FAQ

What is a Personal Trainer and the Benefits?/ How to Choose a Personal Trainer and Fitness Facility?

How do I choose the right Personal Trainer and Facility?

Facility

  1. Is it clean? Hygiene and air ventilation are very important for your health. Temperature control - air conditioning for the hot summer days, and heating for those cold winter months.
  2. Is it well-equipped for personal training? Basic cardio equipment is treadmill, bike, rowing machine. Basic strength equipment is dumbbells (1 to 50 pounds), barbells, benches, medicine ball, elastic bands. Other fitness equipment includes Swiss Ball, Bosu, and steps.
  3. Overcrowding? This means whether you have access to space and fitness equipment whenever you need it.
  4. Points 2 & 3 together can mean whether your training sessions will be seriously compromised or not.
  5. Roomy changing rooms? Shower Facilities?
  6. Any parking issues?
  7. Entertainment? Like TV’s, music. Both will make your workouts more interesting.
  8. Friendly and sensible members? Helpful and responsive staff?
  9. Try not to get locked into a contract for more than one year.
  10. Try it out.

Personal Trainer

  1. Passion – is he/she in it for the money or for the love of the work?
  2. Experience – would you wish to be a human ‘guinea pig’? Is the work required above the experience of the trainer?
  3. Knowledgeable – is he/she familiar with, participated or athletically-disciplined in many sports or physical activities?
  4. Technique – does he/she promptly correct you when you’re doing it wrong? Doing it wrong = possible injury = no results.
  5. Creativity – 3-dimensional training for a 3-dimensional world. Workouts should be an enjoyable experience. You can always run 20 minutes on the treadmill without help of a trainer.
  6. Receptive and sensitive – does he/she care about your safety and health risks?
  7. Versatile – is he/she able work with you, at any fitness level?
  8. Results-driven - a good trainer may care more about getting results than you do.
  9. Fitness level – is he/she fit? Practice what you preach.
  10. Punctual.

When you look for a professional fitness trainer, you are investing in your health. Should you be uncertain about the ability of the personal trainer, I would strongly advise you to short-list up to 3 trainers and tell them that you wish to train for one session at their facility. With this comparison, in one session he/she will be able to see that personal trainers come in different levels and are not equal. Finding a good trainer means whether you will achieve your desired results or not.