Asking friends or family members used to be the only way to find a personal trainer you’re likely to get along with. You had to find out if anyone you knew had a great experience with a coach in your area or ask people from your gym for recommendations or referrals for the personal trainers there. Those were the most common ways of finding a trainer, until now.
With the FitConnector App, your hunt for personal training in Dubai becomes very easy and convenient. Without having to talk to a trainer or negotiate about the price, with a few clicks, you choose, pay, and book your personal trainer at your preferred location at a convenient time. Your payment is only deducted from your account when you complete a session. In that case, there is no advance payment, and you don’t have to finish the package with a trainer you don’t enjoy or get along with. Your payment is securely kept on your account, and each time you finish your session, the amount for that one training gets deducted from your balance. At any time, you can also switch between the trainers in case you wish to, without notifying your current trainer.
Hiring a personal fitness trainer in Dubai might seem like a luxury if you are on a tight budget, but if you really want to get the most out of your workouts, enlisting a trainer is a great investment. In the FitConnector App, we have listed many freelance trainers who have different qualifications and experience. There are lots of different trainers that come from many backgrounds and nationalities, and they all charge different prices for their training sessions and packages, which gives you a lot of flexibility to choose according to your preferences and budget. The improvement in your health and fitness levels can have long-term effects in your quality of life, and can even lead to decreased health care costs.
Your personal trainer should know more about you
When you first sign up to FitConnector, you will need to fill up the health questionnaire, mentioning if you have any pre-existing health conditions that could impact your exercise. Your answers will only be available to the coach that you choose to train with. Once you meet for the first time, they will already have some knowledge about you and your health history. They will chat with you about your goals and discuss the best way to achieve them, and they’ll also carry out a health assessment to get a better idea of your current fitness level, tailoring your workout plan around it.
Your trainer should be listening to you attentively and hear your full story. They should ask about any past issues with injuries or experience with exercise. If you’re injured or have any deficiencies, they should know this so they can create a specific program for you. They should ask you about your nutrition and offer help, if they are qualified to do so. Good trainers should also commit to what they preach. They don’t have to be an Olympic athlete, but they should have a healthy lifestyle. Your trainer should also elaborate on their expertise and how they can help you. They may share past successes of clients with you or point to their credentials and history of success. Setting realistic expectations is also important. You won’t get ripped in a month, and so they should honestly inform you that it could take many months to get in shape or build the right kind of habits. Make sure that once you find a Dubai personal trainer you are considering working with, you have an in-depth conversation with them.
Avoid personal trainers who are not result-focused
Your personal trainer should produce results, not focus on scheduling you a new session and keeping you around. We can often see people working out with trainers for months and months without ever looking any different. Some personal trainers are just interested in cashing another check. Remember, your personal trainer works for you. Don’t let them build a program that doesn’t actually fit your needs. You need to know if they adjusted your workout to take care of any pre-existing injuries you may have, or if they just gave you a cookie-cutter workout. Are they encouraging or helping you succeed in the way you want to be encouraged, or are they scrolling through Instagram on their phones while you’re doing your sets?
Are they putting in the time so they can see you get results,or are they putting in the time so they can check the box and collect your money? You’re paying money for this person’s expertise and attention, and it’s not too much to ask to find somebody who takes those things seriously.
Cost of having a personal trainer in Dubai
Personal trainers in Dubai aren’t cheap, but the benefits can be priceless. Remember, you aren’t paying simply for their time with you, but for the years and years they’ve spent learning, training, and coaching. It’s the years behind the certification that makes their time so valuable, so expect the cost of a trainer to be significantly higher than the cost of a basic membership at your gym. Many people assume that “more expensive” automatically means “better results.”
Cost is not the right metric.
Personal value is the right metric, as it depends on your goals and the results you’re after. You’re not just paying for an hour of somebody’s time. You’re paying for their years of experience, schooling, training, and expertise. You’re paying to outsource all of your fitness questions to somebody who knows what they’re doing, to someone who gives you the confidence that you’re training correctly. On average, personal trainers in Dubai charge around AED 250 to AED 350 per session. So instead of thinking “Why am I paying this much to my trainer for 1 hour? This is too expensive!”, you should think about what you’re really paying for: confidence, momentum, and results.
Pros and cons of an online personal trainer
If you live in Dubai and have a personal trainer, but your job requires a lot of traveling, it might be good to consider having an online personal trainer.
Let’s begin with the pros to online personal training:
- No matter where in the globe you are, your online trainer comes with you.
