I want to offer you a completely objective review of the effectiveness of 30 minute personal training sessions. Now more than ever, people prioritize their health and fitness and actively seek solutions to get in shape. To accommodate this trend, there has been a massive influx of fitness professionals offering every conceivable solution to compete for your business. One popular solutions is 30 minute personal training. It promises great results in half the time and usually for half the cost. Sounds like the best choice doesn’t it? Not so fast . . .
You’re probably asking yourself ”How can I possibly get an effective workout in 30 minutes?” Well, the short answer is that you can, but it’s not always that simple. Let’s look at the benefits and drawbacks of 30 minute personal training so you can make a more informed decision about this option.
The Benefits of 30 Minute Personal Training
Time
This is a big one. The number one excuse people use to avoid exercise is that they don’t have time. This comes from the preconceived notion that they’ll need to perform long, boring workouts 6 times/week to get results. This simply isn’t true in most cases, and when a personal trainer says you can do it in 2-3 brief 30 minute sessions, it’s easy to see why people love this option.
Affordability
Personal training can be an expensive investment, especially if the service is used over a long period of time. Why pay $50-80 or more for a one hour session when you can typically pay between $25-40 for 30 minutes? This option is budget friendly and allows you to engage in supervised exercise for half the cost. For struggling trainers, it allows them to compete for your business because they can keep their rates low and easily generate new business on a regular basis. So everyone wins right?
Focused Workouts
When you only have 30 minutes to work out, there’s no time to waste and this ensures that your time is spent efficiently. In one hour sessions, some personal trainers waste their clients’ time through irrelevant conversation and ineffective methods. Or, if you are the type who tends to show up late for your one hour sessions, you may only receive a portion of that time anyway as the trainer is likely booked for the following hour. In fact, some clients will intentionally show up late to avoid doing the full hour in hopes of performing less work. With the 30 minute option, you may approach the session with more urgency and punctuality. Why pay for 60 minutes if your only going to do 30 minutes of work?. The half hour approach keeps things focused and on schedule.
Fun and Energizing
Nothing will suck the energy and motivation out of you faster than long, hard and poorly designed workouts. Thirty minute personal training offers a solution to that. Let’s face it, most folks don’t like exercise and it’s more likely they’ll enjoy the experience if it is kept brief. You won’t feel as exhausted at the end of the session and will likely keep your motivation higher for longer.
So, with all this positive support for 30 minute personal training sessions, you’re probably ready to run out and get in on the action right? Read on . . .
The Drawbacks of 30 Minute Personal Training
Incomplete Program Design
If personal training was just about the workout, I would have the easiest job in the world. Most of my work as a personal trainer comes from the non-workout elements. As I’ve explained in previous posts, a successful exercise program addresses all of the components of the fitness program, including exercise design, nutrition, mindset and accountability. It is very difficult to accomplish all this in only 30 minutes. How can your trainer coach you on nutrition and lifestyle best practices? When are your results being tracked? And what about proper warmup? I’m not talking about walking on a treadmill for five minutes, I’m talking about active stretching and mobility work to properly prepare your body for more intense exercise. How about the stretching and cooldown component at the end?
Even if the 30 minute program addresses these, how much time is left for the actual workout? 15 or 20 minutes at best.
Lowered Perceived Value
When a trainer is only charging you $25 and probably only keeping $15 of it after paying gym fees, you have a much lower value to him/her than the client who pays for 1 hour training. A 30 minute trainer will often book 15-20 clients a day with this approach or even more if they pair you up with someone. Do you really think that trainer spends much time on the details of your program and your results? Will they have time to be there for you in a supportive role? It’s impossible to see that many faces and keep up to speed on everyone’s needs. Is this even personal training anymore?
Generic Program Design
If your personal trainer operates out of a studio or fitness club, you’re going to run into situations where things get crowded at peak hours of the day. These are the times when most people want to train. At these times, it becomes difficult to perform the program as intended, forcing the trainer to adapt with alternative options. Although this is not ideal, it’s the reality. The problem with 30 minute sessions is that if you’re stuck waiting for equipment or space, this will very quickly cut into your sessions reducing the effectiveness of the workout.
To meet these demands, 30 minute trainers often design “generic” or “recycled” workouts that don’t require much equipment or space. I’ve seen this first hand – 20 clients and 1 workout. It’s a high pressure situation for the trainer, attempting to sevice clients quickly in a busy environment. They can become preoccupied with watching the clock, waiting for their next client to arrive and not focusing on your results.
Time Contraints
I’m not contradicting myself here, because time is also a drawback of 30 minute sessions. What happens if you are 5-10 minutes late? That only leaves 20 minutes to warmup, workout and cool down. That’s obviously not going to be very effective if it happens often enough, and it does, believe me.
So, I’ve listed some major benefits and drawbacks of the 30 minute personal training session. As the duration of your workout decreases, the intensity or challenge of the workout must proportionately increase. However, most regular people do not possess the motivation and work ethic to get the most out of a 30 minute session. These sessions can be extremly effective for people who are very advanced in their training. In fact, I use 30 minute sessions myself, but they aren’t for the faint of heart and wouldn’t be appropriate for most of the people I’ve trained or come in contact with.
I offer 30 minute personal training programs to my own clients, but only when appropriate. Whatever your reason for choosing this training option, consider the points I’ve made here and if you still think it’s right for you, then it probably is. Just remember, like any other service, you tend to get what you pay for. You have to be careful when looking for “cheaper” personal training solutions because it is a market dominated by trainers with low client retention, who are new to the industry and need to build a clientele fast. Is this the profile of a personal trainer that you want training you? You need to properly identify your needs and find a personal training solution that is right for you before you jump on the 30 minute personal training bandwagon.