You obviously want the best care possible from the personal trainer you choose, so it’s critical that you ask these 7 questions of any Wichita  personal trainer.

  1. What level of education do you have? The fact is, in the state of Kansas, you can call yourself a personal trainer and so you are. Do they have a college degree in something related to understanding the body on a deeper level? This is helpful but definitely doesn’t make a trainer good. I know some great trainers while not having a 4 year degree in Exercise Science at least have a nationally recognized personal training certification. There are well over 200 certifications but a small handful respected in our industry. Look for ACE,ACSM,NSCA,NASM.
  2. How much experience do they have? I can tell you that I would rather see a Dr. with 10 years of experience than the guy straight out of med school. If they don’t have a ton of experience at least make sure they are being overseen by a personal trainer that does. Also, check around to see what kind of clients they generally train. If they train athletes or bodybuilders the majority of the time they may not be well versed in someone coming off the couch with any complications.
  3. Do they have any pictured testimonials? Meaning, any before and after success stories? If they don’t, run. They may just appear very fit and be a good salesman.
  4. Do they train in their basement or some other dirty or run down looking environment? This is usually not an indicator of success if they do. They could be like the guy that’s on craigslist and says he can fix your leaking pipe and 10 years later you find he didn’t do it right and now you have tons of black mold.
  5. Do they do much interviewing and assessment of their clients? I know trainers that bring people into the gym, get there first name and just start working them as hard as they can. If I took my car to a mechanic and he said “yeah just drop it off we’ll get right on it” but they never ask me what symptoms the car was having I would drive away quickly.
  6. Do they match your personality? I know personally I do not do well with ultra serious type A people because I’m pretty laid back. We annoy each other. There are different types of personalities in training. They can all be successful but will they with you if you’re not a good match. Some trainers have no sense of humor, hammer their clients about everything but can be effective with people that know they need that. You need to ask questions so you can get a feel for whether you’re going to get along well or not. I know I have definitely had consults with potential clients that I knew it was not a good match and so did they.
  7. Ask what their training philosophy is? Do they train in a crossfit style, or do they only do things fast paced and never rest. This is important because there are a lot of trends in the fitness industry that come and go. Are they basing there training on the trends or scientific principles about the body that don’t change?

Remember not all trainers are equal. Just because they say they’re a trainer and appear to be in shape doesn’t mean they understand what you need. It may just mean that they have good genes and understand what their body needs. We consider ourselves Professionals Personal Trainers at Premier Fitness. This isn’t our side job after we do our full time job, it’s our passion.