I get asked this a lot. My Top 5 Reasons why a personal trainer helps even when you are fit:
1- Being accountable. When you have to answer to someone other than yourself, it’s harder to rationalize or make excuses when you just don’t feel like it. And they push you harder than you push yourself.
2- There is no such thing as “reaching a goal”. The whole concept of fitness is to improve your body’s ability/function. Once you get close to one goal you should be setting your next one. It should never be ‘done’. A good trainer helps you get to your targets faster, notices better than you can when you’re about to reach them, and then help you set new ones.
3-Doing it RIGHT. From your form during different exercises to your nutrition plan, a good trainer makes sure you are doing it right. Correcting your form protects your health/prevents injury/speeds progress. Keeping on top of your nutrition and tweaking it as needed it crucial.
4-Plowing through plateaus. A good trainer has strategies to get you past your plateaus to keep progress happening. Your trainer should know when/how to mix things up. And when mixing it up, your trainer makes sure you’re keeping good form when learning these new exercises (see reason 3).
5-Morale boost. Besides being accountable to someone else, having someone out there who CARES about your progress as much as you do makes a massive difference. Yeah, you are paying for their interest, but believe me if your trainer doesn’t take your successes as his/her own success, then you are not with the right trainer. A good trainer is someone who is ***hungry for results***. Theirs and yours.
There may come a time when I don’t find it necessary to have a trainer, but I doubt it. I like that someone always has my back. And I respect my trainers’ experience, ability, drive. It’s my safety net to make sure my fitness stays a big priority.