what to look for in a personal trainerOutstanding! So, you’ve decided to commit to your health and fitness. In the past you haven’t been as successful as you wanted to be with attaining sustainable fat loss, tone, or athletic performance. Now it’s going to be different. You’re going to invest in a personal trainer to assist you in attaining your health and fitness goals. A professional to motivate you, hold you accountable, and coach you through the process. But “How Should I Look For In A Personal Trainer?” is the biggest question on your mind.

Here’s the truth: there are lots of people who thinks they can be a personal trainer. Just looking the part by being “in shape” or having a lean physique means very little. Genetics often determines how your aesthetics may develop. Don’t get me wrong, a trainer should be physically fit to ensure they practice what they preach. However, there are many more important factors which will determine whether the personal trainer is the right type of COACH (this is the difference maker) for your success.

Therefore, it’s imperative to do your due diligence before investing in a personal trainer. All it requires is a little research to determine the right fit for your wants and needs.

Listed by Priority. Here are some important factors when deciding if you should invest in a personal trainer.

#1) Education and credentials – There are way too many personal trainer certifications that you can attain on line that don’t provide the essentials components to be a great personal trainer… and you need a great trainer. Anything less and all you will get is somebody who counts reps. Here are a few highly accredited organizations to look for as a qualification for your personal trainer:

This ensures they’ve met the minimum requirements of professionalism and competence. Then they must continuously go to seminars to master their craft.

#2) Experience – A personal trainer needs to be in the trenches working with as many clients as possible to get the practical know how necessary to make it worth your while. Five years minimum experience would be the starting point to ensure the personal trainer has near perfected the art of coaching. Even with the above certs, you need to have a keen eye to look for weak links and limiting factors within the body and mind.

#3) Coaching abilities and personality – Just a good personality is great if you want a friend. However, a coach will be somebody who motivates you, holds you accountable, and at times wants more from you then you may even want for yourself. A coach just knows when to put that knot in your stomach and have you feel like they are right, and things must change. Positive energy, leadership qualities, and that strong connection will ensure results that last a lifetime.

#4) Philosophy – Everybody claims to be fat loss experts. The reality is that most people kind of know how to eat right. It’s having a personal trainer that motivates you to consistently act on your behavioral modifications that will be the game changer. Unless you are wanting to get into bodybuilding, it’s all about human movement performance. Staying away from machines and focusing on multi-joint and multi-muscle movements always trumps the restricted movements of weight training machines. When you get efficient with the fundamentals of human movement, fat loss becomes the biproduct.

#5) If you’re not assessing, you’re just guessing – It’s that simple. If your prospective trainer or current trainer doesn’t assess you with a movement screening to identify what exercises will get you where you want to go. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE. Developing a program that is built around needs, wants, and desires is what hiring a trainer is about. Our bodies are being broken down every day from sedentary lifestyles, microtrauma’s (previous injuries), and repetition. The correct type of exercise will combat what you are not doing enough of. This will balance out the body, get you performing at great levels, and give you that fit body that you deserve.

#6) Reviews – Yelp, google, and Facebook are a few resources that would provide some details on current or past clients experiences. Check them out.

In conclusion, health and fitness is an area that we all need to improve upon. Making less than optimum choices, lack of exercise, and ultimately “getting old syndrome” leads to an unhappy, unhealthy you. You can either mature in regards to your eating, drinking, sleeping, and exercising habits, or you can literally get old fast. Life doesn’t get easier, you must get better. At the end of the day, a coach/personal trainer should ultimately help motivate, educate, and inspire you to be the best version of you.

Curious? Investigate our 1-to-1 personal training options, or group fitness classes.