Why it’s important to hire a personal trainer
New to fitness and don’t know where to start? Been going to the gym for ages without seeing results? Bored of your workouts and need a new challenge? Whatever your reasons for considering Personal Training, it has lots to offer. Even if you’re an experienced gym goer, working with a trained coach can be incredibly helpful.
To drive meaningful, long-lasting results
By tailoring a programme to suit your goals and individual requirements, your PT will be able to drive better, lasting results. If you’ve ever been in the gym by yourself, you’ll no doubt have caught yourself feeling unsure of how to structure your workout, how to perform an exercise, how many reps to do it for, what weight to use, what tempo to follow, how many sets to do… There are lots of things to think about! And many people don’t actually know what exercises they need to be doing to achieve their goals, which can make progress frustratingly slow. Working with a PT can eliminate this problem.
To improve your body composition
When you’re looking to hire a PT, make sure that you hire one who can help you to measure and track your body composition. This is especially important if your goal, like many of us, is to “tone up” – because this involves a change that cannot be measured by looking at weight alone. In fact, you might find that your weight stays the same, but due to a change in muscle mass and body fat, your body shape changes entirely. It’s not always easy to keep track of this progress, so hiring a coach who can help you to see and understand these changes is incredibly important.
They should be able to advise you confidently about both your training and your diet – it is by combining strategies to improve the two that you will make meaningful progress when it comes to your body composition.
To fully understand and learn correct technique
We cannot emphasise enough how crucial it is to get your form and technique correct when working out! Not only does it mean that you’re actually working the muscle that you want to work, it is also key for avoiding injury. Your Personal Trainer will maintain hawk-like attention on your form throughout every session and progress your exercises and weights when they know that you are ready and capable, not any sooner.
What’s more, you’ll always get a proper warm up, cool down and stretch when you work with a PT – something that, despite best intentions, often gets neglected when people train alone and is another factor that can lead to injuries.
To work through an injury
If you already have an injury, or are worried about an old injury recurring, your PT will take this into account when programming for you, ensuring that they strengthen weak areas and avoid any exercises that could niggle troublesome joints or muscles.
Proper goal-setting
All too often, people set themselves unrealistic targets to achieve within a too-narrow timeframe. This can lead to the adoption of overly-restrictive diets and brutal training regimes to try and achieve their goal as quickly as possible. This is unlikely to yield the results you want – after all, good things take time! The disappointment and frustration that may be triggered as a result of what is perceived as slow progress may cause someone to abandon their attempt to get fit. This can lead to cycles of short-term effort, without seeing much in the way of results.
Any short-term results that do come from very restrictive eating and intense training are unlikely to last, simply because this sort of regime just isn’t healthy or sustainable in the long-term. What’s more, this short-term, all-or-nothing approach to fitness is pretty unsafe and can lead to burnout or injury due to pushing your body too hard.
A good PT will sit down with you, discuss your goals and help to map out exactly how to achieve them within a realistic time frame. And if you have a specific event that you want to train for (e.g. running a marathon or completing a climb for charity), your PT can work closely with you to optimise your training, identify weak areas to work on and make sure you’re strong and ready.
At Grow, our attitude to training is that long-term consistency wins over short-term perfection. Every time. Focus on fostering good habits that will lead to sustainable, long-lasting progress.
Expertise
There is a LOT of misleading information out there. From magazines claiming every other day to have found “the best new diet”, to social media influencers flogging booty guides that promise to completely transform your body with just a resistance band and a few weeks work, it can be overwhelming at times trying to separate fact from fiction and credible sources of information are hard to find.
A good Personal Trainer has the knowledge to provide clarity, not only on exercise but also nutrition, as the two go hand-in-hand. They can maximise the time you spend in the gym, ensuring efficiency as well as effectiveness, plus make sure that you are doing the right thing outside of the gym, too. No more wasted time. No more BS.
They’ll challenge you
When you work out alone, it can be tempting to take lots of rest, pick up the lighter dumbbells when you knoooow you can go heavier, or fib to yourself that sure, you’ve probably worked out hard enough… Skipping that final round is OK, right? But the reality is that what doesn’t challenge you will not change you. Your PT will be right by your side to give you that little push to keep driving through extra reps when it gets tough. They’ll make sure that you’re working your muscles properly and safely, and will identify the right time to pick up heavier weights and challenge yourself further.
Support
There’s no getting around it – getting fit is hard, not just physically, but mentally. It takes a huge amount of effort to establish a new routine and stick to it, deal with new challenges (not to mention DOMs) and keep the effort going for the long term.
PTs have been there – they understand the toll it takes, especially in the beginning stages, and are there to help you, both within and outside of the sessions. They’ll be with you every step of the way to help you establish new, healthier habits – not just in terms of exercise, but in terms of lifestyle, nutrition and anything else that can help you to become a healthier, happier you.
Greater commitment
Let’s be real – if you’re paying for your workout, you’re less likely to bail. Skipping a session that you’d planned to do by yourself is a hell of a lot easier than cancelling on your PT, who you’ve paid, who has planned a session for you and who is waiting for you in the gym. Investing in one-on-one training and booking in a regular slot means that you’re accountable to someone other than yourself and the commitment level is much higher.
Build your confidence
This is something the whole Grow team is massively passionate about. Helping someone get fitter and stronger is amazing, but what really gets us up in the morning is seeing how this helps to build people’s confidence up. By helping them to set realistic goals and achieve them, expanding their knowledge about fitness and nutrition and by providing a deep level of support throughout their fitness journey, PTs can really help to transform someone’s mind as well as their body.
Fun
Last but not least – you’ll have fun working with the right PT. They’ll take the time to get to know you and create a programme that is not only effective, but enjoyable. Working out and getting fit should be rewarding and something to look forward to – not a chore that you dread and delay!
Interested in Personal Training? Book in for your free consultation with the team by shooting an email to hello@fitnesslab.fit
