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by Matt Weik
Finding a personal trainer is like finding a new associate at work. Some candidates will be helpful, others, not so much. Some will come with lots of experience, while some might have just got their certification. It’s important for you to ask as many questions as you feel necessary in order to feel comfortable shelling out the money to work with a particular personal trainer. I’ve laid out this article to show you what questions you should ask a personal trainer before hiring them.
1. Why did you get into personal training?
Each personal trainer seems to have his or her own story and background. It’s not uncommon to find the personal trainer you are interviewing to have been in your shoes years ago. In fact, many of them find their calling when they themselves are told they need to lose weight or they were battling a health issue and needed to get healthier to improve their overall quality of life. It’s important to ask each personal trainer this question to see if there’s an immediate connection. It’s tough to relate to someone who says they’ve always had perfect genetics and don’t have to work very hard to achieve their Adonis physique.
2. How long have you been a personal trainer and training clients?
Another great question to ask the personal trainer you’re looking to hire is how long they have actually been a personal trainer and working with clients. Is this their first week? Have they been in the industry for over a decade? This is good information to know just so you know what to expect going into it. If a personal trainer has longevity in the industry, it shows they must be good at what they do. While this is just one of the questions to ask, don’t feel as if it’s a deal breaker if they are a newer personal trainer in the industry. Everyone has to start somewhere and while their experience might not be great, they could be a wealth of knowledge and extremely helping in getting you the results you’re looking for.
3. How many current clients do you work with regularly?
Does this personal trainer have a booked schedule that they are constantly with a client or is their schedule pretty open because they only have maybe one or two clients? I think it should go without saying that if a personal trainer only has a couple clients, a red flag should go up. Why does this personal trainer only have a couple of clients? But, ask them for the reasoning if they do indeed only have a couple clients. It might be because they are part-time and do other jobs within the industry. Or maybe their role with the gym or fitness center is as a director where they aren’t able to take on many clients because their time on the floor is limited. So, don’t completely shut down a personal trainer if they have minimal clients before you find out the answer why.
4. Do you specialize in anything that would help me reach my goals faster?
Not every personal trainer “specializes” in something. You have trainers that are well-rounded but aren’t considered a guru at one particular skill set. However, it is common to find a personal trainer who specializes in weight loss. Or a personal trainer who specializes in sport-specific training. Much of this information will come from their certifications which we will touch on shortly. Your best bet when looking for results is finding a personal trainer who specializes in what you want to accomplish. But, if you can’t find that individual, you can still get good results with other trainers in your gym or fitness center.
5. Are you certified, and if so, through who?
I don’t care who the individual is or what they look like. If the person you are talking to does not have his or her certification, they are not a personal trainer. I’ve seen way too many people who are in shape at the gym end up getting a job where they are a member simply because the gym believes they can sell a lot of personal training packages because of how they look. Or that the gym believes people will see what he or she looks like and members will immediately want to pay to look like them. Another thing I see is where fitness and bodybuilding competitors all of a sudden become personal trainers after placing well at shows. Most of them are working with new clients without even being certified. It’s not good business practices, but we can’t assume everyone plays by the rules. Therefore, ask the question and make sure they are certified through a nationally recognized certification group, NASM, ACE, ACSM, ISSA, NSCA, etc.