Are personal trainers worth it? In this episode, Amy Hudson and Dr. James Fisher take on a common misconception: that personal training, self-care, and anything fitness-related is an indulgence rather than an investment. They explore the research behind strength training’s real return on investment, from significant financial savings to the physical and long-term health payoffs that follow. Tune in to find out why shifting your mindset from expense to investment could be the key to finally prioritizing your health.

Show Notes 

• Dr. Fisher explains why strength training should be viewed as an investment with an ROI rather than an expense. He breaks down a research paper showing supervised exercise therapy delivers a 15% to 70% return, far outpacing what’s considered a strong financial investment.
• Why does Dr. Fisher believe it may actually be more expensive not to exercise? He walks through how skipping strength training raises your risk of chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes, and cancer, each carrying steep medical costs down the road.
• Amy and Dr. Fisher discuss the “no non-responders” research behind strength training. They explain how, unlike a risky financial investment, the physical payoff from working with a personal trainer or supervised program is essentially guaranteed, making it a rare win-win.
• Dr. Fisher shares research on the cost-effectiveness of supervised exercise therapy for conditions like cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation. Learn how the data shows potential savings of between $1,000 and $71,000 per year compared to the cost of falling sick.
• Why does Amy call the opportunity cost of illness just as important as the dollar cost? She and Dr. Fisher discuss how conditions like cancer take away time, independence, and immune health, not just money.
• Dr. Fisher and Amy discuss why thinking about strength training in financial terms can be a powerful motivator. Discover how framing sessions with a personal trainer as an investment, rather than an indulgence, can help people overcome guilt about spending money on themselves.
• Amy explains how considering the financial impact on loved ones can be a stronger motivator than self-motivation alone. She shares how protecting your family from future medical costs and caregiving burdens adds a new layer of purpose to strength training.
• Amy and Dr. Fisher discuss why insurance costs and unexpected medical bills make the financial case for strength training even stronger. They explain how even people on Medicare can be blindsided by what isn’t covered when a preventable condition goes unaddressed.
• Dr. Fisher closes by reframing strength training as a gift to your future self and your family. Learn how paying for a personal trainer today is really about buying back health, time, and money you’d otherwise spend treating preventable disease.

Extra Elements Called Out In Audio – Or Elements That Should Be Edited Out

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TRANSCRIPT

It actually may be more expensive for me not to exercise right now. And of course, what they want is the best investment that they can make. They want the best return on that financial expense. Man, that could be the most powerful motivator I have to keep myself healthy now. Welcome to the Strength Changes everything podcast, where we introduce you to the information, latest research, and tools that will enable you to live a strong, healthy life. On this podcast, we will also answer your questions about strength, health, and well being. I’m Amy Hudson. I own and operate three exercise coach studios.

My co hosts are Brian Sagan, co founder and CEO of The Exercise Coach, and Dr. James Fisher, leading researcher in evidence based strength training. And now for today’s episode. Welcome back to the Strength Changes everything podcast. Today’s episode is going to address. A common misconception that sometimes people have, or a trap that we could fall into which is I feel guilty spending money on myself for personal training, for selfcare anything that feels to me related to fitness or an indulgence in myself and in my health. There are people out there that that struggle to justify making that investment and they think about it as an expense Today I would like to challenge you to Frivolous, that’s just for me. And today I’d like to challenge you to think differently about that. Strength training is something that we need to consider as an investment with an ROI, a return on investment, something that will actually pay me back. It’s not just an expense where I throw money out the window, it is something that’s going to actually end up paying me back. So we’re going to make the case in this episode as to why strength training is actually something that will pay you back in the end and that you should feel good about doing and that should be celebrated not only by you, but by your family and people that love you.

So, that is what we’re going to talk about today. Dr. Fisher, the big headline here is you know, strength training is an investment with an ROI. So, what does research show about this, and why are we making this claim today? Yeah. So, we know that strength training is a wonderful return investment when it comes to our physical health. And we’ve used the phrase repeatedly in the show that it’s an investment. It’s not a cost. It’s not an expense. It’s an investment. And we’ve talked about our health for the future, our physical capacity for the future, and investing in our bone density and our muscular strength and power and balance and stability and coordination and cognitive function as we age.

So we know we’re reaping all of those benefits. But as you said, there’s a fundamental element often attached to engaging in strength training or supervised exercise. And there’s a really nice paper that was published just a few years back. The title of the paper, I’ve put it on the screen now for anybody watching on YouTube to see. Its title is A Review of the Cost Effectiveness of Supervised Exercise Therapy for Adults with Chronic Conditions in the United States. Now, at the time I read this, I was really interested because I still am. Fascinating because not many people approach it from this perspective. So I was really interested to see what the author’s kind of comments were around this. So there’s a few statements. They kind of, the idea of the paper is. They get into the cost of medical treatment in the USA for chronic conditions such as, and they give examples of hypertension, diabetes, depression, anxiety, cancer, and falls risk.

