Tell me about personal trainers

[MrsFogi]

Given that I seem to have my post-baby stomach 11 years later and my weight and lack of fitness have been moving in the wrong direction for about the same length of time I'm going to get a personal trainer in the hope that they will be able to overcome my lack of willpower.
Can anyone give me any tips or wisdom about finding and choosing one and the best approach to working with a PT (and in fact any insights at all).

I got a free session with one when I joined a gym. I really liked her so worked with her for a couple of years. Lots of trainers will do introductory free sessions so you can see if you like them.

Try watching how they are with other clients, and then have a chat. In my experience, it's very much down to the match of personalities. I don't respond well to being shouted at in any aspect of my life, and the person I have never shouts, but has used their own methods to get me performing better than I would ever have imagined.

Some gyms let you have a free half hour session with the PTs to see if you get on - might be worth asking?

I've had the PTs that come with health club memberships. All were pretty poor. I then paid a small fortune for a PT with a firm that only has PTs (no gyms where you can freely go to, no classes etc, it's just PT) and a few sites in London, and she was brilliant. Pleasure to train with, knowledgeable, and my body was transformed in weeks.

Not everyone could afford the frankly enough to bring tears to my eyes expensive PT package I did, but from this experience I would be:

• more likely to pick a woman trainer now (just because I look back and think, ok, 4 male trainers who don't listen to anything I say and give me programmes suitable for traditionally male goals, 1 female trainer who gets it spot on)
• would never have a PT who works in a health club again and would only seek out PTs working for PT-only firms
• would walk away after one session if I had any inkling it won't work, not stay for a few sessions hoping it will get better
• would walk away immediately if I am not enjoying it. No enjoyment = no discipline to turn up and do the exercises in between = no results.

My PT has his own small gym, he’s local to me and had trained with a few friends and I was impressed with his qualifications (he’d trained with a well renowned rugby team too). I’ve been seeing him for quite a few years now (am currently recovering after a beasting this morning!).

He works me harder than I could ever work myself, but somehow I can still manage what he’s asking of me, and the results have been great. I didn’t need to lose weight, just wanted to be fitter and healthier, but he lowered my body fat % (I was ‘skinny fat when I first saw him - relatively high body fat on a size 10 frame, dangerous as not visible).

I only see him fortnightly now - I have loads of tools in place so I can train in between, but knowing I’m seeing him every 2 weeks definitely keeps me accountable.