Have you ever used a personal trainer?

[SupDock]

I am torn on this. I think there are a lot of good trainers and a lot of bad trainers. I think the accountability is a good thing, and having someone giving you feedback is also good. Also some people have no idea how to safely use equipment, so a trainer is very helpful.

Assessing your goals is quite important.
If you are someone that really struggles with being motivated at the gym, a trainer can be very helpful to ensure you efficiently use your time.

There is no shortage of information available to lead you in your fitness goals.

I will say that many of them have no idea what the literature says in regards to exercise physiology (there is a lot of conflict in the literature though).

My wife wanted to hire a trainer to gain strength. The trainer she spoke to wanted her doing cardio for 30-40 minutes before starting her time with the trainer.
This makes absolutely no sense. You want someone who is exercise naive to waste their energy for 40 minutes prior to strength training? That’s a recipe for burnout and low energy strength training.