In today's article, I will be discussing a variety of ways to determine if you should hire a personal trainer! Let me first start off by saying that personal training is certainly NOT for everyone. However, for many others, personal training can offer countless advantages when helping people reach their health and fitness goals.
First, I will create a list of questions to ask yourself which outline the subjects to be covered in the paragraphs that follow:
What are my goals? Are they attainable?
Do I have an actionable plan to reach my goals?
What does my current gym routine look like?
How many gyms have I tried before and not seen results at?
What does my progress look like over the course of my workout history?
Do I skip the gym regularly because i’m too “busy”?
Do I enjoy working out alone, or am I someone who likes to be guided through workouts?
When no one else is watching, do I really exercise to the best of my ability each and every session?
What are my goals? Are they attainable?
Everyone should have goals for their health and fitness. I don’t care if you go to the gym alone, do group classes, have a personal trainer… everyone needs goals! If you don’t have a goal, what are you working towards in a way that will ensure progress over time? (Yes, just attending the gym regularly will keep you healthier than sitting on the couch… but having attainable goals will help you to continue moving forward and improving on multiple levels; strength/muscle/fat loss/cardiovascular endurance/etc…). You goals must also be realistic and attainable. If you decide that one of your goals is to lost 50lb in a month, or run a marathon in a week if you’ve never run before, sorry those goals aren’t going to cut it!
This is where a personal trainer can help. If you struggle to come up with tangible, attainable goals on your own, you can sit down with your personal trainer and come up with these goals together. Any good trainer will know what is possible and what a good goal for each individual should look like. Your trainer will know what can be achieved, and what sort of time frame it should take (assuming you’re willing to put in all the hard work, inside AND outside of the gym!).
Do I have an actionable plan to reach my goals?
Just having a goal in mind or written down is not enough. You need to have a plan of action to achieve these goals! This is where a lot of people struggle on their own. If you don’t know what you’re doing, your gym routine might not be conducive to your goals, or you might not have a gym routine at all! If you don’t have a game plan you end up at the gym doing only the exercises you like or the ones you’re good at → over time you see little to no change → you get discouraged and stop attending the gym as often → you stop all together and pack on a couple pounds → you get fed up and decide “today is the day I start at the gym again!” (Jan 1st anyone?) → rinse and repeat for the majority of your adult life.
Does this sound familiar to you? Then you may need a personal trainer. A trainer has the ability to write a custom program for you to follow which will force you to directly work towards your goal and ensure that you are consistently making progress. Without this plan, or proper workout routine, little to nothing will be accomplished! I see it far too often in your average gym these days. People go to the gym day in and day out (they undoubtedly have a goal in mind, or an idea about what they’d want to look like), but they have no actionable plan to help them get there! So over time they remain stagnant in their workouts, they plateau in their strength and their fat loss, and the cycle from the above paragraph begins.
What does my current gym routine look like?
Do you go to the gym regularly, but wander around aimlessly while there? Stopping at one machine for one set, then moving on to another machine for one set, not entirely sure how that machine really works or what muscle group it targets? Do you only go to the gym once or twice per week for 30 minutes and think thats enough? Do you do an exercise for 30 seconds then rest for 5 minutes while on your phone texting? Do you say you want to build muscle but spend your entire gym session on the cardio equipment?
Be honest with yourself on this one, because it's super important! What you do with the time spent in the gym is directly related to the results you will achieve! A personal trainer will help you to maximize your time in the gym with a pre-programmed routine that will help you move quickly from exercise to exercise without the uncertainty of what you should do next. Keeping the rest periods short will help you to keep your heart rate elevated and therefore burn more calories even when doing strength exercises. If you don’t know what exercises target which muscle groups, then you should definitely get a trainer. It is impossible to put together a solid workout program tailored to your goals without knowing that information!
How many gyms have I tried before and not seen results at?
