Can Your Trainer Past the Test?

Do you think your personal trainer knows his stuff? Is that personal trainer you are thinking about hiring just certified, or are they truly qualified as well? Is there some know-it-all at your gym who is always trying to tell you how much she knows? Maybe you have been bitten by the fitness bug and think you could be a personal trainer yourself. Well, it is time to put that knowledge to the test. Below is a quick quiz that any fitness expert worth their salt would ace. However, it is tough for the general population so don't be disappointed if you don't know all the answers. There should be a big difference between your knowledge and your personal trainer's knowledge, right?

The quiz is broken down into three components. Anatomy is very overlooked in personal training and fitness, but if you don't know anatomy you don't understand what exercises are really doing. All good personal trainers need at least some fundamental anatomical knowledge. Nutrition is the second component. Everybody knows that exercise and nutrition go hand in hand, and if you want to lose or gain weight nutrition is key. Yet there is a tremendous amount of misinformation out there when it comes to nutrition, so it is important that everybody, especially trainers, know the basics. The third component of the quiz is exercise program design. Good trainers know how to construct proper workouts, that is, after all, the key component to what they do.

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So let's see how your trainer or that guru in your gym (or you if you think you can handle it), stacks up. First, do your best to answer the questions and then once you have gone through them all, go and look at the answers, but no cheating, its only a little quiz after all.

1. Which elbow flexor inserts only on the ulna?
2. What are the names of the hamstring muscles?
3. How do you emphasize the soleus muscle when training in the gym?
4. Selecting from the choices below, what % protein, carbohydrate and fat would you recommend to someone who is trying to gain weight, in the form of muscle?

a) pro 8%; carb 30%; fat 52%
b) pro 20%, carb 50%, fat 30%
c) pro 40%, carb 30%, fat 30%
d) pro 50%, carb 40%, fat 10%

5. Selecting from the choices below, what % protein, carbohydrate and fat would you recommend to someone who is trying to lose weight, in the form of fat?

a) pro 8%; carb 30%; fat 52%
b) pro 20%, carb 50%, fat 30%
c) pro 40%, carb 30%, fat 30%
d) pro 50%, carb 40%, fat 10%

6. True or False. You can turn excess protein into fat.
7. Of the following, which exercise burns more calories from fat:

a) Fast walk at 4.0 mph for 20 minutes
b) Fast jog at 7.0 mph for 20 minutes

8. True or False. Lifting with heavy weights and low reps (1-6) is the best way to gain muscle size.
9. True or False. If you want to improve the number of push-ups you can do in one minute, you should focus on doing more cardio.
10. True or False. Doing a Behind the Neck Military Press is a great exercise for the posterior (rear) deltoid.

And one bonus question just in case you thought something was tricky.

11. True or False. When performing a bench press, you should bring the bar down until it touches your chest.

So, how did you do? Let's find out.

Answers

The first question asked which elbow flexor inserts only on the ulna. An elbow flexor is a muscle that bends your elbow. You have three major muscles that perform that action: Biceps Brachii, Brachialis, and Brachioradialis. Your ulna is one of two bones in the forearm (the other being the radius). The ulna is on your pinky side and it makes up your elbow. The correct answer is the brachialis. Why should your trainer know this? The biceps supinate the forearm (meaning it turns your palm up). The ulna bone doesn't swivel, so the biceps inserts mainly on the radius (note the question said only on the ulna). It can't insert on the ulna or it wouldn't swivel your hand, and your trainer should know that. That leaves two possibilities, and if you can remember the name brachioradialis, you should be able to figure out it is partly named for where it inserts, which is the radius. Thus we are left with the brachialis, the muscle that sits underneath the bicep. This is an important muscle to train because it plays a key role in the strength and size of the arm.

The second question was very straightforward. Name the muscles that make up the hamstrings. You just thought the hamstrings were a single muscle? Think again. The hamstrings is a group name for three muscles that have fancy names. One of them is the biceps femoris; it is the outside hamstring. The other two are the semimembranosus and the semitendinosus, both of which go to the inside of your leg. The other name for the hamstrings is the "leg biceps" because it bends the leg just like the biceps bend the arm.

