With gyms still closed and chilly weather limiting outdoor group fitness classes, fitness has gone virtual—and that means virtual personal training sessions too.
Many people are now considering testing out personal training sessions, even if that wasn’t really something they thought about pre-pandemic, especially if they belonged to gyms or studios. One reason? Personal training sessions can be costly. While the fee varies widely depending on whether your trainer is working for themselves or through a gym or studio, as well as with location—ranging from $40 an hour in smaller, rural areas to upwards of $150 an hour in large cities, according to the National Academy of Sports Medicine—regular sessions can add up. But with gyms and studio memberships on pause, some people may be able to use those savings to put toward a personal trainer.
Working out at home on your own can be daunting if you’re used to a gym or fitness class atmosphere. So having a trainer “there” to break it down for you, provide you with a customized training plan based on your specific needs, and help you perfect the moves can certainly be appealing.
But real talk: Working with a personal trainer through the screen is undoubtedly different than having them right beside you. Different, however, does not mean worse. In fact, there are tons of benefits to working with a virtual personal trainer—especially if you learn some tips and tricks to really make it work for you.
To help you get the most out of your virtual personal training sessions, we tapped two certified trainers, who recently pivoted their businesses entirely online during the pandemic, to share their tips.
1. Find a certified trainer who caters to your fitness goals.
More and more trainers look to social media (hello, Instagram live workouts) and training apps to gain new clients, but it’s important to recognize that anyone can put a workout out there—regardless of how qualified they may or may not be. Judging a trainer’s skill set and experience based on their Instagram followers and videos isn’t exactly the best way to gauge how well (or safely) they’ll actually train you, Sivan Fagan, C.P.T., founder of Strong With Sivan, tells SELF.
If you’re looking for a virtual personal trainer (or any personal trainer), finding one with the right certifications is key.
Renee Peel, a National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) certified trainer with a DV8 kettlebell certification, tells SELF that making sure your trainer has a national training certification is a baseline step—you want to work with someone who has the proper training knowledge to help you exercise safely and effectively. Many times, people who claim to be fitness influencers on social media and offer workouts aren’t actually certified. If that’s the case, it’s possible they may not be performing the exercises they’re demoing properly, which can make them less effective or put you at risk for injury.
Check out organizations that certify personal trainers, such as the American Council on Exercise (ACE), the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), the NSCA, and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), to search their database of trainers near you.
It’s also important to look for a trainer who has experience with the kinds of workouts you’re interested in and a successful history of training other clients with similar goals.
“You definitely want to find a trainer who is prepared to work with you and your needs,” Peel says. “So if you’re pregnant, looking to get pregnant, or are postpartum, I highly recommend seeking out a trainer who has been certified pre- and postnatal and has some experience.”
In the same way, if you’re looking to improve your kettlebell snatches, you should find a trainer who’s certified in kettlebells through an organization like DV8, in addition to being a certified personal trainer, to help you sharpen your skills. Or if you’ve been wanting to take your love of Pilates to the next level, make sure to choose a Pilates trainer with a proven certification for and track record of coaching clients on the mat and the reformer (such as through Core Pilates).
You may even want to take it a step further. Ask personal trainers that you’re considering whether they’re continuing their education through online workshops and seminars, as well as where they interned, says Fagan. (This is not a requirement for certification, but it can help a trainer gain more hands-on experience, especially with special populations.) You can also ask if they have client testimonials.
In addition, it’s important to find a trainer who has worked with multiple clients in real life versus virtual-only training, Peel says. By having experience training people in person, they’ll know what to look for when the session moves onscreen.
2. Establish a rapport with your trainer.
Building rapport is key, whether it’s during an in-person session or a virtual one. Although it is easier to build a rapport with a trainer in person, it’s important to have a strong connection virtually—you will, after all, be training together on days you don’t really feel like it, or times when your motivation is shot.
Peel suggests setting up a virtual consultation with a prospective trainer to help you get to know how they operate. For some people, having a Zoom consultation versus one via phone makes it easier to break the ice and have a friendly conversation.
“I always set up a meet-and-greet with potential clients. I set aside at least 30 minutes to go over as much as I can, from why they are looking to train to what motivates them,” says Peel. “You want to make sure the trainer gets to know you well in order to best help you, so give them as much information as you can and make sure that they are listening and taking notes.”
Before your meet-and-greet, create a list of your personal goals—be it running faster, getting to that perfect push-up, or building endurance—and be prepared to explain your reasons and motivations behind those goals. It’s also important to bring up ways you’ve been staying active so far, what personal roadblocks you’re facing, and the things that allow you to thrive. Additionally, you should share any past and current injuries, medications you’re taking, and health conditions. It also helps to talk about things outside of training that you’re willing to share, Peel says, so you’re able to connect on a more personal level. “I want to know about my clients’ lives, their kids, what their dog’s name is.”
If your consultation doesn’t go smoothly, that can be a sign that this trainer isn’t the right fit for you, Peel says. “Remember, you want this person to be someone you like too.”
3. Be flexible with your fitness goals.
“Goals are goals in any circumstance, and setting them virtually should not be any different,” says Peel. “I always ask clients to write down goals and make sure that they are measurable. As the coach, I am there to help them reach their goals, whether big or small, but I am also there to give realistic expectations and a proper timeline and plan of action.”
But “realistic” also applies to what is practical in the lens of at-home workouts, when equipment for many of us tends to be limited. For instance, maybe your be-all, end-all goal is deadlifting your bodyweight. If you only have a few pairs of lighter dumbbells at home, you may not be able to achieve that in the short-term.
