A decade ago, I splurged for a personal trainer. It's one of the best investments I've ever made.

Learning how to lift weights changed my life. Kasia Kovacs Kasia Kovacs was unsure hiring a personal trainer would be worth the money. Nearly a decade later, she's still reaping the benefits of splurging $180 on training. She said investing in her health helped her become a more confident, happier version of herself. When I hired a personal trainer in 2017, I didn't expect that decision to change my life. It seemed like a hefty financial commitment at the time, but I had the rather cliché goal of slimming down and I was determined to get my money's worth. Sure, I lost a few pounds, but that soon became unimportant. More significantly, I got stronger, the fog that had plagued my mental health lifted, and I developed healthy habits that I keep almost a decade later. As a self-proclaimed gym hater, it wasn't easy to get started I'd never considered myself particularly athletic. I played a couple of sports and danced ballet growing up, but these were extracurricular hobbies. I was far more interested in reading books and flipping through magazines. Because of that, weightlifting seemed like a foreign language reserved for bodybuilders. And the gym? That was hostile territory. Early in 2017 I had moved to Bluffton, South Carolina , a town that was pretty but sleepy, especially after the constant stimulation of NYC where I had lived before. I was 26 years old, and all of a sudden I found myself with too much free time. So when my roommate suggested that I join her in the gym, I took her up on that offer. It still felt scary, but going with a friend made it less intimidating. That's when I met my roommate's personal trainer, Josie. She was a friendly young woman, defying my stereotype of the gym bro . It didn't take long before I was Josie's newest client. My personal trainer Josie, right, taught me everything I know about building muscle. Kasia Kovacs Working with the right personal trainer shifted my priorities I paid $180 for a few sessions a month, which felt like a hefty commitment for a early-career local newspaper reporter. I cringed when I saw the fee, but I reminded myself that I could just try it out and quit if it became financially overwhelming. Josie taught me everything: workout structure, proper warm up practices, basic strength training movements , and how to use those weightlifting machines that looked like medieval torture devices. She explained concepts like progressive overload , lifting until failure, and taught me about the importance of protein before it became a marketing buzzword. We tracked my workouts in a notebook, and once a month we did a weigh in. To my surprise, I became less interested in the number on the scale and more interested in the numbers in my workbook. I always wanted to beat my performance from the session before. I also remember when I began to see the muscle definition in my arms and shoulders — seeing my body actually respond to my workouts was exhilarating. I no longer wanted to be skinny; I wanted to be strong . In early 2018, I was excited to see that my gym habits were reshaping my body. Kasia Kovacs Beyond seeing the physical changes in my body, I felt like I was soaring after my workouts. I struggled with anxiety in my twenties, and working out lightened my day-to-day mental load significantly. I stuck with personal training sessions for nine months, from October to July, before I moved away from South Carolina. Nearly a decade later, I've kept those habits These days my life looks very different. I'm in my thirties. I live in London . My anxiety is not as acute as it used to be. I have a dynamic social life. But one habit remains: I go to the gym regularly. I may have only worked with a personal trainer for less than a year, but that short time equipped me with skills I've consistently used over the past near-decade: specifically, correct form in lifting weights and aiming for progressive overload. Now I pay £53, or about $71, for my gym membership each month, which is a reasonable rate in a city like London — and less than I paid for a personal trainer in 2017. It's a lot less expensive than if I relied on classes alone, which can cost £15-£35 ($20-$47) per single class in London. I commit to two to four strength training days per week, plus I take yoga classes as part of my gym membership and run regularly in my neighborhood parks. Cross-training means I take a holistic approach to movement, keeping my muscles, heart, and mind strong. I still go to the gym in 2026, and I use the lessons I learned nearly a decade ago. Kasia Kovacs Now that I'm older and have learned more about health in general, I can appreciate other benefits too: maintaining my mobility as I age, an improved metabolism, better cardiovascular health, and the decreased risk of several illnesses including osteoporosis. 3 lessons I've learned from personal training and my fitness journey: I stopped comparing myself to others . I'm not the strongest, and I'm not the fastest. I never will be. But I can be stronger and faster than I was last week, and that's enough. As a perfectionist, I struggle to admit when I'm bad at something. When I started weightlifting I was a total beginner. I was bad at it! And, lo and behold, it was okay to be bad at something! Now I know that I'm always getting better, and I've implemented that growth mindset in other areas of my life too. On a related note, jumping into the gym world taught me that our identities are not fixed. When I was younger, I convinced myself that I was the bookworm, not the jock. But in reality, we have the ability to stay curious and learn new things, and our sense of identity can — and should! — evolve. Hiring a personal trainer was the best money I've ever spent. But the payoff was much bigger than anything financial: I invested in my health and become a more confident, happier version of myself. Read the original article on Business Insider