Choosing a Personal Trainer and the Questions to Ask

The Best Personal Trainer For You?

As individuals and as a fitness company, the three of us have noticed that the Personal Training industry is rife with dishonesty, with too much focus on getting the most amount of money out of people, and unfortunately, is often not even results driven.

With this in mind this list should help you out in deciding if your Personal Trainer is actually correct for you, and if you are considering hiring a Personal Trainer, will give you the valid questions to ask to establish whether the Trainer you approach is actually appropriate to your individual needs.

1. Personal Training Qualifications
Many people don't know anything about the qualifications and courses involved, and as trainers it is EXTREMELY rare to be asked about our qualifications.
To be a fully insured, REPS (Register of Exercise Professional's) recognised  Personal Trainer you must complete a recognised Level 3 Personal Training Diploma. To stay on REPS each Trainer must accumulate a certain amount of points to stay on the register, these points are awarded for doing courses, attending conferences and through online questionnaires throughout the year.
There are many so-called Personal Trainers who simply haven't bothered to complete even the most basic of Personal Training courses and have simply put Personal Trainer on their back, and began trading. Make sure you ask about your Trainer's qualifications, and establish whether they are insured or not, otherwise you my regret your choice.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: It brings me such displeasure to have to add this note, however it has been brought to my attention that a number of so-called Personal Trainers i.e. FITNESS INSTRUCTORS are charging very minimal amounts (e.g. £10 a session) and not informing their clients (which they shouldn't have in the first place) that they are not fully qualified Personal Trainers. A standard Personal Training session with most Personal Trainers in my area will be an investment of AT LEAST £35. If someone with Personal Trainer plastered across their back offers you a number of sessions for as little as £10 each, ask yourself what you are paying for, ask to see their qualifications and if they cannot produce them, then THEY ARE COMPLETELY UNINSURED TO TRADE AS A PERSONAL TRAINER.

This is exactly the kind of dishonesty that needs to be stamped out of Personal Training and the fitness industry in general. I am angry, shocked and appalled by individuals making me, (doing a job I love and would give my life for) look bad. If you are an individual that this applies to, then you should be ashamed.

Let's see how REPS distinguishes between the two qualifications:

Level 2 Gym Instructor

A fitness instructor's role includes planning, instructing and evaluating gym based inductions and ongoing client/member programmes. They should also assist more qualified instructors in the delivery of personal training programmes. A fitness instructor should also actively encourage potential client/members to join and adhere to regular exercise programmes, employing appropriate motivational strategies to achieve this.

Level 3 Personal Trainer

A Personal Trainer's role includes designing and implementing exercise programmes for a range of individual clients by collecting and analysing client information to ensure the effectiveness of personal exercise programmes. A personal trainer should also actively encourage potential clients/members to join and adhere to regular exercise programmes, employing appropriate motivational strategies to achieve this.

Differences: Personal Trainers are qualified to take INDIVIDUAL CLIENTS THROUGH PROGRAMMES DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY FOR THEM, a gym instructor is there to provide inductions, basic program cards and to encourage you to exercise.

From the REPS Code of Ethical Conduct Principle 4:

Principle 4: Professional Standards

‘Exercise professionals will seek to adopt the highest level of professional standards in their work and the development of their career’

Compliance with this principle requires exercise professionals to commit to the attainment of appropriate qualifications and ongoing training to responsibly demonstrate:

• Engagement in actively seeking to update knowledge and improve their professional skills in order to maintain a quality standard of service, reflecting on their own practice, identifying development needs and undertaking relevant development activities.
• Willingness to accept responsibility and be accountable for professional decisions or actions, welcome evaluation of their work and recognise the need when appropriate to refer to another professional specialist.
• A personal responsibility to maintain their own effectiveness and confine themselves to practice those activities for which their training and competence is recognised by the Register. (emphasis mine)

Enough said.

