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2003/01/25, 09:24 PM
I am a fairly inexperienced personal trainer and have just received a client that is 360 pounds. He is also a type II diabetic and has slight hypertension. He is too heavy to walk on the treadmills and too rotund to do a lot of the other exercises on equipment. I need help on what to have this guy do. Please send me some advise.
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2003/01/25, 09:36 PM
Well, if he was my client I would just put him on a good diet first, don't attempt to give him any physical activity at all at this point. He needs to lose some poundage before you can put him in any type of exercise program, no matter how easy. When he loses enough weight, then you can do your initial physical evaluation, maybe start him out with 20% hr at max. Be very careful with this type of client, you could actually do more harm than good. Make sure he gets a release from his doctor too before you start any kind of exercise program with him.
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Failing to plan is like planning to fail!
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2003/01/25, 11:44 PM
My husband is of a similar weight. It was recomended that he stick with very low impact stuff, swimming and stationary bike. BB1 is right a major diet change is in order. Also remember that this guy did not get to this weight by excersising so ANY increase in his activity level is going to be of help to him... like getting off the elevator one floor sooner and walking up to his floor. parking a little farther away from the store entrance and walking, instead of trying to find the closest spot. One way to track if he is increasing his activity level is through a pedometer (About 20$ @ Walmart) This would help because he can see how much he moves on a typical day and then set gaols for himself to increase activity level.
Those are just a few preliminary suggestions while he looses some weight. You may also want to have your client start journaling about his eating. This has been a major help for my husband, who has recently lost about 10 lbs. We have found that his weight loss is increased when he is consistant in writting down what he is eating.
Hope this will help. Plese feel free to email me if you need any of this clarified :) Best wishes to you (and your client)
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2003/01/26, 11:08 AM
But remember, as a personal trainer, your first duty is to get a clearance from his doctor for any exercise program you put him on. Especially if he is just a client. A relative or personal friend you can take more liberties with.
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Failing to plan is like planning to fail!
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2003/01/26, 09:53 PM
Hi and please be very patient and gentle and supportive with this client of yours. I am a type II diabetic who was tipping the scales right at 250lbs. The first year after I found out, it was all in my diet. I changed my diet and found that I was dropping weight left and right just from that small lifestlye change. In the second year, I found out I had a little blood pressure problem to go along with the diabetes. The doctor said get out there and do some walking, or whatever, just to get some exercise. It would help he said. But now I was not only having to take shots and pills for the diabetes he added a blood pressure pill to my diet. I joined a gym but didn't stay with it, no motivation. I was down to 167 by now, with just the diet change. Still wasn't sure what the right foods was all about! Then lucky for me I met my husband and he put me more on the right track with my diet and a good slow start with exercising. I did all my workouts at home and he always let me approach him when I wanted to add more weight or felt I was getting enough out of what I was doing at the time. And the most important thing I did, I kept my doctor up to date on my progress, he is really amazed at the things I have done. He had told me once that there was a possibility that I would never have to take another shots or pill if I lost the weight and started exercising. Guess what, I have been insulin free and no pills for about 6 months now. So please read all you can on diabetes and blood pressure and go slow with him, set small goals that you know he can achieve for the start of your program with him. Yes, one more thing, get that medical release form his doctor, it might tell you more than he has.
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I will lift my own weight someday!!!!!
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2003/01/27, 01:18 PM
I used to be in the Army and be a counselor for those over the body fat allowances. one of the suggestions I tried telling the reservists were to try is water aerobics. As in swimming it is low impact but it is resistance excersice which will help add muscle mass. i'll admit none of them where that heavy but there were some heavy weight contenders. I agree with the logging of all caloric intake. Quite often when one sees how much and how often they eat that alone can be an eye opener. I made my soldiers write down for two weeks, before the start of the excersies, everthing they ate and drank and the time that they did it. The subtle life style changes are a very good step.
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