Beebleblog

So you’ve taken our advice on our previous post: “can you afford not to have a personal trainer” and now you are looking for your very own trainer. But how do you choose? Do you go for someone who is supplied by your local gym, or do you go for a self employed trainer who will come to your home? Does paying more get you the better service and skills so that you will reach your goals faster?

Before you start looking

There are a few points that we are going to have to clear up before you start looking. Firstly, just by getting a personal trainer it does not mean that they are going to wave a magic wand and you are going to be slim and fit. The trainer is primarily there as a motivator and teacher and this is your chance to really learn how to treat your body.

You will also realise very quickly that just because the trainer is there doesn’t mean that it is going to be easy. In fact, because they are there you are probably going to be training harder than you ever thought possible. This will be wasted though if you only train with them once a week and don’t follow their advice about training in your own time. (Be strict with yourself! - Beeble). It will also be wasted if you don’t change your dietary habits as exercise is only half of the job. A good trainer should be able to give you good enough tips on diet change and may even be able to produce a diet guide or menu plan. To sum up, it is still down to you to change your habits and work hard to get to your goals; the trainer’s job is to see you there as safely and as efficiently as humanly possible.

Time to look for your personal trainer

There are several things you need to consider when choosing your trainer: some are to do with their services and others are essential requirements. Here are the ones that I believe are important:

•    Qualifications
•    Experience
•    Consultation
•    Cost
•    Personality
•    Services
•    Location
•    Flexibility

Qualifications

This is going to be a tricky one as every country has their own qualifications and educational standards that trainers are required to attain in order to be fully qualified.

In England the main qualifications to look out for are a diploma in personal training. The best educational companies that award this diploma are Premier Global and YMCA. These are the qualifications that the gyms look out for before they take someone on to train for them. There are other companies however they are not as respected in the industry as these two.

Another qualification to look out for in addition to the diploma is a degree in sport science as this will give the trainer a really broad and in-depth understanding of the human body and its relation to exercise and movement. For countries other than the UK, it is advisable that you locate the largest gym chain you can find and ask them what qualifications they look for when recruiting their personal trainers. The largest gym chains tend to select the best qualified, as they have many trainers wanting to join them. So if it is good enough for them it will be good enough for you. When you have this information to hand you will be able to ask any potential trainer for their qualifications and that will be one box ticked.

Experience

Education is important, but without any experience it is less useful. Combined with the qualifications above, a trainer should have at least one year’s experience of training. I know from my own training that after I qualified I had an immense amount of knowledge to share with regard to the human body, however I quickly learned that everyone is different and it became very difficult to lay down the same exercise rules for everyone. I found that the approach of loosely applying the rules and then adapting them to the individual was the only way it was ever going to work. That is why if you want the individualised training specifically designed for you, then at least a year’s experience is recommended.

Consultation

Before you start your training every trainer should be happy to give you a free consultation. This should help you get to know them briefly and ask them any questions you need to. However you should also expect to fill out a questionnaire that you will need to sign. The questions will allow your potential trainer learn more about you and any illnesses or injuries you have or are currently suffering from. (Be truthful! - Beeble). This will firstly allow them to decide what programme of exercise is best for you and to avoid any exercise that can be detrimental to your health. If your trainer decides to start training you without learning anything about you, then make sure you tell them everything they need to know however small you think it might be.

Cost

Firstly you must be able to afford the trainer. Make sure you have budgeted for it and fully understand the financial commitment. If you go into it unsure whether it is financially viable then you could be really wasting your money if after 3 weeks you have to stop. Secondly, does paying $240 per hour for a trainer mean that your get more for your money and a better trainer than, say, one that charges $40 per hour? In my experience the answer is “No”. The trainers at the higher end of the market can charge more, not because they are necessarily better, but because there is a high demand for them. They may have been lucky and picked up a famous client who of course is a great advert for them if they suddenly become fit, and everyone wants the same results. Or maybe they have picked up a wealthy client who doesn’t blink at the higher prices and then through networking gets passed round their friends. It is very rare that you get any more for your money, so don’t throw it away: be sensible and go for somewhere around the $60-$80 region (£40 in the UK).

