Sharing my first time PT experience with trainer JK(JunKeat) at this branch of about 4-6 months. From the beginning, I purposely sought out someone so I could learn two things: to do a muscleup, and learn proper form on as many exercises as possible so that it is effective training.
I was quite used to having the mentality “no pain, no gain”. That is to say, to have a good exercise means I have to tough it out through sheer strength. It did not mean I completely forgoed form, it just meant it was not the foremost priority.
I later learnt it meant I could not fully push the muscle I wanted, because my unstable form would lead to me relying on other muscles during fatigue.
Which is why it was funny to me that when he saw my deadlifting form for the first time, he banned me from doing them until I could consistently do the tips he gave me for romanian deadlifts. I laugh about it in hindsight now, but that experience in turn gave me a solid foundation to progress in deadlifting.
He seems strict, at first. Almost nitpicky when it comes to form. But once you get to know him, you would find he is just worried about your safety, and that the better you integrate his tips, the less he would need to remind you.
He coordinates my workout sets well, and knows when I am ready to push towards heavier weights. He also is not stingy when it comes to answering your questions when you do not understand a concept. Just ask it bearing in mind the hour-time slot PT sessions have.
Something I value particularly in him is that when I tell him a part of my body hurts during/after doing the exercise or does not feel right, he usually is on the mark as to how to solve it. Tension/squeezes of the exercise, excessive force from one side of the body, tightness in the knee, he has interesting ways of solving them.
I could go on and on, but my final result was:
1. I learned many things about many exercises, as I wanted. My compound weight PRs doubled (granted I was not lifting heavy anyway because of my bad form), and I feel very safe practicing deadlifting by myself in the future.
2. I could not do a muscleup, but I did went from a max of 3 bad form pullsups 1 set, to 10 good form pullups of 2 sets on a good day. Unfortunately, that meant I also only started learning the basics of muscleup towards the end of my sessions since my back finally has enough stamina for it.
Was it perfect? no. I did not achieve everything I wanted. But, did I have a great time with him? Yes. I learned what I needed about the basics to feel more confident about what exactly I was spending my time on. He is exactly the hypervigilant whiny fusspot funny instructor I would send my future muscleup success video to.
Kon H