Other than the red shirt I cant tell the trainers at my 24 hour from the average Wal mart customer. And judging by the progress some of their clients make over time, the trainers previous job probably was at Wal mart. YMMV

Most of them that I know are fucking retarded ....the rest seem as smart as your average bro lifter.

I've found a trainer that is a competition bodybuilder. He's definitely not the norm for the trainers I've seen at the multiple 24 Hour Fitness gyms I've visited. I've been using him for a month now (twice a week). While I'm not getting any heavier (I'm an ectomorph) my endurance is through the roof and my body is firm and more fit. He pushes me so that when I leave the gym I'm exhausted. This has overflowed into my workouts alone where I lift hard the entire time pushing myself further than I would normally have. Diet change and heavy lifting begin this month so hopefully I'll put on some weight.

All this to say that you'll have to research the trainer options you have at your gym. I found a lot of information on my trainer just by using the Google Machine. Another thing to note is that he has told me that not everyone wants the push. For example, I tell him "I've paid for 50 minutes, I expect 50 minutes of you pushing me". He mentioned that some want to just come in and chat - not me I say - I paid for this crap, I want my money worth. I want to crawl to the car when I leave the gym.

Last thing, these are sales people as well as "trainers". Watch for the salesman approach. The 3 sessions are what they use to lead into the "Now, do you want to sign up for 10, 20, or 30?".