Personal training

Personal training - lots of people seem to be doing it, so you may have been wondering what it's like. To get the low down, just read our handy guide to personal training. At your first meeting with a new trainer, you'll need to discuss several important issues. Firstly the trainer will want to know about your goals - what do you want to get out of your sessions? Are you aiming to improve your general fitness, lose some weight, build muscle, or maybe train for a specific event - a marathon or triathlon perhaps?

Your trainer will need to ask questions and do some testing, to assess not only your overall health, but also your baseline fitness. With this information in hand they can devise a programme that takes account of your goals, age, health, and starting fitness level. When you first are working out together your trainer will observe you exercising, to be sure you are doing the exercises correctly. They will monitor your speed, intensity etc, to ensure that the programme is right for you and that you are working at the right level.

However, as you progress, your trainer will not be present during all your workouts - your programme will have a combination of workouts that you do alone, and others where you work together. When you work together your trainer will monitor your technique and intensity, and also look to see how you are progressing. That way they can make decisions about whether the programme needs to be adjusted.

So if you are feeling stale in your workouts, or want to up your progress, it might be time to get professional help.