Is it time to get up close and personal with a personal trainer to shed your winter coat and get fit for summer?
A personal trainer can help you get fit for summer, provide motivation and essential exercise tips to help you lose weight. But are all fitness trainers created equally? A personal trainer in Australia must have a Certificate Four issued by Fitness Australia before they can practise as a trainer. We give you tips on finding your perfect match with a personal trainer so you can not only develop a long-lasting relationship but maintain your weight loss all year-round.
Qualifications
Before hiring a personal trainer to get fit for summer ask them about their qualifications. Anyone can call themselves a personal trainer so make sure they have the relevant qualifications before you put your body in their hands. A personal trainer must have the following accreditation in Australia:
• A Certificate 4 or relevant tertiary qualification
• Registered to Fitness Australia
• First Aid certificate and
• Public liability insurance.
To double check that your personal trainer is qualified, you can always look them up on The Fitness Australia Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs) directory.
Recommendations and referrals
It is preferable to hire a personal trainer through recommendations and referrals. Most people find a personal trainer through their local gym. Most gyms have personal trainers on staff and offer attractive packages to members for personal training. Other ways to find a personal trainer is to ask friends, family or work colleagues, read fitness forums or look for a trainer via your local fitness association such as Fitness Australia.
Knowledge and experience
You want a personal trainer who is very knowledgeable about their industry and with knowledge, often comes experience. The years that a personal trainer has been in the industry and long-term clients the personal trainer they have must be considered. However, don’t take these numbers on face value. An instructor who has been in the industry for less than two years may be a better fit for you and you may enjoy their fitness workouts more than someone who has been in the industry for ten years.
Results
Results never lie with personal training. Not only should you look for a personal trainer who has achieved great outcomes for their clients, you also want a personal trainer who is in great shape and can walk the walk as well as talk the talk. A personal trainer is a walking advertisement for their business. Ask for case studies, testimonials or whether you can speak to their previous clients about what results they have received with the personal trainer.
Customer service
When choosing a personal trainer to get you fit for summer, a strong customer service ethic is essential. You may have to fit sessions in your lunch time, after hours or on the weekends and you want to find a personal trainer who can not only work around your schedule but also turn up on time every time. It’s also important to find a personal trainer who can give you one-on-one attention, understand your training motivation, is a good listener and someone that you feel comfortable with in order for you to get the most out of the sessions.
Bigger picture mentality
Whether you hire a personal trainer for a certain number of PT sessions to get fit for summer or have ongoing training sessions, you want to hire a personal trainer that understands losing weight is a lifetime commitment. Research shows that the hardest part of weight loss is not losing the weight, it is actually maintaining the weight loss. Not only do you need to change your body, you need to change your mindset towards exercise and training.
Price
It is advisable to discuss the price of the personal training sessions before even doing a trial session. Don’t be scared to discuss the price with your PT – you don’t want to feel obligated to sign up for personal training sessions you can’t afford. Ask the personal trainer to provide a training structure to give you an idea of how many sessions you may need and for how long. You may also be able to buy sessions in bulk which may be more cost-effective.
Before you sign on the dotted line with a personal trainer, ask whether you can do a one-off workout before signing up for multiple sessions. A professional personal trainer will do an assessment of your fitness so you can set measurable benchmarks and goals. Most importantly, you need to feel comfortable with your personal trainer. You may initially hire a personal trainer to get fit for summer but maintaining weight loss is important all season-round.
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