I have a Personal training qualification. Three years ago this would have seemed absurd. But about two and a half years ago I was suitably inspired by what I had achieved by my own experience of personal training that I decided to go for it. I took it slowly, training to be a gym instructor first. I initially didn’t tell many people as the jury was way out as to whether I would make the grade. Two years after I first signed on the bottom line I have the qualification, the insurance and my name is on the register. But I don’t feel the sense of achievement and pride that I had promised myself.

Let me explain. I took two years to qualify as a Personal Trainer. You can do it in weeks. But I started off wanting to take my time and ended up having to take time out due to not being able to train whilst I underwent cardiac rehabilitation. During those two years I had experience of two providers, a handful of instructors and assessors and a good number of fellow students. Many of those students were athletes or had experience in a range of sports and I’m fairly confident will make excellent personal trainers. But I also shared a classroom with people who appeared to have either stuck a pin in a prospectus such was their aptitude to be a personal trainer or had been told that the qualification would increase their sales of an infamous diet supplement. However, we all had one thing in common. We were going to pass. Nobody fails. Unless you just give up. I have seen one provider promise a pass rate of 98% even though the only thing you needed to get onto the course was to be 16 years of age. Fortunately all the tutors I came into contact with were excellent but under considerable pressure to get results. You only have to do a google search to appreciate it is a growing industry and in my opinion focuses on quantity at the expense of quality hence the very low admission requirement.

As a consequence I have a qualification that I feel has very little value and disillusionment in the fitness industry. But despite this I remain convinced that having a PT is one of the best investments you can make in yourself. The question is how do you know if your PT has the knowledge and skills to help you achieve your fitness goals or is someone who makes decisions using a pin.

Well for what it is worth as someone who has a personal trainer and has trained as one my advice is to consider the following:

Do they have a PT qualification? Dispite my misgivings this remains essential.

A good PT will have testimonials that he/she can show you and you may be able to speak to their other clients. Testimonials are a good way to asses an experienced PT but that doesn’t give much of a chance to a new inexperience PT and there are some good ones about.

Are they insured? This will give you some assurance that they are qualified and in the unlikely event of injury that is their fault you can make a claim.

Have they discussed with you what you want to achieve? A good PT will design a programme that will help you achieve your fitness goals.

Does your PT give you their undivided attention? If he/she is distracted by other gym users or is looking at their phone you are not getting a personal training session.

Are you being asked how hard the exercise is? A PT will be able assess how difficult you are finding a particular exercise but will also ask you how hard you finding it on a scale from 1-10 and will amend the exercise accordingly for you to get the most benefit from it. If it is too easy you won’t progress. I am often tempted to say something is a 8 when it is actually a 5 but I would only be cheating myself and my PT would probably know I was telling a fib.

Are they correcting you? I know when I haven’t squatted/ dipped low enough or extended/flexed through the whole movement. I always hope that I have got away with it. I very rarely do. A good PT will correct you through instruction and touch. This will help you progress and prevent injury.

Are they trying to sell you specific products? Personal trainers are qualified nutrition advisors but this only allows them to advise on Food Standards Agency (FSA) guidelines. Unfortunately, the FSA are a bit behind in amending their guidelines to reflect current research but it is unlikely to ever recommend meal replacement shakes.

Finally, are you seeing and feeling a difference? Is your shape changing? Are you stronger/faster/more flexible? Do the changes reflect your goals? For me this is the real value of a PT. I spent years going to a gym but seeing very little change. But within weeks of having a PT I was happier with what I was seeing in the mirror and my fitness levels were escalating. Having a PT means that there is no place to hide. No more hiding at the back of a class doing 8 repetitions when I should be doing 10 and no fannying about in the gym convincing myself I had done a workout when I hadn’t even broke into a sweat.

Remember your PT is not your friend they are your PT. If you don’t have the occasional murderous thought then you are probably not being worked hard enough. But I love my PT. She has changed my life.