Personal trainers - Are they worth the money??

Hi all,

I am just after coming back from a free PT session at my local gym. The trainer was encouraging me to sign up for a series of personal training sessions with him. He is quite expensive though - £350 for 10 sessions on top of my regular monthly membership fee. I think personal trainers are on an OTE salary so they rely on this extra income to supplement their monthly salary.

I was wondering - does anyone here have any experience of having a personal trainer and do you think they are worth the extra expense in order to achieve good results? My trainer promises visible results within 10 weeks, which is enticing to say the least!

When I go to the gym I generally use the same machines because I am not confident enough to use the free weight machines. At least with a PT, would have the motivation and knowledge base on how to use the machines and weights effectively. Still seems pricey though.... especially when I can probably get all the info I need from online forums such as this or menshealth.co.uk....!

Any thoughts people?

The trainers at my local YMCA are about the same price, but you can buy them a single session at a time or in sets of 6.

Personally, I want to hire the trainer who works during the time I am usually there. I have seen some of the routines that he has put together with other clients and I really like what I have seen. Also, part of their job is to help members on the floor when they do not have a PT session. Every time I have asked a favor of him ( can you check my squat? Can you help me with...?) he has said yes with a smile...

I've had a trainer since about July. He's great see him twice a week. He makes sure I change things up, that I'm in proper form, challenging myself. And when I really lost all motivation he was there to pull me out of it...I also had to go cause I was paying him.

That's not a bad price at all. 100$/session is normal in Canada

Will your gym allow you to switch trainers if you want to? How much of a $$ commitment do you have to make? I signed up for training 3x/month last January. I went for about 6 weeks, then got sick, and never got back to the gym. I just didn't really click with the trainer; he wasn't very good at explaining and motivating, and he wasn't chatty at all. Then in August, I got a call from a trainer at the gym wanting to know if I wanted to come in and start using those training sessions I was paying for! So I did, and he's a wonderful trainer. I met with him twice a week for awhile, then once a week. Now, for financial reasons, I will probably only work with him once a month for now. But he really pushed me, taught me how to use the gym, and gave me a lot of confidence and encouragement. So now I know what to do, and I know I'm capable of lifting more than I think sometimes, and getting stronger. Plus I will be meeting with the training supervisor once a month now to do my measurements and talk about how things are going.

Bottom line is, if you can afford to do it, even just for 3-6 months, I think it will help you get off to a great start. My gym was very willing to let me switch trainers if I wanted; they said right up front that sometimes it's good to work with a new trainer to learn some new things and mix up your workout a bit, so to feel free to do that. I think that's a great idea.

I pay 51$ canadian for my personal trainer and she is worth every penny! she has given me a detailed strength training program tailored to me and I she showed me all the exercises during our session! Then I went back to the gym by myself and actually knew what to do with the weights! I HAVE NEVER left the gym with such a great burn - which never happened prior to me asking for help from a personal trainer.

I'd say they are worth it for a couple different reasons, even though they do cost a fair bit (in Canada I pay around 70$/session).

The big thing for me is I wanted to learn how to work out on my own, and how to use the different pieces of equipment in the gym. I now feel a lot more confident, and can work out on my own. And the second aspect is you have that ongoing motivation to get fit, as you're paying for it to begin with, as well as your trainer will usually yell at you if you get off track (at least mine does, hah!). Even after the crappiest week where I've done nothing and ate junk all week, I know I'll be getting my *kitten* kicked for an hour at the gym each saturday morning.