I am a workoutaholic. My passion for fitness started when I was in high school.

For those of you who are not avid gym rats, you will definitely find that the gym can be an intimidating place. As soon as you step foot inside the gym for the first time, you immediately fall to the bottom of the food chain.

When you look around you see all the different stereotypes come to life. The meat head muscle guy judging you for only lifting 5 lbs., or the fit girl running a triathlon on the treadmill while you’re walking at what you believe is a brisk pace.

Needless to say, as you take all this in, you will feel intimidated and out of place. Some might even get discouraged and never show their face again. That is where the trainer comes in. The personal trainer often gets a bad rep because of how expensive they can be. Trust me, it’s definitely worth it to  splurge on a trainer at least once in your lifetime. The trainer will help you figure out your own personal exercise goals. The trainer will then introduce you to the exercises that will help you reach your goals. So much of working out is not just about lifting heavy weights and that you got “gains,” but it is about the actual form in which you are doing the exercise. For this reason it is extremely important to have a personal trainer.

Group classes are great, but often it is impossible for the teacher to correct form as much as they should. The personal trainer gives you their undivided attention and really makes it a point to make sure that your form is in tip top shape.

“Many of our clients have never walked into a gym before coming to our studio or have had bad experiences at regular gyms. We want to recreate that image by offering a new approach to training with small group classes,” Minna Herskowitz said, owner of Sandbox Fitness in Sherman Oaks. “The problem with huge corporate gyms is it can be big and overwhelming. By eliminating the “where to go” effect, we focus on one big sandbox with classes ranging from cardio to weight training, with proper form and technique for maximum results.”

Some of you might already think that you’re exercise professionals. Why would you need a trainer when you already have a set routine for the week and have been doing it for years? Oh, you have been stagnant for the last year? You have not been able to see any differences in your body?

That’s because doing the same routine consistently makes your body get used to it and now has plateaued. A personal trainer has the ability to introduce entirely new routines into your regime. Exercise is a specific science and it’s always evolving.

In the article “How One Personal Training Session Can Be All You’ll Ever Need,” Alexandra Duron said. You should “chat with your trainer about how may reps of each exercise you should do, how hard you should go and how often you should be doing it.”

A problem with most of you so-called “pros” is that you are not interested in change and you want to lift the same reps the same way but all of this can be damaging to your muscles and body. You want to be able to build proper muscle and prevent injury.

A personal trainer doesn’t have to be a permanent thing, but it can be someone who teaches you more than you already know and opens your eyes to new ideas.

If you are a first timer looking to get fit or even a seasoned veteran, a personal trainer is something that everyone should try at least once in their lifetime.

They are people who can get your mechanics right so you prevent injury and put you down a path to succeed.

After all, isn’t that why we work out anyways? To succeed? We don’t want to set ourselves up to fail.

Jessica Gilbert
Staff Writer
Published February 3rd, 2016