How Do I Hire A Personal Trainer?
Q: I’ve been following you on social media for a while and would love for you to be my personal trainer. But unfortunately, you probably live far, far away from me. There’s, like, nooooooooo way I can get in shape with me here and you allllllllllllllllllll theeeeeeeeee waaaaaaaayyyyyy over there, wherever there is. So if I’m here and you’re there, how do I hire you to get me into shape? It sure as hell doesn’t look like there’s a way. Drats! So instead, how do I hire a personal trainer near me who I don’t know as much about?
A: I live in San Diego, as it says on every post on my feed, as well as in numerous places on the site. For the geographically challenged, San Diego is a city in California, a state in the United States of America, which is a country in the Western Hemisphere of this planet I hope you know the name of.
Live elsewhere?
Well, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, distance isn’t a problem. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, but there’s this thing called the “internet” that allows people all the way over here to communicate with people all the way over there. It’s not only thanks to this thing called the “internet” that you’re even reading this off whatever fancy device it’s being displayed on but also why I have clients scattered all over the place.
If you’d like more information on how that works, it just so happens that you can use that newfangled thing called the “internet” to go to monsterlonge.com/services/
As for you finding a trainer closer to you (if that’s what you elect to do), I’ve written previously on some of the things you should look for in a potential trainer. All I’ll add here is what to do after you’ve found someone who meets the criteria laid out in the provided link.
And what should you do?
Why, that’s to treat it exactly like any other job hiring process involving an employer and potential employee because the employer-employee relationship is exactly what the client-trainer relationship is.
That means that before you hire a trainer you should interview them, like a boss or manager does before they hire a new worker. You tell the trainer your experience, injury history, goals, and other pertinent information. The trainer then tells you what they bring to the table to help you with your specific circumstances. If the trainer’s plan of action agrees with you, then you hire them for the job. If not, you continue the hiring process by interviewing other trainers until you find one that you’re comfortable with.
Once hired, the trainer sets out to do the job they’re hired to do by you, which is to work on the areas of the body that you want to work on. While you call the shots on what you want to focus on, the trainer is the boss when it comes to HOW you’re going to work on the areas that need attention. But you would know and be comfortable with their plan of action because you’d have interviewed them prior. If they’re hired and not doing the job you hired them for (for example, they’re ignoring your demands), you fire them…like a boss would do an insubordinate employee.
As an illustration, let’s say that you’ve been working out at home doing body weight type shit. After a number of months of doing that, you decide that you want to start lifting because, you know, FUCK CALISTHENICS!!! Well, you look at some programs and Strong Curves catches your fancy.
But wait, you’ve never lifted a day in your life and don’t have the first clue about weight training.
Bummer!
But wait, the light bulb goes off in your head to hire a personal trainer for a few sessions to help you learn how to perform the exercise movements that make up Bret Contreras’ Strong Curves program. So that’s when you start looking for a trainer and because you read the aforementioned link, you find one who satisfies a good many of the things I went out of my way to detail specifically for you because I’m clairvoyant like that.
Now, when you sit down to talk to this prospective trainer, one of the things you’d mention is that all you want them to do is teach you what’s associated with Strong Curves. Some trainers might take exception with teaching you another trainer’s routine, others won’t. If this trainer in question takes issue with your exampled request, then keep interviewing trainers until you find someone who recognizes that you call the shots because you’re the one footing the bill.
It’s really that simple.
Now, any more wackadoo questions?
Email me or ask me on Instagram!
