# have you used a personal trainer?



## samanthajane (27 Mar 2009)

Thinking of getting a personal trainer and was wondering if anyone has any experience of this. 

Is it worth while? What on average are their costs. I've enquired to a few that i found on a website and only 1 has returned my email. He wanted €50 an hour? Is this a resonable price? I thought it was a bit much?

thanks


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## gebbel (27 Mar 2009)

My personal opinion is that employing a personal trainer is a complete and utter waste of money, now more than ever. Think about it, what can they do for you that you cannot do yourself?


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## samanthajane (27 Mar 2009)

gebbel said:


> Think about it, what can they do for you that you cannot do yourself?


 

Well i'm going wrong somewhere cause not matter what i do i'm not losing the weight i'm putting on more. 

I wasn't thinking of this as a long term plan just for a month or 2 so someone can show the correct way of doing the exercises that i will get results and how much i should be doing each week. Someone to get me started. Once i have a sort of plan figured out i'll be able to carry on from there.

That was my way of thinking.


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## Yeager (27 Mar 2009)

Why pay someone to tell you that you need to exercise? 

Start with a walk, build it up to a slow jog and increase according. If you are mobidly obese get the doctors blessing first before anything too hectic. 

Now can I have the 50 quid your throwing away?


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## Yeager (27 Mar 2009)

45 minute jog 4-5 evenings a week,  a resonable diet (including the odd treat) and you will start to see results.


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## samanthajane (27 Mar 2009)

I wasn't talking about walking/running i dont need someone to tell me to do that. And neither do i need to pay someone to walk/run with me. 

I do exercise and my diet is good, but i need help with what other exercises i can do at home to help lose the weight and tone up at the same time. 

And that post only took you 5 mins so i dont think i should have to pay you the full €50 lol


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## joanmul (27 Mar 2009)

My daughter's friend was engaged to be married and was at a wedding of another friend. This friend was bursting out of her wedding dress and my daughter's friend decided no way was she going to be like that for her own wedding.

She got a personal trainer and got the svelte figure she wanted.

I don't know costs or time span. The point I'm making most of these people are experts and would have you doing the exercises and diet that would have the fastest results and hopefully have you on a more healthy lifestyle. They also give you motivation. That's what they're trained to do.

What does a doctor charge you?  €60 for a 10 minute consultation. 

I think your decision is determined by your own determination - whether you really want to trim down or not.


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## samanthajane (27 Mar 2009)

Thank you joanmul a positive response. That was my idea of thinking that they are trained to know not only the fastest way to go about it but the correct and healthy way. 

I dont mind paying the €50 an hour if that is the going rate i just didn't want to be over paying. 

I actually went to the doctor because i put on a fair bit of weight in such a short time, someone said it could be my thyroid but the doctor wouldn't even send me for tests. 

I have a lot of determination i just need the help in going the right away about it, cause what i'm doing alone isn't working for me

Thanks


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## gebbel (27 Mar 2009)

joanmul said:


> I think your decision is determined by your own determination - whether you really want to trim down or not.


 
Exactly, but this determination will not come from a personal trainer looking for 50 quid an hour.


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## juke (27 Mar 2009)

I did a couple of years ago - because I needed someone to push me harder than I would ever push myself. I used some of my SSIA for 8 weeks - 3 times a week for an hour.

I do lack discipline - I'm innately lazy - and for me it was money well spent - not just for losing weight and toning up and getting tips on diet, but also realising "my"  percieved limits were not really my limits at all,  and learning that yes you can indeed run up to the Hell Fire Club 

And no - I don't exercise/run as much now - but I do get out twice a week - which I didn't do before.


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## becky (27 Mar 2009)

I have been considering this as well as I don't like gyms. My diet is 'fine' but need to get back to 10 1/2 stone (I was 13 stone and at 5 5 enough was enough).

A friend told me she paid €30 a session but you had to use him twice a week for 6 weeks. I said no I'd get a nice pair of shoes for that. 

In the last 3 weeks I have upped the walking. I do 3 miles at least 3 times a week which takes 40 - 45 mins - its no time at all. I've done this 4 times this week and might do the prom tomorrow.

I also go out as late as 9pm as my excuse up to now was "oh its too late" and then sit on the sofa. At this late hour there are still pleanty of people out walking and you feel great afterwards. 

I've lost 7 pounds in 3 weeks so have every intention of keeping it up. 

I still haven't written off the idea completly but am going to give more normal ways of doing it a try first. 

I'd ask him if he'd do it for €40 and then try €45 and guarantee him 6 sessions.


