PERSONAL TRAINER COST

HOW TO FIND THE BEST TRAINER FOR YOUR MONEY

The fitness world is steeped in different courses, with the prices of personal trainers ranging widely.

So how can be sure you’re getting the best personal trainer for your money?

It isn’t easy to find your way around the many offers out there, and it can be hard to manage the process of finding the best personal trainer – and at the best price.

Personal trainer isn’t a protected title and doesn’t require a formal education, which means that in principle, anyone could call themselves a personal trainer.

On top of that, while some trainers only do personal training as a side-job or leisure pursuit, others go all out to build up the skills required to become full-time personal trainers.

As such, the quality ranges widely. This is why it’s important to be properly prepared to assess what you’ll get for your money when starting your search for a personal trainer.

Here is a guide with 5 pieces of advice on how to find the best personal trainer for a good price.

Before looking at the price for a personal trainer, you’d be well-advised to start out considering what your specific needs are and what each trainer actually offers.

1) CONSIDER YOUR NEEDS BEFORE LOOKING AT THE COST, SO YOU’LL GET THE RIGHT TYPE OF PERSONAL TRAINER

“Personal trainer cost” – it’s the first thing most people Google. After all, we’re used to thinking this way when we’re missing something in our daily lives – such as “car repair cost” or “plumber cost”.

But in reality, you should be typing: “your specific needs” – personal trainer cost – because what actually are your needs?

Do you need to lose weight?
Do you have a good number of pounds that you need to get rid of or is it body toning you’re after?
Do you need to build muscle mass/strength?
And is there a special purpose behind your wish? Do you want to be toned or do you need a stronger body in order to perform your job?
Do you have injuries or illnesses that need to be addressed?
Has a doctor or physiotherapist given you the go-ahead to start training, or are you in need of a total rehabilitation before starting up another training course?
Do you have any aches you want to fix?
For instance, do you suffer from back pain, sore knees or tension in your shoulders?
At what time of day do you have the chance to train?
Do you need to take time off of work, and will your employer allow it? Or is the easiest time to do it the weekend or after the kids are put to bed? Are your working hours crammed and therefore you need your trainer to be flexible?
How many times a week do you want to train?
How much weekly time are you willing to set aside? Does the training need to be efficient so that you can spend your free time on other things? Or do you want to train many times a week for longer periods at a time?
How much and what kind of experience do you have with training?
Are you completely green or do have experience with the particular type of training you want?
Do you want to train together with a friend or alone?
Is it motivating for you to train together with someone you know? Or do you need your trainer to focus only on you while you’re there?
Do you want to be able to do it quickly on your own, or do you love complicated programs with tons of different exercises?
Are you after the most efficient methods to achieve the results you want? Or are you willing to sacrifice results in favor of a variety of different exercises, even if it means that you might not reach your goal? Or are you more in need of a personal trainer because you won’t get there without someone to push you along?

Once you’ve considered your needs you can better assess whether the trainers you’re looking at are right for you.

If you want to lose weight and change the way your body looks in a fast, efficient way, then a personal trainer offering mainly cardio isn’t appropriate – regardless of the price.

Here, a trainer with expertise in strength training will be the best choice.

On the other hand, if you want to run marathons or do long-distance cycling or maybe an Ironman Triathlon, you should look for a trainer who has specialized in one of these areas.

The same applies if you need rehabilitation after a serious injury.

Here, a trainer with the relevant experience would be the far better choice.

Fortius Fitness has helped thousands of people to achieve the body of their dreams. Our courses always start with a free, introductory consultation, where we find the trainer best matched to your needs.

In some cases, you’ll want just one trainer, while in others you’ll be better served with two different trainers, each with their own specialty.

So remember: [insert your specific need] personal trainer cost!

Find the personal trainers that match your needs and then find the best price within this group.

2) IS THE COST OF A PERSONAL TRAINER MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE DISTANCE?

No matter how you choose to approach it, you should always search within a one-hour radius from your home or work, rather than just in the city where you live.

It’s possible that the best personal trainer and price are right around the corner, but it would be a shame to find out in the middle of a course – especially one you’re not happy with – that for another $100 you could have had a first-class trainer in a neighboring town – and better results as well.

Likewise, it would be a bummer to find out you could have saved $100 in a neighboring town for the same offer.

So start your search wide and then narrow it down until you get the very best match.

