The fitness industry is constantly evolving and long gone are the days of a one-size-fits-all approach to personal training. Mobile personal training, also known as “in-home personal training” breaks through several of the common obstacles and excuses that get in the way of maintaining a fitness regime – and there are many benefits involved with having the gym come to you.
Benefits of Mobile Personal Training
Convenience
In our busy lives, finding time to get to the gym can be difficult. One of the most common excuses not to exercise is a lack of time. If it takes 15 minutes to travel to and from the gym each time you train, and you train three sessions per week, that’s 1.5 hours sitting in the car. Imagine what you could do with that extra time.
Let your personal trainer do the travelling instead.
A mobile personal trainer can come directly to your home or office, meaning “I don’t have the time to travel to the gym” is an excuse of the past. You can also meet your trainer at a venue of your choosing, e.g., a local park or the beach if you’re lucky enough to live near one. The benefits of outdoor training are fantastic, including fresh air and Vitamin D therapy from the sunshine.
Mobile personal training is a particularly great option for:
- Stay-at-home Parents: Mobile PT is perfect for those who can’t access a conventional gym due to child care limitations. At home, sessions can either be planned around nap times or children can watch from the safety of their play mat. There’s the added bonus of setting a great example for your kids as they watch you train and try to improve your fitness.
- Busy Professionals: For a busy executive or business person who can’t leave the office to get to the gym, having a trainer come to you means you can fit in a 45 min session on your lunch break or in between conference calls and meetings.
- People with Disabilities or Injuries: Those with reduced mobility and therefore unable to access the community including gyms also benefit from in home training. This includes the elderly, those with physical disabilities or clients recovering from an injury or illness.
Some people also might not have a suitable gym in their local area. They’re either too expensive or have the wrong type of clientele, e.g., a client interested in cardio and pilates may only have a body building gym nearby. Having to drive a large distance to find something suitable can sometimes be an easy excuse not to go and makes adhering to a regular fitness program difficult.
The convenience doesn’t stop with the training itself, though. After you finish your workout at home you’re able to jump in your own shower, without the need for shower shoes. You then don’t have to worry about avoiding awkward eye contact with strangers in a change room.
On the topic of hygiene, by working out at home with a mobile personal trainer you don’t have to worry about sweaty benches and equipment. In fact, you don’t have to share equipment at all and there’s no waiting around, for someone to finish using a machine or for some spare floor space to become available.
Accountability
Have you ever skipped a gym session because you’ve forgotten your shoes, sports bra or a towel? Sorry, but that’s no longer a valid excuse. By training in your own home, you’ll always have access to everything you need.
If you train in a gym with a trainer who predominantly uses machines or complicated pieces of equipment, once you’ve finished your session, you may not be able to train again until your next appointment (unless you train by yourself in between sessions and can remember the correct set up). By training in your own living room you’re able to replicate the training program on your own at other times in between sessions. Indeed, you’ll learn the skills to train anywhere.
Price
People often join a gym but struggle with training on their own, so they then hire a trainer as well, which further adds to their costs. By purely enlisting a mobile personal trainer you can save money on an unnecessary gym membership if you’re not likely to use it at other times and avoid being locked in to a long-term contract.
Of course, mobile training generally isn’t cheap, so this point can go both ways (discussed below).
Privacy and Confidence
When you train with a mobile personal trainer at home you’ll be able to completely focus on your training without worrying about who is looking at you or being distracted by other gym goers and their noisy grunting. This is especially important when starting out – first timers or beginners can often feel self-conscious and worried about others in the gym looking at them. They often describe a fear of looking foolish, which can result in not pushing themselves or trying new things so as not to look stupid. While the truth is that most people are usually too focused on their own work out to notice anyone else, it can still be off putting and be a disadvantage of training in a commercial gym. This is predominantly an issue with females, some of whom are scared to venture into the weights area, usually monopolised by males. They can either feel intimidated or find themselves receiving unwanted attention. There can also sometimes be cultural considerations where females cannot exercise in front of males due to their religion or beliefs. By hiring a mobile personal trainer, these obstacles are tackled easily and the focus can solely be placed on training with no one else around to worry about.
If you have hired a personal trainer in a gym, rarely do you get their undivided attention, not necessarily through any fault of their own. They can either be distracted by other trainers asking them questions or other clients and members. In your own home, you are their sole focus and will benefit from their undivided attention.