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## samanthajane (28 Mar 2009)

well done becky for losing 7lbs

Where abouts is your friend that got the price of €30. If it's in dublin could you pass on his details for me

Thanks


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## becky (28 Mar 2009)

I'm in Limerick so no good to you.  It was a few years ago as well.


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## samanthajane (28 Mar 2009)

No worries thanks anyway


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## becky (28 Mar 2009)

No bother - if you go for it keep us posted.


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## MandaC (28 Mar 2009)

I previously put up a thread last June about a personal trainer.

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=84617&highlight=personal+trainer

That was last June, I knew I had to tackle things then, but went from bad to worse, had a bad run of personal problems. Eating (and drinking) habits went to pot.  Result was I put on another 1.5 stone when I already needed to lose a stone.  So 2.5 stone up.  I am usually quite a motivated person, but was all over the place at that time.  

Come January decided to tackle the weight, starting with exercise.   I said I was going to give the personal trainer a go and I did.  Sessions were €50 per session. (or block book 12 for €500) I did 2 sessions a week and although I did not lose much weight initially within those six weeks, I think I only lost about 3 lbs, but I really started to tone up.   I stood on the fat machine (dont know if those yokes are correct and I had actually converted a fair few pounds of fat) Also it was only about 3-4 weeks into the exercise that I started to focus on diet.   I did a lot of speed and reaction type exercises and also balancing.  At the end of the six or seven weeks, I said I was going to have to go it alone, so bought a push bike - I go out most evenings, even if it is not far.  Since January now, I have lost  just over a stone  and hope to lose another stone.  

Went hillwalking recently and despite me never having done it before, was able to manage 10k (of uphill) and did not struggle at all and I reckon what I did with the personal trainer (balancing) etc really helped.

For me it worked, it was expensive and I thought long and hard before starting it, but changed my focus, so was worth it.  Before people start saying, you have more money than sense, etc, I dont see it that way, it really helped me focus on what I needed to do.  Not everyone is able to just motivate themselves to go out walking, running, etc and it does give you that push in the right direction.  However, you have to be serious and about it and it is no quick fix.  You will only get out of it what you put in.

Hope this helps


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## weejasy77 (28 Mar 2009)

What sort of exercises are you doing at the minute?  I personally wouldnt pay for a personal trainer, 50 euro would get you at least a months gym membership.  At most gym's there'll be trainers there or even your regular gym goers who'd be more than willing to give advice.


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## samanthajane (28 Mar 2009)

Manda C i did read your post before i made my post but it stopped before you actually started with the trainer. Good to here that you decided to do it and that it worked for you. And well done on the weight loss so far keep it up. 

weejasy77, at the moment i'm walking and i have a cross trainer at home that i use 4-5 times a week and i walk up and down the stairs as well. 

I dont want to join the gym i've done that before and it didn't work for me. The "so called" trainers that were at the gym were very young and always doing something else. And to get a 1 to 1 you'd still have to pay extra for that as well. I'm not going to go up to someone, a total stranger and ask them what i should and shouldn't be doing. 

I spoke to the one guy that got back to me and i've decided i'm going to go ahead with him. he was very nice on the phone and let me ask lots of questions. He said i wasn't probably eating enough and thats why i wasn't losing weight, (  makes no sense to me ) If it doesn't work then there's no real harm done. 

I have my first appoinment on the 8th April... i'll let you all know how i got on.


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## weejasy77 (28 Mar 2009)

Not eating enough could cause problems alright.  My suggestions would be to:

Get a good breakfast in the morning as it get your metabolism going thus burning extra calories.  

Introduce weights into your training programme... heavy weights as you can lift too.  Don't worry about bulking up as it's near impossible for women to build muscle.  Your body still burns calories upto 12 hours after a weight training session.

Do high intensity interval training as it too burns more calories... On your cross trainer warm up for 5 minutes then go at 90% for 1 minute, then at 40-50% for 30 seconds... continue this until as long as you can.

Drink loads of water.. this helps flush out the auld system, helps against fluid retention, improves health and quashes your apetite.

Eat every 3 hours.. not eating on a regualr basis sends your body into stavation mode where it starts to store fat.

I hope the personal trainor thing works out for you,  but I wouldn't be spending the money on it myself


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## Smashbox (28 Mar 2009)

Sam, take a gander...

[broken link removed]

[broken link removed]

http://www.focusfitness.ie/


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## Dinny (28 Mar 2009)

A Personal Trainer will work, but only along with a change in the rest of your lifestyle. I have used trainers and the big change only happened when I changed my diet.

I lost 5 stone over the last 2 years and done the Dublin Marathon last year. Key is a good training regime which you will need a trainer to start you off with and a good diet. I joined weight watchers about 3 months after I started training and the weight just fell of me. 

