the Cost of Personal Trainers by the Hour

The price was for an hour's personal training with a "certified" trainer at a women-specific fitness club.

The club does offer regular memberships at $50/month (with an annual contract) or at $12/day (without contract).

My sister was interested in starting to work out. She'd gained some weight over the past few years and her clothes had started to fit tight. I encouraged her to try a group class at my gym with a trainer. She took half of my advice and sought personal training at a women only gym she'd seen on TV.

At first, my sister says, the workout was fun, even if the trainer (female) was a bit of a drill sergeant. She had my sister moving around a medicine ball while standing on a wobbly platform thing. But when my sister felt hesitant about jumping onto the platform, the trainer yelled at her and bullied her into doing as she was told. She jumped, landed wrong on the wobbly bit, and her ankle collapsed under her as she fell. The trainer yelled at her to get up as my sister howled in pain.

My sister told the trainer that she'd hurt her ankle. The trainer grabbed the hurt ankle, gave it a squeeze and told my sister that she was just malingering and had to get back to the workout. My sister refused and spent the rest of the hour on the floor being yelled at by the trainer.

After the hour was over, my sister hobbled out of the gym, trailed by the trainer, who was suggesting . From the gym my sister went straight to the emergency room. The result, after x-rays and inspection by a doctor: a broken ankle and a slew of messed up ligaments. Surgery may be needed depending on how things heal.

The cost of the "training" session was never charged to her by the gym, and she's in litigation with them at the moment to recoup medical costs since the trainer was a gym employee.

Dude, seriously, look for at least CSCS or other NSCA certification (or certification by a similar respected organization. Preferably one that publishes a professional journal and doesn't cater to fitness "trends") if you're going to hire a trainer (and for rank beginners it wouldn't be a bad idea to get some instruction to keep from hurting yourself), and leave the jumping about on unstable surfaces to experienced trainees. And stay away from hyper-enthusiastic or bullying "coaches" who have their own egos in mind when they teach you exercises. To make themselves feel like good teachers, they may have you do things that are appallingly dangerous for your experience level.