Are you looking for a personal trainer?

Are you looking for a personal trainer? How do you know if you’re getting value for money.

There’s a few questions that you should ask before spending your hard earned money on a personal trainer.

1: Ask to see their qualifications, all personal trainers should be REPS qualified too at least level 3. And how long have they been a personal trainer, more experience is usually better

2: Make sure they are insured and ask them to show you their up to date insurance.

3: Ask what equipment do they have, you wouldn’t take your car to a garage that only had 2 spanner’s and 1 screw driver so why would you want to train with someone who only had a couple of sandbags, kettle bells and focus mitts. A minimum level of equipment should be Olympic bars and several hundred kilos of weights, dumbbells, kettle bells, slam balls TRX system, sandbags and knowledge of how to use and train people with this equipment.

Do not pay £25 and upwards to someone who has not invested in a full range of equipment.

4: What do they expect you to do during an average session, if they are mainly going to take you to the park and watch you run around for half an hour save your money unless you are a serious runner, then get yourself a qualified running coach. This is one of the biggest cheats by by lazy personal trainers, charging clients to watch them do cardio. This along with downloading free training plans & selling them on to clients.

5: Swiss balls, bosu balls and balance exercises are great for rehabilitation but not for fitness. They were a fitness fad 10 years ago but some trainers still waste their clients time & energy with these pieces of equipment.

6: Also every personal trainer now has their client doing some form boxing style focus mitt work. Ask why & what is their qualification for doing it, is years of boxing coaching or martial arts coaching or is an afternoon and £100. If its the latter then say no thanks & move on, because you can end up with serious injuries if somebody little knowledge or skill tries to make you use this equipment.

7: What is their sports background, ideally you want someone who is knowledgeable with a broad background in various sports. Ask what sports they enjoy doing & what type of fitness routine they follow. A good personal trainer will not just sell you a copy of what they do.

And finally why should you part with your money to this person? Never settle for someone who has not invested in equipment, training and time, it’s your money invest it wisely.