Fitness Healthy Living In Home Training
December 23rd, 2021
5 Things to Check Before Hiring a Trainer
How to Find a Fitness Trainer
If you’ve been searching online for a personal trainer, you might feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of options. Maybe you’ve even plugged the phrase “how to find a personal trainer” into Google, only to be left feeling more confused than when you started.
At Nielsen Fitness, we understand how overwhelming it can be to seek out a personal trainer, especially for the first time. Most of our clients come to us through referrals from clients or healthcare professionals (such as a physiotherapist, chiropractor, or doctor). This is an excellent way to find all kinds of practitioners; if your friends and family love working with someone and have experienced results, odds are you will too!
Google can work too – but you’ll want to do your due diligence when researching and interviewing a prospective trainer. Here are some things we suggest you ask/do to help determine whether a potential trainer is a fit for you.
1. Experience and Qualifications
We suggest you ask about their qualifications, experience, and education.
It’s important to know that personal training is an unregulated industry which means that someone can do a weekend course and call themselves certified. Always look for someone with a background in health and fitness, multiple certifications and other indications that this isn’t a fly-by-night business for them.
2. Availability
It’s important to ensure your trainer has availability when YOU want to train! In our experience, the highest demand is in the morning (6 to 10ish) and late afternoon/evening on weekdays. If you’re hoping to train within one of those windows, be sure to ask whether your potential trainer has room for you in their schedule at that time so you don’t find yourself having to exercise at awkward/less optimal times of day.
3. How They Track and Measure Progress
Before signing up, you also want to understand how they measure progress and how you will work together to set, work towards and measure progress against your goals. If you have a particular goal in mind, don’t hesitate to tell them what it is and ask what their process would be for accomplishing it.
4. Their Rates
A good personal trainer will have fair and transparent rates. Beware of any gimmicks that seem ‘too good to be true’ as they likely are. Finally, as a registered business, trainers should charge tax and have insurance. These are items you want to check off before signing up.
5. References & Testimonials
Testimonials should not be overlooked as a great place to gather valuable intel about a prospective trainer. If there are a lot of them, that’s likely a good sign – keep an eye out for comments about things that matter most to you, like excellent customer service, fun workouts and a great attitude.
Train with us
All that said, if you want this to be the last article you read about how to select a great personal trainer, we’re here for you!
Our team is proud to offer virtual personal training (everywhere) and personal training at-home (in Toronto). We have been in business since 2006 and have developed an approach that has produced results for thousands of clients – both in person and virtually. Contact us for more information or to request a free first workout!