How to choose a good Personal Trainer

It can be a minefield wondering what to look for in a good Personal Trainer. There are trainers who will just have you run around for an hour; there are also those that may take on holistic approach to health and fitness. Listed are a 5 tips and warning signs to get you started.

• Qualifications and Training. Look for someone that is qualified. All Personal trainers should be registered with a governing body. They should also have public liability and professional indemnity insurance. A registered trainer has to update their qualifications every 2 years with the latest education and fitness news.
• Personal Relationship. You need to be able to trust them. Do they sound like the type of person you will be comfortable talking about your health and fitness goals with?
• Questions to ask. How long have you been working as a trainer? Are you qualified? What sort of clients do you train? What sort of results have you had? Do you have any testimonials? What sort of bad points do you have? How long is a session? How much is it and how do I pay? What happens if I need to cancel my session?
• The first consultation. A good Trainer will ask you about your health and history, including illnesses, and injuries, family history and diet and nutrition issues. They will establish what your health and fitness goals are and put together a plan that involves activities that you will enjoy doing. If you are over 40 and haven’t exercised for a long time, overweight or have a chronic medical condition, they should recommend that you get medical clearance before you get started with an exercise program. Some of the fitness tests your trainer may perform to assess your current fitness levels are measures for height, weight, body fat, girth measurements, flexibility, muscular strength, and cardio-respiratory function.
• Warnings. Steer clear of trainers who promise immediate and unrealistic results. Realistically you can expect to see some sort of improvement within 6-8 weeks.
If they don’t seem genuinely interested in you and your goals and make you feel overly self-conscious, it may be best to try someone else.
Some Trainers may advise you in areas that they are not qualified. For example- in depth Nutritional advise, where they should refer you to a dietician.
If they don’t look a picture of health and fitness or a good role model, then you know that they do not practice what they preach.
Some trainers may even insist on certain brands of dietary supplements such as Protein powders, amino acids, vitamins and other weight loss formulas. It is best to do your own research on them and only buy if you are truly interested.
If they promote useless or dangerous weight loss or exercise techniques like vibrating belts, fat blasting pills, electric shock devises saunas or wraps (which will only make you lose water for a time and not fat)
If they try to get you to commit to a long term package before you have even had your first session then you have no way to get out of it if you have paid your hard earned $$ or even had a chance to see if you are compatible.