Over the years I have had my fair share of trainers and coache, so I thought I would sum up my top tips to finding the right trainer for you and save you some time.
YOUR INTENTION:
Knowing why you want a trainer and what you are wanting to achieve are KEY to helping you find the right trainer. I found people have trainers for different reasons, whether it’s purely accountability or specific goals it’s important to know your why.
Knowing what you are wanting to achieve is key too. You need to know what you want to achieve in order to find the right trainer that is going to support you in achieving your goals. For example, you probably would want to work with someone who specialises in body building when your goal is sports performance.
STALK THEM:
Find them on Instagram and Facebook. Are they posting about themselves, or the results they are helping their clients to achieve and valuable content that you can learn from. How do they interact with their followers? Check out their website, read the testimonials (if they have any). Watch them at the gym. How do they interact with others around them and the clients they train?
Some red flags to look for:
- Trainer who have their phone with them to ‘time’ clients
- Trainers who look around and not as if they are fully present
- Inappropriate exercises for the client they are training
- Untidy appearance
- Instagram and Facebook accounts that are all about them
- A lack of obvious programming and tracking (Do they have a plan and are tracking progress via a tablet, laptop or hard copy?)*
*Some trainers are very experienced and may not need to plan/track so also look at how long the trainer has been in the game for.
TRIAL A SESSION
Most trainers will give you the opportunity to meet with them face to face for either a discovery session and/or a complimentary session. This is a great opportunity to see whether the trainer is a good fit for you. It’s important to have good chemistry and feel comfortable with your trainer.
CHOOSE A TRAINER THAT SPECIALISES IN 1-2 AREAS.
It’s impossible to be great at everything. By choosing a trainer that is specialised in 1-2 areas helps you to decide if that trainer is the right fit for you and will help you to reach your goals.
For example, Thrive specialises in team training and strength training for women. We help women to become fitter, faster and stronger. We don’t specialise in weight loss (though its often a bi-product of what we do), sports specific training or body building. Knowing our focus means we can offer great results rather than trying to be everything for everyone. From a trainer’s perspective, it helps us to ensure that we are attracting the clients for our programmes so we can ensure they reach their goals.
A final note, your goals will change over time and because of this sometimes your trainers will need to change too. That’s ok. Personal Training is an investment so do your research and choose wisely where to invest your money to insure you get the best returns.
If you are wanting to find out whether Thrive is the right fit for you contact us and lets see if we are a good match.