The Dynamics of Progress
Mark Baines MS, PFT, CSCS, PES
A blood cell lasts 60-120 days. In 3-4 months the entire blood supply is completely replaced. In 6 months almost all the proteins in your body die and are replaced, even DNA. In a year all bones and the enamel of teeth are replaced, constructed entirely out of nutrients ingested. That being said, it will take 12 weeks or more to see significant lasting results from the damage or benefits of nutrition or exercise. This information has been obtained from decades of research performed by Michael Colgan, PhD, and the Colgan Institute. Within that period of research, no athlete or individual was studied, in regard to the effects of exercise and nutrition, for any less than 6 months! The research of the Colgan Institute brings to bear much research that has otherwise been inconclusive or improperly conducted. Rapid results should not be expected and the studies which only follow the effects of exercise or nutrition for 8 weeks or less are neither fully reliable nor fully accurate nor precise. They are only further information to fuel your efforts to constantly seek the best possible methods for training and helping your clients. Use them to your advantage, do not merely accept them as fact.
Just like the watering of an unhealthy plant, the leaves will perk up slightly, but the old leaves must be given time to die off and be replaced before a healthy plant can be observed (Colgan’s analogy). It is the same with the human body and its cells. Time is needed before benefits can be obtained. The physiological dynamics of the body must be allowed time to regenerate and grow new cells. Any less than a six month study or consistent and closely scrutinized exercise program conducted over a similar period will be inconclusive in its research and/or inconsistent in its results.
A recent study was conducted in regard to relief of or benefit to patellofemoral pain in relation to an exercise program which includes wholly open or wholly closed chain exercises to improve “functionality” and thus decrease damage and pain at the knee. The study was conducted with more than 60 individuals who performed either closed or open chain exercises ONLY for a period of five weeks. At the end of the five weeks a follow-up assessment was performed in conjunction with the initial assessment performed prior to the beginning of the five week program. It was determined at the end of the study that little effect between performing either open or closed chain activities to “improve functionality” could be found. After five years, the individuals involved in the study returned and it was determined that most had continued their exercise pursuits (although not observed even once during this five year “layover” period). It was further determined that since the results were very similar involving multiple parameters of conditioning and pain relief that either form of exercise was more or less equally or consequentially beneficial. Exactly how is research performed without observation over the period of five years conclusive or beneficial to those of us in the fields of health and fitness? How many other studies have been performed in a similar manner and ALSO made conclusions that were either unjustified or wholly ridiculous? I cringe to think of how many trainers, physical therapists or other health or fitness professionals might read research such as this and simply state the conclusion, as it was stated following the research, as if it were now a fact! Do you actually take the time to read research studies to determine whether or not it was an “effective” or “efficient” study and was properly performed? Then how can you be sure that it is valid? It is likely that you simply trust those performing the studies and those who choose to publish them, that they are performing accurate and meaningful research with well-founded conclusions. And your clients trust that you are acting in their best interests when you choose exercises or make changes to their program as you learn more and seek to implement what you have learned.
If a personal trainer is to succeed in their efforts to truly help their clients and help them progress to a greater goal, it is the responsibility of the trainer to perform “checks and balances” upon the texts that they recite and the research that they promote by continuing to seek further research and taking time to READ some research. Time consuming? Yes, but responsible, and the only effort that is worthy of a professional who wishes to demand $50, $75, or $100 or more per client training session. Progress does not come cheap. Your clients cannot expect “miracles” in a few weeks if they wish to maintain these “miracles.” The miracles advertised in countless numbers on television and in magazines are rarely maintained a few months or a year later, and if they are maintained it is because the individual has continued in their program and not faltered in their pursuit.
It is your job as a personal trainer to not falter in your pursuit to earn a living worthy of a professional income by taking the time to follow-up on what you have learned and ensure that your progress in not hampered by inconclusive research. If you do not, you may still succeed in making good money and achieving moderate to frequent success with your clients and their programs. But if you do not perform your job in the time you spend away from your clients by performing the proper research and follow-up of your own your income will never grow to what it can become, your knowledge will always be limited by virtue of how little effort you choose to put forth, and your clients will never achieve the results they truly deserve as they confide and trust in you. Gaining the best information takes time and learning takes time to progress, just as results will never be quick to progress if they are to last.
The choice is now yours.
