Choosing a Personal Trainer might seem like a simple process, but make the wrong decision and you could end up spending a fortune in order to flatten that stomach, lose weight & improve your physique and the only size you drop is that of your bank balance.
Here are some tips to help you find the ideal Personal Trainer to help you achieve your specific goals:
Do you need a Personal Trainer? – The simple answer is Yes.
No matter who you are, you can always improve. Whether it be your health, your physique, your stamina or your sporting ability, you can always be better. Working with the right Personal Trainer will always achieve better results than working on your own (scientifically proven). Even the world’s top athletes work with coaches. If you have something you wish to achieve, whether it be a high level sports dream or if you simply want to flatten that stomach, working with a professional will always be of benefit in getting you there.
What do you want from your Personal Trainer? – This is perhaps the most important question. Yet it is often the least explored. Most people will start by asking about fees. Whilst money is an important factor, as everyone has their own budget, there is no point in getting the wrong service for the right price. If you are hiring a Personal Trainer or Coach to work with, then you are most certainly looking for a result of some kind. Therefore you should be looking for the best coach that you can within your budget.
The national average fee for Personal Training in the UK is around £55 per session (I’ll come to the issues with that shortly) so if you find a Personal Trainer charging £20-£25 per session, you could see that as a bargin. After all a Personal Trainer is a Personal Trainer right? But what kind of a service are you likely to receive from such a trainer? Either you will be looking at someone who will be training you outdoors with little to no equipment which, despite what they will tell you, is far from optimal for 99% of the population as far as results are concerned (plus, if you are based in the UK or anywhere with a similar climate, it can be dangerous to train outdoors in the winter months – and it doesn’t make you hard to train that way, it’s just plain stupid!). Alternatively they are desperate for clients and there is probably a reason for that – they are not good enough to survive on reputation alone.
The bottom line is, to a large extent, you get what you pay for and someone charging at the bottom end of the scale will either be racking up clients back to back (at 9 or 10 per day) to cover their costs and still making a living or they are just not good enough to warrant a higher rate. Either way, your results will suffer.
So your biggest question should always be, “what do I want to achieve?” and then find the best person to help you do that. One session, one week or even just one chat with the right person will be far more beneficial than any amount of sessions with someone who is throwing generic programmes at you.
So how much should you pay for Personal Training? – It may not seem so right now, but this is the least important question. The real issue is – how much are the results worth to you? What are you willing to pay to achieve them? And I don’t mean cash here.
To obtain something new there is always a price. In this case the price is commitment. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who can’t afford to get the help they need. Though almost everyone would tell you they can’t. But if you really, genuinely want to make a change then what are you willing to sacrifice? The Friday or Saturday nights out? Your satellite TV subscription? This year’s holiday? Your crisps, biscuits, chocolates, ready meals? The weekly Domino’s Pizza order? The monthly clothes shopping spree? This list could go on but the fact is, if you really look at the money you waste each month on things that are destroying your health and figure, you probably have more money than you think.
Not only that, but, as much as you might have the motivation at the start of the process, it is all too easy to lose the momentum when the going gets tough, when work comes calling, when ‘everyone’ is going out and you have a gym session planned. If the investment was minimal, it wouldn’t mean much to miss ‘just this once’. (Most commercial gyms rely on such apathy). However, if the investment is tough on you, there is no way you will just throw it away for the sake of a moment of weakness.
Work out in advance what you can GENUINELY afford to pay, find the best person for your purposes and then work out the best way to put those things together.
Who is the right Personal Trainer for you? – Only you are going to know the answer to that and the answer is almost never ‘the first link you click on in Google’. You are going to be working with this person for a while and you will be spending a lot of time with them, so you MUST find out if you feel comfortable with them.
The first port of call is usually the web site. This can give you a strong clue. If someone can’t be bothered spending the time to create a presentable website (their image to the world) then how much of an effort do you think they put into your results? A fancy, slick website proves nothing, but a poor one can tell you everything. Also, is that website just a page asking you to contact them or is it a source of information? If the site is little more than a digital business card, then unless that person is just starting out, there is no way to know if you can feel confident with this person. Do they have any idea what they are talking about? Are the passionate about their profession? Or do they simply want you to call them and hand over your hard earned cash?
Next thing to check is, do they offer a free consultation? If not, move on! If someone is not confident enough in themselves to give up an hour or so of their time to chat to you in case you decide not to sign up with them, then they are not good enough, it’s as simple as that. Personal Training should be a passion not a job and the industry is here to help people who are passionate about making a change.
