How do you pick a good trainer? Trainers are an odd group. They come in all shapes, sizes and attitudes. Here's some simple tips of what to look for:

1. Look for excellence. There are a thousand and one excuses why a trainer might not look the part. Those excuses are the same ones you are going to be dealing with. Because there are so many excuses you want to work with someone who has some experience in dealing with and overcoming those obstacles. We aren't looking for perfection, but we are looking for excellence.

2. Know what you're paying for. There are a lot of gyms that have either a training department or subcontract to another company to provide training services for it's members. In either case, the objective of that set up is to make money, not necessarily to get you in shape. I don't begrudge people making money. But it is a good idea as a consumer to know what you're buying. If the trainer that gave you the promo session wants to sign you up but "can't train you [themselves] because [they're] in management," insist that you get another promotional session with the trainer that will be training you. It's your money. Know what you're paying for.

3. Make sure you and the trainer click. Training can be intense and difficult. If you personally can't stand each other it is not going to work.

4. Make sure that you and the trainer don't click too much. The getting along that can get you through the intensity can cross a strange line of what amounts to some very unprofessional behavior. Unprofessional on the trainer's part and immature on the client's part. It's not good for any one. Not for you, not the trainer, not the gym, not the people in the gym that have to share it with you.

5. Experience trumps certification. The training industry is not regulated by the government. It has a way of self regulating. In general, bad trainers fall away and good ones do well. Certification does not mean nothing, but there are great trainers with garbage (or no) certifications and terrible trainers with tons of education in the field and the best certifications. Of course the reverse is true. Watching how a trainer trains his clients and taking time to interview them will say much much more than any piece of paper.

6. There are good certifications. Having said that "experience trumps certification" here are some fine pieces of paper to look for: CSCS ISSA NASM NFPT ACSM It doesn't hurt to have a degree in kinesiology or exercise science either.

There's some stuff you want to look for as you shop for a trainer. Whether you are in a gym, the trainer is coming to your home, or you're meeting at a park a trainer is like a barber. A good one is a great one. A bad one. . . I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Tim Pierce has been personal training clients for 9 years in gyms and privately at their homes, work places, or community park, first in Southern California and now in New England. He established Fit True as a site to give access to fitness enthusiasts to counteract the mountains of misinformation in the fitness industry. Check it out at www.fittrue.com.

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