Getting fit and healthy is tough at the best of times, but if you find yourself training with a specific goal and objective in mind, you may find yourself more susceptible to failure, as well as physical and mental exhaustion in the process. There will be times when we wake up in a morning and we cannot wait to tuck into our egg whites, super greens, and steamed chicken salad before heading out to push ourselves to our limits in the gym. There will however, also be times when we just cannot be bothered to eat healthily or to go to gym, and so we’ll decide to take a day or two off instead. Before we know it, that day or two has become a week, and we find ourselves right back where we were to begin with. If any of the above sounds familiar to you, you may wish to consider hiring a personal trainer. A personal trainer, or PT for short, is there to help motivate us, to help us reach our fitness goals and objectives, and to show us what to do, and when to do it. Finding a good PT however, is much easier said than done, but if you look for the 5 characteristics and qualities in a PT that we’re about to list, you’ll find yourself benefitting hugely from their professional knowledge and guidance.
The ability to go above and beyond for their clients
If you’re looking for a PT that will really help you to reach your goals and objectives, one of the first traits you should look for is their ability to go above and beyond for their clients. By this, we mean that they should not simply just train you for an hour a week, and then hurry you out of the door before they see their next client. A good PT will be available around the clock, and will emphasize the fact that their phone, or email, is always open, no matter what time it may be. If you are struggling with your diet, or if you aren’t sure whether or not you can eat something, you should be able to call or text your PT, ask them what you want to know, and to then receive a friendly and educated answer. Put simply, if a PT just does not want to know at any time other then when they are physically training you, you should look for one that does.
A passion for what they are doing
You can tell when somebody has a true passion for what they do, because they actually enjoy what they do, and when they talk about it, their faces will light up and you won’t be able to shut them up. Your PT should be actively interested in health, fitness, nutrition, and any other relevant subjects, and they should know what they’re talking about. You can get an idea of just how passionate about something that a person is, by simply asking them a few questions, although you can also check out their websites and social media pages to get an insight into their work. Health and fitness for a personal trainer, is not just a job, it is a 24/7 lifestyle, and if your PT just doesn’t have that spark or passion, you may wish to look elsewhere for one that does.
A good physique themselves
Although you shouldn’t necessarily judge a book by its cover, ideally when choosing a PT, you want a trainer who has a pretty impressive physique themselves. If your PT is out of shape, this obviously doesn’t bode well for their clients because if they can’t even get themselves in shape, how can they be expected to get their clients into shape? A poor physique also suggests that they have lost their spark and passion for fitness, which again, is not what you want. Obviously your PT doesn’t need to have a Mr Olympia-style physique, but they should look relatively impressive, and if they don’t, just be wary.
Great communication skills
Remember, a personal trainer is not just there to train you, they are there to teach you how to train yourself, so that you can get yourself into shape when they aren’t there, or when you feel that you no longer require their services. Your personal trainer should ideally have great communication skills so that they can teach you how to perform certain exercises and movements, how not to do them, why you’re doing them in the first place, what to and not to eat, and anything else that would be deemed relevant for somebody trying to get into shape. If for example, they are trying to teach you how to perform a basic exercise, they will need to know how to teach it as simply as possible. The majority of people being trained by a PT, will not have an extensive knowledge of health and fitness, and they won’t have studied extensively in that field, and your PT will need to realize that, and understand how to convey what they’re trying to say, as simply and as easily to understand as possible.
Great motivational skills
There will be days, even when you’re training with a personal trainer, that your energy levels are low, and your motivational levels are at near zero, so you will really be struggling in the gym. Your PT however, should have the ability to snap you out of your slump and to get you more motivated than ever before. Each trainer will have their own techniques, so whether they choose to shout, whether they choose to encourage, or anything else for that matter, as long as they have the ability to motivate you when you are thinking of throwing in the towel, their expert knowledge could prove extremely useful indeed. If they can’t motivate you, no matter how hard they try, again, you may wish to find somebody who can.
