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For those who hire trainers


Tighty
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One time, I went to the gym (one of the big Equinoxes) and asked one of the people at the front who their top trainer was. He was good, and helped me take off weight. Another time, I looked up recommendations online. Both of them were good, but I can't remember either of their names.

 

Another time, I hired a "celeb trainer" who was written up in the media. She's known for building a sleek, toned but not overly muscular look--a fitness model rather than bodybuilder look. Her rates are very high ($200/hour) but she definitely delivered. She always came up with innovative exercises that left my glutes sore afterwards. I'll definitely hire her again when I'm back in NY. FWIW, she apparently worked with Denzel Washington at one point.

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For those who hire trainers for the gym, how did you find your trainer? How often do you see them and how much per session? Is he good or did he just quit his job at best buy last month? :)

 

I do not currently have a trainer, but I have hired several over the years, and fired all but one of them. If you are planning on hiring a trainer, do your homework first. There is so much information out there for the taking, if you educate yourself first, you will know if the trainer is worth it. I hired a trainer when I arrived in FTL, just to get me back on track. At our first meeting, he was telling me things that just were not true. So I never signed a contract with him....

 

Training and dieting is serious stuff. Without adhering to strict guidelines, substantial gains won't be made. An average trainer from a large gym will run in the ballpark from 55 dollars and hour to about 95 dollars and hour. They can run higher, but someone who is certified and in the 55 -75 dollar range should suffice.

 

Decide first how often you can realistically and consistently work out. If that is 5 days a week, then hire a trainer for three of those days. If you keep reading and educating yourself, you should be able to cut back from 3 days to 2 days, and eventually down to 1 day a week, before you go on your own. All the trainers I have hired, I did so through a gym. Make sure they are certified, and make sure that they are mentally focused on your workout when they are with you. The ones from Best Buy will often be talking to other members or texting on their cell phone. If you go into this with some advanced information and knowledge, you will see quickly if a trainer knows what he or she is talking about.

 

Lastly I would not advise signing or committing to any long term contract, in the beginning. They will all offer you deals to get you to commit. Some gym trainers are high pressure, like a used car salesman. Many won't take no for an answer. Let them know that you are unsure and want to do the first couple of weeks on a trial basis, before you sign a contract. If they say no, then just look elsewhere.

 

Good luck...

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Training and dieting is serious stuff. Without adhering to strict guidelines, substantial gains won't be made. An average trainer from a large gym will run in the ballpark from 55 dollars and hour to about 95 dollars and hour. They can run higher, but someone who is certified and in the 55 -75 dollar range should suffice.

 

Decide first how often you can realistically and consistently work out. If that is 5 days a week, then hire a trainer for three of those days. If you keep reading and educating yourself, you should be able to cut back from 3 days to 2 days, and eventually down to 1 day a week, before you go on your own. All the trainers I have hired, I did so through a gym. Make sure they are certified, and make sure that they are mentally focused on your workout when they are with you. The ones from Best Buy will often be talking to other members or texting on their cell phone. If you go into this with some advanced information and knowledge, you will see quickly if a trainer knows what he or she is talking about.

 

Lastly I would not advise signing or committing to any long term contract, in the beginning. They will all offer you deals to get you to commit. Some gym trainers are high pressure, like a used car salesman. Many won't take no for an answer. Let them know that you are unsure and want to do the first couple of weeks on a trial basis, before you sign a contract. If they say no, then just look elsewhere.

 

Good luck...

 

With all the soreness you get at first, it's really hard to weight train more than twice per week. It took me 4 days to completely get over the soreness after the first few sessions. (This was all muscle soreness, no issues with joints.)

 

I have found that the really good trainers in NY almost all charge $90 or more per hour. It's less in smaller cities. As for commitments: The trainer I mentioned above only sells her sessions in packs of 6 or 12, after the initial starter session.

 

The good thing about being a guy is that unless you want to be a runway model you don't have to worry about your muscles getting too bulky.

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Do your homework and ask friends... I started out with a trainer 3 x per week... and then cut back to 2x per week, before I moved. He was wonderful but could not make enough money doing it on a full time basis, so retired from being a personal trainer and took another full time job with benefits. I have found that the best personal trainers are those from smaller, non- corporate gyms. They are invested in your success and do not have to pay for the advertising that comes with a national chain. The fitness center where I went also has a full time registered dietitian on staff who works with all the clients and the trainers. Most of the trainers there also train themselves and work with high school athletes to 90 year old men and women, and everything in between. That is another factor that I now consider... who are the clients... and I would never sign up with a gym or trainer that only is interested in developing a body builder or a "perfect" body... they emphasize the wrong things for most of us, IMHO.

