How To Get The Results You Are Looking For!

August 2008 – Affording Professional Help

“Why hire a professional when I can do it myself?”

Yes, you can do it yourself.  However, it is most likely that you will not be able to get the same high-quality results as you would with a professional.  For example, I can cut my own hair but it will not look as sharp as if I had gone to a professional hair stylist.  The hair stylist can walk around you and look at your hair from multiple points of view.  They can see your blind spots! 

(There are many more reasons and benefits to hiring a professional but that is beyond the scope of this article.)

“On average, how much does it cost to hire a professional for the entire year?”

The average rate for a professional is $65 – $75 per hour.  Also, the average number of hourly sessions per week is 2.  Therefore, at this average rate and frequency it would cost $6240 - $7200 to hire a professional for an entire year (48 weeks).   

Total Fee: $6240 - $7200

If this is too expense and you cannot afford to spend that amount of money on your health, there are some other options listed below: 

Purchase or Copy Generic Programs

A generic program is a program that is designed without an assessment.  An example of this is taking a program from a health magazine.  This is not something that I recommend.  Why?  Everyone is unique!  Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses.  Remember the old saying “one man’s food is another man’s poison.”  In other words, because of muscular imbalances, some exercises can be bad for you at this point in your life.  An example of this is the jump squat.  It is a great exercise but it can be disastrous for a beginner who has poor joint stability.     

Total Fee:  $10 dollar magazine (+ knee pain. Ouch!)

Purchase Customized Programs

When it comes to purchasing programs this is the approach I recommend.  A customized program is a program that is designed based on an assessment of the individual.  An exercise professional will assess your needs and design a 'SmartPath' to get you the results you want.  The assessment will provide the professional vital information to create a safe, effective and progressive program.  I use the CHEK methods and these are my rates: (Average CHEK practitioner rates)  

Initial Fees

CHEK Evaluation (2-3 hours)            $200 – $300

CHEK Program (4-6 weeks)             $100

CHEK Program Instruction                $100

            Standard fees

           

            CHEK Re-evaluation (1 hour)            $100

            CHEK Program (4-6 weeks)             $100

            CHEK Program Instruction                $100

With this approach it will cost you $500 for the initial fee.  And if you have a customized program made for you every 6 weeks at the rate of $300 it will cost you $2100 for the remainder of the year.  Therefore, it would cost you $2600 to have customized programs designed for your specific goals and needs. 

Total Fee:  $2600

Partner Up

Here is another approach I recommend.  Find one or more people to share the cost of the sessions.  You might not get the one-on-one attention you would receive on your own but you would still be receiving professional guidance and supervision.  Also, training with a friend or loved one can be very motivating.  I usually find this type of training to be effective if the right people get together.  Make sure you get a partner(s) that you enjoy being around as this makes the sessions a lot more fun! 

Total Fee:        $6240 - $7200 per year divided by 2 = $3120 - $3600 per year

                       $6240 - $7200 per year divided by 3 = $2080 - $2400 per year

           

(Note:  Rates might be slightly higher for some professionals when they train more than one person at a time but it is still significantly more affordable than one-on-one training)

Hire A Professional On A Cyclical Basis

If you determined that you could only afford to pay a certain percentage of the yearly cost then this approach might be the best option.  If you could only afford 50% of the cost, you could cycle your training sessions.  There are many types of cycles but here are two simple ones that I find to be the most effective:

2 months of training with a professional and 2 months on your own (3 cycles per year) 

3 months with a professional and 3 months on your own (2 cycles per year)

Total Fee:        $3120 - $3600 per year.

You Get What You Pay For!

So many people ask me why I do not charge less money for each session.  Here is my usual response.  If I charge less money, $30 - $50 per session, I would attract many more customers.  However, as quantity increases quality usually decreases.  To better understand this I will use the example of a massage therapist.  If you go to a massage therapist and you are the first customer of the day, you will receive a great massage.  Now every massage therapist is different but I would say that most would begin to fatigue at approximately 5 – 6 hours of work.  Therefore, if your session happens to be after their fatiguing point, do not expect to get a high quality massage.  This principle applies to training as well because of the energy exchange between the client and the health professional.

Lifetime Investment

Think of hiring professional help as educational and a health investment.  At the very least you can hire a professional for a year (or less) and learn how to exercise properly.  Then at least you would have learned some of the basics.  Remember what you learn you keep for a lifetime.  You could work on the basics for the rest of your life or hire a professional a few years down the road when you are ready for more. 

Hiring a professional for health education:  Priceless!

As you can see the possibilities are endless.  Professional help and the results you are looking for are affordable!  Talk to a professional in your area and I am sure they would be willing to create a plan that you can afford.

By Sal Crispo

Vaughan Personal Trainer