If you wish you had a Personal Trainer or went to the gym, what stops you?

[Watchkeys]

I'm curious about this, as a PT myself. I'm sure there's billions of people out there who are too shy or not financially able or... well, I wonder what else stops people. I train beginners and my aim is to get non-starters started, and build confidence.

What would help you get started?

I go to the gym now but when DS was younger it was simply because I had no childcare. I am a fully lone parent, so when I wasn't at work I was with DS. He's 15 now so I have more free time.

Past experiences put me off.

1. Talked incessantly about his business and building up which was becoming unbearable and then he injured me. Force my arms backwards I think whilst stretching. Hurt at the time but got much worse - barely slept for a week and had to have two sports massages. Not convinced looking back he had any training...
2. Female mum friend starting up - lacked structure - used to go for run-walks and she would talk at me the whole time about he angst around schooling her children and her own schooling. I started to feel like I was paying to be her counsellor.
3. I had a back issue at the time, which she knew about and I told her which things kept aggravating it and every time she would try and get me to do those things again as if I had never told her before.
4. Crossfit PT - pushed me way, way to hard too soon when I said I didn't want this and I would find it really demotivating. It was great for the first couple of weeks - challenging but good then I started to hate it - I ended up having what she called a panic attack - just couldn't get my breath.

I share PT with a training partner - both are much younger men. My PT wouldn't dream of discussing weight or body shape unless I raised it and I am not sure he would feel qualified to advise - we talk about getting strong and fit. There are a couple of the more gymnastic/explosive moves that I just can't (and don't want) to do and the PT spots me for them but otherwise he pushes and teaches me, quietly and politely.

I started taking fitness seriously when I was 50, 6 years ago and what would really have encouraged me to get a PT then would have been the option of small group sessions, as pp say. To help with the cost but also to feel less exposed, and to ease me in. If my current set up finished, I'd feel confident finding another PT for 1:1, and know what I would be looking for, but I definitely wouldn't have done when I started. My husband has also got into strength training through small group sessions run in local park by a PT - I suspect some of his class-goers convert to 1:1 or 12.

Decided to look up local PTs just to see what there is around here, one of the local gyms has a mum so that sounds good, should understand the changes our bodies go through and the difficulties because of them but costs 80e a session so that's a no!

I think sadly so many optional services like this will suffer with the CoL. I colour my own hair now. Also gave up another paid hobby. It's hard for the people providing these services. Let's hope things get better.

I’m a gym user but apart from money, what stops me getting a PT is mainly worry, as I have quite specific physical limitations (mainly related to my back). My Pilates teacher understands these perfectly and between us we don’t very often get it wrong (which can be catastrophic in terms of creating mobility problems and lots of recovery time). But I worry that a young, fit PT with no particular limitations would get this wrong.

I know for me it was lack of body confidence as to why Im reluctant to start a public gym.

A lot of the PT’s by me seem to do it for Instagram clout in all honesty - an excuse to take selfies of themselves and how slim they are. So finding the right person means a lot to someone who’s not body confident and wants to just hide away.

Another thing a lot of them do is film you and post it on their social media which I appreciate is business promotion but when I’m sweating past myself and red in the face the last thing I want is my face on social media 😂 Oh and outdoor running. My previous one would make me jog outdoors and I felt like saying if I wanted to excersise in public I could do that, I want privacy.

But with all that being said I did lose a lot of weight and felt really confident when I had to be bridesmaid so maybe it’s worth the internal cringe from me haha

Time and money

i would love to have some PT sessions but my issue is that I am juggling so much with two very young kids, a challenging full time job and just trying to keep some semblance of friendships going. So I feel it would be yet another thing I’m having to cancel/reschedule regularly as I shuffle my life and would therefore feel horribly guilty for messing the PT around. Gym sessions or even classes are better as I feel they aren’t entirely dependent on me being able to get there! I don’t think there is any solution for this other than maybe waiting until my kids grow up and leave home and/or I semi retire!

I have had PTs in the past, but not any more. For me, it's mostly lack of knowledge, which also leads to lack of value for money - I'm not paying 50 or 60 quid an hour for someone to count my reps or rack my weights for me.

The PTs at my gym are ok at programming for clients who are similar to themselves - able-bodied, healthy people in their 20s who want a programme that predominantly involves traditional weights training and HIIT - but not very good at "special populations", i.e. everyone else. I have been training for decades, and in the last few years have incorporated more gymnastics and calisthenics into my routines. No-one at my gym has a good let alone strong knowledge of this stuff. I gave one trainer a go for a few months, but his sessions (comprising aforementioned weights & HIIT) aggravated various muscle issues I have, as he was trying to "train around" those issues rather than deal with them.

