Kiri Quinn is a personal trainer at a Snap Fitness gym.
She’s been one of the prominent trainers there for over four years. She works with clients on weight loss, muscle gain, strength and sports training.
After my weekly workout with Kiri, I looked around the packed gym. It’s heaving at the moment.
People are clearly putting in some overtime to build those summer bodies.
It’s when personal trainers are in demand. It got me thinking that they must get bombarded with the same questions from eager new clients.
Here’s to hopefully having some of these personal trainer questions answered.
Kiri Quinn, a personal trainer at Snap Fitness gym, answers her most popular questions from clients.
1. What’s the best way to lose fat?
This is a question I get asked at least once a week. It’s always down to calorie deficit. If you eat less than you burn, you’ll lose weight. That’s it. All these fad diets are dressed up in various ways but it’s the same principle.
2. How many days a week should I work out?
This will depend on your goal. People often come to me because they have a wedding or a holiday coming up, and they want to feel their best. If, for example, your goal is to lose weight in a specific amount of time, you need to put in the hours. Otherwise, working out three times a week is more than enough if you want to keep a balanced and active lifestyle.
It also depends on your daily activity. If you work in an office or at home and are sitting all day, you should increase your daily steps on top of your weekly workouts.
3. Is it better to work out in the morning or evenings?
If you burn 300 calories on the stair master, it doesn’t matter if it’s in the morning or evening. It’s still 300 calories you’ve burnt. Some people prefer to train in the morning when they’re more alert. Others prefer to work out after a full day. It’s how you fit it around your routine and when you feel the most active. Exercise will have the effect of waking you up, though.
4. What should I eat before and after a workout?
You want to avoid eating anything heavy an hour before a workout. A banana or a piece of fruit is fine. If you’re eating two hours or more before a workout, you want more carbs for your energy source. Have your usual meal of breakfast or lunch.
After a workout, you need protein. They’re good for your muscles, replenishing your minerals and filling you up. Stick to protein and carbs after a workout.
5. What are the best workouts for getting rid of belly fat?
This is the number one question I get asked all the time. Women want to lose fat on their belly but keep it on their bums. Men want to lose their belly fat but keep their broad chests.
You, unfortunately, can’t spot reduce fat. This means removing fat from one specific area of your body. Your body decides where it’s going to lose fat. Where one person loses fat the quickest, it might be different for another person.
Exercises that reduce belly fat are compound lifts such as deadlifts, squats, bench presses or shoulder presses. They use more than one muscle group in one movement, so they are higher calorie burners.
But if you do all these exercises and all the ab workouts in the world, and you’re still not in a calorie deficit, it will not have an effect. It’s back to having a good diet.
Kiri doing compound exercises which are the best workouts for losing fat.
6. What’s better – cardio or weights?
This is always a hot topic. They both have their benefits. Cardio is good for your lungs and heart health. Weights are good for muscle mass, strength and bone density. There’s no point in being strong but having weak lungs. It’s having the right balance.
It’s also finding your preference for different exercises. I can’t run for miles, but I can skip non-stop for half an hour.
My least favourite exercises for strength training are my shoulders and chest. But I still have to do it. While my favourite is my back.
Training our backs is overlooked. A strong back is good for posture. Many people with office jobs have back problems as they’re seated 9-5pm. They go on the train and are seated again. If you have a strong back, you’re also strengthening your core. Our backs are more important than people realise.
Kiri doing her weekly weight training.
7. How quickly can I expect to see results from working out?
I get asked this a lot, as most people want immediate results. If you’re consistent with your diet and workouts, you should see results within 12 weeks. You should even feel fitter within 6 weeks. Noticing things like being able to deadlift 60kg instead of 40kg. Focus on your progress.
Most people come to the gym for aesthetic-related goals. Men want to build their chests or calves, and women want to grow their booties or lose their mum tums. I lead my clients away from focusing on just the physical and celebrating other wins.
If you couldn’t lunge properly, and you’re now doing walking lunges, that’s a huge achievement.
8. Should I take dietary supplements?
If you have a balanced diet, you should get all the necessary vitamins and minerals. You may need more iron and protein if you’re a vegan or a vegetarian. I’d suggest some supplements to support your diet. For women on their periods, iron supplements are definitely needed.
When it comes to protein, the NHS suggests an intake of about 0.8 grams of protein for every kilogram of your body weight. But that’s fairly low. I tend to increase my clients’ protein intake.
I raise it to about 1.5 – 1.8 grams of protein per kilogram of your bodyweight. That’s because protein is extremely beneficial and it fills you up. It’s harder for your body to digest. Your body burns more calories digesting protein than carbs or fats. You end up burning more while eating it.
You can increase your protein intake with meat, fish, yoghurts, corn, or tofu if you’re a vegan or vegetarian. Pulses and grains also have protein, but you’d have to eat them in larger quantities.
9. What are your favourite workouts as a personal trainer?
Clients always ask me this. I fit my workouts between clients. It also depends how I feel on the day. Some days I feel like cardio. On other days I might do circuits. I’m trying to do more leg workouts.
My weekly routine consists of teaching four classes a week and joining in those workouts. Outside of that, I weight train four times a week. I also change things up by doing workouts outside the gym, which is my place of work.
I do kickboxing and pole dancing once a week. I’m doing a pole dancing competition at the end of the year. I need to train more for that.
In the evenings, I walk for 20-30 minutes. As a personal trainer, I often just stand, watching over my clients as they exercise so I need to get my daily steps in.
Kiri likes to switch things up with other exercises like pole dancing workouts.
10. What is your fitness philosophy?
I tell my clients that if you don’t use it, you lose it. Our fitness is made up of a range of elements, from flexibility, mobility, and strength to cardio. If we don’t use them, we’ll lose them. Keeping any skill or ability is a good philosophy to live by.
Thanks Juliana! We think she’s a top trainer too!
Kiri helped me train safely throughout my entire pregnancy, she is brilliant. Certainly has the knowledge.
I love how Kiri is also involved in other activities outside of the gym. Top girl!