What does a Personal Trainer DO anyway?

Depends on the trainer.

Most just stand around and stare as you do useless light weight exercises, talk to each other, then try to sell you on some supplement or bro-science nutrition plan.

Some, if you hire one who is actually committed to fitness - a real "personal" trainer that isn't just hired staff at the local gym, make you pick up heavy stuff and put it down.

I'd guess the ones at your gym are the first kind.

Some are just friends for hire that lead you around the gym and make you think that you are working out by having you do ridiculous things.

Others actually train you and take an interest in what you want to do, what your goals are etc.

For me, I bought 10 sessions at my local gym about 6 months ago. The only reason I took on a trainer was to perfect my form on my power-lifts, most notably deadlifts, hang cleans, and squat.

He helped me perfect my form on those lifts and prevent further injury down the line. Definitely a good investment for me.

My personal trainer makes sure I don't do too much too fast and hurt myself (which I am infamous for), but he also manages to push me just far enough to make sure I keep improving. He demonstrates all the exercises for me, corrects my form, makes sure I work out a bunch of different muscles, and helps me find ways to strengthen my knees without causing more issues or pain. I have really enjoyed having a trainer.

Good trainers are always looking at ways to mix up your exercise routine and keep in interesting. They make sure you are using the correct form and help push you. I had one that I saw two days a week and we were always mixing it up sometimes doing pylomatrics and some times lifting heavy. We barely ever used the machines. It was either free weights or body weight exercises. Also for women having a personal trainer will help you break into what some women think is the boys only free weight section and help you feel comfortable there.

The gym I go to has the typical "Meet the Trainers" session, where you sit down and talk with them and if you want to they figure out a training schedule for you, etc... I was weary because I mentioned that I wanted to get into weight lifting using free weights and such, but the face he gave me was "You are female, you dont' belong on that side of the gym."

So I decided to just watch for a while, observing what the trainers were doing with people that were already using their services. I am glad I did that, because the trainer doesn't seem involved in what they are doing at all. When their clients would go and start doing the workout, the trainer goes in with his Ipad and headphones and sits around playing on the tablet and not really observing them at all. I have observed some of the men he trains as well. He will sit in his office and they go and report to him what to do next. Sorry, but that isn't my idea of a good trainer.

My idea of what a Personal Trainer should do? They should be fully involved in the client they are seeing. They shouldn't be teaching an entire group of 5 women at one time. A personal trainer is just that, someone who spends one on one time personally and helps you achieve your goals on a one on one basis. I basically looked at what the trainer at my gym was doing and thought, "He is charging 40 dollars an hour for group lessons." I see a personal trainer as someone who motivates you beyond what you think you can do. They stand over you and get you to push out that last bench press that you didn't know was there. They help you mold your diet to fit your individual lifestyle and dietary needs.

That's my thought at least.

At Bally's, now LA Fitness, when my wife rarely worked out, one approached her and asked about her workout habits. My wife, open and honest to a fault, said something along the line of, "I just kind of workout from time to time, when I'm bored, but I really don't like to workout too hard or sweat too much." The woman told her that sounded great and my wife said, "Really?" and she said "No, but they instruct the trainers to say that to whatever gym members answer with. Now that my wife has gotten into fitness and dropped 30+ pounds, it seems the personal trainers at our gym are in charge of hitting on her until she clearly tells them she is married (since we go to the gym together, but separate after we get there).

HArd to be impressed with the Bally's/LA Fitness trainers. I once was asked to do both a fat test and a fitness test. When my numbers were good, they ignored me, which is just the way I like them.

But for people not sure of their workouts or not as self-motivated as they would like to be, I'm sure they offer some help.

I was a personal trainer back years ago after completing a degree in exercise science. I was working my way to Physical Therapy. I enjoyed helping people reach their goals. My goal for any client was to teach them about helath and fitness. A typical client would start with coming in a few times a week and we would start working a plan. My job was to teach them the exercises and some variety in the routines. After a bit I would cut them down to just once a week, but make sure I saw them at least on the other day they would normally come in, in case they had questions. After that we would just meet once a week or as needed to retool and update the routines. That was ideal to me and worked well with many clients.

However, i also had a lot of folks that just used me for counting and accountability. They didn't want to learn anything and just wanted me to put them through the paces. That is finally what kind of burned me out.