Choose the right Personal Trainer
You never hired a personal trainer, or you did it in the past and would like to do it again but you’re not sure how to choose your PT? Choosing your PT can be stressful, personal training sessions are a time and money investment and you’re putting your physical health into someone else’s hands. And sure, you can change, but it’s like changing therapist, you need to get to know someone else all over again. A personal trainer will need to learn about you, your health, your experience with fitness, your goals, what kind of person you are. Here are a few tips to chose the perfect one for you:
Pick me. I’m joking. But my clients are really happy, that’s what they say. Ok, let’s pretend for a minute that you cannot pick me for any reason. So I will try be as unbiased as possible.
Have a short talk IRL if possible, or on the phone. It’s perfect if you can meet her (it could be a he, ok, but let’s say it’s a she for the sake of simplicity) because even if they have a lot of information about them online, nothing beats a short intro. Please remember that even if you want to do a few hours, let’s say 5, it’s still 5 hours that you will spend on 1 to 1 with someone, and 5 hours with someone you can’t stand is a really long time. And the problem is that sometimes you don’t even know why you’re not clicking with someone, it just happens. And you can’t see this unless you meet. And of course, as a PT, I’m really happy when people call me to book 10 sessions without having met me, but as a client, I would 100% tell you to meet or have one trial session before to book more.
Pick someone who makes you feel comfortable. Maybe you want to lose 10 kilos so you think you need to hire the military style PT who will scream at you and clap her hands until your fat melts. There are plenty of PT like this, and some of them are great PT and human beings, but maybe you’re sensitive and people being loud and pushy is making you feel uncomfortable. In that case, you might want to go with someone who is more gentle. And gentle doesn’t mean unefficient, you can be a gentle PT who is 100% focused on the goal and extremely efficient. But some people do work better with a bit of tough love, and a good PT will know how to adapt to different clients. For example, I am ususally gentle and soft but I have a few clients who I know need me to threaten them a little. Just a little. So I can channel my inner military PT with them.
Pick someone who understands your challenges to some extent. We all go through different things, so it’s not possible to find someone who has exactly the same experience. But working out with someone who understands what you’re struggling with is the best. For example, if you’re a parent, you’ll click much better with a PT who is also a parent and understands what it feels to be stressed and sleep deprived. I work with a lot of mothers for example since I had two kids, and I know how it feels to workout while breastfeeding, or post partum, or after having surgery in the abdominal area. I know how it feels to workout when you had bad news about your kid, or just a sleepless night.
Pick someone who is interested in making people thrive. Any average PT can make you burn fat and build muscles, its not that complicated really (I said it’s simple, not that it’s easy). But find a PT who wants to see you become the healthiest, happiest version of you and doesn’t see you like a weight or a muscle mass only.
Picking a personal trainer can be difficult, there are a lot of us, and we have really different styles, some might be good for you, some might not. Do a little research before, talk to their other clients if you have doubts and if you know how to reach them, meet them and get an impression of their personnality. And hopefully you’ll find someone who will help you reach your goal and have fun in the process.