Whats a good price for a personal trainer?

When i went to a gym i payed $30 for half an hour to me that seems really steep for 30mins work. What would you say is a good price for personal training?

Nothing. Learn from reading books,articles watching videos ask asking questions on forums such as this and you'll pay zip.

Was thinking that it may be a good idea to go to someone for a while tho until i get out of this habbit of making shit routines.

Does anyone here belong to a gym? Im thinking if im serious about training i should get out of my shed at least for awhile until i man up as they say.

Shit routines??
WTF, quite a few guys here have helped you with your routine and you fail to listen, now you want to pay for info you can get for free, actually you'll will probably get bullshit from a PT, like "You shouldn't squat because it's bad for your back" , "If you use heavy weights you can injure yourself", "leg extensions are good for building the quads", "Use light weights for toning the muscles", "Use machines because they are safer than free weights", blah. blah. blah.
Seriously, WTF???

What Shrek said.

$30 for 1/2hr is actually a good price for a trainer, thay do have business expenses.
And it's not like they have clients back to back daylong with no breaks in between.

Have you worked out and written down your goals yet, short, medium and long term?
If not, this should be your absolute 1st step.

standard price.

At fitness first's and a lot of other gyms it's quite common for $50 for 30 mins.

But listen to shrek and refer to all the advice that has been given in regards to your routine.

Also, don't do squats because it could hurt your back, don't lift heavey weights because you could injure yourself, use machines because they are safer than free weights and use light weights to tone muscle.

This is the last time I'm going to weigh in mate - I have tried to help you and you won't listen. So what makes you think you'll listen to a PT??

My last ditch advice is this:

Go to Build Muscle & Lose Fat Through Strength Training | StrongLifts.com and get the spreadsheet. Put in your starting weights (lower than you think you should), and follow the program to the letter. If you follow the program to the letter, eat well, and sleep well you will get the gains you want. Remember - poor form in a lift is a failed lift. Poor form also leads to injury. Start out light, and work your way up and you WON'T be sorry.

I think a PT is a good idea to show you the correct way in which to do exercises. Other then that, it's a waste of money.

There is plenty of information on the net about the correct way to do exercises. What makes you think the PT knows the correct way. He has a female PT who has probably never squatted or deadlifted herself.

When I trained at gyms I never saw a PT show his/her pupil a deadlift or squat. It was always leg extensions and maybe leg press. It was always machine bench press not barbell press because "it is dangerous to bench on your own" ... see what I'm getting at?

The gym has better equipment.

PT is free and came with gym. I dont know how to use all the machines she can show me.

As for routine it doesnt matter what i do i still get results. I have gained muscle even with my random shit training.

My question for you guys is how long did it take you to get a good routine going?

Did you listen to people from the beginning?

Delta a quote from the site

"Experiment. Don’t take anything for granted from anyone or anything, including this site. Science doesn’t matter, results do. Be open minded, read everything and find what works by experimenting."

I have made gains isnt that the most important thing?

kindred said:

The gym has better equipment.

Delta a quote from the site

"Experiment. Don’t take anything for granted from anyone or anything, including this site. Science doesn’t matter, results do. Be open minded, read everything and find what works by experimenting."

I have made gains isnt that the most important thing?

Click to expand...

Funny didn't I say something similar to you not long ago - don't take everything at face value (including what I say), and do your own research?

You have injured yourself, you have worn yourself out, but yes you seem to think you are making gains. Does that mean its the BEST way to work out for you - I'd say no. You yourself even say its a crap routine - I'm offering you a solution. Its up to you to believe it works and try it out.

Did I listen to people when i started - yep a whole host of them. They said:

No one ever looks at your legs - work back chest and arms
Squats are dangerous for your knees
Deadlifts are dangeous for your back
Doing a split is THE only way to gain muscle
Train everyday of the week as hard as you can and you'll get massive
Do 12 reps to get huge muscles
You must always get "the pump"
You must always train to failure
Machines are better than free weights
A smith machine is the best way to do bench

etc etc


I listened and got weight loss - which at the time was good - but very little strength gain. I got tired and was unhappy. Eventually i injured my back as it was not strong enough - so I got fat again.

