What seems impossible today will one day become your warm-up - Anonymous
Many people view personal training as simply hiring a helper to make sure you are hitting the gym regularly and building a toned body. But did you know that fitness training is so much more than that?
A personal trainer’s job is to make sure you get clear on your goal-setting, build a plan to get there and follow through. All the while, they are meant to help keep you motivated and accountable while building up your mental health and self-esteem.
Personal trainers are a great asset to have in your life to help you become a better you!
How exactly can you expect hiring a personal trainer to help you? Find out below.
1. Get Clarity On Your Goals & Plans
A personal trainer’s job is to give you one-on-one instruction for your specific goals. In order to do that, they need to know what your goals are, and in order for you to convey that information, you first need to be very clear on your goals.
Part of the personal trainer’s job is to ask questions and give advice to get you thinking about the heart of your personal fitness journey.
- Why do you want to have a fitness routine?
- What SMART goal(s) do you have for your fitness journey?
- How can you reach those goals?
The trainer will help you identify what’s important to you, understand your own reasoning and motivations, and come up with an actionable plan to start moving toward achieving your goals.
Since they are experts in exercise, mental health, physical health, exercise, and personal development, they know a multitude of strategies to help you get started.
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2. Work With an Injury or Condition
One thing that holds a lot of people back from fitness is dealing with an injury or condition that makes it difficult to work out based on conventional advice.
A gym trainer, internet advice, pre-made workout plan, or friend might have a hard time being able to help you come up with a routine that is suitable for your unique needs.
This is where a personal trainer can shine!
Finding the right trainer with experience and education about your specific needs can be life-changing.
Just look at Nick Chisholm, a man who suffered a rugby injury and many resulting strokes that left him with “locked-in syndrome.” Despite not being able to walk, speak, or move his body with the same ease that he used to, with the help of his trainers, he was able to take part in two body-building competitions.
No matter what injury or condition you have, there is a trainer who can help you set realistic goals and move towards them.
3. Train for a Specific Event
Having a trainer doesn’t have to be a long-term commitment.
Say you have a beach vacation coming up, or you want to look good for your wedding, or you want to participate in a triathlon, or maybe you just want to learn enough to continue working out on your own.
A personal trainer can get you prepared for these goals.
With a realistic timeline (even the best trainer in the world can’t get you ready to compete in a Spartan Race in a week), your trainer can get you set for your event and send you on your way.
4. Keep Track of Progress
It’s a lot of work to track all your reps and weights and times and measurements and progress and calories and… and… and…
There is so much data to consider when you’re working with a biological machine, and it’s even harder to interpret it and decide what to do next!
Luckily, your personal trainer is experienced in knowing
- What data to track
- How to track it
- How to interpret it
- How to make changes to get your stats to change the way you want
Having this plethora of data is a great way to see how far you’ve come and predict the trajectory of where you’ll be in the future, giving you fantastic motivation and a sense of achievement!
5. Advance to the Next Level
Two things that can be very difficult when you’re working out on your own:
- Knowing what level of difficulty to be working out at
- How to overcome plateauing
Pleateauing is when you reach a certain level of fitness, weight loss/gain, or another metric, and you can’t seem to improve anymore.
A personal trainer will be able to predict when you might plateau (due to their extensive knowledge of the human body and exercise science) and will have a plan in place to boost you up to the next notch after that.
They will be able to prescribe a level of difficulty regarding which exercises you should do, how often to do them, how many reps and sets you should do, how much weight you should use, and what you need to eat to sustain your body as well as how to recover.
For a layperson, this is a lot to figure out! For a personal trainer with lots of education and experience, it’s a fun puzzle to solve.
6. Accountability and Motivation Buddy
Embarking on any difficult and long journey is bound to have you finding times when you just want to give up.
Your personal trainer’s job is to make sure you show up to your sessions and put in the work. They help you see your progress and give you pep talks and tough love to help you overcome your mental and physical blocks.
The trainer will teach you how to perform all kinds of exercises and use gym machines, and they'll be there with you for routine sessions and can spot you when you do a difficult workout. No matter your excuse, your personal trainer is there to mitigate it and get your butt in gear!
One thing’s for sure; your trainer won’t let you give up easily!
7. Learn About Nutrition
Nutrition is an enormous part of overall health and fitness, and it’s also a very intricate subject.
Don’t underestimate the benefits of a balanced diet while training! Your personal trainer can help you understand what nutritional needs you have and how to meet them. They can build meal plans and shopping lists with you and design a meal program to help you lose or gain weight and/or muscle.
It’s important to have professional help when you start a specific fitness diet to ensure you get all the nutrients you need to stay healthy!
8. Understand Your Body
Exercise alone helps you understand the inner workings of your body. With a trainer, you will learn much more in a shorter time period.
You’ll gain more intuition about how to deal with soreness, stiffness, and tightness, and avoid or heal injuries.
You’ll understand how things like food, hormones, sleep, stress, and more affect your physical and mental performances.
Overall, you’ll come to appreciate what your body already does and what it leans to do when you dedicate time to fitness.
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9. Improve Mental Health
Exercise will always be a no-brainer way to improve your mental health.
The endorphins, better sleep, reduced body pain, better breathing ability, and increased self-esteem and confidence obviously help you to feel better!
But, personal trainers add another layer to your “gym therapy.”
Although the trainer/trainee relationship is a business deal, your trainer needs to care about your mental well-being just as much as your physical. They can help you talk out some of your issues, exert excess stress and anger into your exercises, and listen to you when you feel like you can’t talk to anyone else.
They aren’t trained counselors or therapists, so they can’t give you medical mental health advice, but they do know a thing or two about helping people overcome hardships.
10. Acquire a System to Make Changes Throughout Your Life
The process of going through personal training can give you a method for making various changes in your life on your own.
What worked and what didn’t in your personal training experience? What did you like, what didn’t you like? How do you get motivated? How do you stay disciplined and persist even when you really don’t feel like doing the work?
Knowing what makes you tick and how to push yourself to accomplish hard things is an incredibly fantastic gift. You can use these methods to get yourself to achieve any other goals you have for the rest of your life.
Want to learn a language? Graduate medical school? Become an expert in ancient Chinese culture?
Follow the same formula that got you to dedicate your time to physical fitness. And, you have the added bonus of being able to work out effectively to boost your endorphins and let out stress when your other life goals cause frustration!
Improve Your Life with a Personal Trainer
So, is personal training worth it?
Diet and exercise are pursuits millions of people embark on on their own each year. Some people can make it work solo, but many of us will want or require a personal trainer at some point or another.
It can be completely worth the effort and cost to have a professional trainer elevate you to new heights that you can only dream about alone.
If you’re feeling stuck or unmotivated, try having a personal trainer on your team!
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