Here are my reasons personal training beats a gym membership.
Accountability
In a group class, your absence is less likely to be noticed. When you go to a big box gym with hundreds or thousands of members, nobody cares when you don’t show up. Actually, big box gyms bank on large percentages of their members NOT showing up.
When you work with a qualified trainer 1-1, you are expected to show up whether you feel like it or not. This accountability is key to you getting the results you want, because consistency is one of the most important factors in you reaching your goals. If you only make it to your workouts once a month, you won’t get any results. This is one of the big reasons working with a personal trainer can really sky-rocket your success.
Personal Investment
Your coach actually cares about your success. He/she becomes personally invested in your success. You will work harder for your trainer than you will for yourself. Having someone to motivate and encourage you will help you develop confidence in yourself to reach your goals and will inspire you to keep going when times get tough.
Individual Attention
In a group class, you maybe receive 10-20 percent or less of the coach’s instruction. When you go to a gym alone, nobody cares what you are doing and if you reach your goals or not. When you work with 1-1 with a trainer, you get all of their attention. That extra help correcting your form and staying on task goes a long way in helping you reach your goals that much faster.
Role Model
Your trainer sets a good example. Depending on your circle of influence, you might not spend a lot of time around people with good fitness and nutrition habits. Your friends might prefer to flop on the couch after work and your spouse might prefer fast food to fruits and veggies. When you enlist the help of a qualified fitness professional who really walks the talk, you witness their habits and start to apply some of them to your life too.
This pays off in more ways than just benefiting your health and fitness. Starting to adopt better habits can make you happier, reduce your stress levels and impact your productivity in other areas too.
Reduce Injuries
You will be a lot less likely to get hurt. Sometimes group classes are built in with a lot of jumping exercises and complex movements, because these sexy movements can sell a class. These exercises might not be appropriate for you if you are 50 pounds overweight or you have had a knee replacement.
A good trainer will design a program for your orthopedic needs and will help you accomplish the exercises in the safest way possible, allowing you to do things you never thought possible without pain or injury.
Personalized Programming
Your program will be specific to your goals. A good coach will design a program fit for your goals, instead of providing a cookie-cutter program or simple guidance on how to use the machines.
If you want to run a 5k, your coach needs to include steps to get you to run. Want to get stronger? Your coach should include a progressive strength training program. Specificity is key, and your coach knows this. You won’t get an individualized plan in a class or at a big box gym.
More Fun
You will look forward to going to work out with a good coach. While you likely won’t love all the exercises your trainer puts together, you will likely look forward to your personalized workout with your trainer more than you would just going to hop on an elliptical for an hour.
More Commitment
Because you have invested in yourself, you will be more likely to stick with the training to get the results you want.
Better Results
You will Get way better results. A good coach knows how to get you to your goals in the fastest, most efficient way. Any good trainer knows toiling on the elliptical for half an hour will never cut it to help you achieve your best fitness level.
No Misinformation
Your trainer will help you cut through misinformation.Doesn’t weight training make you big, bulky and slow ? Don’t I have to finish eating by 7 pm? Won’t carbs convert to body fat ? Isn’t lifting dangerous ? Don’t I have to eat every hour or so to rev my metabolism? Shouldn’t I use light weights to build muscle and heavy weights to build strength?
A good trainer will help you work past all these common myths so you can get results.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully these ten tips showed you that personal training beats a gym membership! Working with a good coach beats working out by yourself or in a group class every single time!
