3 Insider Tips When Working with a Trainer

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From PJ and Risse, the Go Fit Gals.

So, you hired a personal trainer. Someone to help you cross off your To-Do fitness goals on the ol’ resolution bucket list.

First off, good for you! I love it when people go after their goals and I love it when they are honest, open and are willing to say, “Help” and hire a professional to help guide them.

Having been a trainer for almost 20 years now (Gulp! Has it really been two decades already?), I know a thing or two about people hiring trainers.

In fact, I know three very important tips that I would like to divulge so that you get the most out of your sessions, your workouts and your time with your trainer.

Be specific.
When your trainer has their first session with you, and reviews your health history, goals and reasons why you hired them (FYI: if they don’t do this very important step, please run away), give them specific goals that you want to meet.

On my Health History sheet my clients are asked what their top 3 fitness goals are. Inevitably, I usually get: lose weight, tone and feel better.

While there are other goals that people have given me through the years, these three are by far the most often written. These are awesome goals, but they just do not give me, as a trainer, a lot of information to start building a plan with.

So, I have to flesh out exactly what they want.

For example, lose weight is a very broad goal. It would be helpful for your trainer to know how much weight you would like to lose, how fast you need it off, how hard are you willing to work and when was the last time you were at that weight? Each of these questions will give your trainer valuable information to help them design your program.

If weight loss is one of your goals take a second and ask yourself those four questions.

The first question, how much weight (or how many inches do you want to lose, Go Fit Gals preferred metric), gives your trainer a specific number that will help them tremendously when programming your plan.

How fast do you want to lose the weight? Now they have a time frame that they can use when developing your plan.

How hard are you willing to work at losing the weight and maintaining it? This question is posed more for you. You need to be real with yourself and understand that this takes dedication.

The final question, when were you last at that weight is a question I ask to see if their goal is attainable. For instance, if I have a 55-year old woman standing in front of me who wants to lose weight and the last time she was at that goal weight was in her early 20s I know we have a problem.

Metabolism slows down through the years, the body shape changes as we age and menopause makes it challenging to get to a 20 year old’s weight. It is my job then to educate them and help them reach a healthy and attainable goal weight.

Communicate when training together.
If you like something, or don’t like something, if it hurts, if it’s too heavy, too light, too easy, too hard, let your trainer know.

Yes, sometimes we will completely ignore you – but that’s only because we know you can do it and are trying to convince you of the same fact. Otherwise we have no idea what’s going unless you say something.

A relationship with a trainer is very much like a marriage – and we all know what happens when there is a lack of communication at home. Things can get a little hairy.  But don’t worry, a trainer won’t make you sleep on the couch, or give you the silent treatment.

In the gym, your trainer wants you to reach your goals just as much as you want to reach them. We try our hardest to keep you excited and on task. In fact, our careers are built on our client’s seeing results.

So, if you hate an exercise, or if it hurts and you don’t tell your trainer you could potentially see this exercise pop up over and over again in future sessions. This, in turn, will make you dread exercise, or worse injure you and make you hate the whole process of getting fit. And this, my friend, is what we call a buzz kill in the gym.

As a side note, if you say you hate an exercise just because it’s really hard and kicks your butt, we can see through that kind of malarkey and will most likely give you 10 more reps just to teach you a lesson.

Do your homework.
Most people see a trainer once a week and research dictates that 3-6 times a week is needed for change and progress to happen.

Your trainer knows this. That is why she or he has kindly provided you with home workouts and if you want to crush those fitness goals you’ve got to give them an honest try.

I like to tell my clients that they can’t cram for their training appointment. It may have worked in school for tests, but your body does not work the same way. It needs progressive overload and on a regular basis.

For your trainer, this will also keep them revved up. Your trainer will work harder to get you in shape if they see you are willing to work for it.

The Go Fit Gals, your experts in fitness and nutrition for women from new mommies to menopause. We provide the coaching and the inspiration to get our members strong, healthy and confident through our unique online programs based on eating clean and training dirty.