Hold You Accountable For Your Training
Deciding to go to the gym when nobody is waiting for you or pushing you can often lead to not going to the gym and falling out of your workout regime, which ultimately results in loss of progress and just feeling bad about yourself later.
When you have a personal trainer, you have a set time and day that you must show up, and if you decide not to do it, somebody will be checking on you. Hence, you get the two-fold motivation not to waste money and not disappoint somebody waiting on you to arrive.
Introduce New Exercises For Your Goals
Having a personal trainer often means you have specific goals; for many people, these are simple things like weight loss, flexibility, strengthening, or achieving an ideal physique. Your goals may change as you progress through your fitness journey.
Personal trainers will discuss your goals with you, provide specific exercises to work towards your goals, and even introduce new training methods to reach your goals sooner. They will also advise you on things to do on days you do not have personal training.
If you are new to the gym or have a general idea of what exercises you can do, a personal trainer is great to show you new workouts to focus on. Often, you may think that there is only one option to hit certain body parts or get better at specific tasks, but this is generally not the case and requires an overall approach.
Educate You On the Correct Form
Many people know all the basic exercises but may struggle to improve, lose weight, or gain strength and muscle. Lack of progress can often come down to doing exercises incorrectly and having bad form.
Personal trainers can demonstrate exercises, watch you perform them, and then correct your form to hit the correct muscles. In some situations, you may be doing the exercise but using the wrong muscle group.
One example of this would be performing squats to improve your leg strength and definition, but you could be overworking your lower back muscles too much due to your form.
Avoid Injury
Training in the gym means you are often working with heavy weights or moving your body in ways it is not used to; this can lead to short-term pain and injury or give you long-term physical problems that you do not want.
Personal trainers will watch your form to ensure you are not performing dangerous movements. They will also adjust the workout based on your experience to ensure you progress smoothly towards your goals.
Smooth progress means not lifting too heavy too early or performing too many sets or reps without getting benefits. It also means working up to specific exercises, so you may start with assisted squats or use machines before you tackle free weights and squat racks.
Working With Past Injury or Physical Issues
Suppose you have past injuries or have long-term physical issues. In that case, a personal trainer will match the exercises to work around your injury.
An example of this is that you have got lower back issues. A personal trainer will limit how much pressure or work is directly done with your lower back and work on other muscle groups to assist and take the stress off your lower back.
Assist With Long-Term Realistic Goals
Often people start with personal trainers because they "want to lose weight and look good". Personal trainers will delve deeper into why you want to lose weight, how much, and why you want to look good.
Once they understand your long-term goals, they can adjust your training to match, whether looking good when you walk around or trying to lose 200 lbs to improve your life. Your long-term goal may be to lose weight now and then build strength and size.
Whatever your long-term goals are, and even if they change along the way, your personal trainer can adjust your training to meet those goals in the right direction.
Nutritional Education To Match Goals
Personal trainers will be able to provide general advice on what you are eating and the quantity, right down to the macros intake. These can be beneficial to you and guide you back to the right course toward what you want to achieve.
Consider if your goal is to lose weight, you will tend to cut your food back to the minimum you can handle every day. Your personal trainer can assist and show you that starvation may result in quick weight loss but has long-term detrimental effects and can advise that many people bounce back heavier than before once they start eating normally again.
Alternatively, if you are trying to build muscle but not eating enough food and specifically not having enough protein intake, you will face more difficulties hitting your goals. A personal trainer can help assess if you are eating enough of the right food.
Confidence To Train In All Areas
Many people lack the confidence even to enter the gym when they start. A personal trainer will take you through the entire gym and give you confidence that it is a friendly and welcoming environment.
They will show you how to use all of the equipment so that you do not feel uncomfortable trying to figure it out by yourself, and they will introduce you to parts of the gym that you may be hesitant about, such as the free weights and racks.
Having somebody with you as you progress through the gym helps get you in the door and build a lifelong healthy relationship with the gym.
Track Your Progress
A personal trainer will be tracking your progress, along with everything that you do, including things like how much weight you have lost or how much additional muscle you have been adding.
Your fitness journey will be monitored and reviewed with you to ensure that you are not wasting your time or money in the gym. Many people will simply show up and hope for the best but tracking your progress is crucial. It also allows your training to be modified if the progress is not going in the right direction for your goals.
If you are off track from your goals, your personal trainer can start assessing why that is happening and make necessary adjustments for you.