Nov
26
7 Ways To Spot A Good Personal Trainer
Filed Under Exercise, Personal Trainers | 1 Comment
I read an interesting article on the IF Life yesterday called “Things Your Personal Trainer Won’t Tell You“. My first reaction, as you can see by my first comment, was “yah, you don’t need personal trainers at all!” Well, now that I think about it, that was a silly response. In fact, you can see that I added another comment to the article where I clarified some of my thoughts. Still, I’m not sure if I got my point across, which is why I’m writing this post.
Interestingly enough, right after reading that article and commenting on it, I had lunch with a friend and we talked careers. My friend mentioned that she was working with a coach to get her started on a career search. This coach asked her questions, made her think about her goals and provided her with starting points for further follow up later. I thought, “great idea, but couldn’t you do this yourself?” Only later did I see the parallel with personal trainers.
You see, The IF Life article doesn’t apply to all trainers, only bad ones. A bad personal trainer will indeed lead you down the wrong road. They’re more fixated on the latest gadgets, the latest article they read in a magazine and the latest fitness fad to really help you. A bad personal trainer will NOT tell you all those things the IF life article mentioned. However, what about a good personal trainer? How do you spot those and what do they do?
A Good Personal Trainer Will…
In short, a good personal trainer is a teacher and a guide. They don’t tell you what to do, they give you options and talk to you about your goals. They educate you about the proper ways to eat and exercise. They show you a variety of exercise possibilities and discuss the pros and cons of all of them. They understand you and what you’re trying to accomplish and they help you towards those goals by educating you about your body and how to treat it right.
A good personal trainer will:
- When you first talk to a trainer, do they ask you about your goals? Do they ask you about issues that you’ve had with exercise and proper diet in the past? Do they ask why you’re trying to get in shape? If so, they’re a good trainer. They’re concerned with your specific needs and not just looking to treat you like yet another generic customer.
- Does your trainer talk to you about diets and healthy eating? If so, they’re a great trainer. Remember, being fit and healthy is part exercise and part healthy eating. Doing one without the other is a mistake and a good trainer recognizes that. Yes, they’re mostly concerned about your exercise habits, but they should also be talking about your eating.
- Does your trainer explain to you why you do certain exercises? If so, they’re a good trainer. They’re trying to teach you about your body so that one day you won’t need them. That’s the mark of a good teacher. It means you’re going to learn a lot from this trainer and not just follow them blindly.
- Does you trainer keep enough variety in your workout to keep you interested but enough regularity to measure progress? Change is good and trying new things is also good, but you should also do some things multiple times. That allows you to measure progress and to improve your performance.
- Does your trainer help you measure that progress and show you how to track it on your own? Again, measuring progress is good and your trainer should help you measure and learn how to measure. It’s not enough to just track your weight and a good trainer will show you how to monitor your fitness with other measurements.
- Does your trainer understand you enough to motivate you or are they just standing there yelling “come on! One more rep!” Encouragement is fine and dandy but true motivation comes from understand your goals. It’s a lot more motivating to hear “Ok, remember how you said you wanted to play ball with your son? This exercise will give you the leg and back strength to do that” or “Let’s try for 7 reps today. You were able to do 6 yesterday and I really think you can do one more today” than it is to hear “come on! No pain, no gain!”
- Does your trainer know what it’s like to face a health problem? Wow, it’s great that they were a high school athlete and able to bench press a truck when they were in college but how does this make them better able to help you? You don’t want a track superstar who was in great shape all their life, you want someone who understands your struggles and who can help you resolve them just like they did. Don’t be afraid to ask your trainer about their history and don’t be put off if your trainer tells you that they once had a health problem themselves. Those are quite possibly the best trainers out there.
There are many great personal trainers out there who are worth every dollar. Just make sure you find one that’s good for you and not just good looking.
Addendum
I got an email from Roy, the owner of Emergefit in regards to this post. Roy is a personal trainer and had this to say:
I think it’s important to understand that trainers can be divided into many categories. Two of those categories, the two most important in my opinion, are:
1 - Those who see fitness training as long-term career path.
2 - Those who see it as a “fun” job, a job “without working”, or, “something to do until the next job comes about”.
I have been working in fitness since 1979 — before it was even called fitness. It is my belief, as well as my experience that a majority of the better trainers fall into the first group, and a majority of the lesser trainers fall into the second group. Perhaps I’m over simplifying, but I think this is valid.
Maybe this could be the 8th way to spot a good personal trainer 
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And on a related note, I got on the scale today and it said 210lbs. OH YAH! That’s the lowest weight I’ve been at since highschool!!
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