Personal fitness trainers

[Taz]

Has anyone used personal fitness trainers before? If so, what were your experiences?

I got into pretty bad shape over the last few years and joined a gym late in 2004. However, I couldn't be bothered to go more than once a month for the first few months! Then in January of this year I hired a personal trainer and have now lost 7 inches off my waist, 10KG in weight and 10% in body fat. Hence, for me it was money well spent (around £800 in personal training so far).

The fact that my personal trainer is an extremely attractive South African blonde also helps with the motivation!

[0iD]

The gym i'm a member of has them but i've never availed myself of their services as they're prohibitively expensive.

[Taz]

They are expensive and it's hard to find a good one. But, if you are seriously out of shape then I think it's worth it. You can get off to a good start by exercising properly from day one.

My trainer points out people in my gym that are just exercising very badly. For example. on the stair machine, many people support a lot of their body weight using their arms by holding on to the machine. This completely messes up the exercise and makes it very inefficient. I've been taught to use my full body weight by not holding on. This develops core strength, balance and reduces the time I need on the stair machine. That's just one example.

Then there are the horrific ways in which some people do situps, possibly causing long-term damage to their neck and back muscles. The list goes on but it's very important to exercise safely and efficiently. In lieu of a personal trainer, you can just ask gym staff how to do something.

The staff in my gym are more than happy to assist with an exercise. For example. throwing medicine balls requires two people and is a superb exercise. Just use the gym staff to help you.