Every customer is different. They come to you from diverse backgrounds, they have fitness goals, different knowledge and skills, and levels of motivation in following the fitness plans you designed for them.
Certified Personal TrainerDespite this, your responsibility remains the same for each client: craft a tailored fitness plan that is best suited to help them reach – and better still – exceed their goals. The problem though, with so many considerations in mind, is where to start?
This article outlines the top five areas to explore that will have you crafting the best fitness plan designed for results – with any client.
What are your client’s goals?
What does your customer need your help with?
This is one of the most important areas that you should explore when designing the best fitness plan for your client. workout program It aims to help the client lose weight It will look very different from the one intended to help the client get ready for the next fitness show.
With the former, you’ll enjoy greater flexibility with exercise programming. This means that you have more room to play in terms of exercise selection and preferences, which can help your clients (beginners or non-beginners) better stick to their fitness plan.
But this principle does not apply to another person looking to completely change their physique.
This client’s fitness plan will likely be centered Distinctive stages of building muscle and losing fat. You’ll need to focus on exercise selection, total training volume, gradual overload, and tempo raise, among other factors.
Fail to understand why your client was involved in helping you in the first place – and you will fail to craft a fitness plan that will help them achieve their goals.
Fortunately, the flip side holds: Understand your customer’s dreams and aspirations, and you are one step closer to building a long-term and mutually beneficial relationship with them.
What did your client experience before engaging you?
Exploring this area helps you gain insight into all the other things they’ve tried (for example, online fitness programs, other personal trainers, or simply made them on their own) that have failed to help them achieve their fitness goals.
Make sure to listen and dig deeper into the client’s beliefs about why their previous methods failed.
For example: Were they doing exercises they didn’t enjoy? And if so, what exactly are these exercises? Having all of these details allows you to craft a fitness plan that they will enjoy best, promoting long-term commitment and customer satisfaction.
And perhaps more than that, this knowledge will also inform you how much client education is required.
This is because of the odds, your client has also inadvertently exposed some misconceptions about their fitness during the process. Some clients may mistakenly believe that copious amounts of cardio are needed to lose weight.
These beliefs may be deeply rooted. Getting it right from the start — and programming plenty of strength training into their fitness plan —They have a very high risk of alienating your customer.
The best way to do this is to start with exercises they are familiar with first.
Once your bond is stronger (i.e. your client trusts you more), and you have demonstrated that you can get results, you will be better able to introduce resistance training to their fitness plan, which will speed up their progress.
away? Build trust first. Then educate.
How will training fit into your client’s life?
There is no point in planning the “best fitness plan” for your client that they won’t be able to stick to because of their schedule – nor any scheme that fails to account for where personal training is on their priority list.
Let’s say you have a busy client who only has 30 minutes with you per week.
Structuring their fitness plans according to a traditional resistance training program, where rest periods between sets can range anywhere from two to three minutes, would not be a wise choice. Instead, you (and your customer) will likely see the most results from a file circuit-based program (eg, HIIT).
Another lifestyle detail that you will need to know about your client is their job.
A client who works a sedentary desk job for ten hours a day, for example, is likely to have tight hip flexors, and this affects their daily posture and posture. The ability to activate the buttock musclesIt is an integral part of many basic lifting movement styles, including the deadlift and the squat. Therefore, with clients like these, including work on mobility (eg, kneeling hip extension, bath extension) and gluteal strengthening exercises (eg, gluteal bridges) will be of paramount importance to the effectiveness of your fitness plan.
What are the current capabilities of your customer?
By now, you should have a solid understanding of what your customer would like to achieve with your help.
But what would your customer require to get there? Do they have their essentials at the bottom of the bat? Or, will you need to dedicate a significant portion of the time just to building cardiovascular fitness, strength, and mobility?
You’ll have to know the answers to these questions if you’re looking to design the best fitness plan possible for a specific client.
Once you understand your client’s current level of fitness, skill, or whatever you’re training, you can create a realistic fitness plan that will really help them reach their goals.
Struggling with this? Do not worry. you may Put them in a comprehensive assessment Or a small exercise, where:
- Cardiovascular fitness measurement: There is more than one way to do this, but 1 Mile Walk Test and the step test Both are effective ways to determine your client’s starting point for cardiology-related programming.
- Mobility Rating: Guide your client through a series of basic movements, including lunges, squats, and upper arm extensions, to assess their range of motion. Make a note of any issues you notice; This information will help you determine the important things you need to include when designing a fitness plan for your client.
- Strength Rating: There are several methods for assessing strength, but one of the most common that you can use is through a maximum of five different exercises (eg barbell squats, bench press, leg press). This is also a perfect opportunity to see if your client already has a solid understanding of performing each exercise or not.
Does your client have a chronic injury?
Some clients will come to you with previous injuries.
Common issues such as shoulder impingement, knee pain, lower back pain, and muscular imbalance can prevent your client from getting the most out of their exercise programs.
They should take their injuries into account when formulating their fitness plan — and adjust exercises as needed. Here are some examples of the adjustments you’ll need to make if your customer is experiencing any of the following:
- knee pain: Replace high-impact and explosive moves with Low-impact chain closed leg exercises Like quad inclines, wall sits, and side steps.
- Herniated disc: Avoid exercises that put a lot of pressure on the spine, including squats, barbell rows, and overhead presses. While that, Including lower back exercises Such as mug squats, split bar squats, and inverted hanging rows.
- Shoulder impingement: for customer Suffering from shoulder problemsYou’ll generally want to Focus on strengthening problem areas Such as bottom traps, front toothed rotors, and outer rotors. Be sure to include exercises targeting these in your client’s fitness plan.
Home Takeaway
In the end, designing the best fitness plan for any client is more an art than a science – there is no set recipe for success.
But one thing is for sure. It all starts with discovering what your customer wants and needs. This is only possible when you start to listen and put yourself in their shoes. Only then can you develop a sustainable and rewarding approach for you and your customer.
How are you on your training journey? logo card AFPA_Fitness In your Instagram posts – and be sure to reach out if you need any tips along the way!
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