Are personal trainers worth the money?

For the short answer scroll to the bottom, keep reading if you want the long winded answer. Here is a scenario that happens often. A client comes in and says they injured themselves at the gym, "what were you doing?" I say. I was using that machine where the bar moves up and down behind my back, a lat pull down I ask, yeah I think so, they say. Has this happened before I ask, once or twice is the inevitable answer. I then ask how they learned to use the equipment at the gym, almost always the answer is: I watched other people use it and then I tried to copy them. Could you imagine if that was how we learned to ride a bike, play a sport or drive a car?  Of course that’s preposterous, we had parents to show us how to ride a bike, coaches to show us how to play a sport, and some brave person to show us how to drive. Also, isn’t it strange that we happily spend hundreds of dollars a month on cable, cell phones, coffee, gas etc… but the idea of spending $75 (+/-) on a personal trainer doesn’t occur to us. We have all been educated to be experts in our chosen professions and the same goes for personal trainers. Maybe that guy you tried to copy at the gym is a bus driver who also wasn’t shown how to use the equipment properly.

Here’s the thing, you don’t need to have an ongoing relationship with a personal trainer. You set the rules. Maybe you want 2-3 sessions so that you feel confident using the equipment and never see them again. Maybe you want to follow up once a year to make sure you are still doing it right or ask a few questions about new equipment or how to focus on a particular muscle group. Using a personal trainer doesn’t mean spending thousands of dollars a year, it can be as cheap or expensive as you like.

So, the answer is YES, personal trainers are worth the money.