Personal Trainer Benefits Exposed

Personal Trainer – Benefits Exposed

Many people today are finally realizing how much benefit they can get from a professionally trained personal trainer.

I will also be bold and say that if our medical system covered a dozen personal training sessions per year, our health care costs would be much, much lower! The benefits of having someone who is properly trained to provide you with a guideline for exercises/nutrition that meet your specific needs is so incredible that it trumps pretty much any other preventative medicine!

The truth of the matter though is that there are many personal trainers out there who aren’t the best at their job, and you my have experienced that finding a good personal trainer can be difficult. This article will expose the benefits that you will gain from hiring a good personal trainer, but let’s first look at how you find a quality personal trainer.

Finding a Quality Personal Trainer

You may have heard some pretty bad stories of your friends who have hired personal trainers and have been pushed too hard only and been injured as a result. As a wellness coach and personal trainer, I myself see this as one of the biggest problems in our industry.

Bad trainers causing injury to their clients most often happens in franchise gyms which have their own personal trainers – often inexperienced and lacking the right certification I would advise serious caution with hiring one of these trainers. Sure there are always exceptions to the rule but for the most part personal trainers who are working under franchise gyms aren’t going to be top-notch. They usually will be paid somewhere near minimum wage and the gyms insurance company will cover them in case of injuries to their clients (this is quite different to a private personal trainer who’s insurance company will rapidly increase their premiums if they get any complaints).

In contrast to this, it is a good idea to really focus on finding a personal trainer who not only has certification but has had a university degree in human kinetics/kinesiology. This education is invaluable as it takes the knowledge of a trainer to a completely different level. A trainer with this kind of degree will also be completely knowledgeable about all the muscles and what movements/exercises will strengthen these muscles.

Here are some points to look for in a personal trainer:

• Recent personal trainer certification or renewal of their certification
• Background in human kinetics/kinesiology
• Have trained themselves for at least 5 years
• Easy to contact in case you need to change your appointment (most trainers will require 24hrs notice so keep this in mind)
• Have an extensive background in different types of exercises (adding variety to your exercises is key in gaining the best results)
• Aware of your limits and always asking for your feedback (sure you want to push your limits but you also want to make sure you don’t get injured as that will hold you back even further)
• Spends a good amount of time with warm up exercises and flexibility training (again to prevent injury and gain maximal results)

Benefits of a Personal Trainer

Here is most people’s pitfall when considering to hire a personal trainer…are you listening?

You probably think you know it all right? You’ve read the last 10 issues of men’s health/women’s health and you think you now know what exercises to do and how much to push yourself for the best results.

WRONG!

Unfortunately, the articles you read in most health magazines are quoting short-term studies which are heavily biased to supplement companies in order to suck you into buying their products. If the advertisers make money from their ads in the magazines that means they will be spending more with that health magazine and cycle is very biased (excuse me for the self promotion, but this reason is key to why I co-wrote Secrets of the Ripped Man – read more about my book here – www.secretsoftherippedman.com )

If you really want to educate yourself about health sciences, nutrition, exercise physiology and the biochemistry involved with it all then your best step is to go to university/college for this or on the other hand hire a trainer who has already done this for you right?

The real truth is that if it were a simple formula then more people would be suiting a 6-pack, but to get to this level and putting it all together takes a lot of studying and practical experience. That is after-all why Olympic athletes have highly educated and experienced trainers too!

When I was starting out and hired my first personal trainer I was completely floored at how much benefit I gained from my workouts. Here are some of the benefits:

Awareness of proper form when doing an exercise – even when you have a mirror in front of you, chances are you aren’t completely aware of your form, a personal trainer will shine a light on this matter. In the long run having proper form means less injury and better results guaranteed.

Incredible motivation factor – there are days when you are just going to feel bored or unmotivated to do your workout. Having a personal trainer will spike your energy and motivation so much that all your stresses and uncertainties in a gym will fade away. This is great way to boost your self confidence!

Take you to new levels – sure you think you are pushing yourself pretty hard, but you also feel like you’re not getting the results you should be getting. A good personal trainer will push you to new levels and get you out of any plateau.

Add variety to your workouts – since good personal trainers are on top of the latest techniques and exercises to improve your performance in sports and strengthen your muscles safely, they will have a lot of different suggestions on how to add variety and keep evolving your workouts and keep them interesting.

Track your success – personal trainers will track the different workouts that you are doing and how many reps and what weights you are using so every few months they can provide you with a measurement of your gains.

Costs of a Personal Trainer

Now that you’ve read up to this point you will have noticed that I’ve focused on quality trainers, and hiring a quality trainer will mean somewhere in the $60-90/hr range. This may sound like a lot, but review all the benefits above and think about how much impact this will have on your life.

Some of you may have spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars on diet pills and gimmicky muscle building supplements, but wouldn’t your money be better spent on a personal trainer who can help you attain your goals naturally?

Have you tried working out with a trainer? What have your experiences been like?