Is hiring a personal trainer worth it?
NYC is a bit more of a health-conscious city which means you have lot of options available to you from gyms to classes to help you on your fitness journey. However, nothing compares to having a personalized fitness and nutrition coach to design a program to help you meet your goals. The one on one attention you receive with a personal trainer not only helps to hold you accountable it also ensures you’re executing the exercises correctly and that you’re making measurable sustainable progress.
However, trainers are not all created equal. Like with most services you get what you pay for. A top tier trainer comes at a premium because they must be certified by an accredited source such as American Council on Exercise, have years of experience and continuing education, a solid reputation, an approach that has been proven successful, specialties in different areas of fitness and the personality to keep you engaged. When you invest in the right trainer who meets this criteria and is compatible with your specific needs you get real sustainable results.
Whether you decide to invest in a trainer for a few months or for years to come you can make improvements in your health to last a lifetime.
How to find the right personal trainer in New York City
New York City has more personal fitness trainers per square mile than any other city in the country so it can be hard to choose the right one for you. To help you narrow your focus first decide if you feel more comfortable working with a male or female trainer or if you have no preference. We have a team of both male and female trainers skilled in different areas.
With so many different styles of trainers, it’s important to find one that specializes in your needs so you’ll want to do a search in your area based on what your goals are. We specialize in many areas of fitness including weight loss, strength training and pre and post-natal training.
How to track your progress
One of the best ways to measure the success of a personal training program aside from meeting personal standards is to have tangible ways to track progress.
One way, of course, is to use the scale, but as we know this number isn’t always reliable since muscle weighs as much as fat and some days we may be retaining more water than others.
A better more positive way to track progress is with pictures!
We recommend our clients take pictures before starting our program and then we do a progress update with pictures every few months. This way you can pay attention to the subtle often unnoticed changes that happen gradually over time when you adopt a diet and exercise plan.
You can also track through exercise by monitoring your improvement in form, strength, speed and overall performance.
Choosing a trainer you look up to
It’s important that you work with a personal trainer that embodies the skills and physical attributes that you aspire to. This way you can trust that their program works and that they practice what they preach. Your trainer shouldn’t give you any exercise program or diet guidelines that they aren’t willing to do themselves. When we are in the company of someone we aspire to be like we subconsciously push ourselves to work harder. We are also more inclined to make better lifestyle choices when we see our trainer leading by example.
Home training vs training in a gym
In NYC you have the option of working with a personal trainer out of a gym or at your home. The benefit of training at a gym is that the trainers are already vetted for you. However, since many apartment buildings in NYC are equipped with a gym having a trainer come to you may be more appealing. This way you have the added convenience of not having to travel anywhere. You also get to select a trainer of your choice. This does require a little extra leg work as you’ll need to do your own research as mentioned above to find the right fit, but chances are since you’re the one choosing you’ll be more satisfied in the end.