What clients really want from their Personal Trainer

While the importance of health and fitness is discussed a lot in the mainstream media, personal training is still not necessarily an obvious choice for many people. There are plenty of reasons why people do not seek out a Personal Trainer, including a lack of time, financial pressures or possibly just because they don’t allow themselves the ‘indulgence’ of focusing on their health and fitness. People who do seek out a Personal Trainer can do so for a whole range of reasons, but often they don’t necessarily let you know exactly what they are looking for which makes your job even more difficult. We’ve put together a list of things that your clients really want but might be too polite to ask for.

1. Help when you’re not around.

The average time a client spends each week with their personal trainer is 2 hours. That means they have to get through 166 hours without you telling them what to do and when to do it. This creates the greatest opportunity for failure as a whole lot of damage can be inflicted in those 166 hours. So what to do about it?

Set up a between-training-hours program.

Your clients want to know the kind of activities and incidental exercise they can perform safely while you aren’t around, so help them by creating a program for them to follow every day of the week. It’s up to you as to how detailed the program is, but from our experience, the more detail, the more comfortable your client will feel. Of course, it’s up to them as to how closely they follow the program but they need to at least know what it is they should and shouldn’t be doing every day.

Create a traffic light system

We all know the three levels of a traffic light – red for no, amber for maybe and green for ‘go your hardest’. You can adopt a similar system for your clients with diet and other lifestyle factors. Let them know what really should not ever be consumed (‘red’ foods and drinks), what can be done in moderation (‘yellow’ foods and drinks) and the good no matter the quantity (‘green’ foods and drinks). This simple system will help them to make the right choices while you aren’t with them and can include additional exercises they can perform safely, also in the coloured traffic light system.

2. A personal relationship

No, we don’t mean an intimate relationship, but your clients do need to feel they have a personal connection so they feel you are invested in them. You need to show you care and you need to remember things about them that help you to understand their life, their motivations and the triggers that might impact their ability to make positive lifestyle changes. You need to ask them questions and be prepared to listen to their answers, even when they are telling you things that aren’t that easy to hear. Developing a personal relationship helps both your client and you to want to continue with the professional relationship.

3. A best-practice Personal Trainer

Your clients want to ensure that you are the best because they are trusting you with their health and fitness and what could be more important? They need to know that your skills are up-to-date and that you are educated on current practice, technology and training delivery. So, you need to stay informed and prepared to adjust your delivery to keep in line with new research and methods that provide opportunities for greater success for your clients.

Being a best-practice Personal Trainer is not about a set and forget, it is a lifelong commitment to learning and improvement that will benefit both you and your clients.

For more information on managing clients or growing your personal training business see the personal trainer app.