Board 8 > Anyone here have experience with personal trainers?

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I hope to start going back to the gym in the next few months. I've started researching strength training routines, but I've always been curious about personal trainers. On the one hand, seems like they could be very useful especially if you're not super super knowledgeable about what to do at the gym, plus there's more accountability when you have to "report" and work with someone rather than working out / dieting on your own. On the other hand, maybe you can get the same results with just research and a bit of self-accountability. Plus, how I do even know a certain gym has good personal trainers? Is it something like "franchise gyms like Planet Fitness NEVER have good trainers, you need to go to local places to get anything good."

So, does anyone here have/had a personal trainer? What was it like? Worth the time/money?

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I had one for about a month. He overworked me and I almost injured myself even though I told him I was out of shape and had low blood pressure, so I probably shouldn't do a lot of stuff that moves my head around a lot (squats followed by crunches for example). I almost fainted and he apologized.

Even saying all that I probably would've kept with it if it wasn't so expensive.

"How do you know if a certain gym has good personal trainers?" I have no idea. Yelp?

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I didn't have a personal trainer but I have worked out with a trainer in small groups. It is very helpful if you are not sure about form and routine and so on. Even watching videos it is hard to get the form down for certain lifts without someone knowledgeable there to critique you.

But yeah, once you have learned how to do it, the main benefit is the structure/motivation/accountability. I work out on my own now that I know how to do all my exercises and I supplement with online research when needed.

That being said, I would not really trust a trainer from a place like Planet Fitness. Would get a referral from someone who you trust.

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Bump!

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Yeah a couple years ago I did a 3 month program with one. However, I was working night shift at the time and so my schedule was a little unique so I decided to go with an online personal trainer. He was actually one of those fitness youtubers but I had been watching him his videos for awhile and trusted he knew what he was doing and was generally just a smart dude.

Anyway it was pretty simple, he put together a workout plan for me and it was up to me to stick to it. He tracked my nutrition and weight through MyFitnessPal which again was up to me to make sure I was recording everything accurately. We'd have a check once a week via email and based on how much weight I was losing and whether I was plateauing or not, he'd set new caloric and macro goals or keep them the same. It wasn't hard for me to actually get to the gym, I had been going for a couple years before I hired him, but it definitely helped having someone that I needed to report to for the nutrition aspect. And I did lose about 10 pounds which was my goal so it was definitely worth it for me.

Actually been thinking of doing another 3 month session with him as for various reasons I stopped working out about two years ago and lost a lot of the progress I made obviously. But I've been back in the "gym" for a few months now (using an adjustable dumbbell set I bought but it gets the job done) and feel like shedding a few pounds so we'll see. I dunno if any of this is helpful for you or where you're at in your fitness journey but online is an option if you don't trust the people at your gym and feel like you can manage the actual workouts on your own.

A friend of mine owns a gym and is effectively the personal trainer for everyone that goes there, so I guess that would count. Went there for most of high school and all of college and I can definitely say I wouldn't have had anywhere near the amount of athletic success that I did without him.

But I've heard nothing but bad stories from folks that have used trainers at big chain gyms and things of that nature. You're right on the money that your own research is just as helpful as anything they'll tell you.

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Bump! Good input so far

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