Personal Trainers in Christchurch

Anyone can call themselves a personal trainer

New Zealand sets no minimum standard for personal training. There is no licence, no practising certificate, and nothing in law stopping someone taking paying clients tomorrow with no qualification at all. That is not true of a physiotherapist or a dentist, both of whom answer to a statutory board, and it is the most useful thing to understand before you hand anyone money.

What the industry has instead is voluntary registration. The New Zealand Register of Exercise Professionals, run by Exercise New Zealand, registers trainers who hold a recognised qualification, sign up to a code of ethical practice, and re-register each year with continuing professional development behind them. Registration is not a guarantee of results and it is not the only evidence worth having, but it is a floor, and unlike most of what you will be told, it is checkable.

Checking a trainer is registered

REPs runs a public member search at reps.org.nz that can be filtered by region and town or searched by name, and registration status is public information, so you can ring REPs and ask instead. The search has an option to include expired registrations, which is worth using: lapsed is a different answer from never registered, and both are different from current.

Asking the trainer is quicker and tells you something either way. Someone who is registered will say so without hesitating.

Where the sessions happen changes what you are paying for

Personal training is sold in several quite different shapes, and an hourly rate means little until you know which one you are being quoted.

• In a gym the trainer works from, where you may need your own membership on top of the sessions
• In a studio the trainer owns or rents, with the space included
• At your home or a park, with the trainer travelling to you
• Online or app-based programming, with check-ins rather than someone beside you
• Small group training, cheaper per head and less tailored than one to one

A trainer is not a clinician

Personal training is coaching, not treatment. If you are recovering from an injury, managing a health condition, pregnant or post-surgery, the first conversation belongs with a physiotherapist, your GP or another registered health practitioner, and a good trainer will say so rather than guess.

That does not make the two separate. Plenty of people finish a course of physio with exercises to keep doing and want someone to keep them honest about doing them. A trainer willing to work inside limits somebody else has set is worth more than one who treats every client the same.

What to ask before you commit

Most of the regret people have about personal training is about what they signed up to rather than about the training.

• What qualification do you hold, and are you currently registered?
• How long is a session, and is it one to one or shared?
• Where do sessions happen, and do I need my own gym membership?
• How many sessions am I committing to, and what happens if I stop part way?
• Is programming between sessions included, or is that extra?
• How do you handle an injury or a condition I already have?

We do not rate personal trainers

There are no ratings, scores or reviews on this site, and a listing is not a recommendation. Listings are reviewed to confirm they are genuine Christchurch businesses, and that review does not check qualifications, registration, insurance or how good anyone is at the job.

Registration is the part you can verify yourself, and it takes a minute.