A further issue with many of the PTs at my gym is that they lack professionalism, especially the males. Many looked noticeably bored and disengaged during sessions (especially those with middle aged and older clients). When they are not with clients, they seem to do one of three things: scroll their smartphones (not obviously for research or marketing purposes); hang with one another doing high fives, butt-taps, etc; and hit on the good looking girls. It doesn't surprise me that my gym has a very high turnover of PTs - I imagine that most of them simply cannot retain clients because they're not offering a quality service, whether to beginner or experienced clients, younger or older clients, etc.

I found most PTs I've tried have really strong preferences on nutrition and workout plans which means they don't listen to me.

I'm quite fit and have exercised regularly most of my adult life. I want a PT to offer me their specialist insight in a way that's relevant for my body and circumstances, not telling me I'm not seeing results because I've not cut 1/3 of my daily calories (because doing so with a BMI of 19, at that time, makes that a stupid thing to do).

Yes. But what about the other muscles and bones? What about the upper body? Reducing the risk is great, but reducing it more is better. Resistance exercise is best for bone density, partly to do with intensity, and partly to do with the full body approach. There's little use in having amazingly strong legs if your arms break and your shoulders dislocate every time you pick up a pencil.

Seems to be a lot of stories about PTs who don't do their jobs well, putting people off PTs in the long term. Not listening to your client is a ridiculous error to make, especially when it comes to long term goals, or pain. And focussing on food is fine if you have the qualifications, but not if your client doesn't want to.

It simply doesn't appeal to me 🤷‍♀️

It's finding something you enjoy, for me it's swimming 🖤

It seems to me OP that there's a lot of gym-based PTs who are very comfortable with younger to middle aged men, doing weights and strength training, bulking up etc, but they're not generally well equipped to deal with a smaller framed woman who has had a child and the pregnancy has affected their fitness, they want to tone up or improve conditioning for their sport/fitness activity of choice.

Now I think of it, they are also typically wed to the idea that someone will be at the gym 4-5 times a week for dedicated sessions and aren't interested in giving exercise plans to follow with a weekly check in. Since having DC I suspect that's also a very man-centred outlook because a lot of adults have partners and families and one half of the population seem to have form for opting out regularly.

There's some mummy PTs with specialisms in post natal fitness and that are very women centred, but the cost of them is prohibitive to me.

Money

Childcare and money

peri and post are two very different areas in my experience.

Not trying to start a debate just in my experience finding a PT who actually gets what it is like to be post is really hard. I can one day manage something I just can't the next day.

Time, energy, body confidence (lack of), finding gyms intimidating, frustration at lack of results from previous attempts, just not enjoying it previously and not willing to give precious resources to give it another go.

I am reasonably fit despite my weight from the odd run, bike ride, swim plus lots of walking. I might not have a gorgeous body but I can fit these in stress free and cost free.

I would love one but it would have to feel worth it. Right now it feels complicated.

Thinking about the options mentioned in this thread, I don't want someone to come to my house - small front room, and the pressure to keep it clean and tidy would be too much. That leaves location as an issue. They'd have to either be part of a gym or have their own space, and it would need to be a) close by and b) feel professional.

Joining a gym - there's one close by but it's a council one and a bit gloomy and depressing-looking, with a really shit class schedule. There's a new chain gym opened 15 mins drive away but I suspect they want you to take out a proper membership, and I just don't think I would realistically go enough to make it worth while.

Interestingly my other half keeps trying to get me to do different bits of exercise and I just stubbornly don't want to. I think it's a mixture of embarrassment and knowing that I'd look ridiculous in comparison to other more fit people and also not wanting the humiliation of being told I'm not healthy etc. I suspect I also still have mental scars from school PE too where if you weren't naturally sporty, you simply weren't good enough or included (and that's from PE teachers, not peers!).

Should've added that I love the idea of being a gym bunny but I just realistically accept it's never gonna happen!

I’ve had two PTs. Both times they pushed me too hard and I got injured and had to stop. And one of them was a perve. Wouldn’t bother again.

Time and finding a PT who is down to earth and understanding of female bodies, especially after kids. My body is strong and I want maximum results in my limited time, with realistic food goals.
I am fed up with huge egos, and sleezy trainers. Makes me struggle to fine one who I connect with. Had a bad experience with one trainer years ago grinding on me grunting while stretching me. Made a complaint and it was brushed off.
I found Muay Thai boxing post 40 and haven’t looked back.

Timing. The gym is a massive detour on my way back from work and I have to rely on public transport. If I go after work I don't get home til about 9.