Don't Hire a Personal Trainer If You Don't Have a Goal

I'm a personal trainer, and I'm telling you not to hire one. At least, not yet.

Every week someone tells me, "I think I need a personal trainer." When I ask why, I usually hear "to get fit" or "to sort myself out." Those are good reasons to start, but they aren't goals. And without a goal, you'll probably spend money on sessions that don't lead anywhere.

A trainer is a guide, not a destination

Think of a personal trainer like a taxi driver. A good driver knows the roads, the shortcuts and the traffic. But if you get in and say "just drive", you'll go round in circles while the meter runs.

Training works the same way. My job is to get you somewhere faster and more safely than you'd get there on your own. If neither of us knows where that is, I can't plan the route, and you can't tell whether we're getting any closer.

What the research says about goals

Setting goals is one of the most studied tools in behaviour change, and the evidence is consistent. A 2017 review of 141 studies with more than 16,000 people found that setting a goal reliably improved behaviour. It worked best when the goal was challenging and when people shared it with someone else rather than keeping it to themselves.

Exercise is no exception. A 2016 review of 45 studies with almost 6,000 people found that goal setting had a medium-sized effect on how much physical activity people actually did. Psychologists Edwin Locke and Gary Latham, who spent decades researching the topic, found that specific, challenging goals lead to better performance than simply being told to "do your best".

Why training without a goal fails

You can't measure progress

Without a target, there's nothing to check against. Is a 2 kg change good? Is an extra rep a win? You won't know. A 2016 review of 138 studies found that tracking progress towards a goal makes you more likely to reach it, especially when you write it down or report it to someone. You can't track progress towards a goal you don't have.

Motivation fades

The first few weeks feel exciting. Then life gets busy, and "getting fit" is easy to skip. "Deadlifting my bodyweight by March" is much harder to give up on.

Your programme becomes random

Without a direction, sessions turn into a mix of exercises that look busy but don't build towards anything. A goal is what gives a programme its structure, from the exercises we pick to how often you train.

You'll feel it's not worth the money

If you can't see results, you'll start wondering why you're paying. That's fair. You'd be paying for activity, not progress.

What a real goal looks like

A good goal is specific, measurable and has a deadline. For example:

• Lose 6 kg before my wedding in June

• Run 5 km without stopping in 10 weeks

• Do my first full push-up by the summer

• Get back to pain-free training after a back injury

• Carry my kids up the stairs without my back aching

Your goal doesn't have to be about how you look. Some of the best goals I've worked on with clients were about energy, confidence, or keeping up with their grandchildren.

"But I don't know what my goal is"

That's completely normal, and it doesn't mean you should give up on training. It means the first step is a conversation, not a workout.

That's why every client starts with a free consultation. We talk about your lifestyle, your training history, anything that's bothering you and what you'd like to change. By the end, most people have a clear goal they're excited about, and we have a plan to reach it.

The bottom line

Don't hire a personal trainer just to have one. Hire one because you know where you want to go and you want the quickest, safest way to get there.

No goal yet? Book a free 30-minute consultation through the Book Online page, and we'll turn "I should get fit" into a goal you can actually reach.

Mark

Sources

• Epton T, Currie S, Armitage CJ. Unique effects of setting goals on behavior change: systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2017.

• McEwan D et al. The effectiveness of multi-component goal setting interventions for changing physical activity behaviour: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Health Psychology Review, 2016.

• Locke EA, Latham GP. Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: a 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist, 2002.

• Harkin B et al. Does monitoring goal progress promote goal attainment? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 2016.