Personal trainers are expected to have knowledge and deliver exceptional customer service.  Your trainer should be energetic, motivating, caring and most of all, professional.  Below are five fitness questions that your trainer should ask when you become a new client to cover the little things that in the end, will give you a great experience and build a lasting relationship with your personal trainer.

Before you start with your trainer ask: “Is there anything I should worry about? … ”

First off, all clients should fill out some sort of health questionnaire and put you through a health  assessment.  Your trainer needs to know if there are any previous injuries to avoid future problems, especially with joints, like your knees and wrists, with weight-bearing exercises. If you experience wrist pain while working out, order our workout gloves with wrist support to make life a little easier.

Your trainer should be asking you questions – you know they are listening and  will tailor your program for you.  If you tell your trainer that there are no health concerns, they should ask an additional follow up question related to your joints or muscles.  An example would be, “Any joint issues that may prevent you from doing anything?”  From there, your trainer should be able to adjust your program to fit your needs.

“What are your goals? … ”

Trainers should not assume your goal is to lose weight.  If your goal is to gain weight and build muscle, the focus of the workout shouldn’t be a cardio-kickboxing session. Goals also change over time and your trainer should be asking you – just as you ask yourself – what the next set of goals are once the initial goal is met.  Maybe you’ve lost the weight now the goal is to be fit, healthy and strong.  Or about building muscle and keeping it.  Make sure you are asking yourself and your trainer is asking you what the goals are for your sessions.

“How’s your diet? …”

Workouts and fitness are great, but inches and weight may not budge from a “pretty good” diet.  Your trainers should ask additional questions to understand “What is good?”. Your version of “good” may be hindering the progress of your workout, either by overeating, under-eating or just eating the wrong types of food for your goals.  Trainers – while not dietitians – should have a basic understanding of nutrition as it relates to wellness.  At the end of the day what you eat is integral to achieving your goals.

“Going forward, is there anything that you would change? …”

Good or bad?  Is there anything you would change?  Be vocal; trainers want to know if you had a great experience or the experience didn’t meet your expectations.  An excellent trainer will remove workouts or moves that you don’t feel comfortable with or if you don’t feel the exercise is beneficial for your goals.  Maybe you need more rest between sets in the beginning or when taking your workout to the next level. Speak up and let your personal trainer know how the sessions are going for you and your goals.

“What would you like to work on? …”

With five to ten minutes left in the session, your trainer should ask you if there is anything YOU would like to work on.  Your trainer should cover your wants and needs in the workout, but sometimes things are left out.  You gave your trainer undivided attention for 40minutes. The least a trainer can do is give you five to ten minutes of their time at the end of the session. Maybe you aren’t comfortable expressing what you’d like to work on at first, but think about your goals and why you hired the trainer. If you aren’t prepared to answer the question the first time, think about it (but not too hard) and come back with your answer at the next training session.

During any session, your trainer should focus on you and only you.  They should give you great customer service, understand what you want and what you need but most importantly: Putting the word ‘Personal’ in personal training.  Tell us about your personal training experience and what you would recommend when choosing a trainer – join the discussion on Facebook or Twitter, or simply by leaving a comment below.