OMG. I never thought in a million years I would be able to post in this thread, my how times change, LOL!

Anyway, I have been using a personal trainer for around 5 months.

I was recommended one by a lady I know locally who has lost a lot of weight, so that was a good start: personal recommendation.

I then chatted to the trainer over the phone.....and we talked at length.

She explained that the reason she didn't work in a gym is that she wanted to be able to freely impart all of her knowledge, whereas most chains of gyms encourage their trainers to be fairly tight lipped on the WHY issues being fitness, so that members sign up and part with their cash time after time!

I am doing a two group training sessions with her a week. It works out at $24 a week. For that I get 3hours of her time and knowlege, a massive amount of supportive envouragement, the use of her gym and equipment (including books) as well as a whole load of other "freebies" such as high ropes course, a pedometer, a t-shirt etc etc.........

Here are some questions I would ask:

~ How is it structured
~ How much does each session cost
~ How many sessions would the trainer recommend
~ Is it cardio or weights or both?
~ How is cardio practised?
~ How much "homework" is expected
~ Do they focus on just diet? Or just fitness? Or both?
~ Do they also work on the emotional/mental aspects of a healthy lifestyle........ie do they acknowlege limiting beliefs and help you move forward from those?
~ Will they guide you to train for an event?
~ Do they do group sessions (which are often a lot cheaper!)
~ Are the available sessions convenient?