Things to Look for in a Personal Trainer

How Personal Trainers can Help You Achieve Your Fitness Goals

A personal trainer (PT) provides more than just basic knowledge of home or commercial gym equipment and workouts; they protect you from future injuries, encourage you to press on when you’re feeling discouraged, challenge you to (safely) push your limits, and help you set and accomplish realistic goals.

A good personal trainer isn’t a workout buddy. They are teachers, educators, and advocates of health and wellness. Picking the right one can often mean the difference between success and failure. As such, it’s important to vet your options and find the perfect fit for your goals, personality and training style.

Benefits of Hiring a Personal Trainer

• Certified and trained to instruct various fitness activities
• Can construct custom fitness programs tailored to your goals
• Are able to cater your regimen to your unique abilities, likes/dislikes and more
• Can provide motivational support, encouragement and accountability
• Will help you learn proper form and how to use professional fitness equipment
• Can help you prevent and reduce the risk of injury and overtraining
• Aid with setting realistic and attainable goals
• Help you push past plateaus and keep your workouts fresh and engaging

But not all personal trainers are alike.

Below we’ve compiled a list of the top qualities to look for when searching for a personal trainer to help you get fit, stay fit, and live your best life.

1. THEY ARE KNOWLEDGEABLE AND CERTIFIED

Don’t be shy about asking your PT about their experience and certification(s). Remember, you’ll be putting your health and wellness in their (hopefully) capable hands. Your PT will be helping you with nutrition, learning how to properly use precision fitness equipment, treadmills, free weights and more.

2. THEY ASK QUESTIONS

If a personal trainer isn’t personal, then they’re not really a “personal” trainer. A good PT will ask you questions to help learn more about you and to better understand how they can help you reach (and often surpass) your goals. They should also be covering questions concerning your current and past medical history to ensure the development of an effective and safe plan of action.

Good trainers don’t just focus on “training”. A good PT will also ask about your eating habits, when you feel the most impulsive, and cover behavioral questions that will help them help you. These questions help them better understand your strengths, weaknesses and key motivational and discouraging factors. All of which are critical to helping you be successful.

3. THEY PRACTICE WHAT THEY PREACH

This may sound like common sense, but you would be surprised how many trainers fail to train themselves. An effective personal trainer should be just as hyped up as you are about health and fitness, and you won’t see them slacking when they told you to pick it up. If you sense a “do what I say, not what I do” type vibe from the trainer, then consider jumping ship early on for someone who is more authentic and true to what should be their life’s passion.

4. THEY ARE FOCUSED

Good personal trainers are detail oriented and focused on the prize. They are there to help you concentrate and eliminate distractions, not add to them.

Nobody wants a trainer that takes phone calls or is answering texts while you’re over there busting out reps or huffing and puffing on the treadmill. Likewise, you don’t need a helicopter trainer that is always hovering about.

Look for a nice blend of attentive care and focus, without smothering you every step of the way. If your trainer seems distracted, move on to someone more invested in your wellness.

5. THEY LISTEN TO YOU

As mentioned before, a personal trainer should be listening to your goals and working to understand your weaknesses. They should also be aware and attentive to feedback during your workout, looking for signs of strain, injury, discomfort, or underperformance.

PTs also do is listen to you with their eyes. Trainers are known to be pushy and, sure, they might make you knock out that last set of curls even though you want to collapse. But what they won’t do is let their stubbornness interfere with your personal needs; the ones that you don’t say out loud.

In other words, a good trainer knows when you are capable of doing that last set of curls and when you are not capable and will stop you from injuring yourself. They know your limits and won’t allow your own stubbornness to get in the way of your health either.

6. THEY OFFER OR HAVE AVAILABLE REVIEWS AND REFERRALS

Don’t shy away from asking the PT about the types of success they have had with other clients. Ask about situations similar to yours, your goals and timeline for achieving results. Ask them if they have any professional references or reviews you could check out.

7. COMMUNICATE AND CHECK IN OFTEN

Your personal trainer is only “with you” a few times a week, but that doesn’t mean they should be forgetting about you on days that you don’t meet up with them. A good personal trainer will make sure to touch base via phone, text, email or even video calls to help you keep on track even when you’re outside of the gym.

8. THEY TAKE TIME TO EDUCATE

A good personal trainer should have the goal of helping you learn how to help yourself. They should take time to educate you as to the “why” behind strategies, form, function and nutrition. They should help you learn how to develop your own healthy habits and ways you can be proactive about your fitness on your own time.

9. THEY MAKE YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE

The last quality comes down to how you feel about this person. A good personal trainer will end up being a role model and a friend. If you respect them enough to follow their plan, as well as tell them when you’ve been slacking, then you have found the person that works for you.

If you feel increasingly motivated as well as continuously educated, that’s how you will know that you have found a truly good personal trainer.

Accompany Your Training with Fitness Expo Exercise Equipment

You already have your personal trainer to help you in the fitness journey, so make the most out of it by investing in one of the gym machines from Fitness Expo. Whether you’re into cardio and or strength training, there’s equipment for every workout. Drop by our Kenner store or visit our other showrooms in Baton Rouge, Metairie, Shreveport, and Jackson in the Mississippi area.