At a gym, you are limited to the personal trainers who are on staff whereas with a mobile trainer you can do your own research from a much broader talent pool and shop around before finding one who suits your needs. It helps if you have any recommendations from friends or try looking for reviews online. With social media growing the way it is, sites like Facebook and Instagram provide a whole batch of personal trainers with their accounts being their virtual business cards.
Great trainers will mix up your routine and change the environment
Social
Another advantage of mobile personal training is being able to involve friends (if you want to). There’s more fun and increased accountability if you’re training with someone else and it can decrease the cost by splitting the session between multiple people. This wouldn’t be possible training in a gym unless you were all members at the same facility. It also generally easier to align your schedules when the session will be at one of your homes.
Comfort
Training in the comfort of your own home has the added perk of you being in control of the air conditioning temperature or you can even venture into the back yard if the weather permits. You are also able to take on the role of DJ and be in charge of the playlist.
The best type of exercise program is one that you can stick to and that you can see yourself still doing a year from now. Making sure your routine is as excuse-proof as possible is an effective way of increasing your compliance and its longevity.
Potential Drawbacks to Mobile PT
With any method of training there are always some potential negatives.
Safety
Inviting someone into your own home can make some people uncomfortable especially if there isn’t anybody else in the vicinity to keep an eye on you. To avoid any unsafe situations, do your research, use other people’s recommendations and reviews when hiring a personal trainer. Interview the trainer first, potentially have someone present during your first session or at least let your spouse, a relative or friend know their details before your training session for your own reassurance.
Cost
With mobile personal training, you can expect to pay slightly more for the luxury of having a trainer come to you and you will probably be paying for their petrol and travel time. However, on the flip side the trainer isn’t having to pay rent at a gym so it may even out and end up costing the same but with added convenience for you.
The Value of At-Home Personal Training
Overall, the benefits of mobile personal training are many and it is a very convenient way of implementing an exercise regime that is easy to stick to. Training doesn’t need to be done in a gym to be effective and mobile training is one of the best ways to ensure you stay committed to your program and achieving your goals.
5 Top Exercises to do at Home
If you’re eager to get started by yourself, here are five exercises which can be done at home and don’t require any equipment whatsoever. They target your legs, arms, core and cardiovascular system for a full body work out.
1. Squats
- Stand with your feet hip width apart, stick your bottom out and sit down as if you were lowering yourself onto a chair. Keep your chest up throughout.
- Stand back upright, squeezing your bottom muscles at the top.
- Repeat x 20
2. Lunges
- Start standing with feet together.
- Keep your upper body upright and straight throughout, you can place hands on hips to balance.
- Take a step forward and bend both knees until they are at 90 degrees.
- Stop just short of your back knee touching the floor.
- Return to starting position and repeat with other foot.
- Repeat x 10 on each leg
3. Push ups
- Can be done in several modified ways.
- Repeat x 10-20 reps
Beginner: Wall Push ups
- Stand facing a wall, place your hands slightly wider than shoulder width apart on the wall, palms flat.
- Feet should be a comfortable distance behind you.
- Keeping your body straight, bend your elbows slowly to bring your face closer to the wall until your nose is almost touching.
- Push your arms straight to return to starting position.
Intermediate: Kneeling Push ups
- Kneel on the floor and cross your feet.
- Make sure your shoulders are over the top of your hands with weight going down through your arms.
- Your body should be in a straight diagonal line from shoulders to hips and knees.
Lower your chest down to the floor and then push back up.
Advanced: Standard Push ups
- Start in high plank position, weight bearing on hands and feet with your body in a straight line.
- Make sure to engage your core/stomach muscles so your back is not arching.
- Slowly lower chest to ground by bending your arms and then push back to return to starting position.
- Your body should remain in a straight line throughout movement.
4. Plank
- Start on elbows and feet, body in a straight line
- Engage your core, drawing your stomach muscles up towards your spine
- Keep your neck and head relaxed
- Try and hold for between 30-60secs
- Repeat x 3
5. Mountain climbers
- Start in high plank position, on hands and feet.
- Bring one knee up to your chest and then the other, repeat at fast pace to mimic a running action.
- Repeat x 20 on each leg or perform for 1 min total.
