How long should you hire a personal trainer?
Before we even look at answering this let’s be clear on one thing, fitness is a life-long venture. Once you learn how to integrate it into your life in a way that works for you it’s so much more than a 6-week shred or a plan to follow.
If you want to achieve “fitness” in a certain time frame, you are setting yourself up to fail. You will constantly be on and off the diet bandwagon. You won’t see longevity and your fitness values as number one. You’ll focus on the short-term highs that aren’t sustainable.
But, how long should you hire a personal trainer is an important point because you do need to learn the skills but you don’t want to be reliant on someone else for your fitness journey.
Now with my passionate spiel out of the way let’s get into this blog post.
I’ve trained hundreds of clients successfully which you can see from all my 5-star Google Reviews. I’ve seen every type of person and their approach to fitness. I’ve seen what makes some client some client successful and what causes others to fail. Over-reliance on the personal trainer can lead to failure. Their special diet or their special training system is up there with the biggest myths. It’s a marketing ploy to keep you reeled in and think that you can’t survive without them.
You don’t need a personal trainer and in the cases that you do, you don’t need them for an extended period of time depending on your budget of course.
Start by defining your goals
Defining your goals is super important. If you’re asking the question of how long should you hire a personal trainer you need to know what you want to achieve. There are lots of goals you can work towards for example..
- Learn to lose weight
- Learn to maintain weight loss
- Learn to gain weight
More on reframing these goals later. If it’s within your budget I recommend most people hire a trainer, My reason? If you decide on the main goals imagine what you could achieve in the long term if you choose to hire one and get that knowledge.
This means that you may need to shift your perspective slightly to see it as a long-term investment in knowledge. It’s not just a short-term weight loss approach, or at least with a good coach it shouldn’t be. A good coach should educate you. They should equip you with the knowledge to carry forward to achieve your goals in the future.
Unfortunately, when most people think about hiring a personal trainer it’s all based on wanting to lose weight. This tends to target short-term wins. Clients want results and are willing to do anything for 12 weeks but aren’t equipped with the skills to move on successfully afterwards. Instead of treating your fitness, diet and trainer like a short-term goal I recommend for you to instead view their services as a long-term change.
Some goal reframes I would encourage are..
- Learn the correct technique so you can know what works for your body and not burn out
- Learn how to programme a training block for a goal
- Learn to lose weight sustainably and how to maintain it
- Learn to maintain weight loss and then ease into a dieting phase
- Learn to gain weight in an approached manner to build muscle
- Rehabilitation of an old injury so you don’t keep injuring yourself and needing time away from the gym
What you can achieve in different time stamps
Knowing what you can achieve in realistic time frames is important. What’s the good in committing to 12 weeks but completing falling off afterwards? I recommend for most clients sign up for 6-12 months. The reasoning behind this is it gives you time to work through cycles.
A common cycle I work on with clients is establishing maintenance – dieting- maintenance- gaining- dieting.
With establishing maintenance we’re looking at forming good habits. Tracking food in a way that feels comfortable to the client. Seeing what their social life is like. Identifying the triggers that cause them to ‘fall off’ the gym or diet. All of this is necessary because it’s our default. Motivation dwindles and we need to be realistic that fat loss or muscle building is very unspectacular so we need to have a good baseline and know what to do.
Next, we have the actual dieting. I usually find having a set timeline for this is important. The scale can’t continue to go down forever, otherwise well we would not be here! Setting aside a structure of 8-24 (it completely depends) weeks to commit, focus and make good choices. Not having a structure can lead us to slip up and think what’s the harm in going off plan?
Like with everything in life if we know the timeline it makes it easier to make the harder decisions because we know it’s not forever.
Last we have maintenance. Maintenance is one of the most important parts that so many people skip out on. You’ve finished your diet and it’s time to enjoy food and relaxation a little more, completely deserved. We need a loose plan here too though.
A good personal trainer will help you adjust your exercise and speak with you about the rate at which your weight should rise and how to manage it. Crucial to not spiralling and becoming unhappy with your body. Maintaining your weight loss or gaining a little muscle is important and a guided approach from a personal trainer gives you the tools to use this for life.
When should you stop using a personal trainer?