3) DIET AND TRAINING GO HAND IN HAND – IS DIETARY GUIDANCE A PART OF THE PERSONAL TRAINER COST?

Your diet can either bolster your training – helping you get results faster – or it can keep from getting the most out of your training.

While you may think that your diet is healthy, it isn’t always the case that it matches up with the goals you want to achieve.

Therefore, it’s important to consider whether dietary guidance is part of the course, and whether it’s included in the price for the personal trainer, or whether it needs to be purchased separately.

Assuming dietary guidance is included in the course, there are two ways it can go.

It’s either about dietary principles, with the goal of creating a life-long change, or it’s about a concrete meal plan.

The vast majority of trainers use meal plans.

But a meal plan aimed at weight loss is nothing different from a fad diet!

The moment you’re asked to measure and weigh or completely cut out certain types of foods, you’re dealing with a novelty diet.

A novelty diet is temporary. You neither can nor will maintain it throughout your life, which is why most people regain the weight once it’s over.

And it’s often not only the lost pounds that return.

They also bring “friends”, and suddenly you end up weighing more than you did before you started the diet/began to follow the meal plan.

A meal plan can be strict or less strict but it’s never permanent, as it’s impossible for most to live according to the stringent rules.

Dietary principles, on the other hand, are more flexible, making it possible to change your lifestyle, as it’s easier to fit into everyday life – even on the toughest days.

So consider carefully whether you should start a course with a trainer who gives their clients meal plans – most often it works at the beginning when motivation is high, but it rarely lasts for the long term.

By contrast, dietary principles take you and your daily life into account.

If you really want to master training and diet, getting to know what it takes to lose fat, achieve a healthy body transformation and enjoy the feeling of success – all without having to live in a gym or undertake extreme diets – then check out the video below, which shows what personal training looks like at Fortius Fitness.

4) WHAT DOES THE PERSONAL TRAINER OFFER FOR THE PRICE?

What does the trainer offer? Can you trust in what you’ll get? Or will you end up paying extra for a bunch of gimmicks, buzzwords and the like?

Unfortunately, personal training is something of a mixed bag. There can be quite a big difference in what each trainer can offer.

In addition to the training itself, some also offer fat measurements, others BioSignature, and there are others still that will want to sell you loads of supplements to boot.

What is based on science? And what is actually useful?

How do you tell apart actual benefits from run-of-the-mill BS?

First of all, you can look at whether the results that are promised by the individual trainer or dietician are realistic.

Does the trainer promise unrealistic results?
It’s not realistic to lose 50 lbs in a month – unless you weigh 350 lbs and live exclusively on fast food.
Can the trainer document that their methods work?
A skilled trainer has a sizable portfolio of successful clients and can also put forth scientific documentation of their methods.
Do they have a lot of giveaways?
A skilled trainer doesn’t need constant offers! It’s a clear sign that demand is small.
Is the trainer unrealistically cheap compared to the competition?
This goes in tandem with the above. A skilled trainer makes training their living, and neither needs nor can afford to sell a course for $150.

So watch out for killer offers and unrealistic results – if it sounds too good to be true then in all likelihood it is.

Here is an explanation of some of the concepts you’ll encounter in the search for a personal trainer:

Weighing:

All personal trainers weigh their clients.

It’s naturally a good method for tracking your progress but certainly can’t stand alone.

Your weight doesn’t account for the muscle mass you build throughout a course.

Thus, you might experience your weight staying the same for a week when you’ve gained muscle mass at the same rate as you’ve lost body fat.

Therefore, weight should ALWAYS be combined with other tools, providing a full overview of what is happening with your body.

Measuring:

Measuring in inches is the most precise method.

It requires that the measurements be carried out in the same spots on the body each time, but here you’ll get the best and most accurate numbers reflecting your results.

BMI:

The problem with Body Mass Index (BMI) is that it doesn’t consider the composition of muscle and fat mass, instead exclusively measuring based on weight.

Thus, of two people with the exact same BMI, one could have far more body fat and the other far more muscle mass.

As such, the number is misleading and useless – even if you want to know if you fall in a healthy range or if you need to drop a few pounds.

Fat measuring:

Many want to measure their fat percentage when coming to a personal trainer.

Calipers can be a useful tool for the personal trainer to see how much you’ve progressed from measurement to measurement.

However, whether you have a fat percentage of 10 or 18, it doesn’t really matter, and so whether you get your fat percentage measured shouldn’t be a deciding factor for you.

