5 Tips on How to Hire a Personal Trainer

There are numerous benefits to offering personal training packages at your fitness club. Not only does this option bring in great extra revenue, but this individualized service provides your clients with a unique one-on-one experience they otherwise could not achieve at a larger gym. 

Given how common, earning a personal training certification has become, a crucial consideration is hiring the right personal trainer to properly represent your fitness club. 

Here are five tips to consider:

1. Find a trainer who is the right cultural fit for your fitness club

With public interest in fitness at an all time high, fitness trainers need to be more multidimensional than simply having a certification. Finding the right personal trainer means that he or she will be able to connect well with your style of clientele and properly motivate them. Since fitness clubs themselves can have so much variability, your personal trainer should be able to assess the needs of your members and institute a plan that will push their physical strength without risking injury. 

2. Great communication skills

Communication is the basis for any strong relationship, trainer and trainee included.

Your personal trainer should be able to clearly give instructions, feedback, and encouragement in manners that make your clients respond positively. Especially in terms of training, concise communication is imperative in order to negate the chance of injury and to ensure that your client feels comfortable  trying new exercises.

On the backend, communication from your personal trainers to management and other staff members is also extremely important to make sure that operations run smoothly. Since many personal trainers can be accustomed to working on an independent or freelance basis, ensuring that they can also work in a team setting and under management is a must. 

3. Breadth of Knowledge in Numerous Styles of Fitness

Although different trainers can bring different styles and expertise to the table, they should be knowledgeable in varied types of exercising. Traditionally, private trainers at fitness clubs teach strength training and educate on how to properly lift weights, since this can be new territory for many members.

While this is of course is a necessity, trainers can offer more advantages to your clubs if they are also well versed in circuit training, aerobic exercise, and low-impact flexibility. Better yet, your fitness trainers can use a combination of different fitness styles to further engage your customers and bring them results. 

4. Experience Working With Different Medical Conditions

Since you will be trusting this person to work with your clients, you should take every precaution to make sure that he or she is well-versed in any potential condition one of your club members may have. These can include common ailments like arthritis, heart conditions, asthma, diabetes, and  joint pain.

The prevalence of these chronic illnesses have risen in the last several decades, especially in older clients. When interviewing your potential fitness trainer, make sure to ask your candidate not just if he or she has knowledge of how to train individuals with these conditions, but if they have hands-on experience.

5. Proper Trainer-Client Etiquette

This may seem obvious, but professionalism with hiring a personal trainer is of utmost importance. Any person who could potentially undermine this degree of expected behavior will not only reflect poorly on your private training program, but your fitness club as a whole. Especially when training clients of the opposite sex, fitness instructors should be highly trained in etiquette to make sure that both parties feel comfortable to focus on the work-out.