Having the right personal trainer when you work out will help you achieve the best results and ensure that you feel comfortable. A personal trainer can make recommendations that you may feel compelled to follow, so it’s important that you choose one who’s skilled and experienced.
How to choose a good personal trainer? I’ll show you what to look for so that you can feel confident about the personal trainer you picked. The guidelines I’ll be giving you will help you to sort through your options and know what kind of qualities to look for in a personal trainer.
How To Choose A Personal Trainer When You Hate Exercise
Consider how important it is to choose the right personal trainer when you’re not even looking forward to working out. You’ll want to find someone who has a passion for working out and who won’t criticize you too hard.
The wrong personal trainer may challenge you too much and may make you give up in frustration.
You may want to talk to gym management or whoever’s in charge of helping you select a personal trainer and talk to them about the trainers.
Don’t just talk about their experience and their qualifications, but spend some time asking about their attitude as well. You should find out if they’re compatible with you and if they are someone who will be easy to work with.
How To Choose A Personal Trainer At A Gym
Most gyms will only hire personal trainers who are qualified and who have the proper credentials. That’s not true of all gyms, though. You should definitely check to see if the personal trainer you’re interested in has a college degree in nutrition or exercise.
This will make them more qualified to give you advice and give them the ability to notice problems that lesser trained people would not notice. Someone who is properly qualified will be able to adapt the training regimen or diet plan to your needs.
If you’re finding a personal trainer on your own, outside the gym, you need to be even more cautious.
Be sure to ask about their credentials or check out their website to see what credentials are listed. You don’t want to end up with a personal trainer who doesn’t know their stuff and who is just making guesses about your health and what will work best for you. You want to know that the advice they give you comes from a place of education, experience, and expertise.
How To Choose A Personal Trainer Who You Can Trust
One of the best places to start when comparing personal trainers is to get some references from them. Ask them for contact information for previous clients or for gyms they have worked for in the past.
The more current the references are, the more helpful they will be to you. Personal trainers should improve over time, so hearing from a recent client can help you have a good idea of what you can expect from them.
When you talk to their clients, you should ask about how easy the trainer was to work with and how well their advice worked. Talk about their attitude and learn how compatible they may be with your style of training.
Not every trainer will be a good fit for you, so get to know them as a person as much as possible before you make a decision.
When you talk to other people about their experience with the trainer, you should ask some of the following questions:
- Were they punctual?
- Were they overbearing or easy to get along with?
- Did they behave professionally?
- Did it seem like you were getting good value for your money?
- Were there any hidden fees?
- Were there any problems with the trainer that you can think of?
These kinds of questions should cover most of your bases to help you have a good understanding of whether the trainer will be a good fit for you or not.
How Much Should A Personal Trainer Cost
Of course, you want to make sure you take time to get a good price for your personal trainer. You have to pay more for a quality trainer, but that doesn’t mean you have to pay ridiculous rates for fitness and nutrition advice.
In the United States, the cost for a personal trainer can range from $40 to $100 an hour. The higher end of that spectrum is usually reserved for home visits. You should be paying less if the personal trainer is in a gym serving other clients in a single setting or if you go to their practice.
You may also have to pay extra for specific kinds of personal trainers. How to choose a personal trainer for Olympic lifting? When you’re dealing with Olympic level training, expect rates to be much higher than average.
Once again, I want to warn you that you should be checking for qualifications to make sure that your personal trainer is actually certified and qualified to train you in the areas you need.
Speak to the Trainer Before You Hire Them
It’s not a good idea to hire a personal trainer until you’ve actually spoken to them first. Spend a little time getting to know the trainer and learn about their approach to fitness, nutrition, and training. Find out their areas of expertise, as some trainers focus on certain kinds of workouts and some may not have any nutritional background at all.
As you’re talking to the trainer, you’ll get an idea of how they work and whether they might be a good fit for you. Pay attention to their attitude, how they answer questions, and how upfront they are about costs.
Look for indications that the trainer may be trying to charge you a variety of fees for different services. Also look out for anything that might indicate the trainer has a short temper or is easily irritated. This could be someone who is very difficult to work with and who might not be a good match for you and your personality.
Should You Try Different Personal Trainers
Do you have a tendency to just pick the first choice that looks good when it comes to shopping, picking a service, or choosing just about anything? That’s something a lot of people do, and if you do that with a personal trainer, you may be missing out on a better option.
It used to be pretty difficult to find personal trainers, but now there are plenty of them. That’s particularly true if you live in certain areas of the country where fitness and healthy eating are considered very important and in vogue.
Take time to look at a few different personal trainers, comparing prices, services, expertise, qualifications, and customer recommendations.
You can read reviews online to get some idea of what the trainers might be like and narrow down your choices. The more personal trainers you look at before you make your decision, the more likely you are to choose the best one for your needs and to not be taken advantage of.
Should Your Personal Trainer Have Liability Cover
One last thing you should look at before you hire a personal trainer is what kind of liability coverage they offer. If you become injured while working with them, or their nutritional advice causes you health problems, you want to know that your medical expenses will be covered by their insurance.
Decent personal trainers will have good liability coverage that protects you and that protects them as well. If your personal trainer is injured while working with you, you don’t want to be liable for their medical expenses, and a decent liability plan will help to protect you in those cases.
My name is Ellis Francis and I have been a personal fitness trainer, sports nutritionalist and health and fitness advisor for over 25 years. I am the lead health and fitness advisor at https://awellnessbody.com.
