By now, you would have realised the importance of having your own personal trainer and what difference one can make to your training regime and your overall health and fitness and thereby, your well-being. These benefits have been proven through many researches; a personal trainer can show you exactly how to perform your workouts while also offering encouragement; they can help improve strength and fitness while also helping you stick to an exercise routine. Working with a good personal trainer is believed to be more effective than working on one’s own at the gym.
But, how does one select a personal trainer? There are hundreds of personal trainers offering their services right now, so how do you know which one is good for you and your particular needs? What is important when choosing a good personal trainer?
An important factor is the validity of a personal trainer’s credentials, whether they are qualified to teach what they are teaching and how recognised that qualification is. Talk to the personal trainer about their qualifications before making your decision and do some background research on the value of those qualifications. Also check whether they are qualified to train the particular kinds of activities you are looking for. Of course, sometimes the best personal trainers may not have these ‘paper qualifications’, however it’s something that is better checked at the beginning.
Just as important is experience as it’s through experience that the trainer will come to understand the methods and techniques which may work for different people. It’s experience which would show them how to adjust their methodologies to help different clients reach their different goals – whether it’s losing weight, getting into shape or improving their strength and fitness.
Teaching is also a great way to learn as experience over a long period of time enables them to perfect their techniques. The trainer should also have experience in working with somebody like you, whether you are a complete novice to fitness and training, want to brush up your fitness routine or looking for sports-specific training. A few things to consider when choosing a trainer are his/her fitness level, age, health status, fitness interests, or any other particulars which you may consider important.
Pay attention to their strategy for preventing and dealing with injuries. Nagging aches and pains or recurring injuries we have been suffering from could flare up once we start exercising. A good personal trainer should be capable of adjusting the training programme to work around such an injury. They’ll also recommend consulting a physician before getting into the thick of it.
The cost and availability of the trainer are also important. Do some homework on the average market rates for personal trainers in your area and compare those with your trainer’s rates. Also important is their schedule. Ask if they meet clients at the same time each week, how far in advance they book appointments, their cancellation policy, and whether it’s possible to take up missed sessions at a later date.
His/her personality and training style can never be underestimated when it comes to client-trainer compatibility. Understand your learning style first, whether you want repeated demonstrations and in depth explanations in order to get the hang of things or whether you can adopt your own routine with guidance from the trainer. And the personality of the trainer, whether they will constantly cheer and encourage you or whether they will sternly push you to go harder and faster. Although you can get a good idea about a trainer’s style and personality by directly talking to him/her, an even better way is to talk to somebody who has been his/her client.
Apart from being able to design a personalised training programme based on the client’s goals and fitness levels, a personal trainer should also be able to track the client’s progress to see how the exercises are paying off. If there are no results to be seen after a significant period of time, they should try effecting changes to the routine.
Their knowledge and awareness about the latest fitness trends are extremely important. This is the basis for why most people like to work with personal trainers as their extensive knowledge and expertise on health and fitness can benefit the clients. So, the trainer should be aware of a variety of training styles and their advantages and disadvantages. A personal trainer who conducts the same routines with many different clients may not be the best. Their knowledge should extend to keeping abreast of the latest trends in the world of fitness and health as the continuous updating of knowledge is what makes anyone good at their job.
