By: Matt Danielsson

As a part of marketing yourself as a Personal Trainer, free advice is one of the best. Everybody has a question about his or her training, and when they see a PT it's a natural thing to seize the opportunity and ask. Then the PT answers the question, hands out a business card and tells the person to get in touch for more help. This is highly effective and one of the most common ways of building a trust between a client and the PT.

But the majority still shake their heads, pocket the card and say: "Naah... I've been doing this for X number of years and this was the one thing I wondered about. Thanks." Big mistake. You might have just turned down the key to results beyond your wildest dreams.

Personal Examination

How can I claim such thing? Well, let me turn it around first: How much have YOU gained the past 3 months? Do you bench 20 lbs more than you did 3 months ago? Have your arms gained that inch you wish you had? Have you done anything about those lagging calves, that looked downright ridiculous compared to your quads 3 months ago?

Face it dudes - the majority of you are stuck on plateaus, some without real gains for the past YEARS! You must also remember that hitting a plateau is NOT something to be the least ashamed of - it's not finding your way off it that's bad!

Personal Experience

Before I became a PT myself I was one of those guys who thought I had it all figured out - I knew my anatomy, I knew how to time my meals to gain muscle and not fat, and I cycled my training just as I had read about in books and magazines. And indeed, it takes you a long way! I gained plenty, but I also suffered along the way: Countless injuries, plateaus that could last 6 months or longer, a diet where I lost more muscle than fat ... You name it.

Then I took my course, and let's just say I had to reevaluate my knowledge. And what REALLY pissed me off was that I had spent 5 years not getting optimum results and instead getting injuries when I could have saved myself so much trouble from the beginning! Not to mention the other 15 years ahead of me, filled with more of the same kind. Experience is great, but you're doomed to take a lot of hard hits along the way there. So why not go for the shortcut?

Personal Purpose

The Personal Trainer is hired for one purpose and one purpose only: To help you to achieve your goals. He or she will not train for you, but will hold your hand and lead the way on your journey to excellence. Think of it as jungle, where you're wandering around in circles yourself, but the PT will be your guide. You'll have to do the walking yourself, but now you're showed the shortest way and thereby saving yourself several years of unnecessary walking. The PT makes every step count, and is even there to give you a push at the uphills.

When you hire a PT, you're essentially buying the knowledge he or she supposedly has. That means, you should expect a customized training and diet schedule, made especially for you and your goals. The PT will then monitor your progress, making sure that you never gets stuck on a plateau!

Think about it: No plateaus. Every day is a step towards your goal. Not one single wasted training session. Too good to be true? Not at all! Hey, that's what you're paying for!

So far there's been a lot of talk about plateaus, continuous growth and so on, but what about beginners? Do they really need this? Shouldn't the free Gym Instructor do just nicely? No way!

Personal Tour

The reason for this is basically in the human mind. An Instructor will take the client for a quick round in the gym, showing how the machinery and exercises work. Easy for him, gibberish for the client.

First of all, it's hard to process detailed visual information. It takes a while, and even after a long while you might have acquired a fair idea of how it should look - you're left with the problem of transferring that idea into reality.

The second reason is that the general person on the street has little knowledge about anatomy. It's obvious that if a person isn't quite sure of what he's SUPPOSED to feel when doing something, how the hell is he supposed to know when he's doing right?

And thirdly, as the weights go up, form becomes increasingly critical to avoid injury. Needless to say, a personal coach is invaluable in this situation. Relate it to other sports!

A golfer doesn't just buy a set of clubs and drives to the closest club and goes for it, he gets a green card! An aspiring racecar-driver acquires a license at a racing school! A beginner skier doesn't go off-pist without taking lessons first! So why would anybody get under a squat-rack to place a heavy barbell over their shoulders without being 100% sure of what they're doing? Or place a barbell over their throats in what they hope to be a bench press?

Not A Personal Pitch

Read These 5 Tips To Help Find The Right Personal Trainer HERE!

And of course, this isn't a sales-pitch for me but PT's in general, as I no longer run my PT business. Make sure to get a local PT with good, valid certification. Make sure he has experience, thorough education in all fields involving training and is properly insured. Don't be afraid to ask for references. If he or she would be evasive or vague when replying to direct questions - walk away. There's enough highly qualified PTs out there to be picky. After all, it's YOUR body on the line!