Who workout with personal trainers, and how was the experience?

BosFitlife
BosFitlife Posts: 43 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Want to know if and how many worked or working with a personal trainer, and your experience was.
I know most of them working in a gym facility and their duty is to teach you how to exercise properly, but do they do more than that? like help you program a training plan and set goals to achieve, do they talk about diet and nutrition?
I find most are pretty expensive and a friend of mine was asking if she should get one, or she won't have the motivation to go workout, she needs someone to push her and she's willing to pay for it.
Please share your experiences.

Replies

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Using a PT is a great way to get comfortable in a gym, learn proper form, and develop a routine.

    I hear PTs often do discuss diet/nutrition, but they really shouldn't as they are generally not qualified.

    I've had great experience with PTs but I'm cheap so do small group glasses.

    My Mom works with a PT once or twice a week and loves him.
  • snemberton
    snemberton Posts: 175 Member
    I got a package of 10 sessions with a trainer at my gym. It was during my initial sign-up, so I was able to negotiate my daughter joining me in the sessions at no additional cost. The plan was to go twice a week for 5 weeks. We've had a couple of weeks that we had to push off because of the trainer being out of town or us having other plans. I continued to do other work those weeks, either group classes or on my own (I also do cardio 4-5 days a week in addition to the two sessions and yoga at least once a week.)

    I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who can afford it. It was great motivation to kick start my habit of working out, it gives me the accountability I wouldn't have had otherwise and he's been able to come up with modifications to my exercises to prevent irritation of a bulging disk in my lower back. With 2 sessions left, I know I want to continue working with him, but I need to financially look at the numbers. I may get 10 more sessions, but use them once a week and have him give me "homework" for the other day I would have gone, or do a group class that aligns well with my goals.

    Our gym talks to you about your goals and does a fitness eval before they set you up with a trainer. They said if I didn't click with who they assigned, I was free to change. However, they appear to be really good at putting people with trainers that match them well. I don't need a cheerleader or slave driver, I need a person with a plan, who knows based on the expression on my face if I am struggling or just on that edge of it being too little or too much. That's what I got. (One of my exercises is pushing a weighted sled across the room. Once I looked like it got too easy, so the next round I got weight added. I'm not good at determining when I need a little more difficulty yet, so I wouldn't have thought to do that myself. Other times, he sees me struggling a lot and makes me take a longer rest between exercises.)

    I like not having to decide what exercises will work best each time or what weights I am probably ready to use. I like having someone there to correct my form so I don't aggravate my back. I like having someone push me a little harder each time with more reps and weights, but know when I should probably stay at the same for a little bit.

    When I did my first eval, I could barely do 2-3 pushups and 10 situps were awful and tough. I couldn't touch my toes. Squats and lunges were WAY shaky. I couldn't hold a plank for 5 seconds. Last night I was able to do 10 pushups in a row, 30 situps in a row, I can do unweighted squats and lunges without shaking (and we are now adding weights) and I can hold a plank for at least 15 seconds, sometimes 20. I can touch my toes! That all seems like small accomplishments, but I was terribly out of shape with (fat) noodle arms. I feel stronger each time and while my muscles are sometimes a little sore, I'm not hurting so bad I want to lay in bed the whole next day. I'm also 11 lbs down and clothes are a little looser. I'm glad to have a trainer who is good with my slow and steady pace and isn't trying to push me so hard that I don't want to keep doing it. I also feel that if it was just me coming up with my own training plan, I either wouldn't have pushed myself enough to have made this progress, or I would have pushed too hard, injured myself and given up.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited June 2018
    I worked with my PT for about a year or so. I loved it and had the best results in regards to body re-composition and improved fitness. I went in already pretty fit, but he took it up a notch or two. My goals revolved namely around overall fitness and greater athleticism.

    I liked going in and not having to think and just do whatever he told me to do. It was a much broader variety of movements than any established program I ever worked with which was good to move my body in different ways and to do things that left to my own devices I wouldn't really do. Left to my own, I'm a pretty bare bones basics compound movements with a couple of accessory lifts kind of guy...he had me doing all kinds of variations, as well as single leg work, box jumps, all kinds of plyo stuff...stuff that left to my own I just typically skip.

    As PTs and nutrition goes, it's a pretty mixed bag I think...many PTs I've come across just spout whatever is trendy at the moment. My PT has his masters in nutrition so he was pretty well versed. Some states also do not allow anyone to give out nutrition plans unless they are a registered dietitian...in which case, only very generalized recommendations can be made such as eat more whole foods, lean proteins, etc.

    Finding a good PT can also be a bit hit or miss...it took me a couple of years to find mine and I basically lucked out and stumbled into him as he had lost the lease where he had his gym and started renting space at the gym I was going to at the time.

    ETA: I ultimately had to stop because $50 per session once per week was just getting too expensive, plus my membership price. I still go to his gym and we're really good friends outside of the gym, so he still gives me plenty of advice and coaching...just no direct work.
  • EHollander89
    EHollander89 Posts: 169 Member
    I work out with a personal trainer once per week and then have a small group session (usually only 2-3 ladies) with the same trainer once per week. I also take 3-4 boxing/kickboxing/MMA classes throughout the rest of the week. I've enjoyed having the trainer to teach me how to lift with proper form, and I definitely feel like having her there in my sessions makes me work harder/complete all my reps/ use appropriately heavy weight. I doubt I would have made so much progress in the past 6 months without her. She's created my workout plan and pushed me in a good way. There is no way I would be where I am now if I had just started tinkering around in the weight area at my gym without a proper plan.

    We talk about my diet if I bring it up. My trainer does not make me meal plans or ask me about my diet. She knows that I use My Fitness Pal to track my intake. Sometimes we will talk about new recipes we've tried or the new smoothie bar down the street, etc. but we mainly focus on my lifting routine.

    I should probably add that I have been focused on recomp so far this year. I have been eating at a very slight deficit. I've lost about 4 pounds this year, and I have definitely seen a positive change in my body composition.

    I found a trainer that I like and trust, and I have been very happy with the results so far. I plan to continue my sessions for the foreseeable future.
  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,353 Member
    I've worked out with a trainer for the last couple of years and wouldn't trade it for anything. We meet outside of our sessions every 12 weeks or so to go over program goals, needs, and just generally check in. Then my programming gets adjusted to meet the updated goals. I've done different cycles to build strength, build mobility and for hypertrophy, all with good results. He does a great job of pushing me to increase my weights when I get too comfortable and is especially good with adapting things around old injuries, soreness or whatever. We touch on diet and nutrition, but mainly he just checks in with how my weight and diet are working relative to the current program or brainstorming with me on meal timing or quick and easy meals. I'm chronically overscheduled and he's a dad of toddlers, so we're both very much into meal prep and all food quick and easy :)

    Having the commitment of a trainer is also really important to my success. Paying for the service, plus knowing that someone is waiting on me to show up will get me to the gym much more consistently than me intending to go. The only time I have for workouts is from 5-6:30 am, so it's super easy to push the snooze if I have half a chance! I highly recommend it for that kind of motivation, accountability and consistency--especially if someone is just starting to build the habit.
  • Courtscan2
    Courtscan2 Posts: 499 Member
    I had a PT that I used for a few months and I loved her - she pushed me to lift heavier than I ever would have on my own, and helped me really see what I was capable of. Also forced me to get to the gym, as I was paying her whether I showed up or not! But at $40 per session it was too dear to carry on long term, so I took what I learned from her and have continued to progress on my own in my home gym, where I now have a bunch of new, heavy weights :)

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