With the influx of training gyms nowadays, we get with the trend of getting personal trainers. These prove to have good benefits for us, plenty if I may say. But when do we say that our personal trainers are not worth all the money? I’ve compiled some advice to help you gauge them.
More interested in their own reflection than yours
A good Personal Trainer Toronto uses mirrors a lot – but not vainly. Rather than looking at their own reflection, they should be using the mirror to check your exercise form from every possible angle. This will help them provide cues to correct your exercise form, which always slips during a workout as fatigue sets in.
They put you on the treadmill during a session
If this ever happens, fire his ass.
No doubt someone reading this will bleat about the usefulness of cardio or the concept of interval training on a treadmill. Yes, there are exceptional cases – but 99% of the time if you see a trainer standing next to a client who’s jogging on a treadmill while paying for the time, then the client is being ripped off.
The average trainer has less than two hours a week with his client, so his focus should always be on quality work and making every single minute count.
No record keeping
You’re working with a trainer to help you make progress that you wouldn’t make working alone. It’s an investment, and like any investment, you need to see a quantifiable return. This is why you need step-by-step records of how you’re doing.
No plan of attack
If your trainer comes into the gym and wings it, then find a new one pronto. Whilst workouts can often change on the fly, there’s zero excuse for your trainer not having prepared your entire session in advance. He or she should know exercises, weights, rest intervals, and even the exercise tempo. All must be pointing in one direction: towards your ultimate goals.
Fixates on the goal
All good personal trainers should be goal driven. If there’s no endgame then you’re just arbitrarily hoping for a result. However, you don’t want a trainer who is solely outcome driven. If you come to me in order to lose 20lbs and all I care about is the outcome then I starve you half to death and in no time at all that weight will be lost. Bank transfer will do nicely, thanks very much.
A good trainer will take a different approach. He will always work with you on achieving your outcome, but more than that he will work with you on fixing your behaviours so that whatever happens to the specific goal, you will come away with an education, better habits, and the understanding that great health and fitness is a lifelong pursuit rather than something that you do for a 12-week personal training plan.
