5 Things To Look For When Hiring A Personal Trainer

Linette Teerlink • April 7, 2025

As the fitness industry continues to expand, so do the number of fitness enthusiasts looking to make their career a part of it.


This can be a good thing and a bad thing.


It’s great that there are so many individuals who want to share their passion for fitness with the world, but because the personal training industry is so new, the requirements to become a trainer are low. In fact, in some states, there are no requirements.


With this in mind, it’s important to know what to look for when you want to begin working with a personal trainer.



In no particular order, here are the 5 things you must consider when hiring a personal trainer.


1. Certification

At the bare minimum you want to ensure that your potential trainer is certified from an accredited agency. While there are hundreds of certifications out there, there are really only a handful that are well respected in the industry.


NASM , ACE , and NSCA represent the gold standard of personal training certifications.



So make sure as you are searching for your personal trainer, you ask them what certification they have. If they aren’t certified then make sure you run the other way! If they have a certification, then you are in the clear, and if it is one of the above 3 organizations then you should be in pretty good hands.


2. Experience

Like any other profession, there is definitely a learning curve when it comes to personal training. Even with a certification, it’s important to understand that a lot of knowledge is attained just through experiencing different scenarios day in and day out.


If you’re familiar with the “Four Stages of Competence” you know that early on while learning anything new, you don’t know what you don’t know and personal training is no different. It usually takes a solid 2-3 years before a trainer becomes proficient enough to slow things down and begin mastering their craft.


This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work with a new personal trainer. In fact, working with a new trainer can be much more cost-effective since they don’t typically charge as much. And this also isn’t to say that a new trainer doesn’t know what they are doing. it just means you need to be aware of exactly what to expect when hiring a trainer based on how much experience they have.


3. Cost

There’s no doubt about it. Personal Training is expensive. Most one-on-one sessions will run you anywhere from $50 - $100 / per hour depending on the trainer. I would be wary of a trainer charging less than $50 for an individual personal training session because sometimes you get what you pay for.


There are ways you can get personal training for a cheaper price, but it typically involves working with 2-3 other people in a “Semi-Private” personal training format. This lowers the price, but if the trainer running the semi-private session is good enough, you will receive just as much coaching as you would with a one-on-one session.



Either way, just be conscious of the fact that hiring a personal trainer is going to be a costly investment, but it will be one of the greatest investments you can ever make since you will be adding years to your life by taking care of your health!


4. Personality

the relationship you build with your personal trainer can become really close. You will be spending 3-5 hours with this person every week for months. That usually ends up being more time than you spend with anyone else in your life outside of your family and maybe coworkers. And especially in a one-on-one setting, you both get the chance to open up about some personal things.


It’s important to make sure you enjoy spending that amount of time with this person. The characteristics you want to look for will vary slightly based on your personality, but there are a few traits you should look for in a trainer no matter what. Discipline, positivity, patience, communication, energy, and teaching ability are a few things to be aware of.



A strong combination of these skills will set you up for success big time.


5. Speciality

You want to make sure that the personal trainer you are going to be working with knows a thing or two about the “niche” you fall into. If you are a 50-year-old woman that wants to lose weight, then it doesn’t make much sense to hire a high school athletic trainer to get you in shape.


If you are unsure about the different niches out there and what types of niches different trainers align themselves with then you can check out this blog here that does a great job of breaking it all down.


The easiest way to make sure that your potential trainer knows how to work with you is to just ask. If you are a 50-year-old woman looking to lose weight, simply ask “How many middle-aged women have you worked with in the past?” If you’re a 30-year-old guy looking to lose his beer gut, simply ask “How many 30-year-old men have you helped lose weight in the past?”


To give yourself the best opportunity to succeed all you have to do is ask!


Again, this list is in no particular order but all of these things are important to consider if you are looking for a personal trainer to work with.


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