You’ve taken the step to hire a personal trainer. What happens next?

From taking your measurements to asking about your goals and motivations, we take a look at what you can expect from your first personal training session.

Hiring a personal trainer is a great way to kick start your fitness regime and help you get in shape. But if you’ve recently signed up with a trainer, you may be feeling nervous about your first session – what will happen, what will they ask you, what will you be expected to do?

We spoke to an experienced personal trainer in London, to find out what you can expect from your first training session. But whether you live in London, Essex or anywhere else in the country; whatever age, sex and level of fitness; and whatever your reason for hiring a personal trainer, these guidelines should apply.

Lots of questions

The first thing your personal trainer will want to do is get to know you as a person, so get ready for lots of questions. Most importantly, they will want to know your motivation for improving your fitness, along with any specific fitness goals you want to achieve (whether that’s losing weight so you can play with your children, or running your first marathon), as this will help them to keep you motivated. It’s likely that they will also ask about what exercise you’ve undertaken previously, what you did and didn’t enjoy, and whether you have had, or currently have any injuries. In addition to this, they will probably want to find out a little about your routine; how much time you have to devote to exercise, and what days or times would work best for you.

This may sound like a lot of questions, but it will help your trainer to build a full picture of you, enabling them to devise a training plan that is specifically tailored to your needs.

Weighing and measuring

In order to know if your training is getting results, you need to set a baseline that you can compare your progress against. To do this, your personal trainer will most likely ask you to hop on the weighing scales. However, if your plan involves lots of strength and weight training, you may find that your weight goes up, even while you start to look leaner and fitter. As a result, most trainers will also measure your body fat percentage, as well as taking measurements of your body so that they can record any loss of inches. These metrics will help to give an accurate starting point that makes it easy to measure progress and assess the effectiveness of your training regime.

Assess form and fitness

Another thing your trainer will probably do is ask you to undertake some basic exercises such as squats, lunges and kettlebell swings. This will enable them to assess your form and fitness levels and identify any areas that may need extra attention when it comes to formulating your training plan.

Mini workout

With these initial assessments to carry out, there will probably not be enough time for a full-on workout. However, most trainers will include a short workout in your first session, as it helps them to get a better idea of your ability, as well as giving you a taster of their training style – so be sure to wear trainers and clothing that you’ll be comfortable exercising in.

Plan of action

Last but certainly not least, your trainer will take all the information they’ve gleaned during this initial session and create a personalised training plan for you. This should schedule in your workouts and outline a plan for the months ahead, detailing how many times you will work out per week, and what these workouts will involve. Having a plan in place will make it much easier to keep motivated and stay on track.

All that being said, this is just a rough guide to your first training session. You need to make sure that your training sessions work for you so don’t be afraid to ask questions and guide your trainer as to your likes, dislikes, needs and objectives. By being open and honest you can begin a training relationship that will help you to successfully achieve your fitness goals.