If you are planning to hire a personal fitness trainer or a yoga trainer, here are some points to consider.
1. You should be very clear that why do you want a personal trainer?
Answer - I want a fitness training.
No, that's a wrong answer. You can always go to a good fitness training centre with more experienced professionals.
Being a personal trainer, I know many reasons. But you should have your own reason and purpose which will help you to stick to your training till the end and will help you to track your progress.
2. Choose right time and commit to it:
Scheduling class at 5 or 6 am though you usually have a long day, is really a bad idea. It's very important to understand that you can not do everything by your own. Delegate your work and talk to your family to get support. You may want to prioritise your work and delete some unnecessary work from your to-do list.
3. Finding a professional:
It's important to understand that it's your personal training so just don't hire on recommendation or just in the name of any famous yoga institute. Meet and discuss with as many trainer as possible and take demo classes. It will take time but it will worth it. Because you may not want to change your trainer all the time.
4. Fee Structures:
Asking fee is not enough. Every teacher has its own fee structure. Discuss it before scheduling meeting or demo class. Here are some points to consider:
- the fee is less but you will be charged for commutation of the trainer.
- fee is less but trainer asks for lots of holidays.
- Some work on the basis of number of classes and some work on monthly basis.
- Sometimes going with less fees can be more expensive and useless.
- Usually, payments are in advance but don't pay for 2-3 months together. Even the trainer is highly recommended, you never know the future.
5.) Holidays:
If you are a person who travels a lot and it's not possible to take classes on regular basis, talk to your trainer for having a flexible time and changes in fee structure. You may arrange online class when you are not in your city.
6. Having a partner in your personal trainer:
Only one partner is ok but having more than one and inviting your family member or friend randomly just to utilize your money will compromise your own training.
7. What to expect or not to expect from a personal trainer:
- Very important - trainer should be regular and punctual.
- At least understand the very basics of fitness training eg. Warm-up, cool down, breathing, alignment, risk and benefits.
- Your trainer should be able to understand you and guide you in case you need more fitness support.
- Who has the capacity to push you and some time to be tough on you?
- You can not expect your personal trainer to come on different days and time to adjust or cut the fees for your own leaves . It's completely upto him/her willings.
- She/he is your tutor. So, the trainer is expected to be well behaved and you are expected to be respectful towards your trainers.
8.) Mindset:
- Don't be desperate to get result fast. Desperate people are more likely to lose hope.
- it's a long way to go, have patience and be consistent.
- You will also need to work on your food habits to get benefits from training.
- If you have chosen your trainer, put your faith in him/her. In my experience, people with extra knowledge of their own are the people who don't get the benefit.
- Don't hide any medical issue from your trainer even it's very small and you think it's not important.
- Always share how do you feel after training or after a particular exercise.
- Start with an easy and achievable goal.
9.) Having two different training:
I have seen people having weight training and yoga training or dance training altogether. You have the capacity to pay but does your body has the capacity to handle? And are these trainings actually helping you? And are you able to take all the classes regularly? Of course, the answer is No.
- Don't be greedy, go slowly.
- Extra exercise can actually harm your health.
- Being regular is important than having many classes.
10.) Commitment:
You need effort. Hiring a trainer is not enough. The efforts are required from both sides. It doesn't matter if your trainer is coming every day to your place but you are late, not in the mood or you are tired. You need to keep yourself ready. And to keep yourself ready even in your busy schedule needs a commitment.
Thank you!