Finding a personal trainer is easier said than done. Hop online and you’ll see thousands of results and trainers on Yelp, Google…everywhere! In today’s world, fitness for some is a lifestyle, but for others, it can be considered a chore. Does it have to be? Are you one of those people who have tried every group exercise class, but have had little to no success? I love doing group exercise classes! The group of people that I work with are amazing. The great thing about group exercise classes is that it can feel like a fun family environment for you to work out with. You have other people doing similar workouts and they can help push you as much as you want to get better. The problem with group exercise classes is it can be easy to get lost in the crowd and slack off a bit. Not saying that you do of course!
As much as I love group exercise classes, my passion is personal training! When I am working with someone, their goals are my goals. If you have worked with me before, I do not take fitness lightly! This is why they call it personal training! Personal training is a relationship. The 2 of you need to meet each other in the middle in order to become successful!
11 Essential Qualities for Finding a Personal Trainer
1. Accountability
Being accountable is at the top of the list for a reason! The reason why you have chosen a personal trainer is to make sure you are put in the best situation to be successful. Accountability is not just on the trainer, it is for you too! As a team, you need to set a time that works best for you, the number of times you are working out and put your best effort into what you are trying to accomplish. You may be thinking, what are we trying to accomplish? We are trying to build a healthy lifestyle while reaching for the stars and achieving your goals! As a trainer, I am not just asking for you to put your best effort into your training with me, but also when I’m not around. I am not just wasting my breath telling you things, I am telling you what needs to be done! Sometimes we fail, but does that me we give up? Heck no! We develop a new plan and attack it as best as we can!
2. Motivation
Being motivated can be very hard to do on your own! Especially if what you are doing on your own is not working. If you are not motivated each day, there is a good chance that you may be unsuccessful. Motivation is not just cheering and giving compliments during each workout. A big motivational factor is when you bust your butt, put in your best effort and you see the fruits of your labor. Motivation is what gets your butt in the gym and helps add fuel to the fire!!
3. Help Manage Your Workout Time
There was a great quote that I heard recently, “One-hour workout takes up 4% of your day”. When I read this quote I think there is no excuse why you can’t workout! When somebody tells me they have no time to work out, I sit down with them and we make a daily agenda of what they are doing. Disregarding the 6-8 hours that you are sleeping, what could you be possibly doing every day that could cause you not to do any sort of fitness? What a personal trainer can do for you is not only map out when you are going to see them, but they can provide you with an at home cardio or workout plan that will maximize your fitness potential!
4. Healthy Support System
Having a healthy support system can be the easiest road to success. There should be a support system at home and in the gym! As a trainer, my goal is not only to teach you how to lift weights properly, but to teach you how to live a healthy lifestyle. Having a healthy lifestyle does not mean you do some crazy crash diet! A healthy lifestyle is an everlasting change that will hopefully keep you down the path to success for the rest of your life! If you are looking for a healthy support system, then take a look on yelp and find a personal trainer that will show you the way!
5. Provide a Scientific Based Program
As a personal trainer, I am keeping up to date with current scientific research that will help put you in the best possible position for success! Sure, I could give you some body building workout from some professional body builder. Will that make you successful, maybe or maybe not. Did you know that some of those workouts in the magazines are not the workouts that the person they are advertising is doing? Trust me, I used to be that person who did those workouts. I would get so sore on day 1 and who would have thought that I did not even want to continue that workout. Being up to date with what research is providing you could give you a great advantage.
6. Keep You Safe
Nobody wants to come in the gym and get hurt! If you are going to a large group exercise class, it can be very challenging for a trainer to watch everybody’s form. When you work with a personal trainer, you have that person’s undivided attention. Sure, injuries can occur, but if you are coached on how to perform perfect form every repetition, then injuries can be rare.
7. Provide Injury Prevention and Rehab
I hope every group exercise class and personal trainer has some sort of injury prevention and rehab knowledge. If you don’t know the basics of injuries and rehabilitation, you are doing a disservice to their clients. At COR, I went through the internship program which is lead by a physical therapist, ensuring I knew how to best help my clients. Unfortunately, aches and pain can occur before and after workouts. It is how we manage these issues is the most important step. It does not matter if you are hurt or not, everyone needs some sort of injury prevention program, especially as we age [a little insight, even physical therapist and trainers get hurt]! When I am working with my clients, during the initial phase of their training is all about fixing posture if needed. If these issues do not get resolved, there could be a good chance that injuries can occur!
8. Personalized Training Program
If you did not know, everybody is different in some way. What may work for me, may be opposite for you. Just because one person saw amazing results, does not mean you could see the same results! That is what makes my job so much fun and challenging, blending the art and the science of fitness! What is funny is when a certain client of mine thinks that personal trainers are just glorified counters! A personalized training program involves a needs analysis. A needs analysis involves putting you through a number of movements and tests to find out what your strengths and weaknesses are. Once we have figured out your strengths and weaknesses, we improve our weaknesses and maintain our strengths. Weaknesses could be muscle imbalances, poor posture, form, weak core and etc. If you do not fix these problems, there could be a good chance that an injury can occur in the future! The body is the most complicated machine in the world, I’m doing much more than number counting 🙂
9. Partnership
When working with a personal trainer, it is very important to have a partnership where everyone is on the same page. Your trainer must communicate the plan, why you are doing it, and how you are going to execute it. When it comes to nutrition and someone needs extra help, they will send me a picture of every meal that they eat. This is not just so I know they are eating healthy, but I want them to learn and understand how healthy choices can help show results faster. A big part of a partnership is trust! If we can not trust each other, then we will most likely take steps back instead of forward. You need to trust me that I will put you in the best situation to succeed and I need to trust to you that you will try your absolute best inside and outside of the gym!
10. Help You Feel Good About Yourself
Does it not feel good to see results? Even if it is just a small percentage, if we know something is working, we will be more motivated to work hard! Sure, my goal is for you to hit all of your goals, but my main goal is for you to be happy! Nothing is more satisfying that people being happy! Are you happy when you look in the mirror or are you not? This is how I judge results. I love when I hear people say they are fitting into clothes that fit them 10+ years ago!
For you ladies out there who love to shop! I know you love to go shopping for smaller clothes. This is what gets me up in the morning, knowing that I can help people be happy about themselves!
11. Help Ease Your Stress
Are you stressed out a lot? Did you know working out helps ease stress? I tell my clients to let me know when you are stressed and I will give them stress relieving exercises. If you have been working out on your own and you are still feeling super stressed out then a personal trainer is someone you need to get in contact with ASAP.
Conclusion
Finding a personal trainer who will help you maximize each one of these steps can be challenging. Even personal trainers need someone to help them out in their own workouts. It is important to know that personal trainers will always be there for you and they should put your needs in front of their own! If you are willing to take the 1st step towards your goals, hop on the computer and find a personal trainer!