A decade ago, I splurged for a personal trainer. It’s one of the best investments I’ve ever made.

When I hired a personal trainer in 2017, I didn’t expect that decision to change my life

It seemed like a hefty financial commitment at the time, but I had the rather cliché goal of slimming down and I was determined to get my money’s worth

Sure, I lost a few pounds, but that soon became unimportant. More significantly, I got stronger, the fog that had plagued my mental health lifted, and I developed healthy habits that I keep almost a decade later

As a self-proclaimed gym hater, it wasn’t easy to get started

I’d never considered myself particularly athletic

I played a couple of sports and danced ballet growing up, but these were extracurricular hobbies. I was far more interested in reading books and flipping through magazines

Because of that, weightlifting seemed like a foreign language reserved for bodybuilders. And the gym? That was hostile territory

Early in 2017 I had moved to Bluffton, South Carolina, a town that was pretty but sleepy, especially after the constant stimulation of NYC where I had lived before. I was 26 years old, and all of a sudden I found myself with too much free time

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So when my roommate suggested that I join her in the gym, I took her up on that offer. It still felt scary, but going with a friend made it less intimidating

That’s when I met my roommate’s personal trainer, Josie. She was a friendly young woman, defying my stereotype of the gym bro. It didn’t take long before I was Josie’s newest client

Working with the right personal trainer shifted my priorities

I paid $180 for a few sessions a month, which felt like a hefty commitment for a early-career local newspaper reporter. I cringed when I saw the fee, but I reminded myself that I could just try it out and quit if it became financially overwhelming

Josie taught me everything: workout structure, proper warm up practices, basic strength training movements, and how to use those weightlifting machines that looked like medieval torture devices

She explained concepts like progressive overload, lifting until failure, and taught me about the importance of protein before it became a marketing buzzword

We tracked my workouts in a notebook, and once a month we did a weigh in

To my surprise, I became less interested in the number on the scale and more interested in the numbers in my workbook. I always wanted to beat my performance from the session before

I also remember when I began to see the muscle definition in my arms and shoulders — seeing my body actually respond to my workouts was exhilarating. I no longer wanted to be skinny; I wanted to be strong

Beyond seeing the physical changes in my body, I felt like I was soaring after my workouts. I struggled with anxiety in my twenties, and working out lightened my day-to-day mental load significantly

I stuck with personal training sessions for nine months, from October to July, before I moved away from South Carolina

Nearly a decade later, I’ve kept those habits

These days my life looks very different

I’m in my thirties. I live in London. My anxiety is not as acute as it used to be. I have a dynamic social life

But one habit remains: I go to the gym regularly

I may have only worked with a personal trainer for less than a year, but that short time equipped me with skills I’ve consistently used over the past near-decade: specifically, correct form in lifting weights and aiming for progressive overload

Now I pay £53, or about $71, for my gym membership each month, which is a reasonable rate in a city like London — and less than I paid for a personal trainer in 2017. It’s a lot less expensive than if I relied on classes alone, which can cost £15-£35 ($20-$47) per single class in London

I commit to two to four strength training days per week, plus I take yoga classes as part of my gym membership and run regularly in my neighborhood parks. Cross-training means I take a holistic approach to movement, keeping my muscles, heart, and mind strong

Now that I’m older and have learned more about health in general, I can appreciate other benefits too: maintaining my mobility as I age, an improved metabolism, better cardiovascular health, and the decreased risk of several illnesses including osteoporosis

3 lessons I’ve learned from personal training and my fitness journey:

• I stopped comparing myself to others. I’m not the strongest, and I’m not the fastest. I never will be. But I can be stronger and faster than I was last week, and that’s enough.
• As a perfectionist, I struggle to admit when I’m bad at something. When I started weightlifting I was a total beginner. I was bad at it! And, lo and behold,it was okay to be bad at something! Now I know that I’m always getting better, and I’ve implemented that growth mindset in other areas of my life too.
• On a related note, jumping into the gym world taught me that our identities are not fixed. When I was younger, I convinced myself that I was the bookworm, not the jock. But in reality, we have the ability to stay curious and learn new things, and our sense of identity can — and should! — evolve.

Hiring a personal trainer was the best money I’ve ever spent. But the payoff was much bigger than anything financial: I invested in my health and become a more confident, happier version of myself