Squatting At A Gym?

drgndancer

if you ask a gym trainer, he will spend an hour making you believe that you cannot ever progress without him by your side, make you cry and feel weak and dependent and then all of a sudden you'll be believing him.

You're using the wrong trainer, and/or not adequately describing what you want them to do for you. Personal training is like any other professional service, there are good PTs and bad PTs, and even the best PT can't help you more than you're willing to let them. If you go in and say "I want to get in shape", the PT will respond with what he or she thinks is the best way to get you into whatever he or she defines as "in shape". If you go in and say that you want help designing and executing a weight training program to help build muscles, improve strength, etc. you're more likely to get what you want (assuming that is what you want).

Assuming you can afford it, and assuming you have a good PT, they are invaluable resources. They can help motivate you to go beyond what you think you're capable of, check form and recommend improvements, provide tracking of progress, recommend new exercises or focuses when something isn't working for you... Lots of things. You can do all of that for yourself, just like you can build your own house rather than hiring a contractor. For some people that might even be a good idea; others can't or won't afford the service. For most people who can afford it though, a PT appointment once a week or every couple of weeks isn't a bad idea.