and then you will grow and grow.

itsallaboutheL

I too was convinced you were a girl for ages!!

Ditto Hanleys questions re qualifications etc

d-gal

Hanley wrote: »

Thanks for the responses so far Dave!! A few more for ya...

1) What qualifications do you hold?
2) How did you get started in the industry? (and at what age)
3) Was it hard making the tranisition from being employed in a gym (presumably!) to going on your own?
4) How many hours per week do you work on average?
5) Is your quality of life better now that you're on your own?

1. I hold qualfication from NCEF and ISSA. PT, s&c and performance nutrition. Whole host of other little ones but nothing mad to mention.
2. Got started at 17, was on work experience for a fitness instructor and wasn't let go by the manager so went straight into work and added courses from there on.
3. it wasn't that hard because the gym is quite boring compared to a PT place. Was Supervisor of my last gym and I just kept telling myself this wasn't for me. Just had to have the confidence (and I suppose ability) to just go for more as a personal trainer then take another step and set up your own place.
4. Around 40 I say but sometimes I could only have 20, I have a lot of business people that constantly have to travel which is annoying but have to respect their job.
5. Quality of life is much better. Your training with the equipment you want to train with, you are your own boss and if you want to take of the weekend you can. Same goes for morning and evening etc.

briankeating wrote: »

Do you ever give up on clients and let them go?

Only two and it was just from the lack of commitment to training.

BossArky wrote: »

If you weren't in fitness what would you be doing?
I hate to think it! When I was younger I was interested a lot in property, looks like I made the right decision!

What is your favourite weights exercise?
Hhhmmmm...lunges or decline skullcrushers, both tremendously painful and enjoyable

What is your favourite cardio exercise?
Uphill sprints, great feeling after

What is the easiest thing to teach a client?
The plank. I was going to say bicep curl but it seems everyone seems to thin that swinging the dumbbell is all part of the movement

What is the hardest thing to teach a client?
I always find it's something like a deadlift or an RDL. Maybe it's just because nearly every person in the West of Ireland has bad posture!

What is worse: snakes on a plane or sitting next to Markus Ruhl on a plane?

Snakes, markus ruhl ain't all that bad, as long as i got the outside seat tho, need some sort of breathing space!

brianthebard

Do you offer student rates???

Are there people/athletes that you really enjoy working with, and some that you don't? Do you find much of a difference in what you train an ordinary person off the street to do and a semi serious athlete?
Have you worked with professional athletes before? Is it something you're interested in?
Curious about your numbers, what you squatting etc? What do you want to work on improving in the next year or so, are you motivated by raw numbers, or body shape or what?

d-gal

brianthebard wrote: »

Do you offer student rates???

Are there people/athletes that you really enjoy working with, and some that you don't? Do you find much of a difference in what you train an ordinary person off the street to do and a semi serious athlete?
Have you worked with professional athletes before? Is it something you're interested in?
Curious about your numbers, what you squatting etc? What do you want to work on improving in the next year or so, are you motivated by raw numbers, or body shape or what?

Don't offer student rates but do offer buddy training which is two for the price of 1, a lot of students do that with me.

There is always people you enjoy working with more, people that get motivated and really want to sweat and get a new PB, great to see. The you have others who just will do the bare bare minimum but suppose you have that in every job.
It's great training athletes, such a good feeling when you see results from them. I try and attend matches to watch my clients and probably one of the best feelings was watching a client play scrum half in a rugby match and running over a second row to score a try, thats the stuff that keeps you going. Now don't get me wrong it's just as good a feeling finding out a client has reversed his osteoporosis but I guess being a sportsman the athletes edge it.
I have worked with quite a high number of semi-pros and one or two professionals. I would consider a pro being something you get paid for but I do have a few AIL rugby players, county GAA players, marathon runners and aspiring powerlifters/bodybuilders etc.
I am not a man for huge numbers because i have to vary it so much. I believe I have to experiment with every training method before I give it to a client. At a guess (@87kg b/w) it would be 115kg bench, 140kg squat and 160-170kg deadlift. i had tendonitis as a kid which extremely hindered my flexibility so I always struggle with squats, I remember when I was a teenager parallel was an achievement!

Hanley

Dunno if it's been asked yet, but how old are you?

And, why don't you have a link to your site in your sig?

