How to Find a Good Personal Trainer or Online Coach

Unfortunately, finding a good and honest personal trainer or online coach is not as straightforward as it should be, and that is largely the fault of the fitness industry itself.

After 20 years as a PT, 12 years as a strength and conditioning coach, and 10 years as an online nutrition coach, plus an undergraduate degree, a Master's degree, and a research thesis specifically on the effectiveness of online coaching, I've seen a lot of both the good and bad of the industry.

What I've learned might surprise you.

The Uncomfortable Truth About the Fitness Industry

Here's something most coaches won't tell you: the fitness industry is almost entirely unregulated.

Anyone can call themselves a personal trainer, a nutrition coach, or a "body transformation specialist" tomorrow.

There's no governing body with meaningful legal authority. No mandatory register. You can complete a weekend certification, add some letters to your Instagram bio, and start charging people money by Monday morning.

This isn't just a cosmetic problem.

For people trying to build muscle after 35, lose weight sustainably, or improve their performance, the consequences of hiring the wrong coach can range from wasted time and money to genuine physical harm.

So how do you cut through it? First, you need to understand what you're actually looking at.

The Two Types of Coach You'll Encounter

When you start looking for a personal trainer or fitness coach, you'll broadly encounter two types of people.

The career coach. 

They have a recognised qualification, often a degree or postgraduate credential.

They've accumulated thousands of coaching hours. They've studied not just the physical mechanics (exercise programming, macronutrient ratios) but also behaviour change, performance psychology, and what it actually takes to help a real person with a real life make lasting changes.

They keep learning. They attend courses. They read the research.

The weekend cert coach. 

They completed a short certification (if you're lucky).

They lost weight once, which, credit where it's due, takes effort.

They largely pass on what their own coach told them during a 12-week programme.

They're enthusiastic, often have immaculate vibes on social media, and may genuinely want to help people.

Here's the uncomfortable part: on Instagram, they can look identical. Same title. Sometimes the same follower count. And to someone who doesn't know what to look for, there's no obvious way to tell them apart.

But, and this is important, the answer isn't simply "choose the career coach."

Why Qualifications Alone Don't Make a Great Coach

I know highly qualified coaches who are genuinely poor at their jobs.

They're technically correct but clinically robotic.

Their advice is sound in theory and completely unusable in practice.

Their clients don't get results because they don't feel understood, supported, or motivated.

And I know coaches with modest credentials who are exceptional. They're empathetic. They communicate brilliantly. They adapt, they learn, and their clients genuinely transform.

So what separates a great coach from an average one?

In my experience, it comes down to five things, and the best coaches have spent years accumulating all of them.

The Five Things That Actually Make a Great Coach

1. Education — teaches you principles.

Formal education gives you the scientific foundation: understanding why certain training approaches work, why certain nutritional strategies are evidence-based, and why the fitness content trending on social media this week is usually nonsense. It's sets the coaching floor, not the coaching ceiling.

2. Experience — teaches you application.

Real-world coaching hours are irreplaceable.

Working with hundreds of clients across different ages, body types, lifestyles, and goals teaches you things no textbook covers.

It's where you learn quickly from mistakes, and put some skin in the game by becoming heavily accountable to your clients.

It's where theory meets reality, where reality usually wins.

3. Coaching reps — teach you nuance.

The longer you coach, the more you understand that "it depends" is often the most honest answer.

Every client is different. What works brilliantly for one person fails completely for another.

Nuance only really comes with reps and experiencing the huge variety in clients, challenges, communication styles and personalities.

4. Mistakes — teach you humility.

This one matters more than anything on a CV.

Great coaches have made errors, corrected course, and learned from them.

A coach who claims an unblemished record either hasn't coached long enough or isn't being honest with you. Humility is a coaching superpower.

I do not coach now what I coached 20 years ago. I've made mistakes, learned and progressed my knowledge massively. Great coaches will always do this.

5. Getting your own results — teaches you empathy.

A coach who has done the work themselves, who knows what it feels like to drag themselves to the gym at 6am, to navigate a difficult relationship with food, to stall and restart and keep going understands the psychological battle on a completely different level.

That lived experience matters enormously.

The challenge is that none of this is easy to assess from a social media profile.

You can't see nuance in a reel.

How to Find a Good Personal Trainer: 5 Questions to Ask

So what do you actually do when you're looking for a coach? Here's a practical framework.

Ask about their qualifications — and verify them.

Look for recognised, accredited credentials. In the UK: REPs registration, UKSCA accreditation, Precision Nutrition Level 1 or 2, NSCA-CSCS.

These aren't a guarantee of quality, but they're a meaningful baseline.

Be sceptical of vague certification names you can't find evidence of.

Ask about their coaching experience beyond their own transformation.

Someone who lost 20kg is not automatically qualified to coach you through your goals.

Ask how many clients they've worked with. Ask about the variety, different ages, different starting points, different goals.

Experience with people who look like you on paper matters.

Notice whether they're asking about you — or selling their system.

Great coaches ask a lot of questions before they prescribe anything.

Be wary of coaches who immediately tell you exactly what you need before they've understood your lifestyle, history, preferences, or constraints.

One-size-fits-all is a red flag.

See how they handle questions they can't answer.

Ask something specific and slightly technical. Watch what happens.

A good coach says "that's a great question — I want to make sure I give you the right answer, let me look into that." A bad one bluffs.

Confidence is attractive; overconfidence is dangerous.

Trust the relationship — not just the resume.

The most technically qualified coach in the world is of limited use if you don't feel comfortable being honest with them.

Coaching relationships only work when you feel safe enough to say "I didn't do the homework this week" or "I've been really struggling."

That comfort level matters. If something feels off in an initial conversation, it won't improve once money is involved.

The Bottom Line On How To Find a Good Personal Trainer

The fitness industry will likely remain under-regulated for some time.

That means the responsibility for finding a good coach falls largely on you as a consumer.

The good news: a great coach does exist for you.

They've spent years accumulating education, experience, coaching hours, hard-won mistakes, and genuine empathy.

They don't look the flashiest on Instagram. But they'll get you results that last.

Ask the questions. Look beyond the bio. And remember, the right coach isn't the one with the most impressive credentials list, or the most viral content, or the most dramatic before-and-after photos.

It's the one who genuinely understands where you are, where you want to go, and has the knowledge and the humanity to help you get there.

To learn more about my 1-1 coaching services, click here.