Do You Need a Brain Fitness Trainer?
As interest increases in brain fitness training, the question comes up: Do you need a brain fitness trainer? In sports, it’s a common question. In brain fitness training, do you need some outside advice, or are you ready to follow your own program? What are the advantages of having a brain fitness trainer?
Self-training vs. training with a coach has advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of having a trainer are fairly clear: he or she can help you spot your weaknesses and strengths and develop a program to develop areas you need to work on. Disadvantages are that first you have to find a good trainer and usually you have to pay them for individualized coaching.Another disadvantage may be that a trainer, or a personalized training program, may be hard to find in your area. Although brain fitness programs are being developed in many areas of the country, most people don’t have easy access.
Online training programs can help to address the shortage. Programs like Lumosity, Dakim, CogniFit, and Posit all provide users with somewhat individualized computer-based training programs.Some programs do a better job of evaluating your strengths and weaknesses before you start training (for example, CogniFit does several sessions of testing before you start training), and all of them tailor the difficulty to training to your needs.
What should you look for in a brain fitness trainer, even if you can find one? I’d argue that you need someone with a strong background in cognitive evaluations, such as a clinical neuropsychologist. He or she may be helpful in helping you find out what your strengths and weaknesses are, how they relate to your everyday life, and what kind of training may be helpful.
Training philosophy may be important as well. If you believe that brain fitness requires more than computer-based training and includes things like aerobic exercise, strength training, stress management, and diet, you may need to find someone with a broad background. Many personal fitness trainers may know about some of these other elements.
A brain fitness trainer should be able to help you with all the elements of brain fitness. Even if he or she isn’t knowledgeable about all of them, your program should include all of them. For true brain fitness training, you may need help from several trainers.
