Online Personal Trainers
What Do You Look For In Them?

4 things about online personal trainers you (and I) should look for:

• Expert knowledge in exercise and fitness
• Professionalism
• Trustworthiness/reliability
• Mentorship and a very important add-on - the ability to give the right kind of direction and motivation!

They aren't new. They've been around for quite sometime.

But a lot of us aren't sure whether hiring these so called "virtual" trainers would do any good to our bodies and our fitness.

This is when it's the all important subjects of exercise, toning, shaping and sculpting and the loaded of all, weight loss.

That may be because all training are done online virtually. You don't come into physical contact at all with your trainer.

There's also the danger of unqualified trainer(s) with questionable credentials doling out potentially unsound exercise program.

Many of us would doubt whether we could trust the trainer, for one thing.

The other thing is -

Can we entrust our bodies to a complete stranger whom we would, well, never see in person?

The most difficult hurdle to overcome, for me I think (it could be for you too), is that the interaction, communication and consultation are done pretty formally vide e-mails, phone calls and online.

You wonder where's that "personal" touch as suggested in the trainer's job title: online "personal" trainer?

You've been nibbling on these, right?

I was just as misgiving as you're in regards to online personal trainers. As I was traveling a lot in my job which put me out of reach of my "physical" personal trainer - you know, the one you hire to guide you workout either at home or at the gym? (By the way, I couldn't afford it, so no loss there!)

But I wanted to know how to do proper exercise and I didn't want to miss my workouts while traveling, I decided to go for online personal training.

Was I in for some surprises!!! And I was more than satisfied from the experience!!!

I want to share with you what I've got from hiring online personal trainers.

If you're one of the following groups of people, then online personal training could be your "cup of tea":

• Sweating out in a gym or in an exercise class isn't your thing
• You want to get fit, tone up your muscles and lose weight on your own "sweet" time
• You're very busy at work and can't find the "right" time to follow appointment scheduled and agreed by you and your "physical" personal trainer at the gym or your trainer who pops by your house to train you
• You travel a lot, hence no way you can train with your "physical" personal trainer, unless of course, you're motivated enough to do, like a good girl, on your own
• You're a full time, busy mom who don't have the luxury of sticking to a fixed, scheduled kind of workout. Most of the time you squeeze in your "do" whenever you've an empty time slot coming your way
• You find training at the gym too time consuming
• You're house bound due to injury or transportation
• You're one who go for flexibility and convenience, meaning you want to be able to workout at any time, at any place and at any manner you like (may be you're the type who enjoy working out in the middle of the night, in the wee hour of the morning, in your friend's house, in your office!)

Well, the list could go on for sure.

See, the point I'm making here - anyone, absolutely anyone can at any point in time, use the help of an online personal trainer.

So, if you see the need, try one out! You'd be surprised......

Honestly, I can appreciate the trainer's "goodness" because I've had one.

But you're still unsure, aren't you? So may be we could look at the trainers'"goodness" from your point of perspective:

• Save you tons of money. Imagine I got to pay my "physical" personal trainer an hourly fee of $50 compared to the $200 or less monthly fee I paid to my "virtual" personal trainer!
• Save you loads of time. You don't have to waste time phoning up your "physical" personal trainer to make appointment that both of you can agree on, traveling to the gym, waiting around for your time slot when sometimes your trainer's really fully booked up, waiting for an exercise equipment that's available.....

  Just switch on your computer, get online to your exercise program, and there you go and meet your "virtual" online personal trainer!

• Give you "full time" coaching 24/7, no matter where you're and when you want to workout. Imagine the luxury of not having to stick to timed workout appointment
• Give you custom-design exercise program that tailors to your body type and body needs. You won't be getting one-size-fits-all program that doesn't do you a bit of good. You get value for your money spent
• Give you full control over where you want to workout - at a gym, at home, at the work place or on the road. Hey, the tremendous convenience you got here!
• Give you educated and timely response to any of your workout problems and issues, vide e-mails and phone calls
• Motivate you to keep you moving along your workout program. If you're lazy and lapse your workouts, your online personal trainer would "nudge" you hard enough to pick up and continue on

  My online personal trainer has got a way of pushing me to workout by giving me time line to achieve certain level of result and some level of pep talk too! It worked for me wonderfully

• Track your performance and if you don't measure up, re-discuss with you what's the missing links and or re-customize and re-design the workout for you
• Guide you in eating a healthy, nutritious diet. Though online personal trainers aren't nutritionists per se, they're nonetheless quite well-knowledge in the area of nutrition.

