BY COACH NADIA POPOVA
You’re finally ready to get real and transform your body once and for all and have decided to seek out the guidance of a personal trainer.
But not all personal trainers are created equally. You obviously want the best care possible from the personal trainer you choose, so it’s critical that you ask these 10 questions of any personal trainer before hiring them.
- Do they offer a consultation?
A consultation is the best indicator of them actually taking into consideration your needs and goals and that they’re not just going to print out a standard workout that they give to everyone when they’re charging you for a custom-built plan to suit your needs. A consultation is an excellent time to get to know who and what you’re signing up for, review the program they offer, and determine if it’s a good fit for your needs. It’s also a time to at least meet the trainer or trainers you will be working with.
A formal consultation is also a sign of a professional company that is committed to getting the client results. In my own personal training company, each and every client has to apply to get to the consultation stage, then I ultimately decide whether or not to take you on as a client. I don’t like time-wasters, magic pill hunters or half/little commitment and effort! This process weeds those types of clients out and allows us to focus on clients who want a change and are ready to learn.
- What type of training method do you use?
If a trainer is dedicated to using only one type of training method, then you are potentially slowing results. Great trainers know one-size-fits-all does not apply to fitness programs. A true fitness professional will know how to take different fitness training disciplines and apply them to the client to achieve their goals faster. Make sure your trainer is open to different types of training and can guide you how to combine your favorites into a complete program.
- Do you incorporate nutrition into your programs? How?
Nutrition is important; it’s 80% of the results. Having a complete program means having a nutrition program that not just improves your eating, but compliments, and supports our fitness program. If your nutrition program doesn’t match your fitness program you run the risk of not maximizing your results, and therefore, wasting time. Who has time these days to waste? Make sure that the trainer teaches you what to eat and has a background in nutrition. Meal plans are only as good as you can follow it. You want someone that can teach you what to do in real life after the meal plan. This way you learn how to keep weight off for life.
- Are they a certified personal trainer?
Unfortunately, just about anyone can become a personal trainer. You can go online over the weekend and get certified. This doesn’t necessarily give someone the skills needed to train clients effectively.
The real problem here is that the risk of injury goes through the roof when “weekend warrior trainers” try to train clients using some of the most advanced and complex movements in the fitness industry.
You want to find a trainer that has a NASM, NSCA, CSCS, ACSM, ACE, ISSA, or NPTI certification. These certifications typically have an affiliation with a college and their programs are based on physical therapy, sports medicine, exercise physiology, and regularly test their programs in a fitness lab. Also, the person getting certified typically needs to have either a college degree or gain permission to take the certification course.
- Do they have a money-back guarantee? This may seem a bit surprising to you, but that’s because most places don’t offer it! Ask your trainer what happens if you follow everything they say, do the work, but get no results? If the trainer really has a program that works, they should be able to offer you a money-back guarantee in writing.
- Does your trainer have experience training people like you? You will want to make sure your trainer can show you some proof of clients they have trained in the past that are similar to you. You want to avoid a trainer that trains for competition only, has only trained clients for competition, or only one type of training. When you are not looking for those same goals, you run the risk of being trained like they train their other clients, and not the way you should be trained to achieve your goals.
- How does your trainer hold clients accountable? If you have ever belonged to a gym or large group club, you might know what I am talking about. If you don’t show up, does anyone call you wondering where you were? Is anyone checking your results, and providing you some feedback about how you are doing? Part of a complete training program means that there is some support system set up to make sure you are coming to the workouts as much as you should, you are following food guidelines, and you have standing appointments set for months at a time. This also means that your trainer is regularly measuring you and re-assessing your results to update your program. Without updating a program, you will hit a plateau and results virtually stop.
- Who are your most unsuccessful clients? I love to ask trainers this question because most trainers will try to boast about how all their clients are successful. That would be great to say, but I can tell you that not all my clients are successful. This is a wonderful thing because it teaches us trainers how to improve a program, address those issues with another client, and ultimately gain experience to prevent and overcome those obstacles in the future. If you run into a trainer that tries to tell you that everyone they touch turns to skinny gold, then you might be dealing with too big of an ego, and I would move on.
- Ask for Proof of Results A top fitness pro should be able to do more than just talk about results- they should be able to prove they deliver. Ask for proof of client results. Do they have before & after photos of clients, testimonials, references? Can you speak with a client to inquire about their experience working with them? If a fitness pro can’t offer this kind of concrete proof, then be careful.
- They should do more than just “take you through a workout” A top quality fitness professional does more than just “take you through a workout”. Anyone can count to 15 and hold a clipboard.
Look for a coach who will educate you about all the components necessary to achieve optimal health and a fitness result. Your trainer should review nutrition education with you, educate you about proper supplementation, review resistance training (whether that be balance training, core work, Stability balls, medicine balls, etc.), cardiovascular exercise to maximize fat burning, flexibility to avoid injury and speed recovery, and really walk you through all the steps that encompass the “mental development” side.
Goal setting, putting together a plan of action, and then holding you accountable and supporting you through the entire process is absolutely critical to your success.
PS: All Send Me A Trainer trainers and programs pass the test above.If you need any help booking a session feel free to call us anytime at (760)880-9904 and we will be happy to help you get started today! You first session is Free.