Some trainers use equipment you stand on or possibly hold instead of calipers.

The so-called bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA).

This method is even less precise, no matter how expensive the machine appears.

If you want a precise measurement of your muscle mass in relation to your body fat, you’ll use a DEXA scanner.

These are only found in hospitals.

So while a fat percentage can be used as a guide to show whether you’re moving in the right direction, it’s best not to focus too much on the number itself.

BioSignature:

BioSignature is said to measure your hormonal imbalance, thereby showing where you’re gaining fat and why.

Hormones help to control where you store your fat, but what is the point of measuring them?

You’ll often already know this yourself, but regardless, you can’t spot-train the fat away.

Otherwise, you could have both a six-pack and thunder thighs at the same time – and how many people have you seen who look like that?

The method is baloney mixed with just enough truth that people buy the entire package, despite the lack of evidence for most of the strategies involved.

Overall, the “fix” is to sleep well, do strength training and eat plenty of protein-rich foods while cutting down on carbohydrates.

Any good personal trainer could have told you that – without having to sell you on BioSignature modulation.

So what can you use BioSignature for?

Indeed, many that offer this method can, for one, use it to sell you all kinds of supplements which you most likely don’t need.

Supplements:

Supplements like fish oil or a little protein powder are totally fine, and it could be that you’re short on iron or Vitamin D.

As the latter is best obtained through the sun, it’s in short supply during the cold winter of the north.

But you should be on guard when a personal trainer starts recommending or even worse starts selling you a bunch of different supplements, whether they’re talking about pills or powders for which there may be no real evidence.

To get a healthy, strong body you don’t need Creatine, weight gainers or the other things sold on online fitness shops.

Nor do you need to take a bunch of different vitamins and minerals, unless your doctor has identified a certain severe deficiency.

In short: Use the doctor to diagnose whether you’re truly missing something before spending any money on supplements.

5) THE COST AND THE QUALITY OF PERSONAL TRAINING OFTEN GO TOGETHER

As in so many other things in life, price and quality are often related, and so it tends to be with a personal trainer and the quality of the training and course.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t get lucky and stumble into a good personal trainer for a low price, but it’s a gamble since the more experience and education a trainer has, the higher the price tends to be.

When it comes to finding the right trainer for you, however, it’s a bit more complex than simply comparing the price of a trainer and the number of years they’ve been training.

Many trainers only work on a part-time basis or simply do it as a leisure pursuit.

Thus, you can’t necessarily compare personal trainers’ experience by how many years – whether 2 years or 10 – they’ve been calling themselves personal trainers.

A full-time personal trainer lives ONLY on training, and as a result, builds up greater expertise at a much faster rate than a part-time or hobbyist trainer.

Thus, you can have a full-time trainer with one year’s experience who has the same or more expertise than a personal trainer who’s carried the title for years while only training a few hours a week.

And then there’s the question of assuring the quality of training, and whether your needs come first and foremost if the trainer has a different full-time job that only lets them train a few hours a week after work.

To what extent would you be able to tend to others’ needs if you were doing it only as a side-job – on top of your normal, demanding full-time job?

At Fortius Fitness we only have full-time personal trainers with a limited number of clients taking courses at a time. This ensures that they can be 100% focused on giving you the best results.

It’s worth noting that trainers in big fitness chains can be hired on a full-time basis, but this isn’t necessarily the same thing as being full-time personal trainers.

Their workday often includes many other tasks during their shifts, such as manning the reception and/or instructing classes, so you can’t reliably compare their experience.

In smaller centers, the trainer is often self-employed and must pay for access to the venue, so there can be a significant difference among trainers’ methods and recommendations.

That is unless the trainers operate under a set, unified concept.

A final – but important – detail to note is whether the trainer tries to sell you as much as they can, instead of what you need.

For example, do you have to decide on the website right away how long you want your course to last, and to carry out the purchase without further guidance?

Or is the trainer anxious to sell you a course that stretches several months – before getting to know the specific needs you may have?

And are they eager to recommend it despite knowing full well that you only have a few pounds to lose?

Do NOT go reflexively after the longer courses, but instead limit yourself to a maximum of one month at a time – unless you have special circumstances.

The relationship with your trainer is based on trust, so it’s important that you start on the right foot together, and that you get the chance to meet before the start of your course.

You should be able to decide whether the chemistry is right and to assess whether you make a good match.

So before saying yes you should ALWAYS ask for a consultation with your would-be trainer.