Does it feel like you’re spending too much time every week creating client programs?
Do you start every new program from scratch and meticulously tweak every little detail?
Are you feeling burnt out trying to constantly find new exercises to use with your clients?
If so, you’re not alone.
Tons of personal trainers across the world have felt the same way or are dealing with the same struggle. But there is a better way and it’s not too complicated.
Sure, it will take a little bit of work up front, but it will totally be worth it when you shave hours of programming off your schedule each week while still delivering legendary training sessions to clients.
The secret is to have a formula.
Consider it your secret sauce. A flexible framework that you can adapt for each client and that allows you to plug in the right moves and variables without missing a beat.
For simplicity’s sake, we’ll just call it a template. And it’s going to be your shortcut to streamlining your process.
Don’t worry, though. If the thought of figuring out how to create a template and standardizing your programming thought process sounds overwhelming, we have already done some of the heavy lifting for you.
Read on to learn some of the most important reasons that the best trainers in the industry program this way, then click the link at the bottom of the page to swipe the done-for-you resources we created for you to get you going.
You Don’t Have Time to Waste
If you read our recent blog on how successful trainers spend their time throughout the week, then you already know that you need to find creative ways to be more efficient and effective. When building a busy and consistent book of business, the actual programming and training side of personal training is only a single piece of the puzzle.
Knowing that you’ll need to spend a significant amount of time supporting current clients, developing and finding new clients, and marketing your services means that you need to create systems that work for you. Having a simple system for programming and templates to work from will save you a countless hours every week.
That’s because templates streamline the thinking process of programming by requiring you to make fewer decisions. Consider them to be your guardrails. They allow you to simply plug and play exercises with your own rules built in.
You’ll free up time so that you can do what most trainers can’t – put effort into growing your business and creating a lucrative career by working with more clients.
You Are Going to Have to Adapt On the Fly
The human body shows up differently every day. Most of your clients live in the real world, which can be unpredictable and riddled with roadblocks and stress. Unfortunately, these manifest in the body and result in your clients dealing with the aches and pains of real life.
How many times have you planned the perfect workout only for it to be derailed by a client showing up with an injury that prevents them from doing it?
It happens all the time.
This is the stuff they don’t teach you in the textbooks and why strict, long-term programming doesn’t work for most clients. Instead, you need something that can mold and adapt with you on a daily basis, and with the right training templates, you can do just that.
Rather than spending hours building a workout around a specific piece of equipment or exercise, flexible templates that are built on the fundamentals are far easier to change on the fly. That’s why the templates we created for you (link below) are built on movements that every client should be doing: like squats, lunges, pushing, and pulling.
You’ll be able to address the most improvement movement patterns without being locked into specific exercises. This will set you free, so shifting your plans for the day is as simple as trading one squat for another. You’ll look like a hero because your client will still get an amazing training session and you didn’t skip a beat.
Structure Breeds Creativity
Legendary authors and composers like Hemingway and Mozart didn’t rely upon daily inspiration to create masterpieces – and neither should you. People tend to develop the false assumption that structure and creativity somehow don’t belong together, but let’s put this outdated myth to rest.
The right structure creates a framework for consistent creativity and growth.
You will have far more legendary training sessions when you are able to dial in and consistently deliver on the components that make a client workout memorable. But, this does take stepping back and developing your thoughts.
A lot of trainers think they operate better in chaos or that they are capable of being consistent without a formal process, but humans make mistakes. A lot of them, actually.
The only scientifically proven way to minimize them is to remove as much “in the moment” thinking and replace it with a solid process. This can be one of the hardest things to commit to, which is why those who do and develop their own systems rise to the top in nearly every industry.
You’ll be able to create better systems of progression and skill mastery with a solid training template. It allows you to keep some pieces consistent (like the moves listed above) to drive progress, while having fun with the accessory moves and flexible portions of the training program. That means less thinking for you and more progress for your clients.
In the end, all businesses must develop systems in order to grow, serve more clients, and make more money. The moment you start seeing yourself as a brand and business will be the moment your path in the industry really starts to take off.
Take what you love and change what you don’t – make it yours.
