Isn't personal training only for professional athletes and models? No, whether you are someone just starting out on their fitness journey, figuring out how to exercise safely with a chronic condition or an injury or getting back to exercise after having a baby, the benefits of personal training are unquestionable.
While personal training may seem intimidating and expensive at first glance, in reality that’s not the case. Depending on your budget, you may see your personal trainer twice per week or once a month. A personal trainer will develop a personalised workout routine and overall strategy that will help you achieve your goals faster and more effectively no matter how often you see them.
Consider these 10 benefits of hiring a personal trainer and why it could be one of the best investments you'll make in your overall health and well-being.:
1. Transformational Results
Many people who embark on a fitness journey want to lose fat, build muscle, or both. However, not many know how to go about doing that. Eat this, not that. Cardio or strength training? Your personal trainer will remove the guesswork for you so you can put all your energy toward accomplishing your goals. Great trainers also provide information, tools and resources on your nutrition and lifestyle habits to really maximize your results.
That is something you can take with you and incorporate in your journey to healthy, active living in the long term. A personal trainer will teach you everything you need to know about living a healthy lifestyle.
2. Bespoke Training Plan
Every body is different (unique body mechanics, experience, goals, fitness level, likes and dislikes), which is why if two people do the same programme, they will likely get different results.
I always conduct a thorough consultation with each new Personal Training client and use my expertise to create a tailored plan that is specific to their needs and goals. Increasing the effectiveness of their programme, reducing risk of injury and maximising their results!
Plus, there are always going to be some days when the last thing you feel like doing is a hard workout, and so having a Personal Trainer means that your exercise plan for that day can be adapted to both accommodate your mood while still making the session helpful. Which leads me to...
3. Personal Trainers Hold You Accountable
How many times have you gone to bed and said to yourself, ‘Tomorrow I’m going to wake up, get to the gym and do an hour workout in before work’, and then you wake up and decide to sleep for another hour instead of exercising?
The “Bed too comfy...I’ll go tomorrow” excuse will be a thing of the past because an appointment with a personal trainer ensures that won’t happen. It’s a lot harder to skip working out when you know someone is expecting you to arrive. Which is a much better push to work out than a blaring alarm.
4. Maximize your Time and Effort
Personal trainers are ideal for individuals who can only commit a limited amount of time to the gym per week. Nothing out of the ordinary, just the usual full-time job, family and social commitments. Working with a personal trainer will mean your workouts are highly effective, maximising your time and efforts.
5. Recovering from (and Preventing) Injuries
Safe and suitable programming is one of the top benefits of personal training and is particularly important if you have any contraindications to exercise, injuries, are pre/post natal or post menopausal. A lot of my Pilates clients attend due to conditions such as disc herniations or for rehab post spinal or knee surgery.
Exercise is so beneficial for preventing or managing many common chronic conditions such as osteoporosis and heart disease. However, exercising with a medical condition requires additional precautions. A knowledgeable personal trainer with experience training clients with chronic conditions can design a programme that ensures your safety and provides a positive exercise experience.
6. Achieve Perfect Form
Personal trainers are especially skilled in teaching others how to exercise. Teaching their clients perfect form and correcting them as they go through the exercises, thereby reducing the risk of injuries and improving results. Nothing kills a dream bod like 10 weeks of prescribed bed rest!
But seriously, if you are new to a form of exercise, is worth taking the time to learn it's proper technique. Serious injuries can impact your health and fitness for a long time. Learning exercises with correct form means you are engaging in effective exercise from your first session. Perhaps this is why studies have shown that there are better strength improvements with supervised training than without.
7. They Challenge You
Most of us work harder in the presence of others. I know I do. Having a personal trainer by your side will provide the encouragement, energy and motivation you need to keep pushing yourself while working out. Especially when it comes to doing those exercises you don't enjoy quite so much, but are best to achieve amazing results.
8. Fresh Ideas
Mat exercises, free weights, 45 minutes on the elliptical and done are you? It can be easy to fall into the same workout habits and eventually get bored with your workout routine. Or you may be perfectly satisfied with your current routine but you're wondering why you’re not seeing results from working out like others do. The dreaded plateau can kill your incentive to workout.
A personal trainer can bring much-needed variety with new exercises and a fresh perspective and new viewpoints to continuously challenge both your body and mind so you break through that plateau. You can use these learnings and inspiration even if you only see them once per month or a few times per year.
9. Set Achievable goals.
Nothing is more disheartening than failing to achieve a goal when you have put in so much effort. However, sometimes a failed goal is simply a self-fulfilled prophecy. If you set a goal to lose 10 pounds in a week, you are asking for disappointment. 10 pounds in a good month is more like it.
A personal trainer can help you establish realistic and healthy goals, set an appropriate timeframe in which they can be achieved, create a bespoke plan to accomplish them with your input, keep you on track and celebrate with you the day you reach them!
10. Establish lifelong exercise habits.
Believe it or not, exercise can be enjoyable. A savvy personal trainer can make exercise both effective and fun. But they also help their clients make their health and fitness a priority in their life. And simply working with a trainer who you like and respect can be enough to provide you with more gratification from your workouts.