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With all the soreness you get at first, it's really hard to weight train more than twice per week. It took me 4 days to completely get over the soreness after the first few sessions. (This was all muscle soreness, no issues with joints.)

 

I have found that the really good trainers in NY almost all charge $90 or more per hour. It's less in smaller cities. As for commitments: The trainer I mentioned above only sells her sessions in packs of 6 or 12, after the initial starter session.

 

The good thing about being a guy is that unless you want to be a runway model you don't have to worry about your muscles getting too bulky.

 

Hey FF..sorry you had to go through that soreness in the beginning. It is/can be a rough few days. Most of it can be avoided if the trainer starts you off slower.

 

 

And lastly, be careful not to bulk up. FreshFluff would not look good with biceps, instead concentrate on the 'Stairmaster'....Remember, the Stairmaster is your friend...;)

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I hired a trainer and ended up with a best friend as well. That was 3 years ago. My gym opened a new branch a mile from my house in September 2010. I was already going to their gym miles from home (its the only 24 hour gym around). I asked for the toughest trainer they had, the most like a Parris Island drill instructor. I ended up with Chris. Not Marines, but black belt in 3 martial arts, a couple of trainer certifications, tattoos everywhere. He looked the part. And we've been through hell together, both in the gym and out. When I started the club was charging $45/hour for his time. By the time he left the club 4 months ago it was up to $55/hour. Still not bad but about the going rate around here for a good trainer at a good club. I was his pain in the ass client, but we ended up with a good system: I told him what I wanted to work on and then we did what he wanted. :) We trained 2-3 times a week. For quite a while I was doing really well, but then slacked off, especially on the diet. I had gotten complacent because I had my partner, he was making sure I was "well-fed" (i.e. I was the table clearer -- anything left on the table to eat, I cleared). And then my knee got worse and worse so I couldn't train very hard. Finally once I got my knee replaced last September and finished physical therapy, it was time to really hit things hard. Diet and training. And rehabbing more. Since January, I've lost 50+ pounds and I'm in the best shape of my life. With him kicking my ass all the way. He got me to sign up for MyFitnessPal (which I cannot recommend highly enough), a website you can use to log everything you eat so he could monitor it. And he did. And he spent a lot of time on his own researching different exercises, different angles and ways to do other exercises, to help strengthen the knee and also to work around it as needed. And that is what a good trainer will do -- tailor the exercises to you, rather than trying to shove you into one way of doing things.

 

But in May he came to me and asked if I would follow him if he went out on his own to a private studio he was setting up. Of course I would. Of course on his own, he doesn't have all the overhead of the club and so his rates dropped. A lot. Now I'm paying $25/hour (yes you read that right). I'm training 4 times a week. He would rather keep his rates affordable so he can train someone multiple times a week for an extended period of time so he can really get to know his clients. At that rate, it works.

 

But more than a trainer, I got a best friend. He was the first straight friend I ever came out to. He's heard a lot about some of the denizens here (without getting into the details of my relationship with my escorts). I've ruined several food groups for him because of that one infamous grocery shopping trip I took with Dave and Tyger a couple of years ago. He's been there with me as I started dating my partner, supporting me as I did. And I've been there supporting him as he went through several girlfriends, mostly that didn't end well (to say the least). But finally, he has met "the one". And so this Saturday, my partner and I get to attend his wedding. And it's going to be one of the happiest days of my life, seeing him marry a wonderful young lady. Like me, he dated way above his head. But I love her to as I've gotten to know her, and it's a great fit. I am the only client invited to the wedding. My partner and I are the only gays who will be there (his gay uncle is out of town and can't make it back).

 

We used to have a little trick we did that eventually made sure that Membership left us alone while we were training and didn't bring prospective members around to pester us while training. When we saw them coming, I'd get into a plank position on the TRX suspension equipment. Then once they were in the training room, he'd start kicking away in the gut. Of course, this probably frightened the potential clients to no end. So eventually, they stopped bringing people around when we trained, cause they didn't know what we would come up with next.

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I've hired two different trainers over the past eight years. I hired my first trainer through the country club where I was a member at the tim primarily to focus on building the strength of my lower back (I was having difficulty sleeping through the night, waking with back pains.) He did fine focusing on that issue and after just a few weeks I was able to sleep through the night pain free. After about a year and slight gains in other areas, he left the club and I went without a trainer.