Once you get to the consultation stage, make sure you use it to ensure you are talking to the right person for your needs. You should be in a position, at the end of the conversation, to definitively say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to continuing. If it’s a no, that is entirely your prerogative. This is a big investment and you want a return on it, so you are fully entitled to walk away if this doesn’t feel like the right person for you and you shouldn’t be embarrassed to do so. On the flip side, you should be armed with sufficient queries to know at the end of the consultation if you can go ahead.
If you end the conversation with ‘I’ll think about it’ or ‘I’ll have to talk to my partner’ etc. Then you haven’t come prepared. You are procrastinating. And that is not the way to make a decision to change. Your mind will always create doubt and fear because change is unknown and the unknown could be dangerous. But if you go with the right queries and get the answers you are looking for, plus you feel comfortable with the person you are talking to, there is no reason you should feel sceptical and you should be ready to push on.
What do you ask at the consultation? – Treat it like an interview. Make sure you know what you are getting for your investment. You are investing your time and money in the hope of getting a result, what is this person going to invest in return? This shouldn’t be about time in the gym. In fact, the time in the gym, whilst important, is only one of many elements important to your success. Remember there are 168hrs in a week, unless you intend to spend most of that at the gym then you need to know that you are using the rest of your time wisely. What kind of nutritional advice will you get? Will you receive a diet analysis? Will you get meal plans tailored to your needs? Will you have contact out-with the gym to check if you are doing the right thing or for coaching if you feel you are going off the rails?
How will your progress be tracked? The only way to track body composition improvements is by measuring body fat. This should be done through the use of skinfold callipers (assuming MRI or underwater weighing is out of the question, which it most probably is) NOT – I repeat NOT through the use of an electronic body fat tester or scales. These are far from accurate and will fluctuate from hour to hour depending on your hydration levels. I’ve seen these things measure around 30% one day and the next day show 20% for the same person. That is useless when tracking progress.
How often will this be tracked. Ideally you are looking for weekly feedback (bi weekly at the most). If you are getting feedback once every 3 months (or less) that is potentially 3 months of doing the wrong thing and therefore 3 months of your time and money wasted.
Remember, weight means nothing. You can lose weight and add fat and you can gain weight and lose fat. You can weigh the same and look worse. The only way to check progress correctly is by measuring your body fat.
How will your workouts be created? Too many PTs treat every client like the next on the conveyor belt. If you are female, short and looking to lose 10lbs and tone up for your holidays, you should not be doing the same workout as a 6ft male who is 80lbs over weight and trying to stay out of hospital. These are extreme examples, but if you find you are turning up and doing the same workout as the person that just left, I’d be questioning the effort and thought that is being applied to your training.
Workouts should be generated to your specific needs. It is a common agreement in the industry that the squat is a highly effective exercise. From that, though, it is common to see PTs making every client that comes through the doors perform this complex movement, regardless of their ability to perform it. Postural issues and general mobility are critical in selecting exercises. It is all very well programming an exercise because it is ‘good’, but if it cannot be performed with good technique, you are heading towards an appointment with a chiropractor or a surgeon in the near future.
What is your guarantee? Remember that big important question of “what do you want from a personal trainer?” Well if you are going to hire someone on this basis, then that ‘something’ should be delivered. If the something you are looking for is time, then go and hire the cheapest person you can find and forget about results. Better yet, just go and find some friends. If you want a result, however, why should you pay for time alone? If you paid someone to decorate your house would you expect them to charge you by the hour or for doing the job? Why should it be different for a Personal Trainer? Remember, the time you spend in the gym with them means nothing if you don’t get a result, so don’t get hung up on 1hr sessions etc.
I have no idea where this notion that a session should last an hour (or 45mins in some cases) came from. I can only assume it is because diaries are generally divided into 15min increments. However, if a PT has every client working out for exactly an hour, then at least half of those people are not getting the correct workout. Some people will respond better to shorter workouts, others longer workouts. If you are someone who responds better to short sessions (say 35mins) would you really want to train for an extra 25mins just because that’s what other trainers do? Similarly, if you need your session to be longer (say 75mins) to get the best out of it, is it ok to cut it off at 1hr?
Let me put it another way, if you had the choice of 2 dentists to do a root canal for you. One could do the job in 3mins and the other would keep you there drilling away for an hour and a half and they both charged the same, would you book the 2nd one because you were getting better value for money? If so, the word masochist springs to mind.
The bottom line is, you are paying for a result and so long as you are following the instruction you are given, you should get that result. If not, what are you paying for? If the trainer is not willing to guarantee a full refund if you do not get into that dress, add that muscle or flatten that stomach under those conditions, then they have no confidence in their ability to achieve them, so why should you?