My life has been all about learning and knowing more than others - I'm just completeing a PhD and I lecture at a university - and yet for some reason exercise was one area I had completely overlooked in my life to study up on. I rectified that - spent lots of time reading exercise physiology books and researching training programs and talking to people at gyms who were lifting the bigger weights and asked them what they did to get there. I made friends with the people at work who looked big and lo and behold two of them used the same program I was thinking about. After talking ot them for ages and hearing their sucess story of doing full body workouts and moving to a split after 1.5x BW squat I became enthused again.

Ive got to say, paying for a PT can be a bad move on the wallet. The only PT id personally pay for is for a Pro Kickboxer to come give me a killer training session. Ive received HEAPS of good advice from this forum, my boss who is an ex show body builder who is getting back into it and ive found some pretty helpful sites. the best site so far is Scooby!!! he is a great communicator and has some great tips.

Scooby's Home Bodybuilding Workouts

From Scooby

Learn: Gather as much information as you can, but be a skeptic. Read books, check the forums and, most of all, ask questions! At the gym if you see someone with a great body part, ask them for advice but please wait until their workouts are done: you will be surprised how most bodybuilders are actually approachable. Most of learning will involve trying things for yourself and see what works for you so don't trust anything you hear or read unless there is real unbiased scientific research which backs up the claims. Remember that not too long ago proper nutrition was "three square meals a day" with lots of red meat, cheese, and dairy. Remember also that most of the fitness magazines are there to promote the supplements of their advertisers so, when you read them, make sure to take that into account before parting with your hard-earned money.

You joined this forum to what 'm guessing the same reason as me. To gain knowledge and to gain body mass. Theres some great information on this forum and i'm glad i found it. Id suggest relaxing abit and let the info sink in and re- evaluate your routine practically.

But if your set on it, the best advice i could add would be to smash the PT with questios. and Cross reference heaps of Data you have gained so far against the PT's and ask her about it.

will do Ricko

Now Shrek, I don't know what PTs you have dealt with in the past, but 99% of those where I train have women and men dead lifting, squating, etc, often with heavy weights. I know a lot of trainers who would love their clients to lift heavier weights, but a lot just won't do it.

If it hadn't been for my PT I would have never even tried chin-ups, and now I can do them on my own. Certainly wouldn't have starting to think about learning 'proper' power lifting.

Yep, there are a lot of cowboys out there. My concern with someone who is only charging $30 for half an hour is their qualifications. Make sure your trainer has a LOT of experience and find out the type of training they have done themselves.

I don't deal with PT's because I end up giving them bodybuilding lessons. Bree, look at Kindred's training log and see what she made him do, all machine exercises with no deads just like I predicted. I saw it all the time when I trained at various gyms, PT's giving woeful advise.
Yes there may be 1 or 2 good ones but the majority are 2 bit worthless skinny little runts who did a 2 week certificate online or some bullshit like that.

ZYep, agree with a lot of what you say Shrek. There are a heap of 18 year old trainers out there who just do the course and head straight to the gym- and statistically, 75% of them will be out of the industry within 12 months.

The other thing you have to consider is what the client has TOLD the PT. Can you imagine the list of complaints Kindred presented her with? My back hurts, my knees hurt, I can't do this, I can't do that.

A more established trainer probably would have walked away saying their books were too full for more clients.

i didnt say anything hurts cause nothing hurts. I just asked her for a full body routine i could do 3 -4 times a week that invloved a mix of machines and free weights.

whats wrong with that?

the PT was older in late 30s

Just because someone is older doesn't mean that they have experience. It's becoming pretty common for older women with kids to become qualified as PTs coz they can work it around school, etc.

What I meant Kindred, is that you need to almost interview your PT. What you said was pretty vague, especially considering all of the exposure you have had from the information here on the forum. From what you have posted here, you are mainly interested in free weights and want to build bulk. you seem to have plenty of time on your hands but struggle with boredom. You really have to press them in this direction and quiz them to make sure you have someone with the right experience.

Had three trainers myself- first one crap- learnt my lesson there and have had two great guys since.