 

After a year of pretending to work out on my own, I decided to take weight loss seriously and in conjunction with a medically supervised program, hired a new trainer from the club. With weight loss as my new goal, with diet and exercise, I dropped 85 pounds over a year. His wife got a promotion and they left town for 18 months. By the time he returned a year ago, I had put back on close to 60 pounds. We resumed our work outs a little over a year ago with him working as an independent trainer. While I haven't stuck to a diet to have significant weight loss (down about 20 pounds), I am physically stronger than at any time in my life.

 

When I first hired my current trainer, I set one ground rule - - tell me what to do and I will do it. Just don't tell me how many reps, how long holding that plank, or how much weight I'm going to lift. Just tell me to start and stop. I've found if I don't think about things, I have greater results. As such, we talk about anything other than the workout during the workout. On occasion, he will have me try something I'm not capable of doing (usually at the end of a workout and something I have successfully done previously) and all I have to do is say is "nope." That's the great thing, he listens to me and modifies my workout as needed.

 

As Lee mentioned above, he has become a best friend. Not only was he the first straight friend I came out to, he was the first person period. I have no secrets with him, and quite frankly, I know that I have probably shared too much at times. Many times he wants to see my personal results more than I do and doesn't stop providing that steady encouragement and reminder that together we will get there.

 

As to fees, when he was working for the club, I think we were $50. Since his return to town, he has a slightly lower fee of $45, as he does not split the fee with the club.

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Thank you guys for the replies.

 

It makes sense for good trainers to go on their own. Years ago I joined Equinox. Omg, that place was full of trainers on the prowl. I even got an unsolicited email from a woman trainer who said she saw that I just joined the gym blah blah why don't I train with her blah blah. Out of curiosity I googled Equinox gym. From the message board that I visited, I learned that Equinox have different tiers of trainers. If you are a new trainer, as in you just quit your job at Best Buy last week, you only get $15 out of the $80 session that the gym charges. Furthermore, these newbies are required to be on the floor, basically passing out towels, for a minimum number of hours where they get paid like $8 an hour. And if they don't meet their quota, out they go thus the high turn over. I really feel sorry for them.

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With all the soreness you get at first, it's really hard to weight train more than twice per week. It took me 4 days to completely get over the soreness after the first few sessions. (This was all muscle soreness, no issues with joints.)

 

That's normal. The post-workout soreness you experience in the beginning is partly due to having not worked out/changed routine/etc. You may still be sore even years into a normal gym routine...but I know the 1st time you go to the gym or return after a long layover it's total hell. I try not to stay away for more than 2 weeks, and even then...the pain can linger for a few days. As of now, I'm still sore from a workout last Friday

 

If you are a new trainer, as in you just quit your job at Best Buy last week, you only get $15 out of the $80 session that the gym charges. Furthermore, these newbies are required to be on the floor, basically passing out towels, for a minimum number of hours where they get paid like $8 an hour. And if they don't meet their quota, out they go thus the high turn over. I really feel sorry for them.

 

And the Feds are SOOOOOO interested in going after pimps and prostitutes who sell sex for money. For being "exploited". The hypocrisy...Welcome to USA.

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I worked with a trainer for a few years and saw great results at first. As he and I became friends, and hung out outside the club, results started to drop. A big part of our relationship was "Accountability", I turned over a lot of my accountablilty to him to work out, and it became really upsetting to me to disappoint him. As we hung out and partied, it was harder to sustain that relationship. As great a guy as he was, I think I'd avoid getting that friendly outside the club with another.

 

Another thing that affected the training was that he was moving up pretty fast at the club - a staff trainer when we started, then promoted to Personal Training assistant department head, and finally PT dept head overall. That gave him more responsiblities and it interfered with our sessions - he was often having to deal with something else three or four times during our session.

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I have seen the same trainer for over four years with excellent results. The gym manager was a former student, and after meeting with me she matched me with three trainers for trial sessions. I see the trainer I selected twice a week, and work out an additional four days a week using suggestions/circuits developed by the trainer. As the weight has dropped,she has consulted with my doctors and neurologists concerning my limits and how far we can push, and we are constantly changing up our workouts. She is has a BA in exercise physiology and multiple training certifications. I started paying $40 per session, now locked into $55 per session for the next year. Personally, I need the structure and accountability of personal training...it has been a godsend for me.

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