Personal Training In Singapore Pt.2 (Good Trainer OR Bad?)

Hi Everyone,

So, in part 1, Personal Training In Singapore (Considering a Personal Trainer) you found out the things to consider before hiring a Personal Trainer in Singapore.

Now that you hired the Personal Trainer, should you continue staying with him/her?

If you are asking yourself this question, this article is for you!

See, there are some things you can only know after the first trial session. So, here are the things to look out for.

1. Treadmill Usage

Does your Personal Trainer put you on a treadmill for a long time? A short time to warm up on the treadmill is okay. But, if your goal isn’t to do a 10k or a marathon anytime soon, this should be a red flag.

Why? Using the treadmill for excessive amounts of time during the Personal Training Session is not very value add. It is simply walking, you can do it outside. I know of some Trainers who do this. Beware!

This first point also applies to any cardio machine.

2. Phone Usage

Does your Personal Trainer have one eye glued to the phone? This is bad. He/she should be watching your form closely. If the Personal Trainer only uses the phone once in a while to keep and store the details of your sets and reps, then this would be an acceptable use.

3. Attentive

Is the Personal Trainer attentive to your needs? We are not machines. There are good days and off days. A good Personal Trainer should check with you how you are when you come into the gym.

Did you sleep enough? When was your last meal? How are you feeling? Questions like these should be asked.

Also, the Personal Trainer should be watching your form closely when you are doing the exercises.

4. Goal Oriented

A good Personal Trainer should help the client work towards their goals. Besides providing appropriate and safe workouts, a good Personal Trainer should also monitor if the client is actually progressing.

Checking body fat levels, weight, or perhaps strength levels are some ways a Personal Trainer can see if there is progress.

5. Presence Outside the Gym

A good Personal Trainer will try to make their presence felt outside the gym. They should very likely be talking to you about diet and giving recommendations on how you can improve factors outside the gym. (Sleep, managing stress, etc.)

They should be motivating you and checking up with you if you miss sessions and are not hitting your goals.

If you are not hitting your goals, you should know why you are not hitting them. Is it because of your diet or other factors? Frankly, if your goal is fat loss oriented, your diet is the biggest factor.

Listen to your Personal Trainer when it comes to diet!

*Rant*

If your Personal Trainer asks you to count calories and reduce caloric intake, but you reduce rice/carbs because carbs are evil and increase calories elsewhere because alcohol is your friend/nuts are healthy, then can you blame your Personal Trainer when you don’t lose the weight?

You have to really listen closely to what they say and not just follow the general “sentiment”. Many of us are armchair health experts who are actually WRONG about plenty of things.

We may hear reduce caloric intake as cut carbs, or do intermittent fasting.

*Rant Over*

6. Difficulty

The Personal Training session should be difficult but not killer! Neither should it be easy. An Ideal Personal Training Session should be about 7-8/10 in difficulty.

I have seen Personal Trainers in Singapore make their clients puke. If puking is the goal of the workout, BEWARE. Get out quick.

However, if you feel that you can do another round of Training immediately after the workout, the workout is likely too easy!

Note: Your Personal Trainer is not a mind reader, you have to give feedback throughout the workout so that we know whether it is too difficult or not.

And please, do not complain/groan over every single exercise and repetition, if the workout is only a 5/10 in difficulty for you.

You must give honest feedback, if the workout is only 5/10 to you and you get in the habit of groaning and struggling, you are being a drama king/queen.

How can we tell if you are seriously struggling when you are at 9/10 of your limit, if it all looks almost the same? Don’t cry wolf.

I say this because I have clients who groan and struggle from rep 1 when I know they can do 15 reps of it. They just groan when doing almost any physical activity.

Conclusion

And there you have it! These are some of the things you should be looking out for when evaluating a Personal Trainer.

Of course, other factors such as politeness, timing, and availability should be considered. But I assume those are obvious and did not go into detail about them. Hope you found the article useful!

If you are looking for a Personal Trainer, contact me using the “Contact” option at the top of the page!

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