4 Red Flags To Look Out For When You Hire A Personal Trainer

Are you looking to hire a personal trainer? Keep an eye out for these 4 red flags that you might have hired the wrong one…

When you hire a personal trainer, you want them to be good. That might sound obvious but you’re really trusting them with your physical well-being… and they might also affect your mental well-being, your nutrition, and your long-term physical state.

So not only do you WANT them to be good, your body NEEDS them to be good.

I know when I first started this whole gym thing, I couldn’t tell who was good and who was not – which is totally normal. And when I go to the gym, sometimes I see people getting trained by clowns.

Let’s not let that happen to you!

This post is all about the red flags to look out for when you hire a personal trainer.

RED FLAGS WHEN YOU HIRE A PERSONAL TRAINER

1. You feel WRECKED after every session

We all know that progress in the gym is… slow. Where you start is not the same place where you’ll be in 5 weeks, 5 months, or 5 years from now. Your body needs to adapt– it’s about training your muscles in small increments to get them stronger day by day.

Thankfully, there is a tell-tale sign that your muscles have been put through something that they just weren’t prepared for. Yes, you’ve guessed it: muscle soreness.

While some amount of muscle soreness is very much expected after a certain effort, you shouldn’t feel like you’re absolutely wrecked all the time.

Even if it feels like you’re capable of lifting a certain amount during your first session doesn’t mean that you should. In fact, your muscles have to adapt to the new range of motion, the new load and the new movement, etc.

If you’ve been a couch potato for the past 10 years, it is normal for you to feel significantly sorer after the first sessions as compared to someone who has had an active lifestyle. However, it isn’t supposed to stop you from doing your daily activities, and it is supposed to get better every session afterwards.

Note that it is possible that some sessions make you sorer than others! There are just some days that you feel SUPER pumped at the gym and you feel like you can lift the world. But these aren’t supposed to be every training session.

Therefore, if after every session, you wake up barely able to get out of bed… it’s a sign that your personal trainer is focusing far too much on the weight you’re lifting, rather than making you do something appropriate to your level.

2. They make you run as a warm-up

Let me tell you something… if you hire a personal trainer for weight lifting and they are making you run as a “warm-up”, then run. In the opposite direction. To another coach. At another gym, if you aren’t able to face them again. Whatever you do, just go to someone else.

Warming-up is supposed to prepare your body for what’s coming up next. In other words, it’s supposed to start sending signals to your brain about the TYPE of exercise that your body will go through.

So running is a good warm-up if what you do after… is running, or any other type of aerobic exercise. You’re getting your aerobic respiration going, you’re getting your muscles used to low-weight resistance, but long-term engagement, etc.

You might get away with a bit of running if the gym workout is something similar to HIIT, but it should definitely be combined with some weight-lifting-specific preparation.

But the point is that running is not a warm-up that suits all types of exercises.

Take note

What a good gym warm-up looks like

So think about it: what parts should you “warm-up” or “prepare” before you start lifting heavy at the gym?

The specific muscles you’ll be using (like triceps & pecs for bench press day, or glutes & hamstrings for deadlift day)
Putting heavy-weight pressure on your joints
The complex movements you’ll be performing, like deadlifts or squats
The range of motion of those complex movements
The anaerobic metabolism

Now the question is HOW do you prepare for all that?

The specific muscles you’ll be using: before executing the big and heavy compound lifts, do a few sets of smaller isolation movements that get those muscles moving. For example, if you’re about to do a bench press, then get some face pulls in before.
The complex movement you’ll be performing: let’s take a squat for example. Instead of diving into the complex lift already with a loaded bar, do a few sets with an empty bar so your body “reminds” itself how to do it.
Putting heavy-weight pressure on your joints: between those sets with the empty bar and actually lifting heavy, bring the weight up progressively. So say that on the squat, you normally lift 120lbs for 3 reps. Do 1 x just the bar (8 reps), 1 x of 60lbs (8 reps), 1 x 90lbs (5 reps), 1 x 105 lbs (3 reps)… and only then start lifting your 120lbs for 3 reps.
The range of motion and the anaerobic metabolism should be warmed up as you do the previous steps

Let me draw a parallel. Let’s say that you have an exam next week, and your teacher says that it’s going to cover Chapters 8, 9 and 10 of your history lesson.

Come to the exam, and you see that all the questions are about math. You’re completely bamboozled, and unprepared. You haven’t prepared for the right thing. That’s what happens if you run before lifting weights… your body isn’t prepared for the right thing.

So here’s the point: if you hire a personal trainer and they are making you run as a warm-up, find someone else.

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2. They do the same exercises for all their clients

There are very few things in life that are one-size-fits-all. As I’m writing this, I’m trying to think of a legitimate example, but nothing comes up.

Point is that a workout plan is not one-size-fits-all. Our bodies and mindsets are vastly different. Our mobility, our goals, our strengths… one person might have kyphosis (aka round back), while the other might have scoliosis (curvature of the spine).

One person might have muscle imbalances in the legs, while the other has muscle imbalances in the deltoids. A workout plan is not one-size-fits-all.

This is a long-winded way to say that if you see your trainer go through the same exercises with all the clients, then this is a sign that something is off.

3. They ignore your weaknesses

This happened to me a lot when I first started working out with a personal trainer. I used to have a VERY weak core. Any type of ab-activating exercise would absolutely destroy my lower back.

What did all the trainers do? Shy away from the exercises that made my back hurt (so most of the exercises). Instead of tackling the problem the right way, they decided that they would just work around it. Red flag. Bright bright red flag.

I retrospective, I find this very funny. One goes to the gym to get stronger… and sometimes the trainers just decide to work around a muscle that’s weak…

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4. They ignore your mobility and focus on how much you lift

This one is hard to detect if you just start lifting because it requires you to have some knowledge of how to lift properly. However, with time, you’ll start noticing it.

Your mobility and your form are capital to performing and improving properly at the gym. You’ll often hear that the range of motion is arguably the most important part of the gym, as it means that you have adequate mobility and proper lifting form.

Having a decent range of motion is not something that a lot of people work on. There are many reasons for this. It might be boring, make the lift harder, and make you progress more slowly in terms of how much you lift. The list goes on.

Basically, get a trainer that focuses on your form just as much (or even more) than they do on getting you to lift heavier.

A good tell-tale sign that they are indeed focusing on mobility is that they correct your form almost every single time that you lift. Bonus points if they film you and show you afterwards.

I hope that this post all about the red flags to look out for when you hire a personal trainer has helped you!

Let me know if you have questions!

xx LS