2. Training of other clients
This mostly applies to Personal Trainers in a commercial gym setting. Watch your potential Personal Trainer with their own clients, here is a list of things that if spotted, should set alarm bell ringing:

• If they are training multiple people at once (this isn't referring to training people together, which creates a competitive element, and can give the client an even more effective workout, and the trainer must work harder to cater to a greater degree of individual needs), this is specifically referring to Trainers trying to train multiple clients SEPARATELY, without a competitive element, perhaps overlapping sessions this is a money making scheme and not Personal Training which we as a company abhorr and will not stand for.
• Clients doing the same workout week in, week out with little to no progression, variation or planning.
• Leaving clients regularly for long peiods of time, talking on the phone, selling themselves to others and generally not devoting their attention to the client.
• If a trainer predominantly uses machines for a range of clients
• When a trainer is regularly late or simply doesn't show up

3. Between Sessions
Personal Trainers are like anyone else, they deserve a break, so watch the PT's in your gym, how often are they stood around doing nothing productive? As a Personal Trainer I know how long it takes to stay ahead with session planning, research and marketing myself, if your potential trainer spends all day behind a desk talking away then they can't be taking the job seriously enough.

4. Prices
Ask to see a price list, as was said earlier Personal training tends not to be the most honest of professions, when approaching a Personal Trainer ask to see a price list, don't just ask about prices. I've even heard of Trainers charging varying amounts judging from the car the client drives! This is simply wrong, and should not and will not be tolerated by our company. Ask for a price list.

5. Portfolio
This one is a little less cut and dry, as newly qualified Personal Trainers can be just as good, if not better than established Personal Trainers, but if the Trainer claims to have a number of years experience then they should definitely have a portfolio and or testimonials to show off previous and current client success stories, if this isn't the case then you must wonder what these trainers are doing for their clients.

An important side note to this section: MAKE SURE you ask where the trainer got his testimonials and pictures from, some trainers will actually just take pictures from the internet and just pass it off as their own work, have you ever seen the Trainer with the people featured in the testimonial? Should a Trainer have to make up a portfolio, progress pictures and testimonials to look impressive, even taking out the moral implications, it must also be apparent that they really can't be much of a Personal Trainer to have to do this.

6. Future Plans
Establishing what your Trainer's future plans are should help you decide if they are enjoying their job, how they wish to improve their services, where your training may ultimately lead and whether they will be planning on moving on to other areas, careers etc in the near future.

7. Being Wrong
As Personal Trainers and as people, we often get things wrong and make mistakes, a Personal Trainer who refuses to admit this is a liar, what mistakes has your potential Personal Trainer made in the past and what did they learn from these? Have they taken steps to ensure that these mistakes don't happen again?

8.Inductions/ Introductions
People have a tendency just to go with the first Personal Trainer they encounter without considering any of the previous points, leading to many people having trainers that are not appropriate to their needs, but by considering many of the preceding points, you should be able to ask them the correct questions in order to establish whether you feel they are right for you.

9.Personal Training/ Life Experience
Have a think abour your exercise goals, ask the potential Personal Trainer about their experience in helping people achieve similar goals, should they have experience in this area then excellent, but many will not and there will often be a Personal Trainer far more suited to helping you get to where you want to be. Ask about their exercise history, injury history, looking at a portfolio will also be an excellent indicator of a trainers sucess in a particular field.

10. Respect of Fellow Fitness Professionals
Ask other Personal Trainers, staff and clients about the Personal Trainer you are considering, should they not have the respect of other PT's, staff and clients then I'd suggest you move on to another Trainer.

I hope this will help you all to consider whether you have the correct Personal Trainer, and will arm you with the relevant questions to ask when approaching a PT when enquiring about their services.

By Chris Kershaw

Reps Level 3 Personal Trainer
Kettlebell Instructor
Co-founder of C and J Fitness and Personal Training
cjkpersonaltraining@hotmail.com

Training to Inspire!