How-To Find a Personal Trainer

Why use a personal trainer?

Men and women, young and old use personal fitness trainers for a variety of reasons. Here are some of the most common:

Decide upon your fitness goals

Before you begin searching for a personal trainer, your first task is to decide upon your fitness goals. Is your goal to lose weight, gain muscle, or improve your performance in a sports activity? Whatever it is, different trainers specialize in differents types of fitness activites.

For example, if you goal is to enter a bodybuilding competition, then you probably should find a personal trainer with some bodybuidling experience. On the other hand, if your goal is to improve your golf swing, then a fitness trainer with experience training golfers would be more appropriate.

Decide where you want to work out

Do you belong to a gym or health club or do you want to work out at home or at work? Different personal trainers train at different types of locations. Some personal fitness trainers travel to clients' homes. Others work exclusively out of a gym or health club. Many do both. When selecting a personal trainer, make sure you find one who trains client at a location that is convenient for you.

How to find a personal fitness trainer

There are a variety of ways to find a personal fitness trainer. One of the most common, is referals from friends and family members. Here are some other ways:

How to make sure your trainer is qualified

However you locate a personal trainer, you need to make sure he or she is qualified. Done correctly, exercise can be extremely beneficial to your health. Done incorrectly, however, it can be dangerous.

While a college degree in a field related to physical fitness can be helpful, the best way to determine the qualifications of your personal trainer, is to make sure that he or she is certified by one of the major personal fitness training certification organizations. Reputable organizations include: Most of these organizations will provide you with contact information for certified trainers in your area. In addition to being certified in the fitness field, the trainer should also be certified in first aid and CPR and should carry at minimum $1 million dollars of liability insurance.

How much will a personal trainer cost?

Personal training fees vary dramatically from place to place and from trainer to trainer. A relatively inexperienced fitness trainer in a small town might charge as little as $25/hour. By contrast, an experienced trainer in a high-priced club in Los Angeles or New York might charge $100/hour.

Regardless of what heor she charges, however, any personal trainer should offer new clients a free, introductory evaluation session where the trainer can evaluate the client's physical condition and expectations and the client can evaluate the personal trainer.

Once you decide to hire a trainer, you can generally save money by purchasing groups of sessions up front. For example, a personal fitness trainer might charge $50/session for sessions purchased individually or $450 for groups of 10 sessions.

Additional Information

Here's some additional information on personal fitness trainers and the personal training business:

how-to find a personal trainer