WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A PERSONAL TRAINER

A personal trainer can be an invaluable tool in achieving your fitness goals as rapidly as possible. However, working with an unqualified trainer can be a frustrating and discouraging experience. Like the representatives of any other business, personal trainers range from very, very good to downright dangerous.

I strongly suggest that you shop around, much as you would if you were buying a car. Evaluate prospective trainers using several criteria.

1. Professionalism — This refers to conduct, knowledge and behavior while working with clients.
2. Punctuality — The trainer should show up on time or early to your first consultation. If the trainer is late to your first consultation, you could only imagine what will happen to any subsequent appointments.
3. Attentive — A good trainer will give you their complete attention while you’re exercising, not talk or engage in lengthy conversation with friends or spend time on the phone.
4. Certification — Certification greatly increases the chances that a prospective trainer is qualified. It shows that the trainer is serious about his career and has a minimum level of expertise.
5. References — All good trainers will make their references available to you without hesitation. By themselves, references are not always a reliable indicator of a trainer’s competence; but as part of a comprehensive battery of criteria, they have some merit.

 

Here are a few frequently asked questions about what to expect from a prospective personal trainer.

What type of certification should a personal trainer have?

There are more than 1,000 organizations and agencies certifying personal trainers. The credibility of these agencies range from very reputable to questionable. The best way to determine if the trainer is credible is to use the criteria suggested in the earlier paragraphs.

 

What can I expect the first meeting to be like?

Your first session should be well within the bounds of your ability. Expect some mild-to-moderate soreness at first, but if you're so sore you can't move for two or three days, the trainer was probably inept. Good trainers keep the exercise intensity low to moderate until they get to know their clients better. At that point, they gradually increase the difficulty.

 

Should they write down my fitness plan?

All competent personal trainers will keep a training log, a written record of what you actually do. It includes the exercises (including the weight, sets and reps) performed, how difficult the workout was and any unusual occurrences, including injuries. The training log is a valuable reference tool for charting improvement and planning future training programs.

 

How pushy should a trainer be in getting you to reach your fitness goals?

Good trainers take your lifestyle into consideration, help you set safe and realistic goals and design a training and nutritional program based on these factors. These programs are a written "prescription" of the training activities and nutritional practices you'll be expected to carry out for a predetermined period (usually from 4-8 weeks).

They will explain why you'll doing a certain exercise or training program, and how following it will improve your life. Poor trainers can't explain the rationale behind their methods.

 

Remember, don't be overly impressed if the personal trainer has massive muscles or a superlean body. Some people have such physiques in spite of their level of knowledge, not because of it.

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Copyright © 2004 by Vincent Ferguson