From Novice to Pro: Discover the Right Personal Training Balance!
The single best answer to the question ‘How often should I use a personal trainer?’ is ‘It depends!’
It depends on your goals. It depends on your motivation levels. It depends on your experience in the gym, and it depends on your budget.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at everything you need to consider when deciding how long and how often to make use of a personal trainer in your fitness or recovery journey.
Goals
Arguably the single most important consideration when deciding for how long to use a personal trainer is your goals. Depending on what you’re trying to achieve, a personal trainer could be of great help over any period ranging from a few weeks to years.
For most people joining a gym or embarking on a fitness journey with the goal of losing weight or improving their general fitness, the majority of sources recommend 2 or 3 sessions per week for a period ranging anywhere between 6 and 12 weeks with a personal trainer. This allows plenty of time for even novice gym-goers to get an understanding of what a workout entails, become familiar with different exercises and their correct techniques, and build up their confidence to continue on their own. That being said, not everyone turns to a personal trainer to lose weight or get fit.
Personal trainers spend years studying the body and how it works, and while personal trainers don’t offer the same services as physiotherapists or other recovery specialists, they can be an important part of the recovery team after an accident, injury, or for those suffering from chronic pain. If your goal is to recover from an accident, a personal trainer can help you choose the right exercises at the right intensity levels for optimal recovery, and provide other important aspects of recovery such as emotional and motivational support. In some cases, a holistic trainer could even provide assistance with other aspects of wellness, such as diet, sleep, stress management, and lifestyle habits.
Professional athletes might see a personal trainer over extended periods of time to help improve their game. Personal trainers can help them measure and track their progress, advise on highly-targeted exercises, maximise time use efficiency, and provide the motivation needed to keep going at a higher level. In these cases, an athlete might build a relationship with their trainer and see them regularly for years.
When seeing a personal trainer for the first time, make sure that you spend some time discussing your goals with them. Not only can an experienced trainer help you define them clearly, but they can also provide you with a realistic and personally-tailored timeline.
Motivation
Motivation matters when it comes to exercise, and a good personal trainer might just be one of the most motivated and motivational people you’re likely to ever meet. Sticking to an exercise plan (and diet, for that matter) can be incredibly difficult for some people, and feeling a sense of accountability towards your trainer can keep you motivated to head back to the gym and stick to the plan.
While this study related strictly to sportspeople, a peer-reviewed 2019 study showed that skilled coaches or trainers with strong interpersonal skills can help people develop autonomous motivation. This autonomous motivation plays a big role in resilience and personal well-being on emotional and cognitive levels (Trigueros et al.). In short, there is strong evidence to support the notion that a good coach or trainer can help one build up the motivation required to keep working towards their goals.
If you find it increasingly harder to get to the gym, consider seeing a personal trainer for a couple of weeks. New exercises, routines, and personalised workouts might just be what you need to stock up on motivation and continue to work on your health and fitness.
Experience
If you’ve never really been into fitness, walking into a gym for the first time can be intimidating. A personal trainer can help you build confidence as you get familiar with different exercises, equipment, and working out in general. Even just a few weeks of seeing a personal trainer when starting out can massively improve the experience of getting into fitness.
Age and General Health
Personal training is not a one-size-fits-all solution; it needs to be tailored to individual needs, especially when considering factors like age and general health. The elderly and those with chronic health conditions will have very different personal training requirements than the young and spritely, including when it comes to how long to use a personal trainer.
Some personal trainers specialise in helping senior citizens meet their exercise requirements. They understand how to create programmes that focus on flexibility, balance, strength, and overall wellness while ensuring their clients’ safety and comfort. With that last clause in mind, many personal trainers who specialise in working with the elderly or those with health considerations will insist on being present during workouts. Often, these personal trainers will offer group classes or lessons to bring down individual costs.
Budget
Personal trainers spend years learning their craft and building their reputations and credibility, and as a result, hiring a full-time, one-on-one trainer can be expensive. Luckily, most people don’t need a full-time trainer and can get away with a couple of hours per week, significantly bringing down the costs.
While everyone has to take their own financial situation into account, Studio Society cannot stress enough the value that even just a few weeks with a personal trainer can bring.
Conclusion
Making use of a personal trainer can have very real and very measurable benefits; however, there simply isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to the question of how long to use a personal trainer. By evaluating your own situation in terms of what you’re trying to get out of a trainer, how likely you are to stay motivated or lose motivation, how comfortable you are working out without a trainer, and what your budget allows for, you can sit down with a trainer and work out a schedule that works for you.
While this number should be taken with a pinch of salt, the vast majority of people simply trying to shed a few pounds or trying to improve their general health and fitness would benefit from anywhere between 6 and 12 weeks of working out with a personal trainer 2 or 3 times a week.
It’s important to remember that there is nothing stopping you from making use of a personal trainer down the line. If you hit a plateau or start feeling doubts about your goals or progress, feel free to schedule a few sessions with your favourite personal trainer to get back on track.
Studio Society’s Personal Trainers
At Studio Society, we pride ourselves on offering a world-class fitness experience. We’ve spared no expense in ensuring that all of our studios, including our brand-new strength studio, are equipped with nothing but the best in fitness technologies.
This pride naturally extends to our personal trainers, all of whom have built long and distinguished careers as personal trainers. Our in-house team of trainers includes former international athletes-turned-trainers, fitness and sports TV presenters, trainers qualified to provide supplementary services such as massage therapy, and personal trainers skilled and experienced in cross-training, martial arts, weight training, and so much more. Visit our personal trainer page to learn more about our team.
Feel free to contact Studio Society at hello@studio-society.com if you have any questions about our classes or facilities or to schedule a consultation with any of our personal trainers.
Work Cited
Trigueros, Ruben, et al. “The influence of the trainer on the motivation and resilience of sportspeople: A study from the perspective of self-determination theory.” PloS one, vol. 14, no. 8, 2019. National Library of Medicine, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31430325/. Accessed 7 Aug 2023.