If you are on the fence, or someone who's been trying to decide if you should hire a coach or a trainer, then this post is for you. I'm going to answer some questions and give you some insights that are going to help you factor in your lifestyle and goals when deciding which trainer is right for you. 

Which Trainer is Right for You?

When researching personal trainers, many people wonder if they have to be limited by area. Maybe they resonate with me online, but don’t live near me in Utah. So does that rule me out as a coach for them? Maybe not!  There are options for online coaching as well as in-person training. 

Prior to COVID, I used to get this question a lot, or a variation of it would have been, “How does having a virtual trainer work?”  Today, everyone is so much more accustomed to using platforms like Zoom, so it’s pretty much answered the “how.” 

I still have several But a lot of people still are hesitant, and have questions around whether or not they need to go to the gym and work out with someone, or if the trainer should come to the house, or if it should be online. 

There are so many options, how do you choose the right one for you?

What Are Your Goals? 

So the first thing to ask yourself is, “What do you want to get out of it?” 

What is your biggest goal? What made you think this in the first place that I might need some help? 

Once you answer that question for yourself, you may realize it’s not necessary to meet someone in person. While that’s been the default mindset for a long time, now with apps like Zoom, phones, and the internet, it's not really necessary to have someone literally standing next to you. They can be virtually standing next to you. This can open a huge array of options for you. 

How Much Experience Do You Have?

Considering your experience is important, especially when it comes to things like exercise, form, and weights. Are you an experienced weightlifter? Do you know how to safely and properly execute specific movements? Are you an athlete or a former athlete who is familiar with that kind of stuff? Or are you brand new to exercise? 

Also, what is your experience with other coaching or other programs? What have you tried? What worked? What didn't? Why didn't it work? Why are you in this position? 

You have to examine where you've been to figure out where you need to go. 

How Committed Are You?

You’ll also want to factor in your drive or your level of commitment. One of the questions I ask people before a discovery call is around their motivation and level of determination.  I ask if they are willing to do this with me or without me in an effort to see where they fall on that spectrum.

Are you willing to get up and go to the gym on your own? Or will you only go if someone is going with you? What is your drive? How committed are you to this process?

What Kind of Resources Do You Have?

The last thing you need to consider when discovering which trainer is right for you is your resources. What do your time, your money, and your mental strength look like. I consider healthy eating within this category too. What are your resources there? Are you able to cook? Do you have someone that will cook for you? Are you able to purchase premade meals? Where does that all fall? 

A Self-Assessment to Determine Which Trainer is Right for You:

So here are some specific questions. So grab a piece of paper, write these down, and then you can answer them and then it's going to send you in the right direction.

1.Do I feel safe exercising either alone, or without a spotter without someone right next to you? 

Knowing this will help you determine if you need someone physically standing next to you, or maybe you just like the moral support of a buddy. 

Also, if you are unfamiliar with a lot of gym equipment, you’ll need to be aware of a lot of safety precautions put in place to prevent injury, even if you don't have a spotter. For example, squat racks have these bars that will stop you if you put them at the right level from crashing down. Other machines have different safety features. 

If you feel comfortable doing that on your own, or being coached through that, then you don't necessarily need someone standing right next to you. On the other hand, if this spikes your anxiety, you might want someone within you in-person. 

2. Am I motivated to work out on my own? (aka Do I need a babysitter?)

Yes, I said babysitter. Much love to my colleagues out there. But let's be real. Sometimes it's just babysitting. It's just standing there and making sure the person counts to 10 and doesn't want to skip a few. 

So, how motivated are you? Will you get up and go to the gym on your own, every day, with or without your trainer? Maybe your trainer works out with you two days a week? Are you going to go the other four or five? Or are you only going to go if someone is holding you accountable in that way? (by the way, that's not accountability. It's babysitting.)

3. How much time, money, and energy do you have available to invest in your health? 

Those are all those resources I talked about.  So how much time do you have? Not an abundance of time? Because no one really has an abundance of time. But do you have a good window of time where you can go and kind of experiment and figure things out? Or do you have a very short period of time that you can dedicate to yourself, and you need to be super efficient with that time? If it's the latter, then you need a coach who's very good, and making sure that you get all the things you need, as quickly and as efficiently as possible. You're in control of your time and whether or not you use it effectively.

Let’s evaluate money. There are coaching programs for probably as low as $20 an hour to $1000 dollars an hour and more. So where do you fall on that? 

Keep in mind that a lot of the in-house trainers at the gyms do not do nutrition coaching, and they do not do mindset work. Do you have the money to then hire someone to do that for you? Or do you plan to pay for specific meals on a meal plan, or to hire a life coach or a mindset coach to help you with those pieces? 

Here’s the truth: working out on its own isn’t going to cut it. Exercise in isolation is not going to give you the change you need. The other two pieces - the nutrition and the mindset - are critical. You need movement, mindset, and macros. All three. So do you have the money to outsource that? Or is it more efficient to find a coach that does all the things? 

4. What is your energy level? 

This is a big one. And I don't just mean energy in the gym? How much energy do you have to put into deciphering the very best macro plan for yourself? The best workout for yourself? Again, do you have the time to kind of go through the gym and figure out what works best for you and the energy to study and learn and research and kind of figure out the best thing for you? Or do you only have the energy barely to get out of bed and get your butt moving much less do all that other stuff? 

If you are running low on energy, you are not going to be able to do all this on your own. You're just not; you need help.  DIY is not the answer to trying to fix your health.

You have the energy to read research and understand nutrition and experiment with different macro plans, different caloric deficits, if that's what you're going for? Or do you? Is that too much brain power? Do you just want someone to like, just tell me what to do? And I'll do it. Okay, so that's that's kind of the spectrum. 

5. What do you need most? 

So what do you need most? Do you need the babysitter to stand by you? Do you need the person to talk you out of the ice cream or the box of cookies you're about to dive into at eight o'clock at night? Do you need some ideas? Because you've been doing the same thing forever and it was kind of working but now you're stuck.

So what do you need? A coach at the big box gym will stand next to you and make sure you do it. Other coaches, like myself, will be on-call for you 24/7 and will be available to talk you out of the bowl of ice cream or the box of cookies. You have to decide what it is you need. 

As you answer those questions honestly, then read through your answers, it's going to become very clear which is the best path for you. If you're not sure, and if you don't find clarity through that, feel free to reach out to me and I will help you find the right avenue to get you where you want to go.