Selecting a Personal Trainer
Continuing on from my previous post about the questions around personal trainers. Here are some tips on picking a personal trainer. Not all trainers are created equal. Sadly some of the base certifications are a bit of a joke.
- Does the trainer have experience getting the results you're looking for? e.g. Losing fat; bulking up; increasing endurance; sport-specific training. In something like personal training different goals require different approaches.
- Does your trainer offer nutritional coaching? Study after study will show that while weight-training is very important; a huge factor in your results are based on your diet. Calories in, calories out, it's simple And true. A trainer that promises great results and doesn't provide solid guidance on nutrition is failing you. Spending a tonne of money over a short-period of time on training without nutritional-advice is a recipe for disappointment. A trainer that tells you to simply "eat sensibly" is doing a disservice. Honestly if you were eating sensibly you wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place.
- Does the trainer work hours that work for you? Maybe you're a morning person and love to get into the gym at 6am but your trainer loves the night-life and drags himself in consistently @ 6:05 and trains you half-asleep. Or do you hate working out in the morning like me?
- Will you be receiving your own programme? Working out with a trainer will help you break plateaus and extend your body's limits. However you need to be accountable for your own results. To see these results you'll need to workout on your own at times. At first you will work out with them often, but a good program will let you do it yourself and your trainer can monitor your progress in your workout log and keep you on track.
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