8 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started as a Personal Trainer
When I started working as a Personal Trainer as a 19-year-old fitness enthusiast, I thought being a good trainer was all about knowing exercises, writing good programmes and understanding training science.
Those things do, of course, matter. But over time, I realised that many of the skills that actually make clients stay, progress and enjoy training have very little to do with knowing another variation of a squat.
A good Personal Trainer does more than prescribe exercises — they build trust, understand the client's goals and adapt training to the individual.
Here are eight things I wish I had understood earlier.
Be Warm and Welcoming
If there's one thing a trainer striving to become great needs to master, it's the ability to be empathetic and genuine. Especially in this day and age. People want to work with a real human being, not a robot telling them what to do.
Here's what you should do:
Show genuine interest in the client outside of training. What are their dreams? What do they spend their free time doing?
Always put the client's well-being before chasing results. Is your client having a bad day? Adapt the workout to fit the daily fluctuations that are part of everyone's life.
You have nothing to prove. Seriously. Get out of your own head. The client doesn't want to hear about your PRs, how many clients you've helped or how much protein you eat. Be interested in the client, first and foremost.
Listen to What the Client Really Wants
Another important soft skill is being able to really listen to what the client is communicating to you.
Let's be clear: hearing what someone is saying does not mean that you are listening. At least not attentively.
Understanding what the client actually wants is one of the most important parts of building a training plan they will stick to.
Here's how you do it:
Listen objectively. Don't listen with yourself as the main character. Try to put yourself in the client's shoes.
Notice the client's body language. Pay attention to their tone of voice, facial expressions and body language. Try to understand what their whole self is telling you.
Ask. Ask again. Ask one more time. Not sure you fully understand what the client is saying? Ask them to explain it again. Even better, repeat back what you understood as the essence of what they just told you.
This is also why the first sessions with a new client should be used to learn how they move, communicate and respond to training — something we cover in more detail in our guide to the first Personal Training session.
Give Them a Clear Road Map
Early in my career, I did not pay much attention to goal setting. I had learned the SMART model, of course, but I hadn't really grasped its importance yet.
This made some of my relationships with clients unnecessarily short. Since I couldn't show them a clear way forward through specific and measurable goals, motivation sometimes faded.
It's somewhat similar to driving your car without a clear destination. It's fun for a while, but eventually you want to know where you're going.
A clear training road map gives the client something to work towards and makes progress easier to recognise.
This is what I started doing:
Always start with your client's vision. What's their why? What's going to get them to the gym early in the morning or make them go for a run when they would rather stay on the sofa? People will often say, “I want to get stronger.” Okay, but why? Perhaps it's: “Because I want to have the energy to play with my kids after work,” or “I have an event with work in three months and I want to feel confident and have a good time.”
Move on to process-oriented goals. These refer to the client's actions and behaviours. If you want to reach a goal, you need to start doing the things required to get there. A perfectly good goal might simply be: “Show up at the gym twice a week.” Nothing less, nothing more.
Your next step could be to make the goal slightly more challenging, perhaps: “Train three times per week.” Or you could introduce a more result-oriented goal, such as: “Hit 60 kg in the chest press.”
Once the goal is clear, the next step is turning it into an actual plan. Load, exercise selection, frequency and progression are all important parts of designing a workout programme for a client.
Don’t Rush Beginners
In my early 20s, I somewhat assumed that all my clients were like me. They were motivated to train, wanted to hit new PRs and exercising was as natural as brushing their teeth — perhaps even more natural, hehe.
The truth is: they're not.
Many of the people who seek out a Personal Trainer do so precisely because exercise doesn't come naturally to them yet, or because they need help overcoming a specific challenge.
For beginners, the priority should be confidence, consistency and skill development before pushing training intensity too far.
For beginners, make sure to:
Challenge them without overwhelming them. Lifting heavy weights can be scary, unfamiliar exercises can feel intimidating and getting completely exhausted during a session isn't necessarily a positive experience for a beginner. A PT session should of course be challenging, but give the client time to adapt.
Make sure the client actually enjoys training early on instead of seeing it purely as a necessary evil. Get involved in exercises, throw a ball into the mix or even do some dancing if that's what works. Learn what the client actually enjoys when it comes to training — and use it.
Give your clients more ownership. People are generally more motivated to do things they have chosen for themselves, so give them options. For example: “Would you prefer a short cardio circuit or some supersets for the arms to finish off with today?”
Increase the Difficulty Gradually
This is similar to what we already discussed above, but I think a separate section is definitely in order.
Here's my three-stage launch plan:
Stage 1: Build Confidence and Consistency
The first goal is simply to make training feel manageable.
Use exercises the client can understand and perform with reasonable confidence, keep the overall difficulty moderate and focus on getting them used to showing up and completing their sessions.
Stage 2: Add Challenge Gradually
Once the client starts feeling comfortable, slowly increase one thing at a time.
Add a little weight, an extra set, a few more repetitions or introduce a slightly more demanding exercise.
There is no need to change everything at once.
Stage 3: Push When the Client Is Ready
Eventually, the client should be exposed to harder training.
This might mean heavier loads, higher effort, more complex exercises or tougher conditioning.
By this point, the client has already built confidence and knows what hard training feels like — which makes it much easier to push them without overwhelming them.
One mistake I made early on was often starting somewhere around stage three.
I knew what the client was physically capable of, but I hadn't yet learned to consider what they were psychologically ready for.
As clients become more experienced, tools such as RPE and RIR can also help you control training intensity without simply pushing every set as hard as possible.
Track Their Progress
This ties in closely with the road map.
SMART goals are measurable, so make sure you're actually keeping an eye on your client's progress.
And progress doesn't always have to mean more weight on the bar.
Tracking progress gives both the trainer and the client evidence that the work they are doing is actually paying off.
The more wins you can notice, the more progress the client will be able to see themselves:
1. Confidence. Celebrate when they take on a new exercise with their head held high.
2. Technique. Celebrate improvements in technique, even small ones — better knee alignment, improved control or a more stable position.
3. Adherence. Maybe they stuck to a new sleep routine and got into bed at 10 PM every night for a full week. Great!
Your client might not notice these things. You should.
Check In Regularly
Make sure your clients know that you care about them outside of your appointments as well.
Send them a short text every now and then.
How did your workout go?
Did you manage to secure that job?
It doesn't have to be long or particularly thoughtful. Just something small that lets them know you remember and care about what is going on in their life.
It can also help with motivation and accountability.
The client knows that what they do between sessions matters — and that someone is actually going to ask them about it.
Celebrate the Win — Then Set the Next Goal
Always make sure to celebrate when your client achieves a goal.
You guys made it. Together!
Then don't forget to build the road map for the next period.
Are you going to push the result even further? Maintain what you've achieved? Or is it time to set a completely different goal?
Remember: training without goals can be a bit like driving without a destination.
Fun for a while, but eventually you need somewhere to go.
Interested in learning more about Personal Training?
Explore our Certified Personal Trainer programme and learn more about training, programme design, coaching and working with real clients.
Frequently asked questions
What Makes a Good Personal Trainer?
A good Personal Trainer combines training knowledge with communication, empathy, goal setting and the ability to adapt the training programme to the individual client.
What Should a New Personal Trainer Focus on First?
Focus on building trust, understanding the client's goals and helping them become consistent before making the training unnecessarily complex or intense.
How Do Personal Trainers Keep Clients Motivated?
Clear goals, regular feedback, visible progress, client involvement and consistent communication can all help clients stay motivated over time.
