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What THEY Won’t Tell You About Personal Trainers

By Dale Andrew

As more and more people are realizing that accountability, education and support are critical to achieving their health and fitness goals, personal trainers have become more popular.

Personal trainers aren’t just for celebrities seeking a better body, anymore.

The problem is that when it comes to hiring a personal trainer for the average person, they’re really a mixed bag.

A few have university degrees in physical education, kinesiology, or a related health sciences background. Some may have completed a weekend certification course. Others may have just worked out themselves for a few years.

Is it fair to lump all of these people together and call them personal trainers?

Maybe not.

With such a wide variance in terms of education and experience, it seems just as likely that the kind of results you could expect will be just as wide. The onus is on the consumer to do their research when hiring a personal trainer, so they spend their money wisely.

There are lots of different organizations offering personal training certifications. As someone who has taken a lot of them – seriously, I have more letters behind my name than are in my name – I can tell you that all certifications are not the same. Most have left me disappointed. Many of these courses have no applied component or practical exam, whatsoever.

I’m not going to go as far as to say that one needs a university degree to be a good personal trainer (even though I have two), but a trainer would need to do an equivalent period of studying. As someone who has been in the health and fitness industry for over ten years, I can tell you that I have seen a lot of “personal trainers” come and go. It’s a transient profession for most. They are not my concern. The people they leave behind are.

What you should be looking for is a fitness professional.

Professionals get paid. Why? Because they consistently provide ordinary people with extraordinary results that they could not achieve on their own.

As in any other service-based profession, if a personal trainer can’t help people get results; people will not be lined up to hire them. If a trainer is not getting people results, they can’t make enough money to pay the rent. Then, they go and get a different job.

Nobody wants a personal trainer. Everybody wants a better body. Everybody wants results.

If you’re thinking of hiring a personal trainer, you should know what kind of results they have been getting for people like yourself and for how long. They should be able to provide you with plenty of testimonials from satisfied clients.

One more important question, “Does the personal trainer you’re thinking of hiring guarantee your results?”

If not, maybe there’s a reason.

About the Author:

Dale Andrew, M.A. is a fitness professional, author, and speaker. He is the fat loss expert busy professionals worldwide turn to for advice on how to build a better body - FAST. To get your copy of his free e-book 64 Must-Have Fitness Tips, visit www.better-body-tips.com.