8 Steps Before You Choose a Personal Trainer

Imagine achieving the ideal body you want. Imagine confidently walking on the beach or poolside and you can’t help but notice people checking you out and you think to yourself, “…my hard work is paying off!” It may sound cheesy – but having a healthy body will help boost your confidence and give you a positive mind.

In this blog, we are going to share 8 steps before you choose a personal trainer and help you avoid making any critical mistakes.

 

Step 1

Referrals

Simple right? Speak to your friends, your family, or anyone else who already has a personal trainer and see what they think about that person. Find out what they like, what they don’t like, or what their personal trainer’s style is.

Beware of any personal trainers that are focused more on their interests rather than the client. Personal trainers are also trying to run a business, so it would be easy for them to push certain strategies or training techniques.

Great personal trainers are 100% committed to the client. These are the ones who give all their energy and knowledge for their clients, so make sure you do ask around. Remember one size may not fit all.

 

Step 2

Watch the personal trainer in action

If you’re at the gym, you’ll see some personal trainers walking the floor and often speaking to members about their goals with the intention to recruit a new client. However, when you see a personal trainer in action with their client, check out how energetic they are and how involved they get. Are they being unproductive and having a chat the whole time or do they spend a lot of time with distractions such as being on their phones while giving just a few exercises to do?

Personally, there was nothing more I disliked when seeing trainers just pointing their fingers and telling people what to do or not getting amongst the action or not demonstrating the exercises themselves. There’s a great saying, “You must walk the walk before you talk the talk.”

 

Step 3

Check out their credentials

Where education is ideal and great - a personal trainer doesn’t need to have every single diploma under the sun or have a science base PhD. Some personal trainers might just have a few credentials, such as Certificate III and IV in Fitness Training along with other areas of focus. Some examples of different types of personal trainer are ones who specializes in sports or ones who might be more specific towards weight loss and even strength training.

There are also trainers out there who are strong in nutrition, which can be a key factor to many clients. So ask for their credentials but let be a main deciding factor.

The person could be knowledgeable but not the right fit personality wise for you.

 

Step 4

Investigate them on social media

Whether it’s on Facebook or Instagram, absolutely check them out on social media as much as you can. Many personal trainers really put themselves out there through these platforms and they do this because they want you, and they want people more clients to train. So, one of their biggest assets is social media because here, they can reach potential clients.

Make sure you find out what they do before you contact them. You can watch their videos, view their profiles, or see what they post.

You should also be able to see what results they have achieved for their clients.

 

Step 5

Availability of location

This is really important. One (of many) reasons why clients look for a personal trainer in the first place is because people are so time poor and they need a tailored approach to exercising.

If you’re looking for a personal trainer, that person needs to be flexible. Most of our clients are families and we find that the parents have neglected their own health and finding a good personal trainer who understands their needs can be challenging.

A big thing to consider is that they should be local to you. Convenience for the client, of course, is a big factor, and we are seeing a rise on online personal training as a new trend.

So, availability of location has to be a huge factor in choosing your personal trainer and making sure that once you’re in a schedule, that (you and) they are consistent because consistency will ultimately be the decider for your results.

 

Step 6

Experience that works for you

What I mean by this is that there are a lot of personal trainers out there with diverse experience in the fitness field. You may have hired the best personal trainer or one who might be experienced in power lifting, dead lifting, or any strength exercises.

But, these trainers, however, might not be the best for a mum who just had a child and is looking to trim down or get fit again.

Getting specific is important because, for example, you might be looking for a personal trainer that is sports oriented and you need someone who has a lot of experience in this area.

So, don’t be afraid to get detailed about the experience that works for you. Don’t just think about what they’re good at, which takes us back to why referrals matter and is the first step.

 

Step 7

Have a coffee or a chat

At the end of the day, you will have a relationship with your personal trainer. You both have to be happy and get along with each other, so it’s a two way street.

There’s no point in having a personal trainer if you don’t really like their personality or you find some of their comments a bit vulgar. So, get to know the person prior and go have a coffee or a chat with them to see what they’re all about.

You both need to have that fit and I think that genuine personal trainers will also appreciate the effort in getting to know them. If they are not right for you, then it just wasn’t meant to be.

Remember personal trainers also have to enjoy who they work with as well otherwise it could be a recipe for disaster!

 

Step 8

Testimonials

Probably the most underutilized area for PT’s!

Ultimately, you’re paying this person to help get results for you and if they’re not results driven, then that flags a warning sign. You may be searching for the best personal trainer and you may think that a person has a lot of social media activity is perfect for the job, but in the end, they might not be what you expected.

There are also great low cost personal trainers out there who are just as passionate in what they do and could just be looking for a start in their career. You just need to dig deep into what they are about.

With all these steps to take into account, if you’re not getting the results you want, then you need to do a self-assessment. To be fair on personal trainers, clients also have to be accountable and cannot solely rely on their PT. You’ll only get what you put in.

 

Conclusion

There you have it, our 8 steps before you choose a personal trainer to follow for maximum results of your precious investment and time. Maybe in the next few articles, we might have a topic that discusses how to break up with your personal trainer, so stay in-tuned.