Christchurch is a beautiful city, home to two universities, and a lot of life. This vibrant city has a lot of locals who love heading outside, exercising, and making use of cycle paths, parks, playgrounds, and other outdoor activities.

If you'd like to join them or are just interested in exercising, working out, or losing weight, you may be interested in personal trainers. While you can find personal trainers across New Zealand, you can also look for local personal trainers in Christchurch.

In this article, we'll be looking at

If you are one of those or are just looking to improve your general well-being, we're looking at how to find some of the best training options to suit your needs in Christchurch.

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Starting Your Search for Personal Trainers in Christchurch

There are plenty of benefits to working with a personal trainer instead of going it alone, but finding the right personal trainer and simply starting your search is one of the hardest steps.

Not every personal trainer is the same, but neither is every individual and it's more about finding the right fit than "the best" personal trainer.

Before you even start your search, it's a good idea to think about what your personal fitness goals are, whether you want to improve sporting performance, build muscle, become stronger, lose weight, etc.

You also need to be honest with yourself in terms of your motivation. If you're quite driven and just need to be told which exercises to do, you can opt for a more hands-off personal trainer. However, if you often find yourself quitting, giving up, or lacking motivation, you might want to start looking for a personal trainer who's willing to provide more motivation.

Make yourself a list of criteria for your ideal personal trainer and when you start searching for a PT, you can see how many of your requirements they meet.

A woman doing a situp.
When starting your search for a personal trainer, think about what you need help with and how a personal trainer could help. | Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

It's also a good idea to interview each personal trainer whether you're talking to an online personal trainer in Tauranga or one from your local gym in Christchurch.

Interview Questions for Potential Personal Trainers

Since every individual has different requirements, you mightn't need all of these questions, but if you're not sure what to ask potential personal trainers, these are certainly some important things you might want to clear up with them before you hire them.

What qualifications do you have?

Personal trainers need either experience, qualifications, or both. When talking to potential personal trainers, be sure to ask them what their credentials are and if they have any official or recognised qualifications that may be of interest.

If you're going to be working with them outside of a gym or in a public place, you may also be interested in things like a first-aid certificate or training.

What is your speciality?

Different personal trainers specialise in different areas of health and fitness. If you're training for a marathon, you mightn't want a personal trainer or coach who works predominantly with free weights and strength training.

People lifting weights in a training session.
Discuss your fitness goals with potential personal trainers to make sure they specialise in the kind of training you need. | Photo by Sven Mieke on Unsplash

Some personal trainers specialise in women's health, which should be of interest to around half the population.

How much experience do you have?

Ask the personal trainer how long they've been working as one, who they've worked with, what results they've achieved, etc.. Most will be happy to show off their successes.

Where do you work?

If they prefer to take their sessions in a specific gym, this may mean that you'll also need to pay for a membership. They may also offer sessions in public spaces.

How do you motivate your clients?

Different people require different kinds of support and motivation. You may prefer a supportive and nurturing personal trainer over a military-style drill sergeant.

Find out more about personal trainers in Hamilton.

Where to Find a Personal Trainer In Christchurch

This isn't every place you can find personal trainers in Christchurch, but for those beginning their search, these suggestions should at least point you in the right direction.

Gym-Based Personal Trainers at Affinity Fitness

Working with a personal trainer within a gym means that you have a dedicated space to work out or exercise. The Affinity Fitness gym in Christchurch, like many other gyms, offers personal trainers who can help you.

Elite Personal Training In Christchurch

Elite Personal Training offers personal trainers both inside and outside of gyms. You can have your personal training sessions anywhere you like.

Empower-Fit Personal Training Studio

Empower-Fit takes a slightly different approach to fitness and health by focusing on well-being and fitness goals first and foremost. The main goals are to improve your strength, fitness, mobility, and health rather than some of the more aesthetic goals that are sometimes common with personal training.

A closeup of various free weights in a gym.
If you choose to train with a personal trainer in a gym, make sure the gym is properly equipped. | Photo by Danielle Cerullo on Unsplash

If you are based in Palmerston North then this PT guide is for you.

Limit Zero Gym-Based Personal Trainers

Limit Zero provides group fitness and small-group personal training with a focus on fostering a supportive fitness community.

There are various pricing options and solutions, giving you more flexibility in the kind of training you can get.

Personal Trainers and Fitness Coaches on ​SuperProf

On the Superprof website, you can find personal trainers from Auckland to Whangarei and everywhere in between.

While some personal trainers are employed by gyms or companies, many work directly with their clients and can usually offer a more bespoke service or better rates.

If you're on a budget, you could also work with less experienced personal trainers as experience usually dictates rates. You might be one of your personal trainer's first clients, but with so many personal trainers on the Superprof website offering the first session for free, you can often try them out before paying for any sessions.

The Gallery Fitness Personal Trainers

Gallery Fitness is another gym that focuses on a sense of community to help people improve their fitness and health. Their personal trainers know about anatomy, physiology, and nutrition, which means they can create programmes specifically for you and your fitness needs.

The Cost of Personal Trainers in Christchurch

While many personal trainers offer free trial sessions, you have to pay for every other session. This means that personal training can be a significant expenditure.

It can also be quite tricky to work out what kind of budget is appropriate and how personal trainers choose their rates and sometimes, it can almost feel like they're making it up.

There are a lot of factors that affect their prices.

Location

The cost of living in different areas affects the cost of personal trainers. For example, personal trainers in Auckland won't charge the same as in Christchurch, Hamilton, Dunedin, etc.

Experience

The more experience that a personal trainer has, the more they'll likely charge.

Qualifications

Personal trainers with more qualifications can also command higher rates as they'll have the skills and knowledge to set them apart from other PTs.

The Number of Sessions

Many personal trainers will offer discounts for booking multiple sessions. If you want to save some money, see if they offer discounts for block bookings or for paying for several sessions at once.

The Type of Personal Training Profile

The kind of personal training you get will dictate how much work your personal trainer needs to do, how involved they are in each session, and how much they'll need to plan and prepare your sessions.

As an example, we've put together a few example client profiles to give you an idea of how you and your goals might affect the rates of your personal training sessions.

Self Motivated

Particularly self-motivated clients won't need too much involvement from their personal trainer. You could hire a personal trainer to check in with you and your progress once every month, quarter, six months, etc.

If you're not self-motivated, though, you may find this kind of personal training ineffective.

Gym Bunny

If you regularly go to the gym and are looking to optimise your training, you might want to hire a personal trainer to supervise every session and even plan your workouts.

This will involve many sessions with your personal trainer and a lot of work from them both inside and outside of your sessions.

For this kind of personal training, you can expect to pay a premium.

Find out more about personal training in Wellington in our guide.

Fit Lunch At Work

You and some colleagues could hire a personal trainer to come to your workplace and do some exercise sessions.

Since multiple people will be paying for the personal trainer's time and expertise, this could work out much cheaper than hiring a personal trainer on your own.

A silhouette of a woman doing yoga outdoors.
Outdoor training sessions before, after, or during work could be a great part of your daily routine. | Photo by kike vega on Unsplash

Generally, if the session is for a mix of people, fitness levels, and abilities, it'll likely be a lighter session and less work from the personal trainer, further reducing the cost.

Athlete

If you're a professional or semi-professional athlete, you may need a specialist personal trainer for your particular sport. In this case, you'll be looking for top-level personal trainers with experience and will likely pay quite a lot for them.

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Laura C

An experienced writer with a focus on the arts and humanities. My interests aren't just limited to these areas though. You'll be sure to find me playing soccer, having a swim at the beach or at a cafe enjoying a flat white.