How to Find a Good Personal Trainer or Coach: 6 Mistakes to Avoid!

There are millions of reasons why someone would want to hire a personal trainer or coach, and thousands of personal trainers and coaches to meet the demand.

The problem is how do you find a good one?

This article will address how to find the right one for you, how to know if you're making mistakes in your search, and how to avoid those mistakes.

Let's take a look:

1. Not doing enough research

This is the number one mistake people make when looking for a personal trainer or coach. And it's understandable, considering how much information is available to us at our fingertips in this day and age (especially with the internet). 

But how do you know how to separate between what's credible in all that sea of information? How can you ever hope to find what you need?

You may even be thinking "I'm just looking for someone local who does weight training", but how do you know if there are any out there?

All it takes is a little bit of research - the more time spent researching, the better your chances are of finding the right trainer for you

2. Not knowing or being clear about what you're looking for

To find a good personal trainer, you need to know what you want from them.

Maybe your goal is weight loss or you're looking for someone to work with when training for a half-marathon or how about getting in shape for summer!

Whatever the case may be, knowing what you want will help filter out trainers that aren't right for you. It also helps the trainer understand how they can best help you reach your goals.

If your main focus is weight loss and losing belly fat in particular, then it would make sense not to contact a personal trainer who focuses on resistance training alone or mixed martial arts.

3. Focusing too hard on specific PT certifications

There are numerous personal training certifications out there, some more reputable than others.

There's no doubt about how valuable a personal trainer certification can be but what if the only one available to you is on the other side of town?

What if you're looking for someone right now and it will take 3 months for them to get their certification?

Truth is that many trainers don't have any personal training certification at all. That doesn't make them any less useful or knowledgeable, though.

So, how do you find good ones without spending hours researching every single one out there? By asking the right questions!

If you're looking for someone who can keep you accountable and push you to do your best every single session, find out how many clients they have that are around your age group or even older/younger.

Ask them how experienced they are with working with people in your situation.

If training for a half marathon, focus on how strong their running skills are.

What's more important is how long you've had them as trainers (or coaches).

You don't want someone who just started last week but rather someone who has been doing it for over 5 years.

By checking out their experience and how long they've been doing what you want them to do for you, you're eliminating the risk of finding someone who is simply not right for your goals and needs.

4. Not being clear on the costs involved

Another important factor to consider and one that many skip lightly is how much it costs to hire a personal trainer.

This is how many people unknowingly end up with someone who's not right for their needs and how they can ruin an entire experience working with them.

4. Not being in tune enough with how they feel during the workout session

A good personal trainer will push you to the limits, but how they do it is what elevates them from a good to a great one.

Some might have you go all out on every single exercise, which is how people get injured and how most people hate training.

Others will have you doing more reps than normal with lighter weights because it's believed that this is how to maximize your time.

This is wrong - the key here is not how much weight or how many reps you're doing per set, but rather how hard you're working.

Think about it: If someone had different goals for themselves (like wanting to lose weight vs gain muscle ), how would they know what rep/weight range is right for them if goal isn't stated?

You need to be very clear on how you want to train and how you feel during the session so your trainer can adapt accordingly .

5. Not being aware of how they operate

First off, do you even know how they operate? What's their schedule like?

What if their schedule doesn't work with yours (this is common) or what if they're only available once every couple of weeks? You need to make sure that they are available for when YOU need them, not the other way around.

There are many ways in which this is achievable; maybe instead of one hour sessions, they do half hour twice a week (which would actually save you money).

On top of that, how flexible are they with changes? Do they make any concessions for how they work with you?

It's understandable that how a trainer works can be very important to you, especially if you're very busy.

Do make sure you are aware of how flexible they are before hiring them - it will save both of you time in the long run.

While these mistakes may make finding your ideal personal trainer seem more complex than it needs to be, don't let it scare or discourage you - there are ways around all of this.

The easiest way is to ask how experienced they are with working with people similar to yourself and what their training style is like.

After that, simply check out how easy (or hard) it is to get in contact with them, whether online through email/phone/social media or in person and how flexible they are regarding how they work with you.

6. Looking for motivation, instead of results 

A common misconception that people tend to hire PT's as a kind of substitute "conscience"; their own personal motivator when it comes to fitness.

Some clients think a good PT will be there to wake them up at the crack of dawn and drag them to the gym, or it's someone who knows how their body works inside out and how they should train accordingly.

In reality, this is a bit of a rookie error!

It's not about how much time you're putting in but, rather, how effectively that time is spent.

A good trainer will have many different styles of training where each session is different from the last one.

You'll push yourself harder than ever but you won't necessarily need to go to the gym for hours on end (unless you want/need to, of course).

Wrapping Up:

The best way to find a good personal trainer is by keeping the following in mind: how experienced they are with working with people similar to yourself and what their training style is like. 

Once this factors have been taken into consideration, you should be able to evaluate how easy (or hard!) it is to get in contact with them; whether online through email/phone/social media or in person and how flexible they are regarding how they work with you.

All of these will contribute one way or another towards your decision on hiring a PT.

As long as there's no misunderstandings between both parties, then all that remains is for you to enjoy the process of getting fit together!