Is a personal trainer right for you?

Today, I want to answer a question that a few of you out there might have, and that's the decision of whether you want to invest in personal training, and what's keeping you from making that decision.

So first of all, let's take a look - What is it that you actually want to accomplish?

For some people, they just want to look and feel better. Maybe you’ve looked at old pictures, and see yourself from a few months ago or from a few years ago, and see a big difference from then till now. Or maybe you have some clothes in your closet, and you want to try to fit back into them again. 

Perhaps the doctor said to you, "Hey, look. You've got some hypertension or you're pre-diabetic and you need to get some work in."

Or perhaps it might be that you want to go for some walks and some hikes again with your spouse or partner, or hold up your grandkids and play with them.

These are just a few of the reasons behind wanting personal training that we hear from many of our clients.

The second thing we want to consider are the barriers that might be holding you back from making this decision. What are some of the barriers?

There are three main barriers that prevent people from making the decision to actually get personal training. The first barrier would be money, second, fear of commitment, and third would be time or lifestyle. 

Money seems to be the predominant issue we notice that comes up when making that decision for personal training. People just don't think they can afford something like this. But, usually, when you dig a little bit deeper, you find that people have a perceived cost versus an actual cost of the good. Once you address that, it breaks down that barrier.

What we actually want to look at is the perceived value of whatever it is that you're getting. Most people fixate on the cost, but forget to look at the actual value of what is it that they're getting. If you think back to some of the things that you wanted, such as wanting to go for walk, wanting to go for a hike, playing with your grandkids, getting into those clothes that you haven't worn in years, or taking pictures and actually being proud of them, then those things are worth it to you. That's the value to you.

The second barrier is the fear of commitment. If you don't commit, you can't fail.

Most people, at some point in time, have started an exercise program, and either they've stopped short and failed, or they didn't get the results they were looking for. Usually, going forward, this can hinder a person’s decision to commit to something else later on. So if we can address that fear of commitment head on, we can actually get past that barrier.

This one is usually a pretty easy one to address because more often than not, it is an accountability issue. With a personal trainer, you have someone that you're going to be held accountable to. You're sitting down with your trainer and laying out a plan in terms of how far you’re going to take yourself, and more importantly, how you're going to get there.

Because you’re in it together with your personal trainer, that sense of accountability helps confront the fear of commitment in order to make sure you pull through the entire way, and not only reach your health goals, but also surpass them.

The third main barrier we notice stopping clients from taking the plunge for personal training is time, or lifestyle. The biggest excuse, and we've all said it, is, "I don't have enough time."

For example, you have work and family commitments, which we all understand. What we can do is look at time management in order to address that.  Again, this goes back to your partner, the trainer that you're working with. Ask yourself, "how are we going to manage my time a little bit differently?" Usually, there are SOME gaps and holes that we can really take advantage of and make time for health after sitting down and really taking the time to work out a good plan together.

From a healthcare standpoint, one thing we ask people to consider is, “how much is it going to cost you to see a doctor when you're sick or taking any sort of prescription for a health issue?” Do you want to pay short term , and invest your time, money and energy into your health now, or do you want to pay for it in the long run with health issues popping up later down the line in your life?

These are a few points that we like to look at with potential personal training clients in order to help them overcome these decision-blocking barriers. Our big goal is to get you healthy and running around able to keep up with the things in life that you enjoy.

If you have any questions, you can always set up a personal training assessment with us here at HealthFit, and we can sit down and address any issues or concerns that you might have.

Coach Allister Buchanan, CPT, GEI