So physical and psychological conditions and things like cancer and falls risk and so forth. And ultimately they looked at, you know, multiple study durations from three weeks up to multiple years. And they concluded that supervised exercise therapy has a return on investment of between 15 and 70 Now, I was fine fascinated by this, but I also wasn’t an economics major. So I had to go away and try and look at whether that was a good return on investment or not. And as I’ve presented previously at conferences, and the joke I’ve kind of made around this is, you know, when we make a financial investment, if we’re getting 5 to 7 that’s a pretty good investment. If we’re making anywhere near 10 that’s a very, very strong investment. Economically, that’s considered a strong investment. And then anything up around 20 Or above is an excellent return on investment, but often involves much, much higher risk. So the potential to lose that money with that investment. Well, we just said that it’s between 15 and 70 and the reality is there’s no chance of losing that money because the physical outcomes are inevitable. We’ve talked about Times about numerous research papers that talk about that there are no non responders to strength training.

Everybody makes an improvement in either their muscle size or their muscle strength or their physical function or their cognitive function or all of the above. So everybody’s responding to it. So, this idea that we’re making this financial investment, but we’re seeing this wonderful physical return. And that actually it’s infinitely cheaper of the cost of medical treatment in the USA for the previously stated conditions is a wonderful thing from my perspective. So what I’m hearing you saying, is this true? Is that it actually may be more expensive for me not to exercise right now, later on? That’s exactly what I’m saying. That there will be a financial burden, whether it’s attached to you personally or your insurance premium in the insurance policy and then the insurance premium of everybody else because of the outgoings of that insurance company. But yeah, financially, it makes far more sense for you to engage in strength training and maintain your health to the extent that strength training can do than to physically or to financially have to pay for the expense of hypertension, diabetes, depression anxiety, cancer, et cetera.

And of course, in that circumstance, you also have to deal with that medical condition. Well, and I was thinking about that. I mean, there’s opportunity cost associated with having cancer, for example. Think about all of the journey that that is. That is a long journey of chemotherapy and visits to the hospital and things that you cannot do, compromised immune system. That’s no joke. Right. And so there’s opportunity cost that you’re giving things up in the process if you develop that. So it’s pretty compelling what you’re saying here is that, you know, based on the researches have decided to say that supervised exercise therapy can have that huge amount of return on this because of the cost of medical treatment and opportunity cost of these types of diseases. Yeah, that’s exactly it. And in fact this prompted me to go back and look at the Few other studies.

And there are a number of studies that have looked at the financial kind of costs of certain medical conditions. So, previous research considering supervised exercise therapy for things like cardiac rehabilitation, pulmonary rehabilitation, peripheral arterial disease demonstrated a cost effectiveness saving of between one thousand and seventy one thousand dollars per year. So, the idea that we Can, whatever the outgoing for engaging in strength training now is, it’s still going to be a saving of between one and seventy one thousand dollars per year should we fall sick with any of those medical conditions which of course are infinitely more likely if we’re not engaging in strength training to begin with.

Wow that is insane and obviously the cost to you can vary greatly if you’re in the United States. Insurance plans are all over the board, as we know, in terms of what the body bottom line cost is to you, depending on the type of insurance plans. I know many people that are on Medicare, but if there’s ever something that Medicare doesn’t cover, it’s shocking to see the number on the bill. And this can range, but you know, despite who’s paying for it, it’s costly and it costs all of us so much more money when you’re sick.

And so that’s pretty compelling to see those numbers right there in black and white. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And for me, it’s really difficult because I hate to break things back down to money. You know, nobody wants to think about it in terms of that. But some people do think about exercise or think about some of the other things that they talk about in their life based on the financial commitment or the financial constraints and things like that. And of course, what they want is the best investment that they can make, they want the best return on that. On that financial expense financial expense that they can get. And this is where strength training, we’ve talked about physical return, is great. But the data’s very clear that the financial return investment is there as well. Absolutely. Yeah, you may be saving yourself or your family lots and lots of money and time in terms of this investment that you make in yourself right now.

And so that’s important to keep in mind because it can be a powerful motivator, even if my selfmotivation isn’t powerful enough for me to get over that hump, thinking about my loved ones in the future man that could be the most powerful motivator I have to keep myself healthy now. That’s crazy. Well, thank you for bringing this to bear because I think it’s a really, really important reminder and a lens through which we want to challenge you to look at the cost or the investment involved and knowing how much it’s actually going to pay you back, not only in terms of potentially dollars, but also physical benefits both now and in the future. And so I hope this episode helped you frame this decision to take action to strength train and to care for yourself today, knowing that it does pay you back and it will continue to pay you back in the future.

Thank you so much, Dr. Fisher, for sharing this. Do you have any closing thoughts for our listeners? Nope. I wish everybody, you know, wonderful health and a long life of strength training. Absolutely. Well, thank you. So much. And we will see you next week on the podcast. Until then, we hope you remember strength changes everything. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please share it with a friend. You can submit a question or connect with the show at strengthchangeseverythingcom Join us next week for another episode and be sure to follow the show on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts so that you never miss another episode. Here’s to you and your best health.