10 min
Hiring a trainer is one of the best moves you can make if you have real fitness goals. Maybe you’re trying to burn fat, build muscle, build endurance, or get ready for an event. A good trainer gives you two things that are hard to find on your own. You get what most people need most… accountability. You also get expertise. But after more than a decade in this industry, I’ve learned it just doesn’t work for everybody when they first sign up. I think it’s worth talking honestly about why.
We have an incredibly low barrier for entry in this industry. That means some bad eggs make it in. I had an old client who was doing online training with me and it just wasn’t clicking. She needed in-person accountability, not a check in and zoom calls. So she went to a big box gym and signed up for personal training. She was ready and willing to jump in. Instead, she had one of the worst experiences you can have. Her trainer kept steering every conversation back to her body weight, even though she never once brought it up. She told him she wanted to get stronger and feel better. He wasn’t listening.
That kind of mismatch isn’t unusual at big chains like LA Fitness, Planet Fitness, or Crunch. A lot of people start their personal training journey there, and many of those trainers end up being very good down the road. In the beginning, though, they might not be. Chains tend to hire people who are fresh out of certification. The dropout rate in this industry is high, and the average career lifespan for a personal trainer is only about two years. That’s not a knock on anyone starting out. It’s just something to keep in mind if you’d rather not work with someone who’s still finding their footing. A dedicated coaching gym, where the trainer has been doing this for years and has senior trainers helping them to get better is worth considering instead. It usually comes with a higher price tag, but that’s something to weigh against what you’re actually trying to accomplish.
That being said, I have to give props where they are due. Higher end chains like Equinox and Lifetime seem to have more consistent amazing trainers and I do think it is due to the emphasis they place on continuing education.
Beyond the trainer, sometimes the setup itself isn’t right for you. Maybe you wanted something intimate, like one-on-one coaching, and ended up in a big group class instead. Maybe you thought you were signing up for something personalized and it turned into something else entirely. Finding the right situation matters just as much as finding a qualified trainer.
I can speak to this directly. I had a wild past month, with a lot of people signing up for free trials in July. Some dropped off. Some are still working through next steps. Most signed up long term. Breaking down why the few didn’t continue tells you a lot about what makes training work and what doesn’t.
For one person, it genuinely wasn’t the right fit, and that’s okay. When that happens, the goal is to part ways in a way that leaves both people better off, instead of forcing something that clearly isn’t working.
For another, there wasn’t a personal desire to be there in the first place. Somebody else pushed them into it. Here’s something I’ve had to learn the hard way as a trainer. You can want it for somebody as much as you want, but you can’t want it more than they want it for themselves. If somebody isn’t ready, they’re not ready. That’s not a failure on anyone’s part. It just means the timing isn’t right yet, and everybody reaches that point of readiness on their own schedule.
Then there’s ghosting. Life gets busy, and people go quiet. Usually there’s some shame wrapped up in that silence. People assume their trainer or the sales staff is annoyed with them, or thinks they’re a waste of time. I want to be clear about this because it matters. No good trainer feels that way. If you’ve gone a week, a month, or even several months without checking in, and you’re ready to come back, that’s never a bad thing to hear. Any trainer worth their salt isn’t going to turn you away for stepping back for a while.
Scheduling and general life capacity come up a lot too. My fiancée goes to Orange Theory, and her experience here in town has been very different from the one we had in New Jersey. In New Jersey, the class times worked perfectly, and she loved it. Here, the times don’t line up with her schedule. She’s still paying every month, but she’s not getting the value out of it, simply because the timing doesn’t fit her life. A one-on-one trainer can close that gap, as long as they’re willing to bend when life happens. Some aren’t, and that’s worth knowing upfront. I’ve heard of trainers who take multiple two-week vacations a year and leave their clients waiting around. That’s not how I run things. I take one week in the summer and one week at Christmas. Otherwise, I’m here for the other 50 weeks of the year, because people are counting on that consistency.
Life capacity is real too. I think of a woman I spoke with who’s caring for her husband around the clock because of a serious medical situation. In cases like that, you have to be honest with yourself about what you can actually take on. Do you have help from family or caretakers? Are you realistically able to get to a gym right now? Sometimes the answer is no, and that’s exactly when online training or other flexible options makes more sense than forcing in-person sessions that won’t happen anyway.
