What To Ask A Trainer 2
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In my last very brief post I quickly gave you a run down of the top questions you should consider asking a personal trainer before hiring them, as I detailed in this months Men’s Health magazine.
In this post I am going to answer these questions for myself to give you an idea of the answers you are looking for.
Here goes:
Do I actually need a personal trainer?
Whilst most people would benefit from having a trainer and someone to hold them accountable, it’s important to remember that all trainers have their strengths. You are best to focus on hiring a trainer that has experience in and can help you with your specific goal. For example, I specialise in coaching people towards good nutrition and lifestyle habits, corrective exercise and functional movement specifically for sports especially golf. I would not be the trainer to go to if you wanted to increase your power-lifting ability as an example! I could give it a good go, but I wouldn’t take your money from you to help you with it. Make sure your trainer is not a “jack of all trades” and a master of none. You will more than likely just get mediocre results.
What qualifications do you have?
There are many, many qualifications out there nowadays for Personal Trainers. Some hard to come by, some you can get just by logging in to the Internet (not recommended!) and a real range in quality in the training. You are looking for a trainer who has qualified either over a prolonged period of training, or a real intensive study programme. In my opinion CHEK Practitioners are the most qualified trainers in the world – when it comes to corrective and holistic exercise, nutrition and lifestyle. This is where I have taken the vast majority of my certifications. If you are looking for another type of trainer, make sure they have adequate qualifications in the area you want to improve in, but also have experience too! Qualifications are useless unless they are used regularly and improved upon.
Are you going to do an assessment?
An assessment is a crucial part of any trainers tool-kit. “If you’re not assessing, you’re guessing.” Unfortunately many trainers will come in to see a trainer having never even spoken to them before and then give them a “work-out” – working all of the energy OUT of their body, leaving them with none – that is not necessarily specific for them, but also potentially dangerous because of this. My own assessment includes an overview of a clients static and dynamic posture, muscle length-tension, movement analysis, nutritional analysis and energy system analysis, just to name a few. By the end of the assessment period I feel like I know a lot more about my clients than they probably do, and obviously this equips me with the knowledge to design a nutrition, exercise and lifestyle programme that is right for them, and not just anyone!
Can you tell me about nutrition and psychology?
In my opinion, nutrition and psychology are of huge importance to reaching goals and getting results. For many years I trained people just in the gym setting and gave them great workouts that were safe, functional, and specific to their needs – and for many years I was frustrated that I would not get the results that my client and I deserved, and sometimes they would be worse! Until I changed my coaching and learnt about proper nutrition and improving a person’s mindset regarding this and other aspects of their lives (including their training), I continued to get these results. Once I changed – BAM! – my results that I desired came thick and fast. Many clients lost more weight than ever before (doing less exercise!). My own back pain disappeared. People just generally felt fantastic for the first time in years! Nutrition and psychology should be included with every single programme, otherwise it could all just be a waste of money for you.
Are you insured?
Of course, insurance is a must. Despite all efforts to be safe in your training, anything could happen in this kind of environment. Make sure your trainer has public liability insurance, but also insurance for their equipment too, as many PLI’s don’t cover equipment and if an accident occurs due to equipment failure, you will not be covered.
I hope this blog helps you to choose a personal trainer now that you know the questions to ask.
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