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After what many will agree, was a month of far too much over-indulgence, we’re now into the New Year. This means that, once again, it’s time to wipe the slate clean, to dig out our work out gear, to start eating healthily, and to begin getting ourselves in shape for 2019. On paper, it looks easy, doesn’t it? After all, you just need to eat healthy foods, not eat any junk and do more exercise. However, this can actually be more difficult than it may sound at first!
Exercising is hard, eating healthily is hard, giving up delicious greasy fast food is hard, and staying both motivated and driven is most definitely hard. The solution? Well, for many, the solution is to hire a personal trainer. Personal trainers can potentially be the difference between success and failure, providing you hire the right one. That’s why for today’s topic, we’re looking at how you can find the best personal trainers that money can buy. Here are some tips to help you out.
What’s Their Speciality?
Many personal trainers specialize in one thing or another, be it weight loss, muscle gain, injury recovery, athletics, or another fitness area. Make sure you choose a personal trainer who specializes in the area that you’re looking to improve on. The last thing you want is to go ahead and hire a personal trainer specializing in building muscle and increasing your strength when you’re primarily looking to burn fat and slim down. Before hiring a personal trainer, do a little research and find out what they specialize in. That way you can rest assured that you’re hiring a personal trainer who is equipped with the right experience to help you achieve your goals.
Are They Friendly?
If you don’t get on with your personal trainer, exercising becomes a chore that you dread, rather than a chance to discover motivation. This means you won’t do it as often. So, as well as ensuring that your personal trainer is an expert, be sure to hire one who you enjoy spending time with.
When you train with a personal trainer you want it to feel as if you’re training with a friend, as that way you’ll look forward to hitting the gym, your motivation will increase, and you’ll almost certainly work harder because you don’t want to let them down. Just keep in mind that if you are on friendly terms with your personal trainer that you still stay focused. You don’t want to be spending your entire training session catching up – there should still be a strong focus on your fitness goals.
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Check Their Availability
It’s important to pick a personal trainer whose availability matches your schedule. If they can’t make the time for a session when it’s convenient for you, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to commit properly to the training programme they offer. Before hiring a personal trainer, make a note of dates, days, and times when you know for certain that you will definitely be available to train, and then see if the trainer you have contacted is able to fit you in on any of those dates.
There should be a little room for compromising and flexibility on both sides when it comes to scheduling, but if it doesn’t look like they can give you any solid dates and times, you should probably continue your search.
Cost
There are big variations in the amount that personal trainers choose to charge. Money is, of course, a very important factor when hiring a personal trainer but try not to base your search purely on finding the cheapest trainers possible. There’s offering competitive rates, and there’s being cheap. Work out how much you can realistically afford to spend per week/session and see how this fits into finding a trainer. If you can’t afford regular private sessions, then consider splitting the cost with a friend for a group session.
Working out with a local personal trainer can also be more affordable than signing up for a gym membership as you won’t need to pay yearly gym fees. So, if you’re on a budget be sure to consider this as well.
Then, you can also work out on your own outside of your personal training sessions by doing free activities like going for a run. Not only are there great health benefits to running, but you’ll also stay on budget and continue working towards the goals you set with your trainer.
Philosophy
On what beliefs does the trainer develop their fitness programme? Are they positive, realistic, and motivated to help you reach your goals? Do they support you with information on healthy eating options to keep you fueled for your workouts? If so then it’s a good sign that they have a fitness philosophy that will set you on the track to success.
