Been big near enough all my life, Been going to the gym regularly for the last couple of years, with good fitness results, but not so greaty actual weight loss results. So I have decided to try the personal trainer route. My first session is on Tue and is a kinetic assessment whatever the hell that is. I think it is session 4 and onwards which are actual gym work. Every 4 weeks I get an assessment - measurements etc.
Anyone else gone this route? How successful was it for you?
Not quite what you’re asking but I did take advantage of a door prize for three free one hour evaluation sessions with a personal trainer one time. I only actually went to the first two sessions because I couldn’t have afforded to pay for his services once the free trial was over. Plus he was a rabid Vegan who got huffy when I said I wanted to go to the Greek place next door and get a gyro.
A lot of PT’s can be very helpful. But often, especially at major chain gyms (e.g., Gold’s and Bally’s), they’re obliged to be glorified salespeople, selling you one class, service, or supplement, after another, whether you really need them, or not. Their job is to sell you the extended warranty and undercoating, so to speak.
So be careful not to buy what you don’t think you REALLY need. And if they give you any exercise or nutrition advice that just doesn’t sound right, check it out for accuracy in the bio/sports med/physiology literature. PubMed is a great free resource for this. Your local reference librarian can help you check out your PT’s advice in the scholarly bio-med literature, usually for free.
I’m already a member of the gym he’s attached to, so the onlything I should need to keep watch on is the validity of advice given. Plenty of online resources, not least this here board, for me to do that.
FWIW, I signed up with a gym trainer program a couple years ago and worked with a couple trainers. It can be a very good motivator to actually get to the gym, since you’re making an appointment with someone else and not just relying on your own self-discipline. When my trainer unexpectedly vanished, having gotten a better job offer quite suddenly, I lost a lot of motivation and eventually stopped going altogether.
But for the most part I found that they weren’t too helpful when it came to weight loss; one trainer would tell me to walk on the treadmill at X speed for Y minutes, then go and get a soda or something. The other just had me walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes before the actual session began so we didn’t waste time. They’re much better for general fitness, weight training, exercises and things. They’ll act as spotters and guide you to make sure you’re not using too much weight, and also that you’re not using too little weight, which was a big factor for me. They showed me exercises and methods of lifting weights that worked different muscles, and answered general questions about nutrition. I fact-checked their advice, and on the whole it seemed to be pretty accurate.
You can find a lot of the information that a trainer will tell you online; how hard to work yourself, what exercises you can do, what to eat, and so on, but it’s the difference between reading a textbook and working with a teacher, especially if the trainer is any good and isn’t just knocking out a paycheck.
1st session today.
I have been measured, calipered and been photographed. I also had to do various movements whilst being watched and sometimes recorded to see where my flexibility is suffering.
Next session will discuss the analysis of this one. I will also need to record food intake for a couple of days
Session 3 will go through a dietary regimen I believe. Sounds like at least in the short term bread, pasta and rice will be off the menu for me.
Session 4 onwards will be gym work with some of the exercises included being to remedy any mobility issues highlighted in session one.
Every 4 weeks will be another measurement/calipers session.
I had a personal trainer twice (same guy both times) in 2009 and again in 2010 after I got laid off from my last job. It was one of the most worthwhile things I ever did for myself. We had our sessions in a small private gym in downtown Raleigh and he never tried to sell or push any products to me. In addition to giving me the motivation to work out like Bosstone mentioned, he helped me correct a lot of problems I was having with my form so now I’m a lot more confident about working out at home. You’d be amazed at how easy it is to do a lot of basic exercises incorrectly and you’d never know if someone wasn’t critiquing you at the time. He did not do the “you plod along on the treadmill while I watch you” routine; in fact, the gym didn’t even have any cardio machines.
I can’t say that I cried after our last session ended (I had to move from the Raleigh area and my savings were getting depleted anyway), but I did get some sniffles as I drove away from the gym. My PT was a wonderful person who helped me get some great results. If I can find someone as good as he is up here in NoVA, I’d sign up for sessions in a heartbeat.
Just read the nutrition info I was sent. The basic gist is that when you eat bad carbs (bread, rice, pasta, chocolate etc) You get an insulin spike which drives all the excess sugar into your fat cells. This then causes you to crash in energy terms, making you crave more carbs and repeating the process.
What you have to realize is exercise isn’t going to help you lose much weight. At most you’re gonna lose 10 pounds, usually it’s more like five pounds. You need to focus on your food intake.
Does this mean PTs are bad? No. But they’re really not needed, with one exception.
Think of a personal trainer as flying first class. It’s great, IF you can afford it. But the results are you get their the same time as the people in coach.
The exception is if you insist on working out with free weights. PLEASE get a PT. I have worked out for over 20 years and I can’t tell you how many broken toes and chipped teeth I’ve seen from people who have no idea how to use free weights correctly and safely.
On chipped tooth is gonna be at least $300 to fix, so get a PT and learn how to use free weights right 
As I said, PT are good if you can afford them but they are a luxury really
They’re great for motivation and to get you to keep going. Especially if you make your next appointment at the end of your last - it then requires effort to actually cancel. I found I trained much more regularly when I had a PT.
First gym session with the PT today. First went through some stretches which I need to do to remedy highlighted issues after my kinetic assessment. Never knew stretches could be such hard work. I think my HR got up to 135 at one point just doing damn stretches!
Then we did some interval training on the tread mill. 5 min warm up at 8.5 k/h, then 90 secs at 11.5, 90 secs at 8.5, 60 secs at 11.5, 60 secs at 8.5, 30 secs at 11.5, 30 secs at 8.5, repeat the interval bits twice.
today is day 5 without bread, rice, pasta, potatoes (and obv chocolate, crisps, biscuits etc). No major cravings thus far. It’s a good job I like meat and nuts is all I can say
Sounds like they’re doing well by utilizing high intensity interval training (HIIT), as I’ve seen great results since I discovered it and started using it about a year ago.
My trainer was awesome, I just couldn’d afford her anymore 
I was very clear about what I wanted - and she worked it - hard. Ever session was a very tough interval/boot camp style workout, generally using my own body weight so that I could do the same workout anywhere (one of my requests).
When I got the P90X DVDs, I could not figure out why everyone said they were so tough, I mean they were challenging (of course), but similar to what she had me doing before - in that you worked out to the extreme of your highest level.