Working with a personal fitness trainer or wellness coach requires some investment – physical and financial. Since you are investing to achieve definite health and fitness goals, you must exercise due diligence before hiring a professional trainer.
Hiring the wrong trainer will defeat your ultimate purpose, so you might want to consider the following tips before choosing your fitness trainer.
1. Education and Certifications
Your potential fitness coach should possess the right qualifications in Physical Exercise disciplines. Your trainer should have academic qualifications in exercise science, physical exercise, kinesiology, and physiology among others. He should also be certified as a fitness trainer by the appropriate regulatory agencies. The better educated and certified your trainer is, the better your chances of achieving your exercise objectives.
2. Draw up a comprehensive contract
Hiring a fitness trainer or wellness coach by oral agreement is not sufficient enough. You must draw up a contract document that outlines the scope of your relationship, applicable fees, possible liability, cancellation policy, and other details such as insurance coverage.
3. Guage personality traits and compatibility
Since working with a fitness trainer requires appropriate body contacts, you might want to consider personality and compatibility issues. You must also determine if you prefer working with the opposite sex as your trainer. Is your potential trainer amiable and personable? Can they accommodate your uniqueness and schedules? Are they self-restraining individuals who can work with the opposite sex without losing control?
4. Does your potential trainer have credible references?
Your potential trainer must be willing to provide the names, phone numbers, and contact details of references who can provide unbiased reviews about their services. You should also speak with other clients who have worked with the trainer in the past and who can offer testimonials about their services. Based on your assessments and recommendations received, you may choose whether or not to hire any wellness coach.
5. Ask personal questions and obtain answers
You should be able to speak freely with your potential wellness coach and fitness trainer to ask any personal questions. And you must ensure you obtain satisfying answers before deciding to hire them. Some of the personal questions you might ask include:
- What types of clients do they prefer to work with?
- How do they manage disagreeable and stubborn or lazy clients?
- Do they have special experiences in working with clients with injuries or that require unusual needs like marathon races?
- Can they adjust their fees to suit your budget and their schedules to meet your availability?
- What facilities and equipment do they use for their training sessions?
The honest answers you obtain to these searching questions should help you to decide on hiring.
6. Look out for red flags in any potential trainer
Although your fitness trainer may not be 100% perfect for you, they should be at least 90% suitable for your needs and peculiarity. Here are some red flags to watch out against:
- They are not sensitive to your flexibility, injuries, or other self-limitations
- They try to sell supplements or insist that a particular brand is the best for you
- They do not care about your workout goals and objectives
- They often attempt to diagnose you with medical conditions
- They are flattering and patronizing
There may be other things to watch out for before or after hiring your fitness trainer, and you may have to rely on intuition for the best course to take.
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