It’s not a magic wand – Remember, no matter how good a Personal Trainer or Coach is, they can only give you the tools, you still have to commit to them. You have to have faith in what you are being asked to do at all times. If you don’t, then you should be discussing this with them to get clarification and confidence. If you don’t trust them fully, you are working with the wrong person. If you seek clarification and you don’t get it, you are with the wrong person. But it is up to you to make sure you have all the information you are looking for and then to follow it. If you skip sessions, don’t follow nutritional or lifestyle advice, lie about your diet or don’t give your full effort when training, then there is little anyone can do. A good coach will encourage you and give you confidence if you need it, but you still have to commit to the result.
If you have a target in mind, follow these guidelines and commit to the right trainer, you will be rewarded with a more positive self image, a feeling of well being as well as a feeling of elation as everyone around you starts to compliment you on how much better you look. The investment is worth it and who better to invest in than yourself? Just make sure you invest wisely.
A few final pointers:
How a Personal Trainer looks – Never judge a book by its cover. Some of the best coaches in the world don’t live up to the physiques of the athletes they train. Having said that, if they don’t look like they train and aren’t willing to practice what they preach, then they are not ones to be giving out advice. That doesn’t mean if they are overweight, walk away. Again, question them. Ask why they are where they are. You might find that the 150lb guy you are talking to was 250lbs less than a year ago and is well into the journey you are looking to take. Maybe he’s had a fatal injury that has stopped him training for a year, but has been ultra toned in the past. You want someone who knows how to get YOU there. So in an industry built on physiques, you should be able to judge a coach or trainer on theirs, but only once you have all the facts.
Qualifications aren’t everything – Are the people that do the best at University the best at their jobs? Sometimes, but not always. As an example, Norman Foster (the renowned, world famous Architect) got a 3rd at University. Does that make him bad at his job? I think his ‘results’ would say otherwise. The fitness industry is no exception. There are people out there who have no qualifications what so ever, and they could be the best coach for you. Qualifications are a good sign of basic competence. It means that person knows how to train you safely and with a certain amount of knowledge and understanding. But, as with getting your driver’s licence, after you have the certificate, how you act is in your hands. It is more important that the trainer is passionate about their industry and is continually seeking to improve their service, knowledge and techniques. In the end, the results do the talking.
Don’t trust everything you read – When you are searching for a PT you may be impressed by the testimonials. I couldn’t believe this myself at first, but a huge number of those client testimonials are complete works of fiction. Thankfully that is not always the case, but if that is what you are basing your assessment on and all you have to go on is the trainers self generated website or flyer, you may want to investigate further. Testimonials are great to get a feel of the feedback a Personal Trainer is receiving (and it’s better to see that at least they have some than none at all) but if the feeling you get is that they were all written by the same person, you may want to proceed with caution.
Watch out for bean counters – If you do sign up with a trainer, check that you are getting helpful feedback during your sessions. There are many trainers who seem to think that their job is to count the reps for you. If your motivation or feedback sounds anything along the lines of “ONE, TWO, that’s good, THREE, FOUR, lovely, keep going, FIVE, SIX…” You may want to re-assess what you are paying them for. By all means they should push you to do that ‘extra rep’ or encourage you when you get it right, but if you are being told to ‘keep going’ all the time, then either they are not correcting your form, they don’t realize your form needs correcting or you are so good you don’t need them to be there anyway (unless you have trouble counting yourself of course).
Just because it’s written down, doesn’t mean you have to do it. – It is a commonly misconception that every time you enter the gym you should be doing more than you did last time. An extra rep, heavier weights etc. And yes progress is all part of the process. But human development isn’t linear and most people do have a life outside the gym. So if you do 10 reps one day and your trainer forces you to perform 12 reps the next time you do that exercise (despite the fact you are struggling at rep 6) then they are not paying attention and are going to cause you to injure yourself at some point. There has to be accountancy for how you feel that day. Maybe you didn’t sleep too well, perhaps you had a stressful day at work or maybe you didn’t get the ideal nutritional input. Whatever the reason, positive development comes when you train your body to the highest level you can fully recover from. If you push beyond that level, you will either strain a muscle or you will not recover and either regress in your progress, or worse, get sick or even injured. You train to the maximum level you are at that day and if your trainer is pushing you beyond that, they are not doing the job you seek from them. Personal Trainers need to be adaptable and not religiously stick to their notes. Sometimes ‘winging it’ is the best way forward.
Keep these points in mind and hopefully they will help you get the most out of your investment with a Personal Trainer.
Hopefully they are of use. If you have any comments you wish to make or any pieces of advice you’d like to add, post them below. I’d be happy to hear them.
In the meantime, I wish you luck in finding that perfect Personal Trainer for your needs and I guarantee, if you find the right person you will tone those thighs, flatten that stomach, find that six pack, build those biceps, or whatever goal you have set your heart on, in no time.
