Why you deserve a personal trainer

Your health is serious business. You only live once, and you want to be physically capable of packing all kinds of fun and excitement into the short time you have. Chronic pain, hypertension, high blood pressure, cholesterol, and other health conditions will get in your way every day.

It’s tough — maybe even impossible — to tackle these issues alone. Everyone deserves a fighting chance at a happy, healthy, pain-free life, which means everyone also deserves the personal support system needed to obtain it.

Having a personal trainer isn’t a luxury, but rather, a source of support and expertise that you deserve. A trainer isn’t there to count out loud as you quake your way through a hundred boring crunches. Rather, they are your personal source of motivation and inspiration, here to push you to accomplish goals you never thought possible and defend your most valuable resource: your health.

Here are five reasons why personal trainers are so beneficial to helping you achieve your goals:

1. They are exercise experts
   
   
   Hitting the gym by yourself can involve a lot of guesswork. How long should a cardio workout be? How much weight should you lift? How can you tell if your technique is decent? Personal trainers know what they’re talking about. They’re required to complete certification programs, often have additional degrees where they learned the fundamentals of exercise science, and have dedicated themselves to staying up-to-date on the latest health and fitness research. Personal trainers have the expertise to answer all of your questions, as well as ensure you’re making tangible progress towards your health goals every single session.




2. They are goal-oriented
   
   
   You know the basic gist of what you want to accomplish at the gym — maybe you’re looking to get healthy, tone up for a special event, or shed a few extra pounds. But without a specific goal and well thought out action plan, your chances of seeing results diminish. Your personal trainer will help you make a SMART goal: a specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound objective tailored to you and your unique body, mindset, and workout style. After taking you through the steps needed to successfully attain that SMART goal, your trainer helps you set and accomplish another one so you’re always making progress on your journey towards a happier, healthier you.




3. They appreciate individuality
   
   
   No two people are the same, so why should their workouts be? Your personal trainer recognizes that you have unique strengths, preferences, and goals. Instead of doling out the same old routine over and over, your trainer will develop a customized plan designed to work just for you. That means not only picking the series of exercises you’ll be doing and guiding you through them each session, but also creating a strategy that fits your lifestyle and ambition. It’s your personal trainer’s job to recognize what inspires and discourages you, which means they will get to know your fitness style and habits better than you know them yourself. That knowledge of your individual needs is key to helping you push through those tough moments when you might otherwise give up.




4. They are the ultimate gym buddies
   
   
   Nothing’s more intimidating than wandering around a huge gym full of strange looking equipment that you have no idea how to use. Remember, your personal trainer is an exercise expert. He or she has been trained not only on how to use all of that crazy gear, but also on how to teach others how to use it. Just like you can’t expect to see results from an exercise program that was designed for someone else, you can’t expect to use a given machine in the exact same way as someone else. Your personal trainer will be able to tell you how much weight to use, and how many reps and sets you need to do, to accomplish your individual goals. He or she will also constantly help you to refine your technique, ensuring you’re doing everything safely, and thereby minimizing your risk for injury. An added bonus is that your personal trainer works as a built-in spotter, so you never have to ask a random stranger to stand by while you sweat through your sets.




5. They are master motivators
   
   
   Trying to navigate the ins and outs of exercise and nutrition can leave you feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. It’s not only the job of a personal trainer to provide you with the information you need to succeed; they will also motivate you through every step of your individual program. Part of that motivation comes from a personal trainer’s ability to balance a challenge with realism. People tend to embark on a fitness journey by setting the bar unrealistically high, without realizing how disheartening it is to never be able to celebrate a triumph. Because he or she will know you inside out, your personal trainer will inspire you to take on a challenge you’ll really be able to achieve with some serious willpower and motivation. With that kind of individualized guidance, you’ll push yourself further during every workout than you ever could on your own.

Don’t think about a personal trainer as an add-on, or something you can afford to do without. Give your body the attention and care it needs to get or stay healthy, so you can enjoy the action-packed, pain-free life you deserve to live.