The Top 3 Things your Personal Trainer never told you
1. "Technique Matters" Technique in anything involving skill matters. Every push up, pull up, ring row, squat, lunge, press, hollow hold, plank, box jump, kettlebell swing, 500 meter row, 400 meter run etc. involves skill and you need to be able to perform these exercises and movements with precision and accuracy before increasing speed, load, and distance. Your "Personal Trainer" probably did not have this foundational mindset in his or training paradigm when working with you. This is probably why you were hitting a plateau in your training. Here is where we differ from the other "Personal Trainer[s]" out there. Movement quality, and proper instruction and correction matter to us. The more we can help you move better the more results you will see quicker.
2. "It takes time" While you're focusing on technique, your acquisition of the movement and exercise skills WILL TAKE TIME. There is no silver bullet or no overnight success in chasing mastery of certain skills. Even then, mastery is an asymptote as Daniel Pink describes it; one will never truly master something. It's that constant chase, or the deliberate work being done to hopefully, but never fully master a skill, that reaps all kinds of benefits. Since your training will undoubtedly become your life's journey, you might as well approach it with an open mind and a fun attitude!
3. "It Depends" "Are carbs good or bad for me?" "Should I train 2 times per week or 5 times per week?" "Should I get faster or should I get stronger?"
It depends.
What are your goals?
Based on your goals, then these questions have more definite answers.
There is no right or wrong, nor the one or only way.
Depending on where you are, and where you want to get to, your path to get there is just that; it's your path and yours only. You have to obtain your results through your execution of your plan, and make adjustments based on the results you are getting along the way, to hopefully move in the direction of your planned goal(s). There is no such thing as pass and fail in this approach. The results are just results.
It should have been up to you and your "Personal Trainer" to figure out your plan and be in almost constant communication about the adjustments you were supposed to have been making in order to achieve your goal(s). The second he or she gave you a cookie-cutter, "do this and only this," and "nothing else will work" type of plan, then they immediately discredited him or herself as a true teacher or coach.
Again, here is where you will experience the difference.