subject: Hiring A Personal Trainer: The Traits To Look For [print this page] For many who have struggled to lose weight and get in shape, hiring a personal trainer has been the best decision they ever made. For others, it did little to inspire them to break past the barriers that had always kept them back. To be sure, even with someone motivating you and teaching you at every turn, you still have to do the work yourself. Not even the best PT in the world can help you if you aren't willing to help yourself. But you can give yourself a better shot at success if you hire someone with the right traits. The list of traits that are important will be slightly different from person to person, but here are some that every PT should have.
Straightforwardness
If you are at the point where you're thinking of hiring a personal trainer, you don't need someone who is going to fill your head with a false sense of confidence. You have your friends for that. Your friends who tell you that you are fine the way you are and you don't need to worry about eating that piece of cake after dinner. This isn't what you need in someone whose job it is to get you into shape. While it's not necessary to hire someone who is rude, you need someone who can tell you like it is. You've been coddled enough.
A Sense of Adventure
One of the primary benefits of hiring a personal trainer as opposed to finding a workout routine in a book is that things don't have to stay static. In fact, there's no reason why they should. Exercise was never meant to be this boring thing that you have to get out of the way so you can go on with your day. If you find the right person, your workouts will be different, creative, and fun every time out. Yes, they should be difficult and you should always feel as though you're struggling to get through them. But that should be from a physical standpoint, not a "this is so boring, I would rather be at work" standpoint.
An Eye for the Big Picture
Losing weight and getting in shape isn't something that is done in the gym. Yes, the workouts help. Done correctly and with enough vigor, they can help a lot. But the real weight loss comes in the other 22-23 hours of the day. This is where your choices play a big part in determining your success and you need a personal trainer who is aware of that fact. They should be helping you not just in the gym, but in finding the right foods, planning the right diet, and avoiding the pitfalls that have tripped you up in the past.
