In my last post on this topic, I talked a bit about the comparative costs of Personal Training and various medical costs for illnesses and surgeries that are often fitness linked. Obviously, the cost differences when shown in comparison are substantial, but what are the other benefits to having a Personal Trainer or Strength coach?
1. Actual Coaching
Having a set of eyes watching what you do and how you do it makes a huge difference! Taking videos of yourself can work, but angles get limited and you then have to replay the video multiple times to figure out any mistakes. With a Personal Trainer, you get an instant feedback loop of things to focus on and correct each rep! There's no delays, no angles to figure out, and no time wasted scrolling through your video.
2. Accountability
Most Personal Trainers are very good about reminding clients of sessions, and checking in to make sure they are doing workouts other than just the sessions they do with you (unless you do 4-5 sessions a week with them, you probably have to workout on your own to reach your goals). Personally, I send out text message reminders to all of my clients the day before their session, and after some tougher sessions, will check in to make sure they can still function the next day. Either way, you get an accountability partner who is trying to get you to your end goal as well.
3. Programming
I've met with a lot of people who have hit a plateau in their training in the past month or so. About 6 months into the year and those "good ol' resolutions" start to stagnate and progress starts to dip, and the main issue I've realized people have is that they don't know how to program for their goals. With a Personal Trainer or Strength Coach, they write the workouts for you, and if they are really good will also write the workouts for you to do on the days when don't meet (I'll admit I am inconsistent with this). This also helps because then you can't avoid doing the stuff you don't like to do.
4. Reality Checking
A Personal Trainer is going to help keep you in check with reality. They'll tell you the truth about how unrealistic your goal to lose 60 pounds in a month is. They'll help you sort fact from fiction on social media (because no, The Rock isn't jacked because of pancakes and pizza...or donuts). They'll give you a reality check when you haven't done all that is necessary to reach your goal, and they tend to do all of this with a smile and as nicely as possible.
5. A Teammate
Unless yours turns out to be a really crappy Personal Trainer, you'll find that you've hired someone whose always in your corner. They cheer you on when you want to quit. They know when to push you and to make you rest. When no one else has your back when you're trying to hit your goal, they do.
Bonus: A Free Psychologist
At some point, you're going to start venting to your Personal Trainer. It happens, and that's okay. I've never met a Personal Trainer who wouldn't take the time to listen to how great your weekend was or how much you loath visits from that one pesky relative. We listen, and when we have advice to give, we tend to give. I know a lot of Personal Trainers who feel as if they're getting paid to listen to their client, and none of them complain about it. It's part of the job, and if it helps you, then we're doing our job right.
These are just a few of the cool benefits of having a Personal Trainer. There are other great ones, but for brevity, I've found that these are some of the best.
In short, though Personal Training costs money, the benefits both short and long term are worth it.