Choosing The Right Personal Trainer
This year, many individuals will search out the assistance and guidance of a Personal Trainer to help and motivate them to lead a healthier lifestyle. A good Personal Trainer has a wealth of skills and attributes including coaching, motivation, skills instruction, guidance, adaptability, commitment and dedication. So once you have made the decision to search out a Personal Trainer, here are a few things you need to consider:
Certification and Experience: Because the training industry is unregulated, just about anyone can call themselves a trainer. Many certifications can be obtained from certifying bodies that are years behind on current research, and will provide you with a shiny certificate after you write a short test. What you want to look for are trainers that have one or more of the following: ASCM, NASM, ACE, ISSA or NFPT are all credible certifications. Many trainers are fly-by-night, students trying to make an extra buck, people filling time till they get a “real” job. There’s nothing wrong with working part time as a trainer but often it results in people with minimal hands-on experience. If possible, find someone who has experience working with various types of people.
Adaptability: Lots of trainers have plans that they hand out to everyone, regardless of who clients are, or what their needs are. A good trainer will consult you about your needs before you set foot in the gym. A good trainer can work with all kinds of people. A good trainer has knowledge about how to adapt a training program to special populations, and to work around injuries. A trainer shouldn’t take the place of a physiotherapist, but should have an awareness of common injuries, how they’re caused, and some modalities for treatment.
Psychological Awareness and Creativity: This is when the trainer has your number, mentally speaking, and makes good choices about what things to do to motivate and encourage you. Not all clients will require the same teaching approach, and a good trainer should have a lot of hats that he/she wears in order to adapt him/herself to your psychological needs. A trainer should be able to “think outside the box”. If you present your trainer with challenges, such as having to work around injuries or training for a particular activity, he/she should be able to solve them in productive, creative ways. They should also have a sense of fun about training.
Ability to Teach: First, this requires knowing good form for the exercises, which can sometimes be a problem with trainers. A good trainer will try to give clients a conceptual understanding of why and how the exercise works, rather than just telling them to do something. Understanding is crucial to mastery. They don’t need to know the complicated stuff, but it’s helpful to comprehend things like why we put our back into a particular position before we lift heavy things, for example.
Professionalism and Courtesy: This should be self-evident, but it’s not. The trainer should be presentable physically and personally, on time for sessions, and courteous and attentive while training. If your trainer answers his/her cell phone during your session, seek out a different trainer.
Feedback and Assessment: Trainers should give you regular feedback and “progress reports”. Feedback can range from moment-to-moment guidance on exercise performance, to postworkout “debriefings”, to periodic “state of the union addresses”. Assessment can include things like tape measurements, weigh-ins, bodyfat caliper measurements, taking 1RMs, etc. There is no universal standard for assessment; it will depend on your goals. Ask what kind of assessment protocol the studio and trainer will provide for you.
