I have never had a personal trainer and have never gone looking for one until now. I have no idea what I am looking for, what a good rate is, what I should be asking before hiring someone, etc. If someone who has some experience with this could give me some advice I would appreciate it.

Do you go to a gym?

If you go to a gym, I'd go there during normal hours when the personal trainers are there (afternoons/evenings) and watch them with their clients. If they happen to be free, you might want to just talk to them.

Things you might want to ask them is about their philosophy towards training. I'd avoid trainers that rely on machines.

Rates vary, I've seen them go from $45 to $120/hour.

I do go to a gym, but the gym doesn't have a trainer staff.

I had this same question when I joined my local rec center. There is a sticky called "How To Pick A Personal Trainer" under the Exercise section of these forums. http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/exer...l-trainer.html

Good luck.

Well if you go to a gym without a personal training staff, then it might be a bit trickier. You'd probably be looking at private personal trainers that operate either in their home or yours and some operate in private studios. You could look online, do google searches, etc to see what you can find in your area and then email the trainers asking them specific questions. The costs tend to be higher with private personal trainers since they aren't attached to a gym.