Warning do not hire a personal trainer until you read this
When shopping for a service we tend to have pre-qualified notions of what that service has to offer and this pre-qualification leaves us with a set of criteria by which we will make our purchase choice.
For example if we are looking for an estate agent we tend to look for someone local and well known that doesn’t take too high a percentage of sale, but what if an estate agent were to guarantee a sale within 6 months? You would go with them right?
When choosing a personal trainer it is logical to search based on price and location due to the absence of any other criteria to search by. These 10 tips will help you make an informed decision and get the best results for your money.
Shop for value not price – Personal training tends to range from £25-£50 per session. Our first instinct here is to see the lower price and see that you can get twice the amount of training for £25 and therefore get much quicker results.Taking the nation average of £35 and say you train with your personal trainer twice a week for 1 year in order to achieve 14lb of fat loss which is your ultimate goal. Your total spend will be £3500 with two weeks holiday.
Now take a client from my personal training days as an example, he wanted to lose 14lb before a holiday while maintaining muscle. We met for 1 hour and mapped out a plan of action that would result in the achievement of his goal. We met 6 more times. 14lb of fat lost, 1 inch of muscle gained on the chest, total time taken 20 days. Total cost to reach goal £600 Shopping based on price would have costed him £2,800.
Know what you’re willing to trade – This one is vital, not just for your results but your sanity and quality of life. Six packs are great but they come with a trade off. If your trainer doesn’t help you create definition around what is important to you you’ll need to do it for yourself. Life is first and foremost about connection, if long chats with your partner over red wine or Monday night curry club are part of what makes your life rich you need to say that. You also need to acknowledge that progress will be slower, that’s cool though, this shouldn’t be about sprinting but about creating habits in a way that you enjoy.
What system are you looking for: Most personal trainers are instruction led. Thats completely understandable, instructions create results. Follow this food plan, do this exercise- get this result. That is the superficial ideal but the problem is that it seldom survives life changes like children, house moves, job changes etc. Movement, food choices, sleep choices – all habits – need to be intuitive if they aren’t they cannot survive stress. Our lives are simply too busy and too varied to follow instructions for ever. Personal training works best when it is aimed at helping you to learn what works for you not when it becomes telling you want works for you.
Ask for a guarantee- Personal training and the way the body reacts to specific exercise and nutrition is a science. A personal trainer should feel comfortable enough to offer you a 100% money back guarantee. Keep in mind that a guarantee is beneficial to both parties. A personal trainer who signs a guarantee is saying:‘I am so confident in my knowledge and ability to help you that if you do everything I say and you don’t get results I will give you your money back and keep training you until you do get results’.You are in turn signing the guarantee saying:‘I will do absolutely everything that you have asked of me’.This is a fantastic way to declare your intensions to yourself and your trainer. Making this kind of commitment to yourself shows both parties are serious about creating the result.
Note: Medical issues can cause results to be dramatically slowed so it is worth asking your doctor for a full set of blood test before seeking the help of a personal trainer only to find that medical issues severely hampered your progress.
Ask for a free initial consultation- most personal trainers will happily give you an hour of their time to discuss your goals and expectations. If the average personal trainer earns £10,000 a year they may be about to increase their annual income by 10-20% so a free hour should not be too much to ask. You will be taking instructions from this person on sleep, exercise, food, social life; the instructions this person gives you are going to turn your life upside down.
Ask yourself this; can you take instruction from this person? Do they inspire confidence? Do I trust this person?Do my first impressions tell me that I will be happy to spend two hours a week (or more) in the company of this person for the foreseeable future? We are far more likely to do things if we like and trust the person telling us to do them.Aside from this, a consultation is a chance to get a look at what your map will look like…
Ask for testimonials- There is no better way to feel confident in someone’s services than to have those services recommended to you. If you are not visiting a trainer bases on a recommendation from a friend or colleague then a quick internet search is a must.With recommendation websites all over the place an experienced personal trainer will have recommendations and reviews that are impossible to fake.Try: Google Maps, LinkedIn, Facebook, to name a few.
Ask to see their contract- This is one to benefit both of you. Holidays, illness, traffic, missed sessions, late arrivals, injury, pain, work commitments, loved ones. All of these things can throw up complications. When what is expected of you and what you will get in return is outlined from the start your relationship will go a whole lot smoother.Remember you pay your trainers wages so if you don’t pay on time and in full your trainer does not get paid, this is not a great way to build a relationship with anyone.You will often encounter a 24 hour cancellation system but you must outline the parameters of this and agree beforehand every possible outcome and the resulting policy.Any discontent from either party arising during your training can result in both of you feeling uncomfortable or embarrassed.
Ask what your markers will be and how often they will be tested– On route to your beautiful predetermined destination it is reassuring to know you are heading in the right direction.Without markers along the way and regular checks you could be heading off course for weeks before you notice at which point you have to turn back and try a different route.What you test is not of huge importance as long as it can tell you accurately that you are heading in the right direction. If your goal is fat loss then regular measurements, weight and body fat testing will help keep you on track.Whatever your goal measurements must be set. Finding out before you get started how your trainer intends to chart your progress will help you keep moving in the right direction and give your trainer nowhere to hide.
Know you are ready- Reducing alcohol intake, give up smoking, no fast food, more sleep, a commitment to exercise, tracking your food and over hauling your diet. Don’t get me wrong when done correctly finding a personal trainer is extraordinary you will begin to feel superhuman if you follow all of the instruction you are given. You will feel stronger, fitter, more confident, smarter, more motivated in life, you will get more done, you will feel more attractive and energise all day. You will become the best possible version of yourself. There is no better investment you can make in yourself.But if you are not ready, really ready then please don’t bother wasting your time and money.
Why write this?
I consider myself a coach these days, when I asked a group of 100 people do you a, struggle knowing what to do or b, struggle consistently doing it over 70% answer b. The profession of personal training is all about the a group, I love helping the b group. If you're on of them and you would like some help then get in touch for a chat.
https://www.edley.net/contact/
Thank you for reading
Ed Ley
Ps. Here is my promise, I will never let you buy something that I don’t believe will get you the result you desire.
