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Invest in Yourself: Hire a Personal Trainer

When you feel ill, you go to the doctor. When the back of your neck feels knotted up, you go to your massage therapist. When you are going to a glamorous function you head straight for your hairdresser and your makeup maven. These are professionals who help you to achieve a goal—so why not hire a personal trainer?

Perhaps because the idea of a personal trainer is a relatively new concept, it might be thought of as an extravagance. But is it?

Let’s look in your closet for just a minute. Just as with most of us, there are several outfits that are a size or two too small. You bought them in the anticipation of losing ten or so more pounds; bought for the summer, bought in anticipation of a big event a few months away; put bluntly, you haven’t worn them yet. Many of us have wardrobes that consist of several different sizes; to put it bluntly, you are storing clothes you paid very good money for that are doing you absolutely no good. Grab your calculator and tell the truth now; how much money is being wasted?

As your mother is probably fond of saying these days, none of us are getting any younger. The stark truth is that today is the day that you can be making a big difference in your future health. Diabetes and heart disease are two diseases that you can avoid or mitigate by your own actions right now, with your choices regarding diet and exercise. You don’t need your calculator to realize what a price you would pay, should you not take your health seriously today.

Taking your health into consideration right now, it is common knowledge that out of shape people take more sick days (and in some cases the sick days you use equal less vacation days later on), they also have more headaches and backaches. Checking this out on your calculator would only make you depressed, so don’t bother.

So, which is the biggest extravagance? Wasting money or taking steps to improve not only your body, but your emotions and outlook as well?

A look through newspaper ads and the directory will show you how many personal trainers there are these days. More trainers mean better rates, especially if you live in the city or the suburbs. You will certainly want to talk to several to see which one is right for you.

It is important to visualize the kind of personal trainer that you would like, because a bad fit will only leave you hating the trainer and yourself for having been stupid enough to hire her. This is the time to ask yourself the question: do you want a jolly, encouraging sort or an absolute fanatic when it comes to diet and exercise? Do you want someone to go through your fridge and cupboards and trash all your fave foods? Or do you want someone gentler, who will lead by example? You are the only person who knows what you will respond to for the desired goal. There is another good question: do you want to lose significant weight, or rather to just tone up; do you want a total change of lifestyle, rather than just a healthy improvement? Remember, the more sweeping your desired change, the more it may cost. You must also make the commitment to act on all your trainer’s suggestions, because cheating on yourself is just silly.

As your training begins to take affect, you will look and feel better and your friends’ compliments will make nearly all of it worthwhile. But what could be more worthwhile, though, than the looks on your friends’ faces when you say, “Wish I could stay for a slice of pie, girls, but I need to go meet my personal trainer.”