Personality

This is so important as you will find your trainer can become your confidant. You will find you can talk quite freely with your trainer and whilst not qualified to resolve any problems outside of health and fitness they are generally good listeners, or at least should be. By listening they can understand you more fully and see if there is anything outside lack of exercising and diet that is affecting your health and ability to reach your goals. Whilst the exercise can be gruelling at times, you should look forward to your trainer coming round; they should be able to make the sessions enjoyable and this is only going to be possible if you get on with them. So make sure that they offer a free consultation so that you can meet them first and decide if their personality is going to be a good mix, a match made in gym heaven! If you decide on a trainer you like and they meet your rigorous questioning with flying colours then when booking in your first sessions, don’t go and book for months ahead. See if you can book just one session at a time or the smallest block of sessions that is possible. This will give you a bit more time to judge if you like them without committing to too much time with them.

Services

Now whatever you are going to be paying you must make sure that you are getting value for money. It is a lot of money to be paying out and so you should expect more than the personal trainer just turning up, training you and leaving again. You should expect to have fitness test taken regularly, at the start and approximately every 2 months or so after. These tests should include Blood Pressure (a good test of your health improvements), Resting Heart Rate (a simple test to measure health improvements), Body Fat Percentage (allows you to see what you are really losing) and Body Measurements (Circumference measurements of body parts). They can also include Reach Tests (Measures your flexibility) and V02 max tests (measures the fitness improvements).

The most important aspect of all this is that if you say you want to lose weight then make sure they measure you at the start and regularly through the course of your training. You should also be able to get some sort of nutritional advice, however make sure that they have some sort of education in the subject. Usually they will and it is important that they help you with this, as training alone can’t always achieve your goals.

Location

Whilst you can have a very effective home training session that can give as good a result as you can get in the gym, I would always advise going to the gym. That may sound strange coming from a trainer who does most of his training at people’s homes, but I notice a massive difference between my clients who train at home compared to the clients I train at the gym. When you go to the gym you have already mentally prepared yourself to get going, if you train at home there seems to be less motivation and, as far as the trainer is concerned, a feeling that the client has just rolled out of bed. Whilst I still manage to get them hyped up in the end it takes a little longer to get them in the right frame of mind which is wasting precious time and money.

So where possible pick a trainer at a gym (click here to get help with choosing a gym) for a better use of your time and a much larger variety of equipment, which in my opinion makes it far more interesting. If you don’t have a choice of going to a gym then make sure your potential trainer has a bag of exercising goodies that will help keep your training interesting. Ask them how they make their routines interesting when they won’t have access to a gym (Training should be fun – Beeble.) If they are like me, then they will be able to describe a whole array of equipment they will use within your programmes.

Flexibility

You probably have a busy schedule and so you need the trainer to work around your times. However this is where problems often arise, as these also are the most busiest times for trainers because everyone wants to exercise at out of work hours. However that is when you need to train and your training is your priority as it should be your trainer’s. Make sure they are available at your times and they won’t be cancelling you or arriving late because they have too far to travel. The trainer is going to have to be punctual so that the session starts and finishes on time. To guarantee this it is best to train at the gym because it cuts out their travel time and you know you will be on time. If your trainer is coming to you at home or at work then make sure you find out on those days where they will be travelling from as it will be a good indicator if they are going to be on time.

Summary

Even if you follow all this advice there is still a chance that you could end up with a trainer who has lied about their qualifications or one you don’t get on with. As long as you don’t commit to too many sessions then don’t be afraid to tell them that you don’t think it is working (but be polite – Beeble) and then look for some one else. Your health should be one of the most important things in your life and you need the very best professional to guide you.

Before you commence any exercise or lifestyle change make sure that you check with your doctor that it is safe to do so.

We wish you all the best with your search for your personal trainer and if you are still not sure then please send any of your questions through to us by email (the address is in the contact us section on the left menu) and I will do my very best to help you. Good luck!

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