Are Personal Trainers Worth It If I Want To Lose Weight?
May 3, 2023 mindpumpWorking as a trainer, I get MANY people say that they are fine with their workouts, and that hiring a trainer isn’t necessary. In some situations, yes, someone can lose weight successfully without a trainer.
But here’s the thing–more people will regain weight lost than keep it off. Typically, those who put weight back on after losing weight took drastic measures to get there, like severe calorie restriction or intense cardio. Sometimes, it comes from burnout, and they simply lose interest in working out. Eventually, it turns into an ongoing cycle.
Hiring a personal trainer to help with your weight loss goals is absolutely worth it, to not only help you reach your weight-loss goal, but do it in a way that makes sense for long-term health and avoiding that vicious weight-loss/weight-gain cycle. The rest of the article will go over additional benefits of hiring a personal trainer to help you lose weight.
Accountability
It’s really easy to skip the gym when we don’t feel up to it that day, but we’re less likely to do so when we’ve paid for those sessions. Typically, personal training clients who no-show for their session, or cancel within 24 hours, will be docked a training session from the package they have already paid for–it’s basically wasted money.
Personal trainers who truly care about their clients will check in on them, inquire about soreness levels the day after training, or really delve into how the client has been feeling about their workouts. Personal trainers have the ability to provide excellent accountability regarding adherence to the workout program, and may even extend to nutrition behaviors and diet strategy.
Individualized Programming
This is probably one of the best reasons to hire a trainer. You can have five people who want to lose weight, but there is likely to be training variability amongst each person to produce the best results.
Personal trainers take into account your goals, current activity level, nutrition, health history, and lifestyle factors to curate an individualized workout regimen. There are so many training programs out there, but they can be generic and ill-suited for some. For example, someone who has a high-stress job and has bad knees should probably not be following high-intensity workouts on YouTube, and yet, they think that is the best solution for their weight-loss goals.
With a personal trainer, you have a much better chance of success with someone who not only knows how to program workouts, but how to program them for you.
Passionate About Fitness and Health
I don’t know about you, but I am much more invested in a task or activity when I am around someone who emits positivity and enthusiasm. Motivation and encouragement are typical compliments many clients give regarding their personal trainer, making an otherwise difficult or challenging workout a bit more enjoyable. And a lot of the time, that positivity is contagious (so watch out!).
I’m not saying you will turn into a certified fitness-nut, but after working with a personal trainer who is knowledge, passionate, and personable, you may get to the point where going to the gym is less of a “need” and more of a “want.”
Fitness and Nutrition Advice
To go along with my previous point, personal trainers are very knowledgeable in their field. Personal training certifications are required to work with clients, and to maintain those certifications, trainers must take continuing education courses. So in a formal, educational level, they are always learning.
A lot of the time, trainers who work at the same facility come from different backgrounds or specialize in different areas of fitness. The smart trainers learn from their peers, and grow into a more valuable trainer for their clients. It’s entirely possible your personal trainer may not know every answer to every question or inquiry, but you can bet that they will take a proactive approach and do their best to research for the most reliable solution.
Goal Setting
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when just starting a new fitness regimen–and that goes for any fitness goal. A personal trainer helps their clients map out attainable, realistic, and measurable goals so that they can track for progress throughout their workout program. Typically, short and long-term goals are established, making the seemingly impossible seem possible. A 75-pound weight-loss goal may sound daunting, but setting 5 to 10-pound weight-loss benchmarks and implementing habits to help get there is much less stressful.
Keep in mind that not all personal trainers are the same. If you feel like you don’t have the best coach by your side, it is okay to ask the gym for someone else, or ask people in your community for recommendations. Whoever you go with, always make sure they train with your best interests in mind, and you’re both on the same page with goals and expectations.
