Personal Training from the Client's Perspective

Training from the Inside

Part 3: Training Trials and Tribulations

That alarm hurt; 6am on a Monday morning. I had been working late the night before but even though I wasn't due in the office till 9am, the alarm was set early so I could make my first training appointment with Darren, my new personal trainer. Our appointment was for 7am but I needed to be in the gym and changed by 6.45am, as he had told me to warm up on the stationery bike for 12 minutes before our session.

Stumbling into the gym somewhat bleary eyed, I dumped my bag into a locker and headed out onto the gym floor. Already packed at such an early hour, I found a bike and started peddling away. After a few minutes I had broken out a sweat and was breathing a little too hard, so remembering what Darren told me, I lowered the resistance to a more comfortable level. After all I was just warming up, not trying to burn innumerable calories. The 12 minutes sped by quickly enough and I was over by the training station, where I was to meet Darren, at a few minutes to 7am.

I hadn't seen Darren yet, but just assumed he was changing or grabbing a coffee. I hadn't expected to see him on the floor as I knew I was his first client of the day. By five past 7 I decided to get back on a bike that was close to the training station. I didn't want to miss him but I was cooling down fast. By 7.15am I asked whether anybody at the front desk had seen him, and when they told me they hadn't I decided to start working out. The trouble was, as this was our first session, I had no idea what exercise to start with or even what muscle group to train.

Taking a gamble, I began bench pressing and hoped he would arrive soon. After four sets of that, I moved onto the incline press and it seemed pretty clear he wasn't going to show up. I finished my workout in about an hour, in my usual haphazard fashion, and hit the showers. On the one hand I was annoyed, I had been woken early and had been looking forward to getting started on my new fitness regime but on the other hand I was concerned that something had happened to him that morning or over the weekend.

As I walked to work my cell phone rang; it was Darren wondering where I was. It was 8.30am by this point. My relief that he was OK quickly dissipated as I heard the aggrieved tone in his voice. I reminded him that our appointment was at 7am and that I had finished a workout and was on my way to work. He asked why I simply didn't wait and now getting a little hot under the collar myself, I reminded him that I had to be at work by 9am and in any event, if I had done 90 minutes of cardio waiting for him I would be way too tired to hit the weights with any degree of intensity. We left it simply that I would see him on Wednesday at 7am.

It was a similar story on the Wednesday but this time another trainer approached me after I had been training for about 20 minutes to say that Darren had just called and he was stuck on the train from Brooklyn and would be there as quickly as possible. I left before he arrived. Two days later the end of the week had arrived but Darren hadn't. He strolled in carrying a cup of coffee at 10 minutes before our session was scheduled to end saying he had 'rushed' to get there.

I felt I had no choice but to find another trainer as clearly Darren had trouble getting to the gym on time. Everybody's time is valuable and it is extremely inconsiderate to just assume that either the client or trainer can just hang around waiting for the other to arrive or be ready. Trainers often have back-to-back appointments, so if you are 10 minutes late, then you are either going to have a short workout, which isn't ideal, or the trainer has to make his next client wait which is hardly fair on them.

I had a chat with a trainer who I had seen at the gym those three mornings. Gary had been working at the gym for about four years and his first client was usually at 6am and he worked through until about 3pm before knocking off for the day. He had an opening on Mondays and Fridays at 7am but not on Wednesday's but he was free at 6am that day... Gulping loudly I agreed that we would give it a week's trial as I wasn't sure I could make the Wednesday slot.

When I arrived on the Monday, he gave me a cheery wave as I started to warm up, but didn't come over as he was training another client. Promptly at 7am he was beside my bike chatting away, as I completed the last minute of my warm-up. We were going to do an all over body workout for the first week he explained, just in case the Wednesday workout wasn't feasible.

It was quite intense, as he had me doing a circuit, one set per body part before moving on to the next exercise and at the end of the circuit resting for a few minutes before repeating the cycle. We did three circuits in the hour and despite the fact that I was sweating profusely I found myself thoroughly enjoying the experience. I was working hard but not straining too much and my heart rate was elevated but not racing. Gary seemed like a great guy, describing himself as very much a morning person, he was friendly and cheery but certainly no pushover' He instinctively seemed to know when I could make another repetition and when I couldn't. Despite the hour, I found myself easily making the 6am Wednesday appointment as I was so energized by finally moving forward with my training.

Finding a trainer that is both good at what they do and has a time slot open when you want to train can be a challenge. Good trainers find themselves booked with regular clients and it may be, at least initially, that you can't find two or three 'perfect' slots straight away, but stick with it. Talk it through with the trainer and find the best slots for each of you and if the trainer work weekends, consider a Saturday slot, to ease the burden during the week if necessary. Once you find the right trainer, you will know it in a few short sessions.

Back to Part 2: Starting Out With a Personal Trainer

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