Pulling back from working with your personal trainer can be daunting. As I mentioned I think 6-12 months is a good timeframe to stay working with a trainer. Within this time you can learn the 3-4 most important points of structure, dieting, maintaining and gaining muscle. Enough to leave you the correct knowledge to do it for yourself and integrate it into your life.
However, if your goal is more timeline based like running a marathon or squatting 120kg your timeline could look different with a personal trainer. Looking at how close you are to your goals, and how soon you want to achieve them. Another aspect to think about it reviewing if you’re getting your money’s worth. As soon as you feel that you are not getting your money or effort’s worth out of your personal training, you should raise it with your personal trainer.
They are a service provider, so they will be there to understand your issues and create stronger timelines.
How to find a good personal trainer?
Thanks to Google and word of mouth, finding a personal trainer can be a relatively easy task nowadays. You don’t just have to just go along with the trainer who is on the poster in your nearest local gym and hope for the best. There are so many options to find someone who you truly connect with.
Ask your friends & family
My first suggestion would be to ask your family or friends for their recommendations. Most people know someone who has had success with a trainer. Many of my current clients have been referrals from older clients who had great results and experiences with me. I’m in the business of helping people feel better about themselves and I think that shows through for myself and other passionate trainers.
Be sure to enquire about their style of coaching, how they educate their clients and their ability to communicate. Having a personal trainer is a learning process and a two-way relationship. Getting advice from people you trust who have had the experience of working with a trainer is a great place to start.
Search on Google
Searching on Google is a significant first step to finding a personal trainer. By typing in the service you want and your locality you can see all the top-rated personal trainers along with reviews and links and the click of a button.
For example, when you type in Personal Training in Corrandulla Galway, Google will pull up the following results, where you can see my business and client reviews within the first 3 results.
From here you can research the trainer and find out important information about their business, including their experience, working hours, contact details or a link to their website to read their blog posts, see results and listen to their podcast. All to give you a deeper insight into if they’re the right trainer for you.
Search on Social Media
Searching on Social Media can also give a deeper insight into the coach you may choose to work with. I love to share my thoughts and values on Instagram. My coaching has a deep focus on mental health and consistency over perfectionism.
I make daily reels with quick tips on how to get better results in the gym, anxieties and stress when it comes to your fitness and nutrition that I post on my social media channels. It’s what I’m deeply passionate about and for me, it attracts the kind of client I love to help.
Someone who wants to progress and learn but not at the cost of their social life or mental health. I promote a holistic approach to training and diet and from scrolling through my Instagram you can pick up on that. Schedule a free consultation with me if you’d like to chat more about achieving your goals.
As I mentioned earlier it’s important to hire a coach that is on the same wavelength as you. Following someone on Social Media can give you a real insight into their values as a coach and their approach to clients.
Ask your local gym
If you are already a member of a gym or thinking about joining, most gyms will have personal trainers available at their locations. Chatting with the staff at your local gym and highlighting your goals is a great way to find the right trainer for you.
Always remember though it’s your time and money and if you don’t feel comfortable with a trainer you’ve been paired up with voice that. When doing your research, it’s important to ask any questions you have in terms of how they work so you feel confident in your decision.
FAQ
How many days should you use a personal trainer?
As a beginner, if you’re training 1:1 with a personal trainer I recommend seeing them two to three times a week for six weeks to start. This helps you establish good habits in the gym and get more consistent which is important in the beginning. It is also a good opportunity to learn new workouts and techniques and ensure you perform exercises in the safest way possible.
If you’re working with an online coach I recommend checking in every single week. A good coach is willing to over-deliver and wants you to achieve your results. Recording your sessions, giving them feedback and tracking your food and weight gives them more ammunition to help you.
Check out my blog on the pros and cons of online personal training blog
Is 2 PT sessions a week enough?
Depending on your goals, starting point, and physical ability, two personal training sessions per week can be plenty. For clients new to resistance training or with injuries I really like to see them at least twice per week to be sure that they don’t worsen their injuries and that they can develop proper form and a sustainable routine.
Conclusion
I hope these insights into; ‘how long should I hire a Personal Trainer?’ gives you some context for how to approach it. Setting goals, and knowing what you’re working towards and your budget are important aspects.
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If you’re looking to chat with a trained professional with a tone of experience helping people just like you achieve your goals why don’t you schedule a FREE CONSULTATION with me? We can chat about your goals and I’ll give you a framework on how to finally achieve them.