Are you a “gym hopper”? Aka - someone who tried a gym for a short period of time unsuccessfully, tried another gym for a short period of time (again unsuccessfully), and then tried another… still unsuccessfully?! Stop and think for a second, is it the gym that's causing you to be unsuccessful? Or is it YOU? Hate to say it, but chances are, it's you.
The main reason you’re a gym hopper is because you don’t see the results you desire in a short enough period of time, so you decide to try elsewhere. A personal trainer will help by ensuring progress is made (again assuming you do everything you’re supposed to inside AND outside of the gym). When you see progress, you’re happy. When you’re happy, you stick with your gym and your routine! Nothing worse than taking long periods of time off from the gym only to have to “start over again” months later! Consistency is KEY, just like with most things in life.
What does my progress look like over the course of my workout history?
This idea is a fairly simple one, if you have never really seen good progress it might be time for a personal trainer. EVERYONE is capable of amazing progress in the gym! Whether its with weight loss, muscle gain, cardiovascular endurance, achieving a lower resting heart rate, etc…
Unfortunately i’ve seen so many people over the years who attend the gym religiously without seeing progress. They obviously have the motivation and determination to keep hitting the gym, but they are missing the knowledge or pieces of the puzzle to put it all together and finally start seeing the results they desire. A trainer will figure out where you’re going wrong, and get you on a path to proven results in no time.
Do I skip the gym regularly because i’m too “busy”?
You already know what they say about excuses… but are you someone who makes them regularly to avoid going to the gym and getting your workout in? Everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE) can set aside an hour of their day 3-4 days per week to exercise if they make it a PRIORITY. If it is not a priority, you will find a reason to skip working out, simple as that.
Some people struggle with holding themselves accountable, and that is where a personal trainer can help. With a trainer, you have an appointment set aside a couple times per week that you HAVE TO attend, or you will have wasted your money. Nobody likes wasting money! When people have this hour set aside early on in the week they know to keep it free on their schedule, and will not come up with excuses as to why they have suddenly become “too busy.” Also with a set workout time, you are not only proving to your trainer that you are in it for the long haul, you are proving it to yourself!
Do I enjoy working out alone, or am I someone who likes to be guided through workouts?
Some people can thrive working out alone, but that is certainly the minority of people. Most prefer to be guided through a workout (preferably one that was hand-crafted specifically for them and for their goals). If this sounds like you then a personal trainer would suit those needs!
All too often, people who workout alone just don’t workout with the same intensity, drive, and motivation as they would if they had someone guiding them through it! Also worth noting, if you don’t know what you’re doing at the gym as far as exercises/sets/reps are concerned, you might be wasting your time!
When no one else is watching, do I really exercise to the best of my ability each and every session?
We’ve all seen it before, someone taking up the bench press machine at the gym… he does one set then sits on the bench and pulls out the phone for 5 minutes texting his buddies and checking Facebook. Then he does one more set, and another 5 minutes of texting ensues. Does this seem like optimal use of time at the gym? If no one is watching you, do you tend to slack off or move slowly through your workout? Do you leave the gym with extra energy still in the tank, or feeling like you could have worked harder while you were there?
A trainer will always (should always) have their eyes on you, and you only. This will mean that you are always forced to give it 100% effort and can not slack off or pull out your phone to start texting. Water breaks will be short and moving from one exercise to the next will be fast. You’ve paid for an hour, and your trainer is going to do everything in their power to make the most out of that entire hour!
By now you should be able to determine if you need a personal trainer!
Again, personal training is not for everyone. But for the majority of people it can be a life changing decision that helps them get on the fast track to their goals. Yes it is expensive, but you truly get what you pay for, and it can be the single best investment you’ve ever made… an investment for a longer, healthier, happier life. Your health is your wealth!
If you would like any further information or would like to schedule a FREE Assessment at Fitness Fusion please contact me today! I look forward to hearing from you.
Brian Lepine
Fitness Fusion
413-977-3938