Is this good value for a personal trainer?

theperson2014

I'm a 25 year old male hoping to gain muscle and tone up. I've decided to get a personal trainer as I find trying to follow a gym programme isn't helping me. I've booked a PT for half an hour twice weekly for 50 quid. He wants this to continue over a 3 month period which will amount to 600 quid. Is this good value or am I mad?

Alf Veedersane

€50 for an hour of training per week is good value.

If the trainer is a good trainer.

Hanley

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

€50 for an hour of training per week is good value.

If the trainer is a good trainer.

If he's a good trainer it's worth it.

If you drink, go out 3-4x less over the next 3 months and you'll save yourself the cash to pay him.

theperson2014

I've given up alcohol as it's a waste of money. Is it completely necessary to do the full three months of personal training though?

silverharp

theperson2014 wrote: »

I've given up alcohol as it's a waste of money. Is it completely necessary to do the full three months of personal training though?

there is no have to do anything, why not go for 1 hr every 2ish weeks , and do other sessions on your own?

JJayoo

Have you heard good things about this trainer? If you give your location some people might be able to suggest other trainers with a good reputation.

Chucky the tree

The hourly isn't bad but I think needing to go to a PT twice a week for 3 months is pretty crazy unless you are a high level athlete or just extremely lazy.

K4t

Have I returned to the year 2000?

There's enough information online, even in this forum, to achieve whatever you want fitness wise. Anyone who feels they need a personal trainer who is neither A) a professional athlete or someone with a disability, is just plain lazy, an idiot or probably both.

COH

K4t wrote: »

Have I returned to the year 2000?

There's enough information online, even in this forum, to achieve whatever you want fitness wise. Anyone who feels they need a personal trainer who is neither A) a professional athlete or someone with a disability, is just plain lazy, an idiot or probably both.

I can understand your point - but its only valid if you know the difference between good and bad information. If you are starting from scratch a quick google may tell you that your uterus may prolapse doing push ups and that juice plus supplements cure cancer.

Your point is probably valid across any profession. Want to build a car? Google it, the info is there... you are lazy if you use a mechanic.

Be mindful that your perception of value will differ greatly from the next persons. Some people are happy to place a high monetary value on looking good, feeling better, living longer, achieving things they may never have otherwise, improved health, improved confidence etc etc etc. If you can find all the relevant info, know where to look, know how to implement it and everything else that goes with it then fair play... but you are in the minority.

Cuddlesworth

K4t wrote: »

Have I returned to the year 2000?

There's enough information online, even in this forum, to achieve whatever you want fitness wise. Anyone who feels they need a personal trainer who is neither A) a professional athlete or someone with a disability, is just plain lazy, an idiot or probably both.

I'm not sure where your coming from. Good instruction on form, flexibility, food and routine is invaluable.

Alf Veedersane

Fortunately the PTs haven't hoovered up all of the lazy idiots or I'd be out of work.

JJayoo

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Fortunately the PTs haven't hoovered up all of the lazy idiots or I'd be out of work.

You're a hoover?

Alf Veedersane

JJayoo wrote: »

You're a hoover?

No.

Just a vacuum cleaner.

JJayoo

I'm not sure why but that actually made me laugh out loud.

Alf Veedersane

JJayoo wrote: »

I'm not sure why but that actually made me laugh out loud.

Tourette's probably

Fluxfan

K4t wrote: »

Have I returned to the year 2000?

There's enough information online, even in this forum, to achieve whatever you want fitness wise. Anyone who feels they need a personal trainer who is neither A) a professional athlete or someone with a disability, is just plain lazy, an idiot or probably both.

Be careful that you are paying for a good EXPERIENCED trainer! To be fair someone that has completed a 6 week course etc probably hasn't got a huge amount more than the info you can look up yourself

RidleyRider

ppcperson wrote: »

Be careful that you are paying for a good EXPERIENCED trainer! To be fair someone that has completed a 6 week course etc probably hasn't got a huge amount more than the info you can look up yourself

On the contrary my friend. People who have done months upon months of studying with a PT school can be pretty sh1t. Yeah experience can be great but, some experienced coaches are terrible.