The third question was how do you train the soleus muscle in the gym? The soleus muscle is one of your calf muscles, the gastrocnemius is the other one. The gastroc is the ball that most people see; the soleus sits under it. To emphasize the soleus you need to bend your knee and do calf raises. The best way to do this is to do a seated calf raise where the weights are on your thighs. Just sitting is not enough. You have to bend your knee to about 90 degrees. This is because the gastroc is a two joint muscle (it crosses the knee and the ankle) and when one joint is bent it forces the muscle to relax. The soleus is a single joint muscle, crossing only the ankle, so the angle of the knee has no bearing on it. This is why you can only do a small amount of weight on the seated calf raise when compared to the standing calf raise, because only one muscle is mainly working as compared to two muscles.

Next it is time to head into the nutrition section. The first question asked what type of a diet you would recommend for someone who is trying to gain muscle, from the choices selected? While there is more than one correct answer to this question, there was only one correct answer listed, and that is B - 20% protein, 50% carb, and 30% fat. This is recommend by both the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) and the athletic community (NSCA). Choice A includes 8% protein, which is way too low for anyone even if you are not active. 10% is a bare minimum. Choice C has 40% protein, which is too much. Most experts agree that anything over 30% protein is too much, even if you are bodybuilder, and to top it off the carbs were at 30% which is too low. If you are thinking that 40, 30, 30 is the popular Zone diet, the Zone diet is 40% carb, 30% protein, 30% fat. And finally option D is really bad, if you choose that one shame on you. 50% protein is absurb and your result will be constipation, not bigger muscles. In addition, 10% fat is too low. The goal is not 0% fat, anything below 20% fat is very low and to all you meatheads out there listen up. A very low fat diet (10%) causes a drop in testosterone production, which as you know means less muscle, not more. You can still stay lean on 20-30% fat.

The second nutrition question is what kind of diet would you recommend for someone trying to lose weight? The possible answers were the same as question four. Guess what, the answer is the same as well. To lose weight you do not need to radically change the amount of protein, carbs, and fat you eat. Instead you need to eat a balanced diet and change the AMOUNT of calories that you eat. You add calories to gain weight and you subtract calories to lose weight. The other answers are all incorrect for the same reasons as addressed above. Again, anything over 30% protein is unnecessary and protein should definitely NOT be the main nutrient you are taking in, carbs should be (yes, even when you are trying lose weight).

The third nutrition question is a straight up true or false question, so at least you had a 50/50 chance. Can protein be converted into fat? The answer is a definite yes. An excess of any nutrient, carbs, protein, or fat, can be turned into fat. If you force yourself to eat an extra steak everyday and you don't need that energy, some of it will turn into fat. Sorry, but it is true.

The next, and last section, is on program design. First question in that area is which type of cardio would burn the most fat, a 20 minute walk or a 20 minute run. The answer is clearly a 20 minute run. The harder you work, the more calories you burn. If you thought it was the first one, you are buying too hard into the whole "fat burning" vs "cardio training" zone. When you are in the fat burning zone, you are burning a higher percentage of fat but your total fat, minute per minute, is less than when you are training in the cardio zone. When you are working hard, your percentage of fat is less but the total fat is much higher. It would be like saying would you rather have 60% of 10 dollars or 50% of 20 dollars. Hopefully, you realize you would rather have the latter, even though the percentage is less. For that specific question, a normal male (70 kg) would burn about 116 cals doing the 20 min walk (assuming he is exercising at 5 METs) and probably about 70 of those calories would be fat (assuming he is exercising at about 60% MHR). A normal male would burn about 256 cals doing the 20 min run (assuming he is exercising at 11 METs) and probably about 103 of those calories would be fat (assuming he is exercising at about 75-80% MHR). Minute per minute, the harder you work aerobically (which is something you can do for at least 5 or more minutes straight), the more fat you will burn.

