Hi you gorgeous fitness chicken ,
You may have flirted with the idea of hiring a personal trainer before, and are wondering if hiring a personal trainer is worth the cost. While I (obviously) can’t say this without bias, personal training is an invaluable service that can be life-changing. Whether you are years into working out, a casual workout sometimes-er, or you don’t know the difference between a dumbbell and a treadmill, personal training at Moore Than Fitness can have a wildly positive impact in your life.
Please continue reading to understand many of the ways a personal trainer can help YOU.
Having someone on your life team, who understands your goals and knows how to get you there, is invaluable.
Whether you’re wanting to learn how to use equipment and your body, to feel less stiff or achey, or to build shiny muscles, our personal trainers care deeply for what’s important to you. They are here to create an action plan that most efficiently and safely gets you to your goals.
Too often, I see trainers getting their clients to work on things that are important to the trainer, but not terribly relevant for the client. An example would be the trainer with an older client who focuses on getting them to squat as heavy as possible, even when the client’s goals are just to move around with fewer aches and pains. The trainer’s belief about what is important in fitness outshines the client’s needs or desires.
At Moore Than Fitness, YOU are the priority. Our number one goal is helping you do fitness in a way that resonates with you, not with our own biases or interests. Your goals are our goals.
My advice when looking for a trainer is this: ask them what their goals for you would be. Listen for where that overlaps with what you’ve shared are your own goals. If you hear the trainer say your goals back to you in a way that makes you feel heard and cared for and excited, hire them. If you hear them use a bunch of trainer language that you don’t understand, don’t hire that person. You should feel heard and cared for.
You need someone who knows when to put their foot on the gas and when to pump the brakes
The stereotype of trainers always “kicking your ass” is maybe one of the reasons you’re scared of even trying the gym in the first place. An ass-kicking-workout also isn’t always the right thing.
Sometimes our job IS putting our foot on the personal trainer gas pedal and providing that fuel for the fire. Let’s be honest, you’re looking for a personal trainer because you don’t get what you need when you try to do it alone. If you want to get stronger, you’re eventually going to need to pick up a heavier weight. Your trainer is here to help you do that.
Our job is to know when to push, because that’s not always what you need. Your trainer needs to also help you pull back the reins, to know when a weight is TOO heavy, to know when your heart is beating TOO fast, and to recognize when things become (best case scenario) ineffective, and (worst case scenario) dangerous.
As personal trainers, we do love when our clients are willing to push hard in their workouts. But a more under-recognized part of what we do is identifying when the dial needs to get turned down. Sometimes that’s not obvious. If a client walks into the gym telling me they slept 3 hours, they haven’t eaten, and work has been incredibly stressful, the reality is that things will almost definitely need to be scaled back. We all have days when we need to scale back. It’s part of the process.
A caring and supportive trainer is going to know when and how to adjust that fitness dial up and down to make the best use of their client’s time on that particular day.
A caring and supportive trainer also knows through their own experience working out that there will be some 10/10 workouts where everything feels good and goes right. There also need to be slow days, stretching days, laying down days, “easy” days. Good trainers know how to read you and ask questions to help determine how to best support you in that moment, on that day.
Having someone who can give you real time feedback on your exercises to make sure they are performed safely and effectively, will help you “learn how to fitness” for your lifetime.
Possibly the most hands-on benefit of having a personal trainer is getting feedback, moment to moment on the performance of an exercise. It’s having someone who knows how to package and dose feedback in a way that is constructive, compassionate, and not overwhelming.
When someone is holding on for dear life in the middle of a set of squats, it is NOT useful for a trainer to be yelling 13 different instructions. However it absolutely IS useful to have someone who will sit with you after that set, let you know what you did well, and what improvements they would like to see on the next set. Someone with an experienced set of eyes who can assess things like breath, foot placement, timing, and countless other details that will impact your performance.
Workouts should be about getting you MOORE in touch with your body; MOORE aware of how you move most comfortably and how to build and release MOORE tension. Having someone in your corner paying attention to those details will result in a much faster path towards effectiveness.
Because one day you won’t have that personal trainer – sad, we know, truly. But one day you’ll move, or have a baby, or find a new style of exercise/movement that you like more… you should leave your personal trainer having gained wisdom about your body and how it moves. A good trainer will impact your life forever.
You deserve to have someone in your corner even when life is life-ing and you’re struggling.
If you’re involved in fitness for long enough, you will experience both highs and lows. Periods where you’re consistently able to workout and periods where you’re struggling to maintain any semblance of regularity.
This is perfectly normal and speaks to the fact that we’re all humans with messy, complicated lives. Contrary to what every Reebok commercial portrays, we are in fact, complete people with jobs and families and sicknesses and stressors and vacations. And life lifes a lot more frequently than people hope. In these moments, a personal trainer helps you figure out the path of least resistance. They will help navigate the unexpected hurdles that life throws your way and will work with you to figure out even the small steps you can take to do your best in whatever circumstances you’re dealing with.
Pick a trainer you truly like. You’re sharing your life with us and we don’t take that lightly. It’s likely that you see your trainer more than you see your closest friends. Keep that in mind when you’re in the hiring process. Pick somebody who you respect, and make sure it’s mutual.
Your Personal Trainer helps you filter through all of the ‘noise’ around fitness and helps you understand what is and is not important
A great personal trainer will teach you about your body, about more and less efficient routes to your goals, and about what might be unsafe or a waste of time. And best of all, they can customize that journey based on your interests and what you find enjoyable. With so much advertising around different fitness products and modalities flying through our culture at light speed, having someone who can filter that information and provide succinct, clear instruction is invaluable.
Years ago, I heard someone compare personal training to being a tour guide for your body. If you’re visiting a big city for the first time, a tour guide shows you around many of the most important and worthwhile locations. They can teach you the history and purpose of each location and they can guide you effortlessly from one place to the next. They know the places that are popular…but probably not worth your time. And they can personalize the tour based on your individual interests and what you care about most.
Remember this: Fitness is supposed to help you feel good according to you and your personal trainer is supposed to help you get there.
If any of this has resonated with you, please consider booking a ‘No Sweat Intro’ at Moore Than Fitness to get connected with one of our amazing personal trainers. We can’t wait to meet you.