Personal Training Studios» Advice for personal trainers

Personal trainer accessories

admin — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:34:41 +0000

As a personal trainer there are certain essentials you could do with owning that will really help your business. Below is a list of these essentials that we recommend.

Heart rate monitor – A heart rate monitor will allow you to track your clients heart rate through out your sessions, this will ensure they are working out at the level you want them to. Polar is a good make of heart rate monitor and probably the most popular used worldwide.
Peak flow meter – A peak flow meter allows you to measure your client’s ability to breathe out air. Peak flow meters can detect if a client is healthy, asthmatic and the power in their lungs.
Measuring tape – Use a measuring tape to measure your clients arms, legs, neck etc every few weeks so they can see their improvements.
Scales- Most clients will want you to measure their weight through out their time training with you, your scales need to be accurate scales that don’t give different inaccurate readings each time they step on them like many sets of scales do. Salter scales and Tanita scales are a good choice of accurate scales.
Body fat tester – either calipers or accurate body fat scales should be used to measure a clients body fat every few weeks. Stick to the Tanita ones, these are great. Any of the scales with the handles I find to give the most accurate reading.

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Freelance personal training jobs vs Health club personal training jobs

admin — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:17:10 +0000

Whether to go freelance or work for a big health club like Fitness First is something all PT’s face at one time or another. In our personal trainers forum this is a common question debated about amongst different PT’s in the personal training jobs section. But what actually are the pro’s and con’s of the different choices.

Freelance personal training job benefits-

You are your own boss
You take home every pound you make
Potential to earn a much higher salary where there is no limit on what you can earn
Work the hours you want to work

Health club personal training job benefits-

Constant flow of new clients to target
All the equipment you need to train your clients
Fixed salary to pay the bills with monthly regardless of the market

Freelance personal training job negatives-

Salary fluctuates with the market
Highly competitive market very hard to find clients

Health club personal training job negatives-

Gyms are often busy making it hard to provide good one on one service to your clients e.g. waiting to use treadmill as it is already being used by someone else
Health clubs make you work really hard making a lot of money out of your laboring and paying you very little in relation to what they are taking from the customers.

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Advanced personal training tips

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:47:58 +0000

This time of year is a very popular time of year for personal trainers to do personal training courses. If you are a personal trainer thinking of doing a course at the moment to further your knowledge then these are a few courses you should think of.

When it comes to qualifications most people want to see you have YMCA personal trainer, Premier personal trainer or a Sports science degree. A sports science degree certainly puts you above a lot of people but doesn’t get you anywhere near where it used to get you or where people think it gets you today in personal training. Below are a few short courses that can make a huge difference to the amount of clients you get so are good to get under your belt.

Powerplate instructor- powerplate is very popular, lots of people have them in their homes and need training, there is a shortage of qualified instructors so it’s a good course to do.
Paul Chek courses – regarded highly in the industry, teaches you a lot of advanced personal training tips
Poliquin – advanced strength training tips for personal trainers, very few trainers have this, well worth getting. I am a big Charles Poliquin fan and regard his knowledge above 99.9% of people.
Pre natal post natal – in Notting Hill aspecially there are tons of young mums looking to get back in shape after having a baby or keep in shape during early pregnancy so they can easily get back in shape after the baby. This is a market where there are still limited specialist trainers.

Instead of going out the same as the masses with a general personal training qualification, go for these niches, with personal training becoming a saturated business niches are the key to success.

Check out our personal training forum to chat with the top PT’s and share tips on the industry

A couple of great youtube videos for you to checkout

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 12:27:37 +0000

Here are some great youtube videos for you to check out that will add a boost to your workouts.

How to get big biceps

Extreme workouts

Home chest workout

Youtube is great for good personal training advice as long as you are watching good sources such as Vics Natural, Scooby or Ross training for example. Be warned there is a lot of poor advice on youtube as well!

Best personal trainers in the world

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:42:02 +0000

The personal trainers below are who I consider to be the best personal trainers in the world today. These personal trainers heavily influenced me since I started in the personal training industry, they have been involved in personal training for decades and I would imagine will be personal training for decades to come.

Charles Glass is the most famous bodybuilding personal trainer I can think of. Charles Glass was a competitive bodybuilder himself and now trains many of the worlds professional bodybuilders including Flex Wheeler, Chris Cormier, Dennis James and Gunter Schlierkamp. Bodybuilding knowledge is something that takes decades to perfect and Charles Glass has been around for many of those decades of bodybuilding. I couldn’t think of anyone who could give more accurate bodybuilding advice than him. Charles Glass works out of Venice Beach the mecca of bodybuilding and spends most of his days standing side by side the pros guiding them with every detail to success at the Olympia competition. Charles Glass does a lot of work for Bodybuilding.com where you can see him in video workouts demonstrating his personal training knowledge. Charles Glass is also a regular writer for the bodybuilding magazine Muscular Development which he writes a monthly column.

Charles Poliquin is a Candian strength training coach who has trained many athletes including Donovan Bailey, the gold medal sprinter. Charles Poliquin has a B.S.C in Kinesiology and a M.S.C in exercise physiology. Charles Poliquin regularly writes for T Nation online. Charles has published several books that have been translated into many different languages. Charles created his own courses for personal training that are now highly regarded by personal trainers around the world. Charles spends most of his time traveling around the world giving fitness seminars, personal training athletes and running his fitness business.

