With the new year often comes a fresh perspective, new challenges and a new start. We may be looking to set ourselves a challenge, start a healthier lifestyle, participate in an event or simply take our fitness to a new level.

So, what can a personal trainer (PT) do for you to enable this?

Accountability

It's easy to skip the gym or run when you're tired, have a million things to do or when it's dark and cold outside. A PT session will give you a routine and a reason not to skip your workout. It'll motivate you to work out between your sessions as you know your trainer will be tracking your progress and will soon know if you're not putting in the hard work.

Support

Having someone there to push you through the workout when it's tough and support your efforts will enable you to push yourself to new levels. Your PT will encourage you when it's hard, understand how you like to work and even provide a sounding board for your concerns and worries.

Consistency

Many people try different fitness routines, which is good, but having some consistency will get you results. A PT will plan your workouts to allow for new things but follow certain protocols to achieve good results. It'll help you develop a routine, and working out sporadically without a real plan will lead to inconsistent results.

Results

Your PT will be completely focused on getting you the results you want and reaching the goals you set together. Having the first three things happen for you will lead you to get the results, and when you see them happening, you'll push yourself harder to achieve them. Your PT will also review whether the workouts are delivering and make adjustments which are hard to know and do on your own.

Proper technique and form

PTs are experts in their field. They're passionate about exercise and healthy lifestyles and will ensure you're doing things with the correct form and technique to keep you well, healthy, and injury-free. This will enable you to push yourself harder without any repercussions.

Personalised programme

We're not all the same, and what works for one person may not work for another. While there are loads of exercise programmes out there that we could follow ourselves, they may not be suitable for what we need or our main goal. A PT will analyse your goal along with other factors and create a programme that's right for you. They'll also adjust it depending on the results.

New ideas/new perspective

You may think you know what to do in a gym environment, but we're all guilty of doing the same workouts over and over without really thinking about it. Having a PT will often shake up old habits and routines and bring new ideas and perspectives to the table.

Maximise your time

We're all short of time in today's world. A PT enables you to make the most of the time you have to train. You'll have a total focus for an hour and get a complete workout without any interruptions or lack of focus.

Focus

We can all lose focus during our workouts and routines. Sometimes, we go to the gym with good intentions, but we start talking to someone, can't use a particular piece of equipment and then drift through our workout or worse, not complete it. Having someone there for an entire hour with planned workouts keeps you focused on what you're there to do - work out! It'll also help with routines when you're not with them.

Relationship building

A PT will be someone that you'll build rapport with and spend a lot of time with. This should not be underestimated. It can help build confidence, and this can transfer to other areas of your life