The Power of Being Honest With Your Personal Trainer

Being Honest With Your Personal Trainer is Tough. Here's Why You Should Do It Anyway.

You’re talking with your personal trainer about why you’re not quite seeing the results you’re after, and together, you’re analyzing your workouts, nutrition, sleep, stress levels—and you can’t seem to find the issue.

Then, you realize that you’re not giving your personal trainer the actual answers to their questions—you’re giving them the answers you wish were true.

Being honest with your trainer isn’t always easy, especially if progress feels slow. But your trainer is there to support your whole journey — not just your workouts. Sharing what's going on with your lifestyle, nutrition, or mindset helps them guide you more effectively toward your goals.

Why Is It Hard to Be Honest About Nutrition and Exercise?

We talked with Minneapolis-based Doctor of Chiropractic, certified personal trainer, and owner of The Neural Connection Thompson Maesaka about why some people struggle to be straightforward with their personal trainer, even though they want nothing more than to move toward their health and fitness goals.

“I think a lot of people who hire a trainer to lose weight emotionally cope with food,” says Dr. Maesaka. “Cheating on a diet is more than just messing up the plan. It hurts them to face the idea that they ‘relapsed’ to their old behaviors, and this is harder to accept than simply burning a few more calories tomorrow.”

Dr. Maesaka also says that many people are highly appreciative of the hard work their personal trainers put in—which can make them feel more embarrassed if they’re struggling to stay on track outside of the gym.

“You often get highly invested in their success and want nothing more than to see them succeed. The client can sense this, and when they mess up, there is a deep sense of not wanting to disappoint the person who’s put so much time and energy into their success,” says Dr. Maesaka. “This is especially evident when you’ve seen success up to that point.”

The Importance of Honesty in the Gym

The good news: just like you, your personal trainer is human, and they don’t expect you to be perfect in or out of the gym.

This can be tough to believe when you’re surrounded by constant streams of “What I Eat in a Day” videos on Tiktok and Youtube, or when you’re seeing clip after clip of the perfect morning routine on social media.

We talked to Jesse Feder, registered dietitian and certified personal trainer, about the importance of remembering that these are curated versions of the truth, and most people aren’t 100% on point, 100% of the time.

“Oftentimes, people like to compare themselves with what they see on social media…This can lead to them losing confidence, having false perceptions about what is actually healthy, and harboring feelings of shame,” says Feder. “I think this leads to people lying about what they eat, how much they train, or what they do for their health. They want to say what they think others want to hear. But, in reality, we are here to support them and build their confidence.”

Tips to Help Your Personal Trainer Help You

If you haven’t been straightforward with your personal trainer about your habits outside of the gym, you’re not alone. Creating a clean slate can help you begin to move forward and make progress.

Try these tips if you’re ready to honestly communicate with your personal trainer about what’s happening between sessions:

Remind yourself that it’s OK to be vulnerable. At the start of your next session, tell your personal trainer that you’ve been struggling with food, sleep,whatever the case may be. Let your personal trainer know that you’re ready to make a change moving forward, and that you’d like to be held accountable for your progress.

Ask your personal trainer to help you find your why. If you’re having a tough time sticking to the plan when you’re not in the gym, ask your personal trainer to work with you and help you find the motivating factors that made you want to reach your goal in the first place. If you can’t find them, or they no longer exist, it may be time to set a new goal—and that’s OK.

Remember, they already have an idea of what’s going on. Your personal trainer is a professional who has helped countless people hit their fitness goals. If you’re not making progress and you’re not being honest, your personal trainer already has an idea that there may be a missing piece to the puzzle. By opening up and sharing what’s happening behind the scenes, you’re giving your trainer the chance to do their job with all your cards on the table.

The bottom line: even when it’s tough to be up-front with your personal trainer about your struggles, they can only do their best work if they know what’s going on during the time you’re not in the studio with them.

“Honesty is the vegetable in the client-trainer relationship. It doesn’t always go down easy and doesn’t always taste good, but it’s the most essential ingredient in the whole recipe and the one that will get you the results,” says Dr. Maesaka. “Trainers can’t help if they don’t have all the information, and a good trainer won’t shame you for a few hiccups here and there. They will continue to lift you up and encourage you to keep making good decisions despite your mistakes.”

A Fitness Together Studio Is In It With You.

Fitness Together® studios offer a non-judgemental, supportive environment that’s perfect for beginners and experienced exercisers alike. Reach out to your local Fitness Together studio today to schedule your first session and start working toward becoming your happiest, healthiest self.