What way are you training the powerlifters you're coaching? (broad outline's cool if you don't wanna do specifics)

Beau

Do you still play rugby? For who and what position did/do you play?

Whats the structure of your sessions? Do you give people a program and then they go off on there own and come back or are people expected to train with you every session.

Your bench is high compared to your other lifts (I know you've mentioned why), any advice on the best supplementary exercises for people who struggle to make progress on this lift?

JessieJames

what would be your typical day off like a rest day or vacation what do you get up to? would you still train? or just relax completely. I'm curious :cool:

floggg

How would you define "fitness"?

What events/competitions do you think are the greatest test of overall fitness and ability?

Which sporting discipline do you admire/respect most and why?

Baldie

d-gal wrote: »

Going thru a strength cycle with 4 sets of 4,4,8,4 - 3rd set gives a shock to your system - I highly recommend it. For cardio I am doing tabatha intervals varying from sprints, trampolines, steps and kettlebells.

Any more information on the routine your doing? Any links?

d-gal

Sorry lads,

Been manic busy over the last two days. Will answer all the questions tomorrow!

Antisocialiser

As a rugby player how do you strike a balance between strength and fitness?

Or more specifically what would be your schedule for weights (high/low rep, high/low weight) and cardio (intervals etc)? Same night weights before cardio or opposite?

Say for example you are training with the team twice a wk and have a match on sat? Any miracle tips in this area? :pac:

Sorry for writing an essay i know your a busy man!

d-gal

Hanley wrote: »

Dunno if it's been asked yet, but how old are you?

And, why don't you have a link to your site in your sig?

What way are you training the powerlifters you're coaching? (broad outline's cool if you don't wanna do specifics)

Hanley it's rude to ask a woman's age lol! Ih have a rake of clients from boards so I'm gonna keep it secret.
I don't have a link in my sig coz I have been a cheapskate to boards, must pay up!

The 'powerlifters' I am training are aspiring guys, guys who would love to compete in a year or two. So basically I build up their foundations very well i.e. technique, scap work, glute activations etc.
With these guys I might see them once every 2/3 weeks but I feel they should be motivated enough themselves to do it. Majority of people would go to Galway City Gym for that style of training as such people as foster, geller and d'arcy are regular goers (the names should very familiar to all lifters and bodybuilders). If you can't get motivated from that then they should never consider a sport like that.
I suppose I also get people away from doing starting strength over and over again and pinpoint where they need to build. Something like the Russian Squat Program is something people have never done or even heard of. Usually guys are lacking in this area coz from a younger age they were so bench press orientated that their legs are miles behind so this prog is a welcome break from the bench and it will also help your deadlifts as well. Hell it might even help your bench as well! Their is a million and one things I could talk about but again I'd be writing for hours. More questions are more than welcome as long as it's more specific

d-gal

Beau wrote: »

Do you still play rugby? For who and what position did/do you play?

Whats the structure of your sessions? Do you give people a program and then they go off on there own and come back or are people expected to train with you every session.

Your bench is high compared to your other lifts (I know you've mentioned why), any advice on the best supplementary exercises for people who struggle to make progress on this lift?

I don't play rugby due to my schedule, I just can't give 100% to it at the moment, it's either 100% or 0% for me, feel like I would be letting the team down.

It depends on the clients really if they want 1,2,3 sessions with me weekly or 1 monthly. Everybody is different.

With the bench usually alot of people forget how important technique is, some people's technique is really bad. Personally I always found dumbbells to be a great help for me. If you can press 40kg dumbbells for reps you should clear 110kg for bench press easy enough.

JessieJames wrote: »

what would be your typical day off like a rest day or vacation what do you get up to? would you still train? or just relax completely. I'm curious :cool:

Chill out, maybe have a beer if it's the weekend, watch a match with the guys or rules of engagement, that show is awesome!

floggg wrote: »

How would you define "fitness"?

What events/competitions do you think are the greatest test of overall fitness and ability?

Which sporting discipline do you admire/respect most and why?

Fitness: the ability not to be a lazy bastard

Events: You could say triathlons or extreme running events in the sahara or something but I think Olympic Lifting requires huge ability. Tough question!

