STOP! DO NOT hire a personal trainer yet!

In this article I’m going to show you the 4 things you need to do BEFORE you go ahead and hire a personal trainer.

This will hopefully save you valuable time and money, while avoiding all the headaches that come with picking the wrong trainer.

Don’t Make This Mistake!

You know what drives me crazy?

I really hate it when honest people like you seek out a personal trainer to improve their fitness, only to end up with a low quality, inattentive, and sometimes even dangerous trainer.

That really makes me furious.

That’s why I’ve come up with this simple 4-step process to help you find and hire the best personal trainer possible for YOU.

So let’s get started!

Step 1: Find A Personal Trainer Near You

Before you even consider working with a personal trainer, make sure that you can get to and from your training sessions in a reasonable amount of time. 

If the location isn’t convenient for you, you might have a hard time fitting the commute into your daily schedule. 

And the farther you have to go, the easier it will be for you to make excuses when you don’t feel like showing up at the gym.

That’s why you should always work with a trainer that fits one of these 4 location criteria.

Your ideal personal trainer is:

1. Located near your home
2. Located near your work
3. Located between your work and your home 
4. A mobile trainer who can come to your home or workplace

If you already have fitness equipment at home, finding a mobile trainer who can come to your place is definitely a solution you should consider.

For everyone else, make sure you find a trainer who works close to your home, your work, or along your commute route.

To give you the best chances of finding a perfect match, get at least 3 or 4 different options down on paper before you move to the next step.

Step 2: Check Their Personal Training Reviews

Reviews are a fantastic way to verify your step 1 picks and guarantee to get the highest quality service possible.

And although reviews can sometimes give you a wrong first impression, it’s still the best way to know what you’re getting yourself into without actually having to be there in person.

The top 3 places to find legitimate reviews of personal trainers are (1) on Google, (2) on Facebook, and (3) on Yelp. Be weary of trainers who don’t have any testimonials in any of those places, but have a lot of great reviews on their website. This could be a scam.

Look for actual accounts and stories of people who worked with the trainer in question, rather than just 5-star reviews that don’t have any context or words attached to them.

Now that you have a short list of trainers that are easily accessible to you AND that are of high quality, it’s time to make sure that they are the right pick.

For this, let’s check out step 3.

Step 3: Check Their Personal Trainer Website And Their Story

Finding a great trainer is one thing: but finding a great trainer to help you with your specific goals, that’s a different story!

You see, although all high-quality trainers can work with many different kinds of clients (like weight loss, strength, sports preparation, injury rehab), you now have the chance to find the trainer that will best match your personal requirements.

For example, at Upside Strength I focus on creating a positive learning environment that won’t intimidate those who are new to the gym, so that they can get started in the best way possible.

Other gyms or trainers might focus on a clientele that already has a strong lifting background and work primarily with people that don’t mind a chaotic training environment.

Reading the trainer’s website will give you valuable insight into who they are, what their background is, and what their ideal client profile looks like.

If you’re brand new to all things fitness, find a trainer who knows how to handle beginners. You’ll want someone who is open, patient, and attentive to detail.

At this point you’re almost certain to have a perfect match! 

Let’s go to our last step to seal the deal, and you’ll be on your way to a fitter, stronger you.

Step 4: Get A Trial With The Personal Trainer

Here’s the deal:

If you want a successful relationship with your trainer, you need to connect with him or her on a personal level. 

But how can you know if your personalities will be compatible before you invest large sums of money into this journey?

The answer is simple: get a trial.

Most great trainers will offer you a chance to work with them for a handful of hours at a lower price when you get started.

With this in-person experience under your belt, you now know exactly what you’re getting yourself into.

Be weary of trainers trying to sell you expensive training packages without letting you test the service first.

This concludes the 4 steps you need to take before you decide to hire a personal trainer.

Now that you have found your ideal personal trainer, make sure you make the most out of all your personal training sessions.

Question: which step do you feel is the most important to you? Is it the location of the trainer, or the reviews? Either way, let me know in the comment section below!