Hiring a Trainer?
Shopping for a personal trainer or a strength and conditioning coach can be overwhelming and stressful weather you are shopping for yourself, your son or your daughter. This article will help to ensure you are making the right choice.
Finding a good trainer is no different than shopping for a car. You must know what you want and know what your budget is. Are you shopping for a truck? a Ferrari? or a Honda Civic? all do different things and all come in at different prices.
As much as education and science are the foundation of a good trainer, you can not put a price on experience. Some of the top trainers in the world say that program design is as much art as it is science, and a more experienced trainer can better design a training program. Make sure when you are shopping for a trainer that they have experience in the field that you are training for.
Trainers with 10+ years of experience and a formal post secondary education in the field would be your best case scenario. However they are at a higher price range and if that trainer is a successful as he or she should be, it would be extremely difficult to book them.
Unfortunately the training industry does not have a governing body to control who can call themself a trainer. Most insurance companies that insure trainers are now requiring post secondary education rather than a certificate. If your trainer does not have insurance you probably shouldn’t be training with them. The public can help govern the industry by choosing a properly educated and experienced trainer as apposed to the weekend warrior trainer.
A trainer is as only as good the people who he or she surrounds himself with. The best trainers in the world learn from other trainers. He or she should have experienced some sort of job shadowing under a more experienced or educated trainer. It is extremely important that a trainer furthers his or her education in the field. Make sure that your trainer attends courses and or conferences that are applicable to the fitness industry.
The word “Coach” is coming up more and more in training world and I don’t disagree with it. As trainers we are hired to help clients reach their fitness goals. I would replace “help” with coach. Trainers need to coach and educate their clients through a training program not telling them what to do. It is important that a trainer educates the clients on why they are doing what they are doing.
When you are looking for a medical professional for yourself or your child i.e. a doctor/chiropractor/physiotherapist/dentist/orthodontists I am sure you would like them to be educated and experienced. That should be the case when you hire a trainer. You run the risk of injury if you don’t do your do diligence.