I really respect marathon runners purely because I couldn't bare running 26miles, how people run and not shoot themselves out of boredom is beyond me! Bodybuilders have to be respected as well purely because of the diet, huge dedication

d-gal

Baldie wrote: »

Any more information on the routine your doing? Any links?

Got it originally from a famous russian s&c coach, for the life of me can't think of his name, sorry! It's quite basic, it just gives a shock to your system and forces it to grow and adapt quicker

Antisocialiser wrote: »

As a rugby player how do you strike a balance between strength and fitness?

Or more specifically what would be your schedule for weights (high/low rep, high/low weight) and cardio (intervals etc)? Same night weights before cardio or opposite?

Say for example you are training with the team twice a wk and have a match on sat? Any miracle tips in this area?

It's all about putting your year of rugby into specific cycles, phase 1 is to build up strength, phase 2 is building up speed and power while maintaining strength and phase 3 is basically to maintain everything. Phase 3 is in-season, phase 1 is off season and phase 2 is pre-season. With phase 3 you would weight train probably twice a week with a mix of strength and power movements.

Antisocialiser

With phase 3 you would weight train probably twice a week with a mix of strength and power movements.

By strength would i be right in assuming you mean compound lifts e.g. squat, deadlift, shoulder press, bench?

And i have no idea what you mean by power movements?

With regards to the sessions should emphasis be put on heavy weights / low reps or the opposite? To aid recovery from these apart from a good PWO anything you would recommend?

HOBO 83

What weights exercises would you reccomend for boxing or MMA type sports?

JMCD

See your in the free magazine that came with the Sunday World this morning d-gal, think its called "STELLAR"?

A picture of ya and a little bit about you and that.

Fair play!

d-gal

Antisocialiser wrote: »

By strength would i be right in assuming you mean compound lifts e.g. squat, deadlift, shoulder press, bench?

And i have no idea what you mean by power movements?

With regards to the sessions should emphasis be put on heavy weights / low reps or the opposite? To aid recovery from these apart from a good PWO anything you would recommend?

Power movements: cleans, explosive push ups, jump squat, jerks etc. These should have flawless technique, cannot emphasise this enough!
Heavy weights and low reps and Dark Matter for PWO, excellent supplement

HOBO 83 wrote: »

What weights exercises would you reccomend for boxing or MMA type sports?

Ask Roper! Not my speciality at all. I have a few but he should be much more helpful to you

d-gal

JMCD wrote: »

See your in the free magazine that came with the Sunday World this morning d-gal, think its called "STELLAR"?

A picture of ya and a little bit about you and that.

Fair play!

Ah yes, was in the proper magazine last month, nice to get the publicity! Hanley you could have got my age in that!
Anyone that hasn't seen it here is the pic: http://www.davidgallagher.ie/blogs.html
Scroll down to end of page.
PS Sorry guys and gals but i am not single...lol

Hanley

d-gal wrote: »

Ah yes, was in the proper magazine last month, nice to get the publicity! Hanley you could have got my age in that!
Anyone that hasn't seen it here is the pic: http://www.davidgallagher.ie/blogs.html
Scroll down to end of page.
PS Sorry guys and gals but i am not single...lol

First thing I looked for tbh!!

floggg

Have you ever "nutted" yourselof doing that kettlebell routine on you're website:D?

d-gal

floggg wrote: »

Have you ever "nutted" yourselof doing that kettlebell routine on you're website:D?

Once but I was drunk Never try and demonstrate a single arm swing with a bottle of vodka in your hand!

Actually out of interest, who here has tried kettlebells and what do they feel towards them?

itsallaboutheL

d-gal wrote: »

Once but I was drunk Never try and demonstrate a single arm swing with a bottle of vodka in your hand!

Actually out of interest, who here has tried kettlebells and what do they feel towards them?

I picked one up in UL on friday, didn't feel much so i put it back down!!

I'm slightly afraid of them, my hand eye co-ordination is suspect at times!!

floggg

d-gal wrote: »

Once but I was drunk Never try and demonstrate a single arm swing with a bottle of vodka in your hand!

Actually out of interest, who here has tried kettlebells and what do they feel towards them?

Never really tried them, but there is a Kettlebell training class in my gym and it looks pretty intense.

d-gal

Oh and out of interest here is a few pics of the new place

http://www.davidgallagher.ie/blogs.html