How to Get the Most from Your Personal Trainer

Finding the right personal trainer for you can be a total game-changer for your health and fitness. But that’s just one step in the process because the real magic happens when you and your personal trainer learn to work as a team together.

Having a dedicated health and fitness expert at your back can provide you with the expertise and experience you need to give you a little extra push to meet your personal goals. They help you to come up with a strategy to help overcome physical and emotional roadblocks so you can get the results you want. But, you have to be willing to put in the work and use your trainer to their fullest capabilities. Here are a few of the ways you can get the most out of the time you spend with your personal trainer.

Training Tip No. 1: Find the Right Personal Trainer

There are a lot of personal trainers out there, so you have to be selective when finding the right one for you. Shop around and meet them to see if you click and if their style of training fits well with your expectations and goals.

Also, ask about their credentials. That’s one way to ensure you’re getting a trainer who knows what they’re talking about. It’s best to focus on national credentials and certifications. Lalo Fuentes, a Los Angeles personal trainer, has a CSCS credential. That means he is a “Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist” through the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Basically, finding someone with impeccable national credentials means you’re actually getting someone who knows what they’re doing, not a gym nut who thinks they do!

Training Tip No. 2: Create Clear Goals

Prior to your first training session together, discuss what your goals are with your trainer so they can come up with the right plan to make them a reality. This process may involve an assessment so your trainer can get an idea of your current fitness level and strength. As Los Angeles personal trainer Lalo Fuentes says, “You have to know where you started to understand where you need to go, after all.”

Training Tip No. 3: Cultivate a Strong Working Relationship

Your personal trainer is your partner in health and fitness – and that’s a very good thing for the both of you! To help foster a good working relationship, pay attention to what they’re telling you to do and how they’re telling you to do it. Do you understand their directions clearly? Do they pick up on your body language to indicate when you’ve had enough? Do you feel punished or motivated by their feedback?

You should feel like your trainer brings out the best in you. Don’t be shy because you need to tell them how you’re feeling about the way you work together. The most important thing you can do is voice your preferences on communication and motivation to your trainer and see where it takes you.

These tips can help you find and keep a great trainer, but the first step starts with you. You have to decide that it’s time to get up and get moving so you can change your health and your life for the better!