A-Z on How to Become a Personal Trainer

Just imagine for a minute that you’ve completed your personal training course. You’ve achieved what you set out to do, give yourself a pat on the back and await that glittering personal trainer career, certain it will follow.

We love your sentiment and enthusiasm but like with starting any new job your personal trainer certification is but a stepping stone. In reality this is where the fun begins as you carve out the type of personal training service you wish to offer to your clients, think about how to attract them, set your prices and launch your start up business to the big wide world.

Fear not! As part of your personal training qualification with us here at the Academy of Fitness Professionals our expert team of qualified personal trainers and leading business experts will be on hand to help you get started. We’ll teach you personal trainer specific business skills, tried and tested powerful techniques we’ve accumulated over many years of practice that deliver the gold standard in personal trainer education.

Curious to find out more? Check out our A-Z run down, jammed with the need to know info on how to stand out and become a great success.

A – Ask Questions – Probe, Probe, Probe. Learn to ask great questions and you’ll be surprised what clients divulge. The more relevant information you have to hand the easier your job becomes.

B – Build a Movement – How did today’s business leaders like Richard Branson get to where they are? They built a movement that people simply had to join and be a part of. How can you build a movement so you are the ‘go-to’ personal trainer in your locality?

C – Curiosity – Develop a mind-set that seeks to enquire as gleaning better information generates better results.

D – Don’t Run Before You Can Walk – We talk about this a lot during the practical workshops that form part of our personal trainer courses in London. Start with a few clients you know you can train well whilst working within your skill comfort zone. You’ll do an awesome job, your client base will grow and you’ll feel ready to branch out and help more complex client groups.

E – Extra Mile – Loyalty cards, complimentary newspapers, a free mini facial and guest speakers are just a few of the extras gyms will offer to their members to make them feel that bit more valued and special. What’s the equivalent for your PT clients?

F – Fan-Fare – Your clients need to become your fans.

G – Goals – Not the kind you score on the pitch, this is your plan for the day, week and month clearly set out so that you know what to aim for, and deliver, every step of the way.

H – Help Others – Be it a charity run, a PT session prize for a raffle, chatting to your clients therapist to share feedback or something entirely different your business needs to be a two way street.

I – Investigate – to deliver a service that exceeds your future clients expectations formulate a series of questionnaires that investigate what a client’s eating, when they are eating, stress levels and so on. The bigger the picture you build of your client the greater chance of success and the better business you will build!

J – Juggling – learn to spin many plates and always expect the unexpected!

K – Knowledge – Applying your knowledge is truly powerful!

L – Love What You Do – It’s quite simple, the best and most successful personal trainers we teach, love their job. To build a reliable clientele you need passion for what you do.

M – Magical Motivation – You probably chose personal training to help others? Well just like the saying one person’s food is another’s poison the same applies to motivation. Great personal trainers are able to weave the magic of motivation so that it’s bespoke to the needs, mind set and personality of each client.

N – Niche Services – state how you will differentiate your service from competitors.

O – The Obesity Market – a huge and (excuse the pun) expanding market. How does your personal training service tap into this key group?

P – Price – never talk price to clients – talk investment!

Q – Quest for Success – The fact is you’re not the only personal trainer clients have to choose from. Like Thomas Edison famously said ‘If there’s a way to do it better find it.’

R – Resilience Matters – learn mental strategies to maximise your success in this exciting career – we highly recommend Dr S Peters, The Chimp Paradox.

S – Service – deliver an exceptional service that is timely, well executed, reproducible and that delivers bespoke exercise solutions. You’ll soon seen those all-important recurring bookings.

T – Time Management – be punctual, even if it means you arrive early for the session – clients will not stand for a tardy personal trainer. Seriously, would you hire anyone who arrived late for an appointment?

U – Up with Trends – Completely different to following them! Keep in touch with what’s happening in the fitness sector and make informed choices about the ones to follow.

V – Vision – take time out and visualise your PT Career – where do you want to go?

W – Walk the Talk – look and act the part. Learn to nourish yourself with the right exercise and the right nutrition to ensure you are truly representative of your PT career.

X – X-Factor – know what makes you special and unique.

Y – Young at Heart – another massively growing market – ask yourself once again how does your personal training business tap into this key group?

Z –ZZZZ – Expect your journey towards becoming a personal trainer to be a bit like a roller coaster. At times they’ll be ups and at times they’ll be downs. All perfectly normal and let’s face it no different to any other career. Something that’s free, simple and easy to do that will make a huge difference is maximising your energy by getting plenty of shut eye.

The Academy of Fitness Professionals provide the gold standard in personal trainer qualifications and fitness instructor courses. Our expert fitness advice which has recently featured in the Daily Mirror, Women’s Running and BBC2 teaches the next generation of personal trainers the need to know skills to stand out and truly succeed.

T – 0845 270 1990

E – info@aofp.co.uk

W – www.academyoffitnessprofessionals.com