Top 8 Factors to Consider When Choosing a Personal Trainer
On some level, all of us want to invest in the improvement of our physical and mental health. Adopting a regular exercise routine is a great way to accomplish both, but it’s not always easy to find a safe and effective form of exercise for our bodies and goals.
Working with a personal trainer has many proven benefits, including increased motivation and lowered safety risks. However, that doesn’t mean that every personal trainer offers a one-size-fits-all approach.
Choosing a personal trainer is a lot like choosing a diet or choosing a therapist. You want to ensure that the one you’re working with is right for you and your needs.
How can you approach this choice? Read on for eight factors to consider when finding the perfect personal trainer for you.
1. Location
Some of the first few factors we’ll discuss are quite practical and easy to gauge. The first is location.
Where do you want to perform your workouts? Are you looking for a gym you can go to right after work or a gym located closer to your home? Do you want to go to a gym at all or would you prefer working with someone who meets you in your own specified locations?
Our personal trainers will work with you at one of our two facilities, both located in Cambridge, MA.
2. Availability
Once again, here is a practical consideration. There are a few steps that you can take to form a new habit, and one of them is setting realistic intentions. Sure, you might want to start waking up an hour earlier to get your workout in, but is that something you can really see yourself doing?
Find a personal trainer who is available at a time when you are most likely to exercise. Of course, you will want to select a time when you aren’t fulfilling other obligations. However, you will also want to pick a time that you tend to have a decent amount of energy and motivation.
3. Cost
Make sure that you review the costs associated with different personal training sessions. For example, we offer 12 sessions over the course of three months for $319, 24 sessions over the course of three months for $619, and so forth. It’s important that your personal trainer’s rates fit your budget–even if that means making a few changes to your spending habits.
4. Qualifications
One of the biggest benefits of hiring a personal trainer is that you’re working with someone who has extensive knowledge of safe and effective practices. There’s no point in hiring a personal trainer that isn’t qualified in tangible and specific ways.
Make sure that your personal trainer has received both educational and practical fitness training. All of our personal trainers are either exercise physiologists or certified personal trainers. They all hold nationally accredited certifications combined with extensive experience providing hands-on assistance and guidance to clients.
5. Expertise
Here’s where your own preferences and needs really come into play. You may have a general idea of your fitness goals or you may have a very specific plan for what you want to achieve and how you want to achieve it. Take some time to brainstorm or write down your goals and the types of exercise (ie a cardio-heavy routine vs a larger focus on weight lifting) you want to try.
This makes it easier to find the right personal trainer for you. While any good personal trainer has a generalized knowledge of all things fitness-related, they tend to also have a specific area of expertise. This expertise is usually informed by their training as well as their personal training experience, both things you should feel welcome to inquire about.
6. Personality
When reviewing their options for trainers, people tend to underestimate the importance of personality. Admittedly, you may not get a good sense of your personal trainer’s personality until you have your first session with them. Still, you should feel comfortable making a change if your trainer’s personality doesn’t mesh with yours.
Ultimately, a good personal trainer is going to push you out of your comfort zone. However, how they go about doing it and the attitude they have during your workout matters. Some people prefer a heavy dose of positive support while others prefer a tough-love approach and it’s all about knowing what works for you.
7. Exercise Philosophy
Expertise, personality, and exercise philosophy all go hand in hand. It’s easy to confuse exercise philosophy with personality, but they’re not quite the same thing. By reading online reviews and asking different personal trainers questions before signing up, you can start to learn more about their exercise philosophy.
Do they prefer to have their clients focus on one specific thing until it’s mastered? Do they prefer to change things up throughout the month to keep things fresh and exciting? What do they hope to teach their clients and how do they intend to pass on that knowledge?
8. Risk Assessment
One of the biggest jobs a personal trainer has is keeping clients safe. They can only do this by learning more about each client’s health history, potential risk factors, and physical needs.
If you find that your personal trainer is taking a one-size-fits-all approach and pushing you to perform tasks that aren’t safe for your body, it’s time to stop. Talk to us, instead, and find a personal trainer that will always take risk assessment into consideration.
Be Selective When Choosing a Personal Trainer
People often assume that any personal trainer can help them achieve their health and fitness goals. The truth is that you want to approach choosing a personal trainer with several considerations in mind. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or do a little digging to find out if a personal trainer checks your boxes.
Want to know more about one of our personal trainers? Have you found a match and want to get started? Contact us today.