What you can do, though, is achieve mini-steps on the way to that, like maintaining strength in your hamstrings and glutes, and working on power that’ll help you get to that goal. Kettlebell work, for example, translates very well to the barbell, so you can use a kettlebell in the interim to help you successfully gain overall strength, Peel says. In particular, kettlebell swings and snatches are great for building hip-dominant strength, which translates into stronger deadlifts.
The virtual setting might not feel like it’s conducive to creating new fitness goals, but working with a good trainer makes it easy, approachable, and trackable—even if you’re not physically checking in with your trainer once a week to report on it. For example, Peel uses the True Coach personal training app with all of her one-on-one clients to help them track their progress and provide feedback.
4. Look at your progress in a different way.
Once you set goals with your trainer, be sure to communicate any and all equipment you have at home so they can design a workout program with this in mind. If you have the financial means (and they’re available), you may want to consider investing in two to three sets of dumbbells (with weight that feels light, moderate, and heavy for you), a set of resistance bands, and a suspension trainer, such as TRX, says Fagan. Communicating your goals with your trainer can help you determine which equipment is important for you.
Even if you have some dumbbells and bands, chances are pretty high that your equipment won’t be as robust as what you’re used to at a gym. That’s where flexibility comes in, especially if you’ve always tracked progress by going up in weights or adding another plate to the bar. You want a trainer who will find ways for you to keep getting stronger even without tons of equipment at your disposal.
“As long as your trainer is getting creative with the basic movement patterns—squat, hinge, push, and pull—you’re going to see real progress,” Fagan says.
Fagan assures online clients that you actually don’t need a ton of fitness equipment to get stronger. “You can use your own bodyweight as resistance,” she says. “I have clients who own only a pair of two-pound dumbbells and maybe one or two resistance bands that have made tons of progress because there are so many variables you can change in your program.”
Some ways your trainer can make your workouts more challenging without necessarily adding weight are including super sets, in which you perform two movements back-to-back, designing EMOMs (every minute on the minute) and AMRAPs (as many reps/rounds as possible), creating a tempo (slowing down eccentric phase—the lowering phase—of an exercise), and increasing the volume of reps and sets you perform.
Peel also provides different variations of exercises for her clients so they don’t ever get bored with their workouts or feel less challenged with the weight they have. When doing kettlebell cleans, for example, she’ll add a rotation. Or if you’ve been doing two-handed kettlebell swings for some time, she’ll turn them into one-handed or side-step swings.
5. Set up your space for success.
It can be challenging to create space for at-home workouts, especially if you live in a small apartment or have limited room. But taking the time to reorganize your area so you can dedicate a special spot for virtual sessions can make a huge difference in your training and the type of feedback your trainer can provide.
“You want both arms’ length of space all around you so you should be able to extend your arms out to the sides and circle them around you without hitting anything,” Peel says. “You also want to have enough space for you to be able to lie flat on your back on a mat or the floor and reach your arms overhead.”
You’ll likely use Zoom for your virtual training sessions if your trainer doesn’t use a specific training app, so make sure you have ample room to maneuver the camera at different angles without obstructing your trainer’s view.
Fagan says she prefers her clients to be in front of a white wall, eliminating things in the background that’ll detract from them. Moreover, you want to position your computer camera in a way that allows your coach to see you from your head to your arms, fingers, and toes as you stand or lie down on the floor. Adding a webcam to your laptop can help with this because it will give your trainer a bird’s eye view, Peel says.
“It’s great if you have a tripod so you can hook up your smartphone or tablet and easily move it around,” Fagan says.
But if you don’t have any of these things, “be prepared to give your coach multiple views by alternating turning to the side and facing straight on during movements,” Peel says. “Remember that when training in person, coaches will walk around to check your form, but since that isn’t an option virtually, it’s important to work at different angles.”
The on-camera aspect can feel strange at first, especially if you have body concerns or a history of disordered eating. If you feel like this could be triggering to you, it’s helpful to bring up your concerns with your trainer before you start working out together (though this can be really hard). Working with an inclusive, body-positive trainer who uses language that’s respectful to all bodies is important here, and is something you can ask about if you’re able to speak with their past or current clients. (You may also be able to get a feel for this with the language they use on their social media pages.)
6. Find a community through small virtual workout classes.
Sure, training at home can feel isolating, but connecting with others can make you feel more comfortable and more motivated to kick things up a notch—and remind you more of in-person training sessions or classes, if that was your thing pre-pandemic. Not to mention, virtual group classes also tend to be slightly cheaper than in-person ones. Some trainers also offer class packages to help you save.
Peel, who taught group fitness classes at Fhitting Room in New York City and Work It Out in Hoboken, New Jersey, before the pandemic, reached out to personal training clients and students from her classes about training virtually when gyms and studios shut down indefinitely. She developed five small group kettlebell and dumbbell virtual classes, where they could come together and do a workout.
“Coaching small groups through Zoom has been a great way to build community,” Peel says. It allows her clients to reap the team-building aspect of fitness while challenging their own skills and strength, week after week.
So if Instagram live workouts aren’t your thing, you can still get the social vibes of working out with a personal trainer who also hosts small group classes. “Meeting” other people who have similar goals can also help you stay regular with your workouts, inspired to hit PRs, or even motivated to try something new.
Related:
- The 33 Best Workout Apps So You Can Exercise Anywhere
- 11 Free Fitness Apps That Will Help You Work Out When Your Living Room Is Your Gym
- Everything You Need to Know About the 13 Best At-Home Workout Programs