So far so good it has stayed of, but I keep up running regularly and done a half marathon last week.


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## samanthajane (29 Mar 2009)

Thanks weejasy77. I know one of my biggest problems is not eating breakfast. Even as a child i could never eat in the morning, i dont eat anything till lunch time and sometimes i'll only have an evening meal. I've tried eating breakfast before cause i know it's good for you, and after i do i just cant function for a few hours i feel ill every time get very bad head aches and stomach aches. Guess my body's just not used to it, but i'm going to force myself to have breakfast tomorrow every if it's just half a slice of toast. 

I tried weights before and hurt my back....hense i need to be show how to use them properly. I'm going to try what you suggested with the cross trainer, usually i do 45-60 mins and keep at the same pace. I've started drinking alot more water, before all i would drink is diet coke...i could get throught 12 cans a day easy. 

The eating every 3 hours is going to be the hardest thing for me, but i have heard this before and it's meant to work well so i'll try that as well. So if i had breakfast and 7am then i need to eat at 10am then lunch at 1pm then eat again at 4pm and then dinner at 7pm. So for the 10am and 4 pm can it just be like some fruit/yogurt, would that be enough?  ( i'm gonna try this for a week before i start with the trainer if i put on weight from eating all this extra stuff i'm gonna coming looking for you lol ) 


Hey smashbox how are you hunni. 

The personaltrainerireland is where i actually found the guy that i'm going to go with. 
The fitness together place looks really nice but a bit more expensive, same with the focusfitness. But it's good to know about these just incase the other place doesnt work out. Your google must be better than mine cause when i searched i didn't find either of those other two lol


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## Smashbox (29 Mar 2009)

> Hey smashbox how are you hunni.
> 
> The personaltrainerireland is where i actually found the guy that i'm going to go with.
> The fitness together place looks really nice but a bit more expensive, same with the focusfitness. But it's good to know about these just incase the other place doesnt work out. Your google must be better than mine cause when i searched i didn't find either of those other two lol


 
Am good  

Hope it works out for you. If it doesnt, then you'll just have to try another avenue. Good luck x


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## MandaC (29 Mar 2009)

Also second the "grazing" technique - little and often.  The guy I did the personal training with explained it more in the way that the body needs say, on average 100 calories per hour, so after 3 hours you should be eating say, 300 calories.  Before that I might eat nothing all day and then stuff in 1,000 calories.  Body still only needs the 300 cals. (working off reserves all day) so stores the excess.

I am delighted with my progress - back into a size 12.  I also cut out the white bread and processed foods, made a huge difference.


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## weejasy77 (29 Mar 2009)

Sam... Good luck on your new lifestyle anyhow, keep us informed on how it goes.  There's some good advice on the fitness and nutrition sections on boards.ie you'll understand better in there how important a weight training programme is in weight loss.


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## juke (29 Mar 2009)

samanthajane said:


> I know one of my biggest problems is not eating breakfast.



Oh - me too samanthajane.....and 2 years on I still struggle. I'm ok at weekends when I wake up naturally, but weekdays, when the alarm wakes me, my body just refuses to be hungry until lunch time. But I definitely notice a difference with my weight if I lapse...so I guess that's incentive enough.

Good luck - and enjoy it,


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## TarfHead (30 Mar 2009)

I'm coming late to this discussion , but, for what it's worth ..

Last year, I used a personal trainer for a couple of months - 10 sessions. Part of this was at my wife's suggestion - she wanted to pay for some of the sessions as a Christmas present.

The local gym had ads for a few PTs. I chose one on the basis that he had a head of hair and didn't seem as bulked up as the rest of them. I've a subjective distrust of musclebound blokes with shaven heads.

The sessions went well. My primary reason for getting his help was that I was getting stale from doing the same routines. He helped me learn the benefit of using different combinations and the technique for each. He also provided guidance for making decisions about the combination of equipment to use. Finally, he was able to give me one-to-one time in one of the gym studios that had me crawling out of there in rag order.

The sessions, overall, were expensive but, in retrospect, value for money. I've being using the gym far more regularly and efficiently since then.

I believe that the engagement with a personal trainer should be limited. They should be able to leave you self-sufficient after a number of sessions. If they can't do that, then they haven't done a good job. IMHO.


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## joanmul (30 Mar 2009)

I take a glass of warm water with the juice of half a lemon - with no sugar or any kind of sweetener - every morning. Even if you don't have a sweet tooth it works on the fat in your diet. I walk for an hour every day and use dumbells - 5kg - a couple of times a week. I like sleeveless things and hate bingo wings so that was my motivation. I greatly admire Michelle Obama's arms but it is so easy to get toned arms - about 12 weeks does the trick. I cut out all bread, have no potatoes, and cut out any kind of cake or sweet things and cut down anything with saturated fats (read the labels). I lost a stone in about 7 months but also trimmed down.


