Is a personal trainer worth the money? As a fitness professional who owns a personal training company in Nashville, you may be surprised by my answer:
Is a personal trainer worth it?
Honestly, it depends on who the trainer is, and what your experience as a client is. All trainers are certainly not the same, and “what it’s like to work with a personal trainer” varies widely.
Nashville is filled with under-educated fitness trainers who walk people through a workout while chit-chatting, glancing at their cell phone, and allowing poor exercise technique by the client. Why do they allow bad technique? Maybe they don’t know it’s not correct. Maybe they don’t care, or they don’t have a trained enough eye to see the difference between good form and bad form.
(Just for perspective, I’m one of the guys who has gone around the country delivering continuing education workshops for personal trainers, so I have seen a LOT of personal trainers in action over the years. And sadly I must say that the average personal trainer’s teaching technique is quite unimpressive.)
These kinds of dime-a-dozen personal trainers are NOT worth the money. You might as well join a group exercise class, or watch some YouTube workout videos.
A personal trainer worth the money
A fitness trainer who IS worth the money is someone who can:
- Actually teach you exercise properly (go figure!),
- Tailor an exercise regimen to your actual needs, goals, and current abilities,
- Help coach you through the mindset blocks you may have around food, exercise, and healthy lifestyle habits,
- Motivate and encourage you while accepting you exactly where you are in your journey.
A more experienced and qualified personal trainer will also be able to help with exercise rehab and lead you to a place where you overcome any of your orthopedic aches and pains (nagging neck and shoulder pain, knee problems, “bad back” etc.) We do this through corrective exercise, flexibility improvements, and proper exercise selection/execution.
Average personal trainers don’t correct your form properly.
Average Personal Trainers
If you walk into a typical gym and buy a block of personal training sessions, chances are you will be taught poorly but treated nicely. Your only two benefits will probably be:
1) Accountability – you have to show up because you have an appointment to exercise. You’re paying to make yourself go work out.
2) Entertainment. Most trainers are good “people persons” who are likable, and will entertain you while you exercise. You’ll work hard and get tired. This feels good. Anyone can make you tired, so these kind of personal trainers are on every street corner.
If those two benefits make personal training worth the money to you, go for it.
But people often end up with back problems or shoulder problems from these kinds of trainers, and have to learn proper exercise technique from someone better. Sometimes they end up in physical therapy. Sometimes they just quit working out altogether, or end up becoming one of the Walking Wounded who just pushes through their chronic orthopedic pain. Boo.
I think you deserve better!
Better Personal Trainers
In Nashville, you have the opportunity to work with a fitness professional who is truly special:
- Actual teaching skills and knowledge,
- Exercise programming tailored to YOU, not just doing the workout of the day.
- Avoiding exercises that cause injury.
- Nutrition and lifestyle coaching from someone who truly understands you. This can change your life.
So with this kind of trainer, is personal training worth the investment? It’s hard to argue about spending money for someone who provides that kind of value.
If you’d rather get your personal training and nutrition help from someone special, reach out to Basics and Beyond fitness & nutrition with a message right now. I’ll call you back myself so we can talk about what will work best for you.
Your friend and coach,
Dan DeFigio, director GettingFit.com.
Dan DeFigio is a well-known personal trainer and health coach in Nashville. Dan has been featured on CNN’s Fit Nation, The Dr. Phil Show, SELF Magazine, Readers Digest, MyFitnessPal, Shape Magazine, and a host of other media outlets.