I did a 6 week course to become a gym instructor/PT and I feel, not blowing my own trumpet here, that I am good value for money. You'd be very surprised with some people and how they use tag knowledge they gain in a good course.

Fluxfan

@ridley I agree completely. By experienced I mean experience in getting results for clients, and can show you that. I just think there are a lot of people out there who do short courses like that and don't have the client experience/results but make claims they do. of course there are exceptions to that, like you say yourself included.

RidleyRider

ppcperson wrote: »

@ridley I agree completely. By experienced I mean experience in getting results for clients, and can show you that. I just think there are a lot of people out there who do short courses like that and don't have the client experience/results but make claims they do. of course there are exceptions to that, like you say yourself included.

I don't want to make that sound like I'm blowing my own trumpet because by no means have I the experience of Hanley, COH etc.. on here.

Getting a cert is easy, it's what you do afterwards that counts.

scheister

i have looked at alot of the stuff online with regards to training but its written very technically in places so certain people may not be able to decipher it. If i am changing my training plan in any serious way i would have a session or two with a personal trainer just to make sure the change is going to do what i want. So i dont agree that people using personal trainers are simple lazy but perhaps people that want to make sure they are doing it right

whirlpool

K4t wrote: »

Have I returned to the year 2000?

There's enough information online, even in this forum, to achieve whatever you want fitness wise. Anyone who feels they need a personal trainer who is neither A) a professional athlete or someone with a disability, is just plain lazy, an idiot or probably both.

There's far too much information online.

If you got a headache and googled it to find out the cause, just like that there is loads of information online about working out, there is LOADS of information online about headaches. That's exactly the problem. Lots of those causes are "brain tumour." There's too much information, most of it is inconsistent with other information. It's very confusing.

@OP: never trust anyone who's trying to get money out of you, without first doing plenty of research. (Unless you have the money spare to just throw around.) This PT is trying to get money out of you, like every other business in the world. You are right to ask questions.

I think it's a good idea to stick with the one training program for three months. I don't know if that needs to be twice a week though. It sounds like reasonable value to me anyway.

deisedude

K4t wrote: »

Have I returned to the year 2000?

There's enough information online, even in this forum, to achieve whatever you want fitness wise. Anyone who feels they need a personal trainer who is neither A) a professional athlete or someone with a disability, is just plain lazy, an idiot or probably both.

Every thread on this forum there is a disagreement over something and same goes for various other bodybuilding forums online. So if you are a newb what advice to you take and what do you discard as BS?

The Guvnor

OP are you just starting out?
Are you a member of a gym?
Some gyms may offer advice to new members.

PT's there are many out there - how many are good is a worthwhile question.

Mellor

deisedude wrote: »

Every thread on this forum there is a disagreement over something

No there isn't.

dartstothesea

deisedude wrote: »

Every thread on this forum there is a disagreement over something and same goes for various other bodybuilding forums online. So if you are a newb what advice to you take and what do you discard as BS?

To be honest, no matter what route you go - it boils down to this. Want to pay a PT? How do you know who to believe when listening to recommendations for a good one? Would a ****ty PT ever actually tell you anything other than that they're amazing and deserve all your money?
Reading someone's advice online? Who to take heed of? looking for recommendations for someone good to read online - whose recommendations to listen to?
Sure, you can look at advertised evidence of peoples' results with any given PT (or with any given training or diet system on the internet or in a book), but, how cherry picked are the examples being held up? did the PT squeeze the bodyfat calipers a tiny bit harder after the first 2 months? what other unknowable factors played a part in someone having positive results. Did their own cop-on and motivation simply play an inordinately large part?

Either way you're stuck slightly blindly dipping your toes in based on educated guessing and seeing whether they come back out smelling of **** or not.

With regard to info online. Yeah, there's lots to take in. and lots conflicts. and lots is too technical for a beginner. That's why you use your damn brain - keep reading, keep picking up the tiny bits you see as valid and after a while, combined with a bit of your own experience trying stuff out, it gets easier to quickly get a sense for what's not bull****.
and yes, even then you're kind of taking things slightly on faith in another human's authority on a subject. very little getting around it.

I'm biased via being without too much disposable income myself, I always lean toward the opinion that people should give themselves a proper (emphasis on proper) crack of their own whip and at least see how it goes for a bit.