Price matters too, but I split it into two categories. If the price is genuinely too much, it’s too much, and that’s a completely valid reason to wait. I’ve had people tell me they had a job change and just couldn’t swing it right now. I hold their spot until they’re ready. That’s different from price being the leading priority in a way that pushes someone toward cutting corners. I had somebody ask why they couldn’t just do my $30 program (available on TrainHeroic) instead of full coaching. It’s a fair question. It comes down to understanding what you actually need. If you’re already exercising consistently on your own, and you know how to train in a way that keeps you pain free, a self-guided program might be exactly right for you. But if you’re not consistent, and you already suspect that program will sit untouched on your phone for months, that $30 purchase can end up costing you more in the long run. Your health keeps sliding while you tell yourself you already did something about it.
I’ve also seen the opposite problem. Someone gets so fired up that they buy an entire year of sessions in their first week, only to disappear a few weeks later. That kind of all-in burst of motivation can work against you if it isn’t backed by a sustainable plan. It’s better to commit to something you can actually keep doing than to chase the dopamine hit of a big purchase.
One pattern consistently predicts success: training more than once a week. If your budget only allows for one session, that’s completely fine, and building up from there with intention works well too. But if you can manage two or three sessions a week, it dramatically reduces your chance of falling off. When you only train once a week, and something disrupts that single session, you can go two or more weeks between workouts. That gap makes it a lot easier to lose momentum. This is part of why flexibility matters so much. Being able to swap a missed session to a different day or time, instead of losing it entirely, keeps people on track even when life gets unpredictable. So it can help to find a gym or trainer that allows for that flexibility.
On the flip side, there are clear signs that someone is in the right situation and likely to stick with it. Several people who signed up recently started out simply curious. They saw Fit40 shirts around town, asked what it was about, came in, and genuinely enjoyed themselves. That’s how fitness should feel. It shouldn’t be about getting crushed to the point of limping out the door. For most people, that old school “no pain no gain” mentality is outdated and honestly counterproductive. Some people genuinely enjoy that intensity and thrive on it, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But for the majority, feeling like you did something, without being wrecked the next day, is the sweet spot. That’s actually the better position for long-term results, because it allows for proper recovery instead of digging a hole you can’t climb out of.
Some people had done personal training before, fell off for a while, and came back once they found the right situation. If that describes you, the takeaway is simple. You’ve already proven you’re capable of committing. Finding the right person to keep you accountable is often all it takes to get back on track.
Others came in wanting to lead by example for their families. I’ve worked with people who wanted to get themselves in shape first, with the plan of their spouse joining later once they saw the progress. That approach tends to work far better than nagging someone to get healthy. Being the person who’s clearly doing the work is more likely to inspire someone else to want in than any amount of pushing ever could.
And then there were people who simply said enough is enough. They could see their health trending in the wrong direction, and decided to get ahead of it before it became a bigger problem. That’s one of the best positions to be in. Addressing things early, before they become entrenched bad habits, makes the whole process easier and more sustainable.
If you’re considering working with a trainer, a few practical steps can make a real difference. Start with your budget, and make sure you know the price going in. Transparent pricing matters enough that I keep mine posted directly on my website. It’s worth looking for that same transparency wherever you’re considering.
Next, figure out your actual schedule, including backup plans. What happens if your kid gets sick and you miss your morning session? What if your car breaks down and you have to push a workout by a day or two? Having a normal week plan, and backup days planned, gives you the best shot at staying consistent.
Also, ask if a session or two is available for free or at a reduced rate before committing. Testing things out before signing up for a longer commitment tells you a lot. Word of mouth is valuable here too. If a friend tells you their trainer is a blast to work with, that goes a long way, even if that trainer isn’t the most technically polished. Enjoying the process is the biggest part of sticking with it.
Finally, commit for the right reasons. Half-assed commitment rarely leads anywhere good. Do this because you want a higher quality of life. Do it because you want to earn your progress and feel the sense of achievement that comes with it. Don’t do it because someone else told you that you should. And take the time to dig past the surface-level goal. It’s easy to say you want to lose 20 pounds, but ask yourself why. Maybe it’s because you want more energy. Why does that matter to you? Maybe your knees hurt, and it’s stopping you from doing things you love, like running around with your kids. That’s the real reason underneath the surface goal, and it’s worth writing down somewhere you’ll see it often. When you connect to that deeper why, you give yourself real fuel to keep going. That’s when the results start to stick.
Chat with Coach Bryan to discover how our programs can fit into your lifestyle and help you achieve your goals. Let’s get you started on your fitness journey today!
