Guest guest Posted June 15, 2006 Report Share Posted June 15, 2006 For some reason my computer will not bring up your past message on personal training..ugh.... I only skimmed your post as I was short on time and would like to re-read so i can better reply..ugh.. I value what you had to say in regards to what you do w/ clients especially. So far I have just been walking/jogging w/ her, but I would love to do drills w/ her eventually, but I think it will be a bit before she's ready. I don't know. Do you wait for your clients to become more fit before doing hard drills? I would love to study w/ you! However, I haven't even opeend up my book yet. I'm reading a personal trainer for dummies book right now. AFter that, I plan on digging in on the hard stuff..ugh.... LOL..Darcy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 18, 2006 Report Share Posted June 18, 2006 Darcy, Here, I'll just cut and paste...LOL Darcy, I'm just starting a new thread so I can tell you everything in one post instead of trying to reply to several. First of all, CONGRATS ON YOUR FIRST CLIENT!!! I'm sure you will do a great job. As for working from home as a personal trainer, that is what I am currently doing. I have my web page set up with my rates, etc, so potential clients can see exactly what to expect money wise before our first session. This will cut out those who are just casually thinking about personal training wasting your time. Trust me, after a few years, you will get sick to death of people setting up appointments and then not showing up, or coming and saying they are just price shopping for when they can afford it, costing you time when you could have been training someone else. To get clients for this, I go to several gyms and teach classes. You get paid anywhere from 15 to 35 per class, and it is a great way to get your name out there. Most gyms won't let you advertise your training business directly in classes, but they can't stop you from driving your vehicle in the parking lot with magnetic signs on the sides. Be sure to wave goodbye to your class participants as you get in your car...LOL Corny, I know, but it does give you clients, without you ever mentioning that you are a private personal trainer. Another way I get clients is through flyers. I just did one up on my computer and made copies at the local office supply store. Walk around neighborhoods with those newspaper slots on their mailboxes and put them in the newspaper slots. First of all, it's not legal to put them in the mailboxes so you have to put them in the newspaper slot. Second, the neighborhoods with those tubes on each mailbox are typically higher end housing with residents who can afford training. The home owners associations put those things there specifically for the flyer people so there aren't flyers everywhere from them blowing out from behind the flags on mailboxes. Some people will look at them and some won't, but it is the cheapest advertising I've found so far. Also, look at your local paper. Small towns are great for this because they need stuff to fill the pages. Write an article for them and it is great advertising. Some will even pay you for the articles. As for certification--DEFINATELY go with ACE! It seems that no matter where I go or what gym I'm in, they accept ACE. While I have done very well with the lesser known certifications for 10 years, having ACE certification gives you the opportunity to go to work for a gym if you can't get enough at home clients. Also, after certifying with ACE, they have a site for job referrals, which can be helpful too. What books, study guides, etc. came in you study kit? I bought the newest one from ACE back in February or March but just started looking at it a couple of weeks ago becuase of the move. I spent the 400 on the biggest kit, so I have every study guide, cd, anatomy book, anatomy dvd, flash cards, etc. Maybe we could do some online studying together and we can share info. I know that it is hard for me to get stuff when I'm just reading and answering questions in the study guides, but maybe reviewing it with someone else will help us both. I've been a trainer for 10 years, and I'm still nervous about this test. It is the most in depth course I've taken and I've taken a ton of courses, including a degree program, so I truely feel like it is the best certification I'll have. Well, until I finish my Bachelors in Athletic Training because ACSM certification is part of that degree. And everyone else takes their stuff from ACSM. As for what to do with clients, don't do videos. I don't even do cardio machines unless they are part of a dynamic circuit because they can do that at home. In order to get people to pay top dollar for personal training, they have to feel like they can't do it without you. Some people will pay you to watch them do cardio but it is a rare client who will because they feel like you are just there as an expensive babysitter. Some people need that because they won't workout otherwise, but most people who hire a trainer are basically paying for better or faster results then what they could do on their own. Typcially, what I do with a client is to use the first session as an assessment instead of a session. We do their measurements, body fat analysis, muscular strength and endurance tests, cardiovascular endurance tests, and flexibility tests. These give you a baseline of where they are when they start with you. Then after a month, two months, three months, etc. I'll redo those assesments so they can see how they've changed since signing up with you. This adds value to your services because they have physical evidence of their changes. Even if they aren't coming to you for weight loss, you can so them improvements to their muscular strength or endurance and they will see the benefits of working with a trainer. Also during these assessment sessions, I review their goals with them, making sure they are realistic, and also making sure I design a program that will work toward those goals. A typical session with a client begins with a warm-up, moves to weights, then to dynamic cardio circuit, then to cool down/stretching, and I tell them to add extra cardio on their days off from working with me. The times spent on each of these depend on their specific goals, as does their weights, speeds, etc. I'm sure you know what the warm up, weights, cool down and stretching are, but I probably have you confused when I talk about a dynamic cardio circuit. Basically, what I'm talking about is making cardio fun. I'll do crazy things like ladders, tire runs, hop-scotch, jumping jacks, bosu squats while playing catch with a medicine ball, alternate leg balances on a bosu, etc. My favorite is to take a jump rope and make shapes on the floor and have the client jump in and out of the shapes on each side. You can use cones to make mini obstical (sorry, I'm a personal trainer not a spelling teacher LOL) courses for them to run around. Like I said, making