How to Choose and Work with a Personal Trainer

How to Choose and Work with a Personal Trainer If you're looking to improve your health and fitness, select a trainer like you would choose a physician. Someone who has the professional knowledge and the personal involvement in your health to ensure that you achieve your goals.

Improved fitness undoubtedly leads to a better quality of life, including fewer medical problems and sports injuries, and enhanced personal and professional performance. Also, both adults and teenagers who follow a fitness regimen can greatly increase their self-esteem and self-confidence.

However, just as people need to turn to physicians to treat medical disorders they often find a personal trainer an invaluable tool in achieving better fitness.

The problem is that there are quite a few pitfalls in choosing and working with a personal trainer. For example, some trainers have a great deal of knowledge but don't put it into practice themselves. Other trainers are primarily athletes, but don't have a sufficient background in physiology, kinesiology, and nutrition. So, I advise looking for a personal trainer who has both knowledge of fitness physiology and a passion for practicing what they preach. It is also important to look for a trainer who has a national certification from the National Strength and Conditioning Association or the American College of Sports Medicine.

Don't hesitate to check out the personal trainer you're considering working with. Talk to their clients and look over their resumes. And don't feel you have to buy forty sessions with them right off the bat. Commit to a modest number. Make sure you and the trainer share the same goals and attitudes, and are personally compatible.

Just as a physician's careful clinical analysis is critical to medical treatment, a trainer's fitness analysis is critical to designing a successful training program.

A thorough fitness evaluation should be completed before developing your personalized fitness program. That evaluation should include detailed measurements of your body weight, body fat and dimensions, and a series of exercises to analyze your strong and weak areas.

The personal workout regimen developed after the evaluation should include a comprehensive set of exercises for both the upper and lower body, a balanced workout of opposing muscles, cardiovascular exercise and stretching.

In addition, don't be impressed by a trainer's array of shiny, expensive machines. A high-quality training regimen can be accomplished with a minimum of exercise machines and free weights.

A good trainer will also want to help you achieve fitness in your lifestyle, not just in the studio. So, he or she should include advice on diet and lifestyle changes that help you improve your nutrition and achieve your ideal weight.

Training sessions should also be highly interactive. A good trainer will continually ask you questions as you're working out; like whether a given exercise feels right or causes pain. And a good trainer will carefully monitor you as you exercise, suggesting subtle changes in your technique that will make the exercise more comfortable and effective.

Also, a trainer should communicate with you in clear language. A fancy technical name for a training program or an exercise doesn't mean its going to be effective.

Re-evaluations are also a key ingredient for success. Many trainers may gloss this over, because the evaluations might not show the kinds of dramatic gains a trainer likes to boast about. But you really need to know the facts about your progress if you're going to reach your goals.

"While there are benefits in commercial gym memberships, people should be aware of their limitations."

In a personal trainer's studio, it's easy to do a full regimen of exercises with minimal setup, because the place is all yours. This is harder in a gym, where you might have to wait for a machine, skip exercises or concentrate too much on one exercise and not enough on another. Also, it's important to maintain a steady level of exertion, and that's harder to do in a gym, where the extra wait between sets will lower your heart rate and cause your body to cool down. Because of this, you will lose many of the cardiovascular benefits of a well designed weight training program.

While many gyms do offer onsite trainers, they often do not provide sufficient service. Unfortunately, many times they're looking to go through a quick workout with you and cut you loose as soon as possible. It's understandable, given that they work for the gym and not for you, but it's not the best way to ensure continuity and progress in your training.

"While gyms are at first glance cheaper than personal trainers, the ultimate cost could be higher."

Ironically, the cost of a gym membership might turn out to be much more per fitness level achievement than the cost of a personal trainer. If you pay for a gym membership, more often you'll take out a long-term contract, go a few times, and then because of the lack of incentive, just stop. People tend to be more regular in their exercise if they know they have an appointment with a trainer who's taking a personal interest in their health and fitness.