If you are serious about your fitness and health goals, exercise should be an integral part of your life. With the help of the right trainer, you can build stamina endurance and burn fat safely. If you are a beginner or even an athlete, you should have a personal trainer to help you perform the exercises you choose correctly.
Selin Sakarcan – How should you choose your personal trainer?
Selin Sakarcan is from a Turkish-American home and is fond of the Turkish culture and language. She is also a podiatric and foot and ankle surgeon. Besides the above, she is an athlete and loves to engage in many sports. She is a marathon runner as well.
According to her, when it comes to finding your own personal trainer, you need to first decide on whether you would like to join the gym or ask the personal trainer to come to your home. Both will work fine for you. So, considering your personality, lifestyle, budget, and other preferences, you can choose the best option that will work for you.
Motivation techniques
Personal trainers are humans too, and so some of them will give you gentle encouragement for motivation, while others will be more direct and louder. You need to be comfortable with the sort of motivation the trainer gives you. Check to which sort of encouragement you respond to well. If you are happy with gentle encouragement that pushes you hard, stick to it.
There is no point in taking a personal trainer who has the attitude of a police sergeant to train you, and vice versa. The goal here is for you to respond to the motivation you get to reach your fitness goals.
Check their certifications and track records
You need to be sure that the personal trainer you hire meets the desired fitness and education standards. Certifications in the field will help you to assess the credentials of the professional you choose for your fitness goals. Some of the certifications for you to look out for are-
- National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA)
- American Council on Exercise (ACE)
- American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM)
- The Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA)
- The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM)
For helping you to decide, you should seek referrals from them. They should give you the contact numbers of the people that have similar fitness targets as you, whom they have trained. In this way, you can speak to them to ascertain whether the personal trainer would cater to your individual needs too or not.
According to Selin Sakarcan, you can also request the personal trainer to show you any additional certificate they might have on physiology or any associated field. You should ask them how they measure progress and see them in training sessions with other clients.
These are small steps that will help you understand how your personal trainer conducts exercise sessions. In this way, you can decide better as to whether he/she should be hired for your fitness goals or not.
