Gfyuki

Why do people hire personal trainers, when there is such an abundance of exercise knowledge on the internet?

We know a lot about the human body in general, such as how

• weight training tears down muscle fibres


• the body builds muscle fibres back up, better and stronger


• the body needs adequate food and rest for rebuilding muscle


• the shoulder joint is easily damaged from anterior internal rotation


• deadlifts place a lot of strain on the spine if the back muscles are not properly engaged

etc. This is information one can learn from reading books and studies online.

However, we also differ in a lot of areas, such as how

• some people have short tendons, and need to deadlift differently


• some people have shortened hip flexors


• some people sit a lot


• some people have an anterior pelvic tilt


• some people have a posterior pelvic tilt


• some people have weak hip flexors


• some people respond better to high volume training


• some people respond better to high intensity training

etc. This is information that trainers are educated on diagnosing and helping you treat, by creating workout plans specifically designed for your body in particular. Not only to get you started, but also to appropriately adjust the plan as you progress, and as you plateau.

A lot of this can be diagnosed and treated and planned for by yourself, but you would have to do a LOT more reading and studying to get there, and there's less of a guarantee of success, because you can't always trust what you read on the Internet.

So, to sum up: Hiring a personal trainer is something we do to either get help getting started, or to get a second opinion on what we're already doing.

There are many ways to answer this.

One, if a person buys a package of sessions from a personal trainer, and has scheduled an appointment and paid in advance, then that person has much greater motivation to actually get to the gym.

Two, maybe someone wants company while they work out. At the gym I go to, I listen to the personal trainers interact with their clients, and most of it consist of silly banter about the weather, sports, children, pets, movies, ect. It is pretty obvious these personal trainers are there for a little distraction and pleasant company. Nothing wrong with that.

A third reason might be, that they hope a personal trainer will help them with technique and form. Having somebody watch you and give feedback about what your body is really doing can be extremely beneficial. Sometimes a trainer needs to physically manipulate a client's body to correct their movement pattern. However, from what I see at the gym, most personal trainers don't do enough of this. I've see lots of terrible form on display while personal trainers are chatting about the weather. So, some trainers are more diligent than others about giving clients useful feedback.

Fourth, even with the internet, there is work involved in putting together a itinerary of exercises. When I lead an exercise class, I compile exercises from a multitude of sources. A list of my sources would require a small book and I'm adding new sources every week. Some of my exercises come from scholarly research and aren't found on youtube. The average person is not going to invest this kind of time into compiling a workout itinerary. On the other hand, many personal trainers these days just copy their workouts from youtube videos. Again, what you get from a personal trainer depends on exactly who you hire and how much you are willing to pay.