Deciding to make the investment of employing a coach for your health and fitness can be a tough one and often one where we are unsure about what we’re actually looking for. Unfortunately, this results in someone going with the person who just sounds the fanciest or the cheapest or worse not go with anyone at all and continue to fall short with their goals. So today were going to run through what to look for when shopping for a personal trainer!
First, I think it’s important you understand what you’re trying to achieve. What do I want to do and by when? Next up is assess why that hasn’t happened yet this is a critical part because it helps you identify the problem you’re wanting your new coach to help fix. Be as clear and specific as possible. Now you’re ready to go!
Now here’s a little industry secret, most of the benefit you get from a personal trainer doesn’t actually have anything to do with the training sessions you do together. Most of the benefit they provide is actually in reorganization of your lifestyle and accountability to your new routine day in day out and the education you receive around what it takes to achieve your goal. Now hear me out a couple of workouts isn’t going to get you to your goal or keep your there. Long term results require long term change, you need a plan and one your happy to stick with for more than a few months.
Don’t get me wrong those sessions with your trainer are extremely beneficial but they are not the priority think about it like this Emotions, Education, Eating & Exercise in that order this is the priority when selecting a coach.
It doesn’t matter how much you’re exercising or how well you’re eating if it puts you in a bad place emotionally to do that how are you ever meant to keep it up? or if you’re eating and exercising the wrong way to achieve your goals, you could be going as hard as you can in the wrong direction. Or if you have a coach who just doesn’t understand your situation and you dread turning up to those sessions each week it’s going to be very hard to keep this lifestyle change up long term and therefore the result too.
It becomes pretty clear that picking a coach based off just eating and exercise can be a bit short sighted and often fails. My advice would be to ask yourself can this person teach me how to achieve my goal and keep it long term? Do I want to work with this person long term? Has this person worked to understand my struggles and barriers to change? And have they shown me a process and structure which I can follow to achieve my goal? If they fulfill all of these conditions then I would very seriously consider them.
Keep in mind this is when you are going to be the most fearful and understandably so because it’s time to make the jump, and hopefully the coach you have selected has asked you to make a commitment as they are about to make a commitment to you as well. Let me tell you if you have picked the right person this is the hardest part because you’re working through all your fears and the fear of the unknown and the fear of commitment this is normal. Take a chance and trust your decision-making process and back yourself to get what you want!
