This post outlines essential qualities to look for when selecting a personal trainer in Toronto, and emphasizes the importance of professionalism, including punctuality, respectful communication, and undivided attention during sessions. Honesty about a trainer’s skill set and limitations is crucial; the best trainers will acknowledge when a client may benefit more from a different professional’s expertise. Additionally, top trainers provide value through structured, paid sessions rather than offering extensive free services, ensuring a balanced and professional relationship. Continuous education and a commitment to personal growth are also highlighted as key traits of exceptional trainers. Lastly, the ability to foster a supportive and motivating environment is deemed essential for client success and satisfaction.
A good Toronto Personal Trainer can help you excel in exercise and live a happy, fitter life. When I first became a Personal Trainer, I did so for selfish reasons. I needed to make money, and I enjoyed exercising, so I thought the “job” was a natural fit. I was only 17 when I became certified and took on my first personal training clients in Toronto.
25 years later, I am still a Personal Trainer in Toronto and a gym owner, but I do what I do for very different reasons. This is much more than a job. Professional Personal Training is the power and responsibility of helping people improve, prolong, or even save their lives through exercise.
Over the past 25 years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with hundreds of clients in Toronto through personal training. I’ve learned a lot – especially that there is always more to learn when it comes to health, the profession of Personal Training, and exercise. Among the things I’ve learned, this is what sticks with me the most:
Exercise has the power to save lives. And, as a Personal Trainer, I have a great responsibility when working with my clients.
When choosing a Personal Trainer in a city like Toronto, the choices are virtually limitless. Among other things, you ought to consider the following things when choosing your Personal Trainer:
- personality match;
- the qualifications of the Personal Trainer relative to your goals; and,
- the environment that he or she works in.
In this article, however, I want to highlight the five common features of the best Toronto Personal Trainers. If the trainer you have chosen does not have all five of these things, you might reconsider your choice.
The best Toronto Personal Trainers . . .
1. Your trainer should act in a professional manner
When I first started in Personal Training, it was not considered a profession. It was a job. Nothing more than a gig reserved for good-looking, personable, fit people and for those looking to meet wealthy clients for any number of reasons.
Now that the industry has evolved, many excellent exercise professionals have been produced in Personal Training. In Toronto, there is no shortage of professional Personal Trainers. Professionalism in your Personal Trainer ought to be a minimum standard for your employing their services.
In my view, acting in a professional manner as a Toronto Personal Trainer includes at least the following features:
- Being on time (ie. be 5 – 10 minutes early) for your sessions
- Speaking to your clients in a courteous, respectful way
- Staying off of your phone, except for personal emergencies or ifg the phone is being used as a tool (eg. timing an exercise; tracking the exercise in an app)
- Paying full attention to your exercise, mixing personal conversation in only during rests and only to appropriate levels
The very best Toronto Personal Trainers will have this level of professionalism as a minimum standard in how they conduct themselves.
2. The trainer represent their skillset and limitations honestly
The biggest lie told by any Personal Trainer in Toronto (or any other city) is as follows:
“I can help everyone.”
It is simply not true. In fact, the best Personal Trainers in Toronto will tell you about their technical limitations, in scheduling, and in their bandwidth for taking on new clients in an upfront and direct way. They will also let you know based on objective parameters whether or not you should be seeking help from another kind of professional (medical, paramedical, psychological, etc).
This honest self-representation comes from the confidence that these exercise professionals have in their skill sets and in the strength of their current practices.
In a similar vein, the best kind of Personal Trainer will be honest about whether you need Personal Training at all. They will tell you if more cost-effective, guided exercise options like small group exercise might be a better fit for you.
3. The best Toronto Personal Trainers give away very little for free
As a general rule, the best Toronto Personal Trainers give an initial consultation to prospective clients for free. But that’s it.
During this consultation, the objective should be to see whether you and the trainer are a good fit for each other. This is an information gathering session. As such, making it free of cost is appropriate.
After that, the best exercise professionals charge appropriately for their services. Doing so has them appropriately compensated for the value they provide. It engages both of you in the reciprocity of a professional relationship – value in expertise in exchange for appropriate compensation.
To be fair, some personal trainers give away free services to try to build a client base. That may suit you. However, the best Personal Trainers know their worth. And, the worth of any true professional is always greater than $0. Never forget: “free” has a cost. When it comes to your health and well-being in the exercise setting, weigh such costs wisely before moving forward.
4. Your trainer should ask more questions than they give answers
Questions are the answers.
It sounds vague, but it is a truth when it comes to being a great Personal Trainer.
The best Personal Trainers will always ask more questions than they give answers. This is to ensure that the answer they end up giving is tailored to you and your goals.
I’ll give you an example with a recent experience I had with a prospective client. Let’s call her Jean. Jean told me that she wanted to start exercising to lose weight.
Jean: I’m looking to lose weight. Probably about 30 pounds or so. Can you help with that?
Me: I appreciate that, Jean. Can you tell me more about why you want to lose weight?
Jean: Well, I have some serious back pain, and I’ve heard that losing weight can help.
Me: Thanks for sharing that, Jean. What is more important to you – losing the weight, or getting rid of your back pain?
Jean: Oh, I couldn’t care less about the actual weight loss. I just want my back to stop hurting.
Jean’s exercise goals were clearly aimed at relieving back pain. It was important to ask those questions so that we could find out what problems she truly wanted solved with exercise.
By asking more questions than giving answers, the best Toronto Personal Trainers tailor their services to what you truly need and want. These questions increase the value of their services compared to other Personal Trainers.
5. The best Toronto personal trainers are objective about their clients’ results
There is no guarantee of positive results in exercise. The focus on your part and on the part of your Personal Trainer should be on the exercise process.
Along the way, however, there is progress – the intermediate results of exercise – that you can measure. Sometimes these measurements are objective; weight or body fat loss, or strength gains in a particular lift, for example.
Other times, however, the results of your exercise process with your Personal Trainer are subjective in nature. You may want to reduce body pain, move more easily in daily life, or perform better in a particular sport or activity. This type of subjective result depends on your giving feedback to your Personal Trainer. More importantly, your continued progress depends on your Personal Trainer hearing you and adapting your exercise to improve or continue the progress of those results.
The best Toronto Personal Trainers have no ego when it comes to their clients’ results. They simply observe them and adapt to the situation. This kind of objectivity is the defining mark of a true exercise professional. Look for this ability in your chosen Personal Trainer to ensure you have a great experience.
Choosing a Personal Trainer in a city like Toronto is great because the choices are so plentiful. Many exercise professionals in our city may be qualified and willing to help you towards exercise success. Look for these five features in your chosen professionals to ensure that you employ only the best that the city has to offer.
If you would like to book a consultation with one of our Personal Trainers at Striation 6, please visit us here. You can also visit us here and get the conversation going immediately.
Here’s to your health and exercise success!
Diamond-Level Toronto Personal Trainer & Co-Founder of Striation6
I help people experiencing pain and who might confused or concerned about how to exercise in safe, effective manner using Muscle System Work and providing customized, fun and effortful exercise that makes bad stuff in your body feel better and the good stuff feel great.
As the founder of Striation 6 and an Exercise Professional with more than 20 years of experience, it is important to me that I set the example of our Mission: to help as many people as possible feel, function, look and live better through exercise.