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## speirbhean (30 Mar 2009)

I'm late to this discussion to but for what it's worth... a great 'credit crunch' idea is a fitness DVD. Honestly... I bought Davina McCall's DVD last year and it was BRILLIANT - couldn't believe it - showed me how to do the excercises and I lost a half stone/ totally toned up. It cost around E20 I guess... a lot cheaper than a trainer. Running is the best all round excercise but on a cold winter's morning it's a lot easier to go downstairs and work out in front of the TV... for me anyway


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## samanthajane (1 Apr 2009)

Thanks all for your few tips.

weejasy77 i'm not thanking you just yet lol i'm in bits!!!! This eating 5 times a day is killing me, I feel stuffed all day long. But on the good side after a few weeks of this i wont want to eat anykind of food ever again lol. I actually dread when it comes to having to eat again.  

Anyone thats done this "grazing" before please tell me that soon this will stop and my body will get used to it.


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## UptheDeise (1 Apr 2009)

Well here's my 2 cents worth. 

Diets don't work because your body goes into starvation mode when your dieting. when you've lost the weight sand come off the diet, this starvation mode will encourage your body to store as much fat as possible. Hence you'll regain the weight and some more.

My tip is this. Give up taking sugar on your tea and coffee and give up fizzy drinks. Seriously it works. After a while sugar snacks become off putting as they are simply too sweet.

Too curb hunger pangs, how about a load of rice cakes dunked in unsugared tea!


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## TarfHead (2 Apr 2009)

UptheDeise said:


> My tip is this. Give up taking sugar on your tea and coffee and give up fizzy drinks. Seriously it works.


 
It works if you're a sugar fiend. I haven't added sugar to tea or coffee in years and rarely have fizzy drinks.

Which is another good reason for using a personal trainer. They can help tailor solutions that suit you and your preferences.


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## becky (30 May 2009)

samanthajane said:


> I spoke to the one guy that got back to me and i've decided i'm going to go ahead with him. he was very nice on the phone and let me ask lots of questions. He said i wasn't probably eating enough and thats why i wasn't losing weight, ( makes no sense to me ) If it doesn't work then there's no real harm done.
> 
> I have my first appoinment on the 8th April... i'll let you all know how i got on.


 
I was wondering if you went in the end and how did it go? 

Reason I was wondering was I joined bootcamp this week and have to day its brillant.

Really good work out and because there's only 20 of us the instructors can keep an eye on you.  

Its €150 for 8 weeks which covers 2 mid week classes and one at the weekend.  I'll hardly make all the sat classes but even if I do 2 classes a week this works out at approx €10 a class.  Sounds dear but its close to having a personal trainer I'd say and  a good bit cheaper then €50.  Also being outside is lovely.


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## NickyK (31 May 2009)

Hi Sam,

Weejasy has given you the best advice on here. Most people run to lose weight but don't introduce weights so they put the weight back on when they stop running. Do weights Mon, Wed and Fri and HIIT as advised on Tue and Thurs. Eat properly, plenty of veg, half the amount of carbs and double the amount of lean meat. You should be getting at least 1g of protein for every pound you weigh. 5 or 6 small meals a day to include protein in every meal.
When doing weights do compound exercises, maybe two types for your chest, back and legs and one for your shoulders, biceps and triceps. Also have two routines A and B. Alternate these on your weight training days. Don't be afraid to use weights, you won't bulk up as long as you're eating in deficit. To eat in deficit you need to find your BMR (calorific daily needs) and eat about 500 cals below that. It's physically impossible to bulk up if eating in deficit but you will lose fat fast and tone up (get lean) quickly.
Lastly, forget about weighing scales and get your body fat % done, judge yourself by how your look in the mirror and how your clothes fit. Weight watchers etc use scales because they don't promote doing weights as muscle weighs more than fat, so you can get leaner and weigh more but in fact look much slimmer. This doesn't go along with their money making cycle but thats another story.
Websites you might find helpful fitday.com (for keeping track of calories) and fitness.com (weight training section and BMR explained)
If you want to PM an email address I can send you info on diet, weight training and HIIT. I found this info very helpful.
Set yourself goals, keep a food journal and log what exercise you're doing. When something is working keep doing it.

Best of Luck


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## John Rambo (31 May 2009)

Sustainable weight loss comes from a combination of the kitchen and the steel...

Muscle growth increases your metabolism so you're actually burning calories even while sitting on the couch.

Eliminating bread from your diet is also a positive move...apart from having pretty much zero nutritional value, it helps pile the weight on.


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