Victor Costa I only recently found out about Victor Costa when browsing Youtube workouts. I saw Victor Costa on youtube and his bodily condition and workout principles shocked me, this is a man who performs each rep to as close to 100% perfection as you can get, isolating each muscle to the fullest. Victor Costa has hugely influenced my own training and displays the way weight training should really be performed which sadly 90% of people who are involved in bodybuilding don’t do. Victor Costa is now highly regarded by people around the world as one of best personal trainers in the world. Victor received the Honorary lifetime certification by the International sports science association for his long standing contributions to the sport of bodybuilding.

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admin — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:54:37 +0000

Not an office job – if your like me and hate the idea of working in an office then being a personal trainer is the perfect job. You can work in a gym, in the park, on the beach or more or less anywhere you can think of.
Work the hours you want to – you only need to work 4-5 hours a day to make a good living and you can work whatever hours you want. However you do tend to have to work the unsociable hours as you try and fit around your clients diaries.
Money – personal trainers are usually paid very well by the hour, some personal trainers in London make £120 an hour.
Work anywhere in the world – you can work anywhere in the world as a personal trainer and you can work in some of the nicest locations like hotels in Barbados, gyms on the beach in miami and central park New York for a few examples.
Keep in shape – being a personal trainer gives you plenty of time to keep in shape. If you are working in a gym you can workout between clients or you can workout with your clients during their sessions such as running with them in the park.
Work for yourself – if you are a freelance personal trainer you have no boss, this is the one reason that really made me become a personal trainer.
No suit – you get to wear tracksuits a lot more comfortable than a suit daily.
Sociable – if you like being sociable then this is a great job for you as you get to talk all day long 1 to 1 with people.
Work on holiday – if you go on holiday and want to raise a bit of extra money you can personal trainer there to.

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admin — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:22:33 +0000

Their body - if they are not in good shape themselves I wouldn’t train with them. A trainer with a great body you know if he can get himself in that shape he can certainly help you get a similar body.
Testimonials – read their personal training testimonials to see how people in the past have benefitted from their services. You don’t want to train with a personal trainer who has never got results for anyone else.
Experience & Qualifications – check your personal trainer has over 3 years experience as this is a good enough time span to become a good personal trainer. Check he has at least YMCA personal trainer or Premier personal trainer and look for other causes such as Chek or Poliquin.
Press – check to see what the papers have to say about them, if he is a really top personal trainer he should have been covered in newspapers and magazines.
Website – if he is a good freelance personal trainer he should have a website. Read his personal trainers blog and other articles he has on his site to see what you think of his ideas on fitness and nutrition and compare it to other websites. If his website has just got pictures of him without a shirt and not much info you can imagine what kind of personal trainer you are getting.

Top 10 personal trainer tips

admin — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:01:31 +0000

Make sure you are in good shape – if you are not in good shape as a personal trainer yourself then how can your clients believe your advice and think you know what you are talking about.
Brush your teeth – the quickest way to lose a client is bad breath. Nobody will tell you you have bad breath they will be too embarrassed they will just switch trainers. It is up to you to make sure your breath is smelling good. To test your breath lick the back of you hand and smell it. When you breath and cup your hand in front of your mouth it doesn’t give an accurate smell, but licking the back of your hand and smelling it does. The tongue is what holds most bad breath so remember to use a tongue scrubber which can be found on the back of most modern tooth brushes.
Stand up – when training clients make sure you are standing up this makes you look alert and shows that you are paying attention to your client. Leaning against machines or sitting down often gives the sign that you are fed up and would rather be somewhere else.
Research the net – keep yourself updated with the latest fitness and strength training information by browsing the net each week reading popular personal training sites and fitness and nutrition sites.
Smart gym clothing – make sure you have a smart gym outfit, this doesn’t mean tucking in your t shirt which never looks cool but just making sure you have new fitness clothes on and change your trainers for new ones regularly. You can’t tell your clients to get new trainers if your wearing trainers that are 5 years old and covered in dirt.
Posture – Standing up straight in the gym always looks good, a slouched personal trainer doesn’t show off a fit healthy body.
Phones – Never answer your mobile phone or gym phone during workouts clients want your complete attention as you are charging them by the hour. You wouldn’t go to the doctor and have him answer a personal call for 5 minutes.
Eating – Don’t eat during training clients unless it is a protein shake as this shows you are into healthy eating and promotes the use of sports supplements if that is what you are trying to promote with your clients.
Working out with your clients - if you workout with your clients make sure your fitness is really good because if you are jogging round the park and at the end of it look really tired and out of breath your client won’t be impressed. If you finish the run hardly out of breath they will look at you compared to them and think they need to really keep going with the personal training so they can be as fit as you.
Attendance – Never turn up late to personal training sessions and never miss any sessions by mistake. If you are charging your clients for not giving you 24 hours notice or missing sessions you can’t muck them around and not give them a free session, its not fair to charge them otherwise.

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Personal training jobs in London

admin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:38:58 +0000

If you are a personal trainer looking for a new personal trainer job then check out our forum weekly and read our personal trainer jobs section. We update the jobs section weekly with all the latest personal trainer jobs available in the UK at reputable gyms and health clubs. When jobs are released at a Fitness First branch for example we are the first to know so you can get in early instead of trawling through lists of gyms that don’t even have positions for personal trainers. Our jobs section covers all personal training jobs in london not the whole of the UK so if you are a London personal trainer it’s definitely worth a look.

Pay monthly for personal trainers

admin — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 10:33:11 +0000

If you are a personal trainer and are looking for somewhere to train your clients then why not bring them to our personal training studios. Personal training studio hire is usually £12 an hour but now we can arrange monthly rates which cover you for studio use of 10,20 or 30 hours. Instead of paying extortionate rates at health clubs where you can hardly get on the quipment you need as the gym is so packed, give us a call on 02089603655 and we can make your personal training sessions a lot more enjoyable and affordable.