A good personal trainer is someone you want to entrust your he alth to. A lot of people calling themselves a personal trainer have recently appeared on the market. So how to distinguish a competent person from one who obtained a certificate after a weekend course? What qualities should a trustworthy trainer exhibit? As a person with experience, I know that there are details thanks to which you will be able to distinguish a good trainer from an amateur at first glance. Let's get to the point.

When we decide to do personal training and allocate funds (often considerable), how can we be sure that we have invested in the right person?

We will never be one hundred percent sure that we have invested in the right person if we do not give them a chance for at least a few meetings. However, already during the training interview and the first - usually free - training, during which the trainer's task is to identify movement patterns and our dysfunctions, we can gain some idea about his experience.

Personal trainer - the way a good trainer works

A good personal trainer is one who is inquisitive during the interview. It may seem irritating to some extent, but most often we ourselves are not able to recall all ailments that could affect the type of training we should do.

Real training goals - this is another issue that a good trainer should set for us. He must take into account our current condition, which he sees in the first class, as well as aspirations and dreams about a different figure, strength, condition, well-being.

A good trainer should inspire trust and sympathy with his appearance and behavior, he should be patient and be able to adapt to the client. Many trainers learn how to imitate the basic reflexes of an interlocutor to build confidence in them. Inexperienced people often use this skill in an inelegant and intrusive manner. The more experienced ones do it unnoticed.

Personal trainer - fitness test

During the interview, the trainer should ask about the type of job, past injuries and all he alth problems related to the motor, circulatory and nervous systems. The list is relatively long, and many ailments that are of little importance to us mayinfluence the selection of an appropriate set of exercises.

After the training interview and weighing on the scale with a body composition analyzer and discussing the results, the trainer should outline what the first training will look like. It begins, of course, with a warm-up. This is followed by a mobility test and a fitness test.

The fitness test will consist of exercises that are relevant to the sport we practice and the goal that has been set.

A different test will be applied to the player who usually has weaker arms than the boxer who most often suffers from permanent muscle tension between the shoulder blades. Each training session should be done with light stretching with the help of the trainer, which is a good time for him to show his commitment.

Personal trainer - interpersonal skills

You should pay attention to how the trainer treats us during the training. Is he focused on us or is he looking around and distracted? The more focused on the mentee the trainer will be, the more details of his movement patterns and dysfunctions will be perceived. Thanks to this, he will be able to choose the optimal action plan. After completing the training, this plan should be presented in an understandable and simple way, and clearly answer the questions.

Personal trainer - price

A good coach will not be afraid to talk about money. He knows the value of his work. Remember that an experienced personal trainer can boast about the results of his training. Such a trainer rarely looks for clients, does not negotiate and does not insist on starting cooperation with him. On the contrary. Customers are soliciting him. After all, we put he alth and fitness at stake. We should really care that they are in good hands.

What to consider when choosing a trainer?

What are the most common mistakes made by bad coaches? I will give you a few, which in my opinion clearly prove the amateur character of a person calling himself a trainer.

1.Using the phone during training.Especially if during the session he checks Facebook and writes messages instead of focusing on the mentee's safety and the accuracy of his exercises.

2. The second point isnot having a planand making it feel like he's training spontaneously. It may of course happen that a device is occupied and then the trainer should be able to replace it with another one that will fulfill a similar task. This change should be easy and smooth.

3. A credible mistake is alsoleaving the mentee unattendedduring the exercise. Duringof the session, it is not the trainer who is responsible for the he alth of the trainee. It is obvious that sometimes you have to go out - even to the bathroom. In such cases, however, you should leave the person under your care during the rest between series or exercises.

What to consider when choosing a trainer?

When choosing a coach myself, I would be guided by a few things. First of all, sympathy, which is human and very important because it's hard to train with a person we don't like. Although, when approaching the topic purely professionally, it does not really matter. Another aspect, of course, is eloquence and the way he expresses himself about exercise.

Appearance is secondary as not every trainer has to look like a bodybuilder. A person, roughly speaking, will not inspire confidence, but perhaps it is worth considering why he has such a figure and not another. For example, trainers who practice martial arts themselves do not care about their figure, but have well-defined muscles and a slender body. My point is that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

The trainer's approach to the accuracy of the exercises is very important and whether he explains why and why we perform these and not other exercises.

An important point when choosing a trainer should be his or her specialization. There is no one good person alike in everything. The same is the case with coaches. If you want to lose weight, you don't have to wonder if the trainer is practicing karate or bodybuilding.

However, when you want to learn how to properly build your body, it is best to choose a person who deals with this particular specialization. When you dream about learning self-defense techniques, it is definitely worth choosing a trainer with experience in martial arts.

Choosing the right trainer will be the easier the better we know what to expect.

Many people associate personal training with the gym. In practice, it is very often based on exercises that we would not be able to do on our own. This is what happens during martial arts or medical training.

About the authorTomasz Piotrowski He is a certified personal trainer and nutrition specialist. He gained his knowledge from the best experts in the fitness industry in Poland. He has several years of experience working as a dietitian in a private facility in Krakow and experience in working as a personal trainer. He also writes expert articles on he alth, training and supplementation, and works in the supplement industry. He is passionate about fist fencing.

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