You wouldn’t invest in a new car, a family holiday or even your child’s education without first researching the various available options, checking their pros and cons and deciding which purchase would be best suited to your needs, so why do so many people do so little research when employing a personal trainer?

Hiring a personal trainer is a significant investment- she will need your time, a significant financial investment and also expect you to make considerable adaptions to your health, nutrition and sleep.  She’ll push you, motivate you and drive you to change and improve your lifestyle- surely it makes sense to spend some time finding the best possible fit for you, your lifestyle and your wallet?

Here’s my checklist to ensure you find a personal trainer you like, connect with and who can ensure you have real and measurable results:

1. Her personality and your potential relationship: You’re going to be spending a quite a lot of time with your personal trainer each week- from the two to four workout sessions to the nutrition feedback and planning, not forgetting the additional cardio programming and the various additional check-ins and chats. So, its really important you find someone you like, you respect and who inspires and motivates you along your journey.
   
   
2. She’s Qualified to Train You: We all know of someone, who knows someone, who swears their amazing coach has a magical system to lose 20Kgs in two weeks, can spot reduce belly fat in 10 days and has competed numerous times successfully at Olympic games, yet they don’t have a single recognised qualification to their name.
   If you want to guarantee your coach is backed by quality training, has industry recognition and maintains regular professional development, it is essential she is both qualified (through a reputable training facility), and registered with REPs, the Register of Exercise Professionals, who authenticate certifications and ensure PTs are maintaining their first-aid/continued professional development.
   No wild promises- no crazy tales, just solid progress routed in science.

• Experience and Specialisation: Personal trainers can have all the theory and knowledge in the world, but without having actually put it into practice it’s really not much use. Firstly, think through your objectives, what do you want? Where is your starting point? Where do you plan to take your fitness journey? Once you understand this, you can assess how relevant any potential personal trainers’ experience might be to you.
  Think about her specialisation too. You might have found an incredible PT who develops amazing physiques through her specific activity- say its kick boxing or yoga, but if you have no interest in training in these methods- she’s never going to be the right fit for you.
  
  
• The Programming: Ask about the programme… Is she just rolling out the same cookie-cutter plan for everyone? Maybe she has no plan at all, and just turns up and wings it… let’s be honest, neither of these methods are going to see positive and progressive results, resulting in a waste of your time and money.
  You need to ask about how her programme, which methodologies does she use? When/how does she make adaptions and what else is part of the programme such as nutrition/sleep/de-stress/hormone advice, etc.
  Also, don’t forget to ask her how and when she measures results and progress. Is this your responsibility or hers?

• Ask for Evidence: Ok, so we might be living in modesty-led Sharjah where before and after pictures are not really a thing, along with most forms of media attention. But this shouldn’t impact your potential personal trainer’s written feedback such as testimonials and reviews. Ask your potential PT to supply some recent reviews and feedback for you to check.
  
  
• The Price Point and Ts and Cs: It doesn’t matter how amazing she is, if you can’t afford her fees or fit into her available slots, it simply isn’t going to work. Trainers in the UAE charge anything between 100 AED to over 1000 per session, and you need to know her fees BEFORE you can make a decision. If she’s popular, it’s unlikely she’ll have many free sessions available during peak times- so check her timings will work for you. And, while you’re at it, just look over her cancellation policy and make sure your life/job etc. can comply- or its going to get expensive quickly!