This post may contain affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
As warm weather approaches, people everywhere are rethinking their fitness routines. For some, that may even include hiring a personal trainer. But finding a good personal trainer can be a slightly difficult proposition: it’s expensive, so you want your money’s worth — but you also want to make sure that your limited time and energy is “spent” well at the gym. So let’s talk about it.
{related: how to fit exercise into a busy life}
My own experience with a trainer was less than stellar: It was January, and I was gearing up for a trial with a very small trial team — so I knew a lot of late nights and early mornings were in my future.
{related: tips for women lawyers on finding time to exercise}
I went to my gym and requested a trainer, and took the first person they recommended who could meet my schedule. I think I wound up paying about $75 per session for 10 sessions. It was worth it, I figured, if I could still fit into my suits come trial time.
{related: how to diet while working a corporate job}
My trainer, a youngish man named F, was a nice enough guy. But throughout our 10 sessions, we floundered. Sometimes he would kick my @!#$@#$ (oh, I still ache a bit from the one-legged walking lunges across the room).
{related: the best streaming workouts to do at home}
Other times, though — actually, a lot of the time — I felt like F was wasting my time, overestimating my coordination (no matter how long I tried, I was apparently incapable of hitting the little speedbag boxing thing with any regularity), and treading on my patience.
{related: how to fit lunch workouts into your workday}
I left most of the sessions feeling like the 60 minutes spent at the session and the 15-20 minutes walking to/from the session would have been a lot better spent with one of my strength-training videos, going to a spin class, or doing a long run outside by myself. (I ultimately caught a truly nasty cold — right in the midst of trial, too, joy — and ate so little that I wound up fitting into my suits just fine.)
{related: tips for eating late at the office}
For those of you who’ve had success with personal trainers: how have you chosen a trainer? How have you communicated with him or her to ensure an amazing workout?
(Updated images via Stencil. Originally pictured: study in annoying eddie II, originally uploaded to Flickr by hmmlargeart.)