  My trainer gives me healthy meal plans to go with the workout, to help me lose weight

• Give you the result you want. That's the most revitalizing aspect of hiring an online personal trainer

I was overjoyed when I got these results from my online training:

• I was toned in my muscles especially around my butts and thighs. These 2 areas were my most "hardcore" areas to trim down
• I burnt fat from doing cardio workout custom-designed for me
• I lost 10 pounds in the first 6 weeks of working out
• I went a few dress sizes down, after starting for about 8 weeks
• I was fitter and healthier, seemingly with no extra effort!
• I built more strength into my muscles and bones
• I got a stronger and healthier heart
• I got satisfactory cholesterol level

From my experience, choosing an online personal trainer isn't easy because it concerns with a trainer's professionalism, trustworthiness and reliability, which you've no way of knowing first, until you've signed up and tried out.

However, what I do is to look for the following attributes in a trainer:

• Should be certified and qualified to train with certification from well-established fitness organizations such as International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA) and the American Council of Exercise (ACE). Also the trainer should provide authentic testimonials and feedback from his or her existing online clients for me to assess
• In addition to workout, diet and nutrition are important components to help you lose weight. So a trainer should know how to plan out balanced diets with essential nutrients, to keep me healthy and at the same time help me lose weight
• Beware of trainer who gives repetitive workouts that can lead to boredom or even injury from recurring stress on body joints. A good trainer should come up with new workouts that don't compromise my safety
• Look for a sample of exercise workout plan. I make sure it's thorough and detailed (e.g., weight, sets, repetitions, intensity) and not simply a list of exercises. It's also important the trainer provides a method for visually communicating proper exercise technique
• Beware! Some online personal trainers use computer programs to provide preset workout plans based on how evaluation forms are answered. I've to determine whether the workouts are truly customized for me
• I choose a trainer that I'm able to relate to. This means he or she sees eye to eye with me, listens to me and always has a positive aptitude and attitude in all dealings with me

I'm blessed with a good online personal trainer and I want to introduce Chad to you.

I'll recount my training experience with Chad so you can get a better glean on what online personal training is all about.

First, Chad is a qualified and certified personal trainer.

Though that's all I know about him at first contact, I find myself trusting him immediately because he's so friendly and positive and full of zeal.

Next, Chad assesses my fitness level vide a set of detailed health-history questionnaire.

This set of questionnaire addresses, among other things, my goals, present level of fitness and health concerns.

He then bases on what I've given him to custom-design an exercise program and meal plans to fit my needs.

After this, it's my turn to take action!

It's one thing for Chad to design an excellent program for me; it's entirely another thing if I don't move my butts to do it or just do half-heartedly!

All said and done, I am the crucial factor. I've to do the exercise and eat the healthy meals specified. I finally got this into my thick head, er, after many times of trying to "get round" it.......

Luckily, I've got Chad to thank for because he does his job beautifully:

• He delivers the right amount of motivation and pep talk (which I say are "hard pushes" from him) to spur me on
• He acts as a mentor and gives a strong supporting hand when I'm feeling down at any time
• He notices if I don't exercise when I'm supposed to. Gheez, I can't even get away with "tearful excuses"! He's that alert and.....persistent.....So, I stop making these embarrassing excuses!

OK, Chad's part come in again where he reviews my exercise program weekly, tracks my performance and then re-discusses with me the changes that need to be made, if there're any.

Oh, one more thing and this really gets me hooked to the online training.

After exercising, I've got to go online to record my results. Did I complete my exercise as scheduled? Or did I skip my schedule? Plus any comments I may put in.

This will go directly to Chad who'll then use it to track my performance, to re-evaluate it and to make changes, if required.

Funnily enough, it's this accountability that gets me going because I know I can't cheat myself and neither can I cheat Chad.....

Well, I see results!

Whatever I've told you, it's still your choice - to hire an online personal trainer or not.

If you choose one, he or she has to be professionally good, reliable and trustworthy and you must feel completely comfortable and confident in his or her ability to help you reach your health and fitness goals.

If you don't get all these, don't hire one.

You know, the trainer can't do all the work for you but if you're willing to put in your whole effort into your exercise program, he or she can guide you in the right direction for you to see results.

So try Chad out, yeah?

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