- With an online personal coach, you can train when and where you want to fit your schedule; your coach builds the workout program for you ahead of time, so you can fit it in at your convenience.
- If you travel for work, your coach can plan for that and build you a special travel routine.
- With an online personal trainer, you’re connected whenever you have access to the internet.
- When you work with an online coach, since you aren’t training with them 1-on-1 in the gym, they can provide more cost-effective guidance.
- Most in-person personal trainers are expensive, especially if you work out with them two or three times a week. Online trainers can provide that same training for a more affordable price.
However, there are cons to online personal training as well:
- There’s nothing stopping you from skipping your workout and lying to your online coach that you completed it. Nobody wins in this scenario. You don’t get real-time feedback or instant form checks. If you’re learning how to powerlift, or you’re going for a particularly heavy lift, for example, having a coach right there is extremely helpful. They can tell you to move your squat slightly wider, and guide you through the movements and consistently remind you and motivate you to keep good form. Although we do use form check videos, where coaches and clients send clips back and forth to each other, it’s not the same as having somebody critique you in real-time. If you’re looking to nail a challenging lift, or learn a dangerous gymnastics move, working with a trained professional in person is invaluable, and online training just can’t provide that same help effectively.
- If you pay for a month of online coaching, there’s nothing really motivating you to go to the gym and keep up your routine – your coach can’t yell at you, and you’re not letting anybody down at that moment if you don’t make it.
There’s a lot to consider when debating in-person training vs. an online personal trainer.
We wouldn’t say one format is clearly better or superior to another. It really depends on what you’re after and the circumstances of your situation. For somebody that can’t afford a top-of-the-line professional coach for each session, having an online coach to build your optimal routine and guide your food choices is highly recommended.
How to find a good personal trainer in Dubai
It’s good to know how to recognize a good trainer from a bad one. Plenty of trainers who have no certification are incredible, and plenty of other trainers have the most elite certifications and yet are terrible at coaching. There are a wide variety of personal trainer certifications and other “credibility indicators”. The more traditional path, which is a degree in anatomy, may mean the trainer in question is knowledgeable about the human body. However, that doesn’t mean that they have experience coaching in real-world circumstances. Any additional personal training certifications would affirm their professionalism further. Continuing professional development is a way for exercise professionals to demonstrate that they continue to learn and develop throughout their careers, keep their skills and knowledge up to date and are able to work safely, legally and effectively. Personal trainers in Dubai can select REPs (The Register of Exercise Professionals), which are approved CPD courses under relevant categories. Trainers then get a registered number that they provide to us, which we store in our app. This number is required for trainers to be listed in the FitConnector App.
REPs UAE is based on the fitness industry’s standards which have been developed for each area of exercise and fitness instruction covered by the register. Occupational standards describe the skills, knowledge and competence needed to work as an instructor in the fitness industry. REPs UAE guarantees that instructors are competent and qualified against these standards. Instructors on REPs UAE have demonstrated that they can work to these standards, normally by gaining an approved qualification which teaches and assesses everything in these standards. The standards are based on the ICREPs Global Standards, developed by the International Confederation for Registers of Exercise Professionals, the global organisation for fitness registers that REPs UAE is a member of.
One of the very common mistakes is not making sure your trainer has expertise in the area you want to train in. Experience in one area does not necessarily make them a good fit in another.
After considering that, you’ll want to think about what you need from your personal trainer:
- Are you looking for a powerlifting coach to show you the basics (squat, deadlift, bench) so your form is right? Just a few sessions up front and a few later down the line to confirm you’re on the right path should suffice.
- Are you new to working out or looking to kick start your first 2 months of training with 2 sessions per week to keep you disciplined?
- What type of person are you? Do you need more hands-on guidance throughout your workouts, or more space to take ownership and thrive on your own?
Once you set proper expectations for what you want and how long you need a trainer for, then you can pick out one that works for you. In the FitConnector App you can filter all your requirements (price, gender, type of training, location, years of experience, rating, etc.) before selecting the best suitable trainer for yourself. Some trainers also provide a free trial, which then gives you an opportunity to attend a free session if you two are a good match. Even if you purchase a package with a trainer, and later want to switch to another one for any reason, you can. The FitConnector app gives you flexibility and security, so you only commit to yourself and your fitness goals. And you never need to feel embarrassed having to cancel your package or explain your reasons of ending your package with a trainer. You can simply walk away and pick another one. Your money is secure on your account, and you are the one that chooses how to spend it.
