If you had a personal trainer...

[thescrawnycaveman]

I am a soon-to-be trainer (I take my NASM test in a little over a week) and am wondering; if you decided to pay for a trainer for something like once or twice a week, what would you expect of them to get your money's worth?

[Swthrtsuzy]

I actually have a personal trainer, and have had for a while. The biggest reason that I've continued re-signing with him is that he listens. This is important on so many levels. He knows what my long term goals are, what my short term goals are, when something is just not working for me, what kind of a mood I'm in on any given day...sometimes I just don't WANT to do a damn burpee! He knows when I'm in pain, sore, injured, sick, etc...and he adjusts accordingly.

I think this is the best thing you can do for your client. I suppose I expect any Trainer Joe to know proper form for abc exercise, to know how to create a balanced meal, to understand kinesiology, physiology, and how a metabolism works, but to find one that can actually get onto my level...now that's priceless.

Good luck on your new journey, and I hope you have so many clients you have to turn people away!

[Ryan Sannar]

This ^

Also I'd suggest having a list of books, articles, links, websites etc.. so that your client can self educate if they want to. Keep their schedule and goals readily available online for them to review and edit with you so that they can see their progress at all times.

Keep a hard copy of their progress that goes into the computer at the end of the session.

Have them want to refer to you their friends, but remember you aren't their friend first.

Make sure they understand from day one what you will do for them and what you won't.

[aj_rock]

Dude! I'm also taking my test in about a week's time

Honestly though, I was planning on taking a slightly different route than the tradition PT. I don't want to work in a gym. At all.

What I want to do is more fitness/nutritional consultations. Chare a fixed fee to set someone up with a plan for either of these areas, with perhaps some exercise demonstrations. The idea is that I wouldn't see a given person more often than once a month once the initial set-up was done, because I don't think a good personal trainer should need to babysit their clients every time they work out.

Or maybe I'll just do what Steve did and make a competing website

(totally joking Steve!)

[morethanjustamom]

Dude! I'm also taking my test in about a week's time

Honestly though, I was planning on taking a slightly different route than the tradition PT. I don't want to work in a gym. At all.

What I want to do is more fitness/nutritional consultations. Chare a fixed fee to set someone up with a plan for either of these areas, with perhaps some exercise demonstrations. The idea is that I wouldn't see a given person more often than once a month once the initial set-up was done, because I don't think a good personal trainer should need to babysit their clients every time they work out.

Or maybe I'll just do what Steve did and make a competing website

(totally joking Steve!)

I want to do this too. I'm looking into a nutrition degree now, and toting with the idea of PT alongside.

[Guest Gemeaux]

I want someone to push me really hard . But be personal too , create a relationship with me and not just see me as someone who pays you .

Your heart should be in it as well .

God I sound like a needy girlfriend .

[morethanjustamom]

I want someone to push me really hard . But be personal too , create a relationship with me and not just see me as someone who pays you .

Your heart should be in it as well .

God I sound like a needy girlfriend .

I think personal trainers are increasingly becoming more like life coaches. As long as that's what you both agree on up front, I don't see a problem with it.

[scarletleavy]

I need someone to be brutally honest and push me harder than I can push myself. I don't really care if they are nice or personable or want to be my new best friend, I just want someone to tell me to suck it up and keep pushing. But that's me, there are plenty of people who'd want a completely different type of trainer.

[llsoszynski@gmail.com]

I'm signing up for my first course in personal training and nutrition soon too! I'd love to be that trainer that makes house calls regularly, although I wouldn't mind working in a gym.

My type is definitely one that listens, is your friend and a coach. I love watching the trainers in the gym interacting with their clients in the gym, and I talk to a lot of them and most of the time its about how much they love their trainer. I had my first session with one the other day and I have to say, if you throw in big fancy words and know what you're talking about, that's a plus too.

[thescrawnycaveman]

Thanks for all the feedback, the basic ideas I'm getting is be personable, be reliable with information, push people to achieve their goals, and generally don't suck at what I do.

For the "put your heart in it" idea, I am WAAAY ahead of you. I want to be the best personal trainer possible!!! I am extremely excited to get started!

I don't wanna work at a gym forever, but I want to start out at one just to get experience. After a year or so of that I want to go independent and specialize in helping people with mood disorders like depression, anxiety, and bipolar (I have bipolar so I feel like if they have someone who understands what they are going through and has been there they may listen more). That is my ultimate goal, is to help people who need exercise VERY badly (some studies show exercise to be as good as anti-depressants).

I am practically bursting with ideas, motivational videos (some from NF), and my own excitement to help people improve their lives! Something I think is going to be key is finding something they like to do, and do it and do workouts complimentary to it (as well as full-body movements like DL and squats).

Any thoughts or feedback on any of this would be much appreciated. Same with ideas, I love ideas.

[ducatisteve]

I regularly see about 4 PTs and their clients at the gym I go to. The one that stands out to me (and has maintained the most clients) has one big things going for her, she cares about her clients as people and friends. She knows the names of all their family, remembers stories and situations talked about in previous sessions, and asks engaging questions. She also pushes her clients to be extremely honest with themselves, and listens when they talk about their workout progress and limitations (and again, remembers all these things). On the other side of the coin, she is also honest and has a very keen sense of seeing BS and codependent behavior and she will snuff it out immediately. I know that if I were to pick a PT there, she would be it.