The eighth question asks is lifting heavy weights with low reps the best way to gain size? The answer here is no; it is not. That is a good way to train for strength, but to gain size you want to do a moderate weight and a middle range of reps (6-15). If you want size, you need to rest about 1-2 minutes between each set. Lifting with heavy weight and low reps requires longer rest. Resting for too long does not cause as much of the necessary hormones to be released, namely Testosterone and Growth Hormone, and therefore the muscles do not grow as well. Think about it. How do powerlifters train? What about bodybuilders? Who has bigger muscles. Bodybuilders of course, because they do lots of sets with a normal number of reps relatively quickly. Powerlifters are stronger but their muscles are not as large from lifting with heavy weight and low reps. If you feel that this type of program causes you to grow, it is probably because you are responding to doing something different but the gains will not continue. The best thing to do for size is to mix it up but mainly stick in the middle ranges of weight and reps.

The ninth question is another true or false. Is doing cardio an effective way to improve your push-ups? The answer is no; it is not. Push-ups is a reflection of your muscular endurance. Cardio will improve your cardiovascular endurance but will have little effect on muscular endurance, especially on your upper body. If you want to get better at push-ups, you need to work on your muscular strength and muscular endurance by lifting weights or doing bodyweight exercises, with some sets focusing on higher reps.

The tenth question, is doing a behind-the-neck military press a good exercise for the rear deltoid? Not sure what a deltoid is - then you are in trouble on this one. Your deltoid is your shoulder muscle, and while Military Presses in general are good exercises for most of your shoulder muscle, this question has two issues with it. First, behind-the-neck exercises are not good to do period. They are very rough on the shoulder joint and should not be performed. But even if you do perform this exercise, it is not a good exercise for the rear deltoid. The rear deltoid works with the Lats most of the time, which pulls the arm back to the body. When you are pushing a weight over your head, it is the front delt along with the middle delt that is producing most of the force for this. The same is true when the weight returns to the starting position. The same muscle that pushes it up also allows it to slowly return back. The rear deltoid would be working a lot in a widegrip lat pulldown, which is the opposite of a military press. To avoid the havoc of behind-the-neck presses, simply do the military press in front of your head and that relieves the pressure on the shoulders. To train the rear delt, try doing the rear delt machine.

Okay, so you finished the main part of the quiz. One more question in case you thought there was something tricky on that quiz - the bonus question, and a true or false to boot. Should you bring the bar down to your chest when you do a bench press? The answer, a definite yes. And just when you thought we had a pattern going. A bench press involves bringing the bar down to your chest, lightly touching it, and then pushing it back up until your arms are straight. For some reason people have gotten into their head that they need to stop when their elbow is line with their shoulder. This is nonsense. If you are benching with your elbows flared out to the sides at a 90 degree angle to your body, then yes, you should stop at 90 degrees but how about trying something radical? How about performing a bench press properly and tuck your elbows in so that your humerus (upper arm) is at a 45-60 degree angle and then come all the way down. Worried about this range of motion? Try this. Put your right thumb on the side of your right chest. Now push your arm all the way out and then bring it all the way back until you touch your chest and push it out again. How does that feel? Pretty good right. Now, do the same thing but stick your upper arm out at a right angle to your body and try it, coming all the way back to your shoulder. Now it doesn't feel so good. Bottom line, keep your upper arms tucked, lower the bar to your mid-chest, nipple line and then push it back up. If you still don't believe me, try going to a powerlifting competition and see how the best people in the world perform the bench press. The only time you should not touch your chest is if you have a current shoulder injury and doing the normal range of motion with good form causes pain.

So, how did your trainer do now that you know what is right and what is not? Grade your trainer (or yourself) on the conventional scale.

0-6 correct - F

Keeping reading and try to learn as much as you can about exercise. But don't think you are a know-it-all, you are far from it. If you are a personal trainer, give your clients a refund and go back to school, you have much to learn young grasshopper.

7 correct - C

Not too bad, but not too good either. Take the above advice and keep studying. There is always something new to learn, but you are off to a decent start.

8-9 correct - B

Pretty good. What did you miss, anatomy, nutrition? Review up on the stuff that you missed and try to fill in the weak points, but your foundation seems solid.

10 correct - A

Nice job! You've got good solid information and know what you are doing. Keep it up and spread the word.

11 correct - A+

Perfect! You are the man (or the woman)! You have a great foundation of knowledge, aren't mislead by most commons myths and you are truly qualified. If you are a personal trainer, raise your rates. If you aren't, have you ever thought about becoming one?

Can Your Trainer Past the Test?