I'm a Certified Trainer, So Why Do I Need One?

Hiring a personal trainer may be the best thing you do for your training career.

Wait, what?

It might not sound quite right, but trust me. So you got your personal training certification, and you're planning your next career move. It's time to look for clients and start training, right?

No, not necessarily. Here's a fact I wish I had known years ago:

The best personal trainers in the world have personal trainers.

It's Scary to Admit, You May Need a Trainer

It takes some courage to hire a trainer when you are one. I personally was embarrassed by the idea. I went through all the courses; I got certified. Why do I need a trainer? And what if my trainer catches me with bad form? What if I can't finish a tough workout?

In my imagination, he'll look at me and say:

"And you call yourself a personal trainer?"

Or even worse clients or friends would be thinking:

"Why would you, an expert, hire someone else to train you?"

If you have these same thoughts, like me, it might be time to examine your attitude.

Why I Hired a Trainer

As trainers, we should never settle for being average, or even good. We owe it to our clients to be great at what we do. And a secret to being a great trainer is being a client.

My personal experiences led me to this realization and to the decision to hire a trainer just for me. A few of those include:

• I hated strength training.

• My neck, shoulders, and back hurt every time I did strength training.

• I have two jobs, three kids, a wife, and pets; fitness is time-consuming.

• My workout time is just basketball at this point.

Recently, I took this great ISSA corrective exercise course and the refresh got me thinking about my own fitness and that I have a lot more to learn.

I learned that I needed to swallow my pride and hire a trainer. I looked around to find the best because I needed someone (TJ Fortuna, the short guy in the photo above) better than me to guide me.

What I Learned Working with a Trainer

One of the biggest issues I had going into this was my avoidance of strength training. I only found time to do the type of fitness I wanted to- basketball. It was more fun and didn't hurt my back or neck.

What I learned from my trainer was that I was doing some really simple strength exercises with bad form. As a trainer, I could point out a client's bad form, but I couldn't see my own.

My personal trainer was able to spot these little mistakes in form and correct them. It was quick and easy for him to figure out why my neck, shoulders and back were hurting.

He also helped me rethink my training priorities. I hadn't made any changes in a long time, but I needed to. I was focusing first on nutrition, then cardio, stretching, recovery, and last and certainly least for me, strength training.

My trainer explained that I might want to reconsider and reverse my priorities and actually put strength first. He explained that strength training was so important to playing basketball, my real fitness passion, and I realized he was right. Better strength would help me balance my muscles and have better posture while playing.

All of this was a revelation to me. An outside look from a new trainer helped me see that I needed to change a few things about how I approach my own fitness. Not only does this help me personally, but the lessons from my trainer make me rethink how I train others.

Be a Student, Be a Better Trainer

Hiring a professional to help you with your own industry requires some humility. But we are lifelong learners. To be a great trainer, you have to keep learning. Swallow your pride, ignore your fears, and hire that trainer. You owe it to yourself and to your clients.

My advice based on this experience is to be humble and strive to be the best and the first step is to hire a personal trainer.