That matches what I've been told by various personal trainers. 6-8 reps if focusing on strength, ~12 for all round, and 16-18 for size/endurance. Do three sets, weight should be enough that the last couple of reps on the first set are a bit of a struggle. Subsequent sets just push through as far as you can.
Your trainers clearly never read Starting Strength.
This is a common myth that came out of nowhere and has been debunked.
1-5 reps for strength. 5-30 reps for hypertrophy.