[Guest Gemeaux]

I think you are passionate about this , so you will be excellent . All the best !

[Anivair]

As someone who is certified and looking to be a trainer, here's what I like to say: I'd want that person to at least b present for a workout 2x a week. They don't have to follow me around, but they need to check out my form and be on hand for suggestions. They also need to keep track of my numbers and if things stop progressing, they need to have a plan regarding what to change.

they also need to tell me to do the things that I don't want to do like keep a food log. (okay I​ want to do this, but most people do not).

[chairohkey]

If I had a personal trainer...I'd ask for my money back.

[Atalan]

If I'm looking to hire a personal trainer, then I am looking for a coach. Basically, someone who knows more about what I'm doing than I do, who will provide a road-map to excellence and then demand I run the route to the utmost of my ability.

[cline]

My trainer spends tons of time on form. This is so important to me. He also got me to do some really hard core goal testing.

[Corbab]

The two things I get from a trainer are confidence and motivation. I know that I could design my own workout, judge my own gains, and scale up accordingly, but I feel much better about things if I have someone I trust advising me. I could learn that new lift on my own, but I'd rather get it right from the start with a trained eye on me. Also, I work way harder when somebody's on my ass. Even doing the exact same workout, I get a lot more out of it with someone else there to keep me honest.

[aj_rock]

Your average person isn't the same as your average NF newbie. As such, inundating them with NF-like information may be overwhelming, especially if they haven't really made the decision to take the blue pill yet (when you get it...)

Bring people along slowly. Fixing their misconceptions in a positive, non-derogatory way is going to be the biggest step...

[Sloth the Enduring]

from what i've seen at the Y that I work out at the people who hire personal trainers (mostly older women) either want someone to keep them company while they work out or someone to motivate them and keep them accountable.

If I were to use a personal trainer I'd want them to evaluate my form on the lifts and to help me devise a solid training plan. Follow up would be to evaluate progress and revise the plan periodically.

Good luck.

[AuroraNorth]

When I used a PT, I had a specific request. I wanted a routine that didn't require the gym, and he gave me a good circuit workout that can be adapted for the gym or home.

Find out what their goals are. I started with the trainer because I had a bellydance performance coming up and wanted to build stamina, tighten my triceps and strengthen my legs.

[TeaKwonDo]

This thread is so full of awesome. Seconding hardcore the emphasis on form and motivation--sometimes you have that extra burpee in you, but the very second you second-guess yourself and think, "Y'know, I've already worked out a LOT today my muscles are sooo sore..." then you lose it. A trainer should know when to push the best out of their clients, and likewise when to back off, but the best results (and the biggest w00t moments) often come when you thought you had nothing left in the tank.

[cline]

This thread is so full of awesome. Seconding hardcore the emphasis on form and motivation--sometimes you have that extra burpee in you, but the very second you second-guess yourself and think, "Y'know, I've already worked out a LOT today my muscles are sooo sore..." then you lose it. A trainer should know when to push the best out of their clients, and likewise when to back off, but the best results (and the biggest w00t moments) often come when you thought you had nothing left in the tank.

You've really captured it here - for me at least. My trainer has more confidence in me than I do. This has honestly allowed me to make some big gains, including in confidence. It really matters. But, at the same time, it's not fake "I paid for this" support. He's genuine.

[notacommittee]

Wow, if I could afford a trainer I'd be so psyched. And all the trainers at my gym are so sweet, too.

But what I would really want from a trainer:

-someone to explain correct form to me, show me what I'm doing wrong, and then hold me to it every time - to help me progress safely so I can be sure I'm not going to hurt my back.

-someone to help me create an efficient and effective lifting plan to meet my own personal goals, knowing that my goal is NOT to become some crazy Olympic powerlifter or spend a million years doing ten different kinds of isolation exercises.

-someone to introduce me to new exercises that are appropriate to my level/goals and help me work them into my routine (right now I pick up stuff at random from the internet and creepily watching other people, and just try it out and see how it works...which is fun but inefficient).

-probably most importantly, someone to help me take care of myself: to keep me honest with eating enough calories every day, and tell me when I'm overtraining and need to take a break.

-someone who can put up with me being occasionally moody and discouraged: it's not the world's most attractive personality trait, I know, but I occasionally get frustrated and need a talk to the tune of "your deadlift weight is not the center of the world, now put on your big girl panties and stop being melodramatic."

I wouldn't need someone to motivate or push me (I push myself well enough). It would be important to me that the trainer be someone I felt comfortable talking to - not like a BFF, but if we were talking about nutrition I would need to feel comfortable talking about my disordered eating issues and weird emotional responses to food, for example.

[NorthFloridaNinja]

I'd want someone who made themselves easily accessible to me. I'd probably only be meeting with them a couple times a week, but it's likely that I'd want to work out more often than that. So, if I had a question that came up while I was on my own or if I managed to accomplish something by myself, I'd want to know that I could text or email them at anytime and get some kind of a response. It wouldn't have to be right away, and I'd understand if I emailed them asking a question at 1 am that I wouldn't hear back for a few hours, but I'd hate it if a trainer tried to keep our contact to a minimum outside of the few hours I was paying to be with them.

[KAllen]

One that would turn into a Porn scene!!!