Trainer Woes

[DarthPenguin]

From reading that there are a few immediate red flags that jump out, namely that you had disclosed an existing back injury and he had you perform several exercises that either directly work the back or involve it as a significant stabiliser

I would have assumed that he would have had you perform some unweighted exercises that may stress your back first to ascertain what you could do.

Working up to deadlifts etc would be the ideal but if you can't do it currently then you get the person to very very gradually work up to it!

Personal trainers are a total bugbear of mine - there are far too many bogus ones with smart sounding certifications that are utterly useless running around. As a personal example i got an extremely bad arm injury a few years ago that necessitated 18mths off the mats (a complete dislocation of the elbow with other issues) and was told by physios and the medical people that i would never regain full range of motion. I read up on it and self rehabbed it - have full range now.

To paraphrase you directly : you usually sign off with "proof is on the floor" in this instance, factoring in your pain, you should apply the same maxim. This trainer (regardless of how nice an individual and how credentialed they appear) caused you to finish a session injured and in pain. I'd 100% suggest finding a new one

Best of luck with the routine though - sounds like you have the two most important parts nailed down already : commitment and willingness to work!

Solid post!!

As far as getting another trainer is concerned, I'll not be searching another trainer because I can't trust them at all.

That makes a lot of sense.

You no doubt have a mental database of plenty of exercises and you know exactly the problems you have so with a little more research you should be able to construct a good programme yourself!