Wondering How To Find A Good Personal Trainer?
How to find a good personal trainer is a difficult, yet astonishingly easy question for me to answer, despite my bias. As a longtime personal trainer in Austin, as well as a gym owner for over a decade, I’m certainly biased when it comes to personal trainers. For example, I have no patience for the run of the mill stereotype of the job, as that person isn’t really doing much in the way of helping a client, other than being a cheerleader. The stereotypical personal trainer isn’t someone who has a lot of knowledge or understanding of anatomy, physiology, medical conditions, etc, etc. Therefore, over 20 years ago, I made a point of breaking from that mold and never settling for mediocrity. I hear people tell me they’re happy to have found me quite a lot because they’ve had bad experiences, such as getting injured by a big box gym trainer in the past. They tell me it is very hard to find someone not only intelligent, but qualified.
While I won’t go on to say that most personal trainers are dumb, I will say that a great many are by no means qualified, despite their various certifications. Certifications are mostly health and fitness generalizations, that are often times factually incorrect for a lot of people as they are usually based upon the law of averages. They cost a few hundred dollars and are quite easy to obtain. This once again, brings us to the question of how to find a good personal trainer? Do you look in the want ads? Go to a gym and ask for a trainer? Ask a friend of your girlfriend’s cousin to train you because he or she has a good physique? Of course not. None of the above are good places to start. The best way thing to do if you’re wanting to know how to find a good personal trainer, is to get on your favorite search engine and look for one in your area. You should type in the name of your city, town, etc, after you search for the service you’re looking for, which in this case, would be Personal Trainer Austin. You do this simply because you’ll have a greater list from which to vet your prospective trainer from. This holds true, by the way, for any service you’re looking for. Landscapers, doctors, you name it.
Forget The Big Box Chain Gyms. Go Small Or Go Home!
So, you’ve got a list of some independent personal trainers in front of you that have appealing websites, for whatever reason. The first thing you want to ascertain isn’t what silly certification they hold, but rather how long they’ve been working as a personal trainer in the field. You ideally will want someone with a minimum of 5 years of experience, and the more, the better. The next thing you want to see, hopefully on their website, isn’t how they can motivate you, because that’s ridiculous. You’re the one who needs to be motivated from within in order to meet your fitness goals, and if you’re not, no expensive cheerleader is going to change that. What you want to see is some kind of representation of their knowledge and understanding of how the human body works. Not how good they look in skimpy clothing, but what’s between their ears.
Interview Time!
Now, you’ve got it narrowed down to a couple, let’s say. The next step in your quest for a good trainer is to schedule a consultation with them. This should be free of charge, be void of sales pitches, packages, and posturing. You’ll want the prospective trainer to tell you in their own words, just what they see with your posture, their experience working with someone with whatever medical history you have, and how they would help you achieve your goals. It’s really that simple. If you get the feeling that they are simply reiterating whatever they read in a sales manual, thank them for their time and leave. If you feel this person has a good knowledge base, coupled with a good personality that will jive with yours, give it shot! You should not have to prepay 10 sessions, or anything like that. Sign up for 1 and see how it goes.
How to find a good personal trainer isn’t that hard, nor is it overly easy. It requires a little luck, and a lot of research. Stick with your common sense, and go with your gut instincts. Remember, you can always quit and try another if it isn’t a good fit, for any reason. This is why you don’t want to prepay a bunch of sessions unless you’re sure you’ve found whom you’re looking for.
Andy is a top notch trainer for fitness novices to seasoned body builders. He has a breadth of knowledge matched only by very few in the fitness industry today.
Andy
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