How Long Does It Take To See Results With a Personal Trainer?

How long does it take to see results with a personal trainer? It’s a question we often get from people who are just getting started with personal training.

While understanding that each person defines success differently, you can expect to begin seeing results within three to six months of starting and sticking to regular personal training sessions.

Many factors determine how long it will take you to reach your goals, so let’s look at them and see what it’s going to take for you to reach your fitness goals.

Determine Your Goals

Before learning how long it’s going to take to start seeing results, we need to assess what your goals are. Here are a few different goals you might have when looking at starting with a personal trainer:

Fat loss (weight loss)
Build muscle
Become a better athlete
Perform in a marathon/triathlon/fitness event

Once you have an idea of the goals you have in mind for fitness, you can start to understand how long it will take to start seeing results with a personal trainer.

Don’t worry if you don’t have exact goals when looking at personal training, just talk with your trainer about your needs, and they’ll help you create milestones for you to reach.

Training for Weight Loss

If your goal is to lose weight and trim fat from your body, a personal trainer can help you do that more effectively and efficiently. You have to burn more calories than you intake to lose weight, and a personal trainer will help you do this in the healthiest way possible for your needs.

The more weight you have to lose, the quicker you’re going to see results. For example, if you have 100 pounds to go to get a healthy weight, it’ll take longer than someone who has only ten pounds to lose. However, you’ll start to see results faster than someone only looking to lose 10 pounds since there’s more weight to be lost.

When exercising alone, you may see a decrease in weight within the first month, but then it starts tapering off, leaving you stuck and not losing any more weight. When working with a personal trainer, we’ll continuously help you lose weight until you reach that goal. On average, working with a personal trainer will help you lose one to two pounds per week, and you’ll start seeing results within three to six weeks.

Training to Build Muscle

Many people come to us to take their strength training to the next level. They want to push their limits and lift more than they could imagine. If you’re hitting a plateau with your exercises, it’s time to get professional help to keep building your muscles.

Whether you’re looking to start strength training or take it to the next level, a personal trainer helps you achieve that.

For beginners, a trainer will help you determine the muscle groups you need to start working on, and create a plan for you to build in those areas. Most beginners can expect to see noticeable growth within eight weeks.

If you already weight train and are looking to take your muscles to the next level, a personal trainer can help you start seeing more gains in as little as three weeks. With the right nutritional and exercise plan, you can expect to see about one to two pounds of lean muscle growth per month.

Become a Better Athlete With Personal Training

The off-season isn’t a time for you to rest and get lax on your exercising. Instead, it’s time to build strength and muscle mass for the following season so you can perform better.

Sport-specific personal trainers help you stay fit and active throughout the off-season. So whether you’re recovering from an injury and don’t want to lose your strength elsewhere or trying to break records next season, a trainer will help you do that.

Be sure to talk with your trainer about how long your off-season is and your specific goals; they’ll help you achieve them before you start playing again.

Perform in Fitness Events

If you’ve never run a mile before, don’t expect to run that marathon next week just because you started personal training. Depending on your fitness level, it can take three to five months to prepare for a marathon. So if you try to train alone, you’ll be looking at the five-month marker to be ready.

However, if you’re somewhat active and start training with a personal trainer as soon as possible, you could be running a marathon in three months. A trainer won’t just help you run; they’ll help you build the muscles you need so you can run harder for longer.

A trainer will also help you determine whether you’re ready for a fitness event. If they don’t believe you’re prepared to compete, they’ll let you know so you stay safe. They’ll then help you train better and be prepared the next time the event comes around.