it fun, and changing it up every minute or two so they can't recreate it at home, or if they do it costs much more then my rates. Again, just another way to add value to your services. The other thing I wanted to mention is Cover your Butt! Have all clients sign a contract & a liability waiver, and get personal training insurance. There are several places you can get insurance, but I got mine through IDEA. I can't remember how much it costs to join IDEA, but I got a free membership with a certification from FiTour (might be worth the $99 for a certification to get more education and a free membership for the insurance discount since you are new and looking for other ideas for types of training) and the insurance for a year is only $172. This will cover you if anyone gets hurt while they are training with you. I also have all my contracts, waivers, and other forms on the computer as Word documents if you need them. I got them from my first certification company and modified them over the years to meet my needs. You may have something similar in your course materials (I haven't looked that far into the ACE book yet), but if you don't have something, I'll be glad to send you mine so that you can modify them to meet your needs as well. If you have any other questions, or things I can help you with, or if you want a study partner, email me off list. Again, congrats on your first client and good luck with building your business! Tonya As for the drills, I typically base them and everything else on their fitness assessment. The assessment I do includes strength tests so I can see how much weight to give them, flexibility tests so I can see how much time to spend on stretching (Most people need a lot of stretching, but every once in a while you will get a client who does yoga or pilates regularly that is extremely flexible so you won't have to focus too much on that aspect of training.), muscular endurance tests so we can determine the amount of reps they need, and cardiovascular tests to determine how much they can handle on the drills. If their cardiovascular test scores are low, I'll have them do more balancing instead of plyometrics, or have them walk the drills instead of jumping. If their cardio scores are high, then I know I can push them harder. I base everything on the tests so I know I'm giving them what they need. If someone comes to me with great cardio fitness but no strength, I'll do more strength stuff. If someone comes to me with excellent strength, but no cardio skills, then I'll do more cardio drills. My goal as a trainer is to balance out their program so that they get a well rounded end result. Unless I'm working with a body builder, or an athlete who has to focus on something specific for their sport, I just try to round everyone out and get them fit in all the components of fitness, focusing on their weakest area first to make it even out. They are so thrilled when they see the results of their fitness tests in a couple of months and see that they have gone up on those weak areas. I do this because I've seen too many people who focus on just one aspect of fitness and then realize that it is hindering them. Guys are the worst about this because they will work hard with the weights and look great, but they can't walk up the stairs without huffing and puffing from lack of cardio, and don't even think of having them go outside the range of motion of their favorite weight workout because their flexibility is horrible. What good are huge muscles if you can't breath long enough to use them, or you can't reach the protein powder in the top of your cabinets? Women are bad in that we will do the flexibilty and cardio and skip the weights. But if something happens to our kids, we aren't going to be able to run them to the doctor if we can't pick them up and carry them there. I realized this when my son got to be my size and started playing football. Should something happen and he break his leg on the field, I have to be strong enough to carry him off the field, ya know? My husband laughs that I lift weights so I can make the movers look bad. We just moved into this house and they were struggling when they delivered our appliances. While they were setting up the fridge, I picked up my dryer (that they had huffed and puffed to put into place) and moved it out of the way so I could get the kitten that snuck behind it, handed the kitten to my daughter, and then picked up the dryer and put it back in place. Mike just stood there and laughed at the expressions on their faces because other then my 11 year old daughter and the cat, I was the smallest one in the room. I bet I won't be able to hire them to help me move again..LOL But functional strength is what it is all about, right? As for the studying, give yourself plenty of time. It seems to me that the first 3 chapters are the most indepth. ACE wants you to know muscles and stuff I've never seen on any other test. I'm doing the quizzes in the anatomy book right now and I honestly don't know why we need to know the parts of the femur, shoulder blade, skull, etc. Yeah, I'm taking tests on the various parts of the bones, not just the muscles and bones. It's nuts! Let me know when you start reading and I'll type up the flash cards and email them to you. They seem to be a pretty good for giving the info consisely. The cd's are okay, but I can't seem to get it from listening to them. They just aren't as indepth and harder for me to get then looking at it on paper. The anatomy book is very good, but the video is long! Over 2 hours and boring!! I have the cd rom from the anatomy book too and it has the quizzes, pictures, etc. that I can email you if you want. They are really good, showing exactly where muscles are in a way I've never seen before. It goes into a lot of muscles I've never heard of before, too, like the small muscles of the hands. Anyway, let me know what you want to do about studying. I have to hurry and get through it because I'm suppose to take the test August 5th...aaaahhhh! Tonya Tonya / PT stuff.. For some reason my computer will not bring up your past message on personal training..ugh.... I only skimmed your post as I was short on time and would like to re-read so i can better reply..ugh.. I value what you had to say in regards to what you do w/ clients especially. So far I have just been walking/jogging w/ her, but I would love to do drills w/ her eventually, but I think it will be a bit before she's ready. I don't know. Do you wait for your clients to become more fit before doing hard drills? I would love to study w/ you! However, I haven't even opeend up my book yet. I'm reading a personal trainer for dummies book right now. AFter that, I plan on digging in on the hard stuff..ugh.... LOL..Darcy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 18, 2006 Report Share Posted June 18, 2006 Thank you for all the info Tonya! It is truly appreciated... I'm having fun " shopping " for stuff I want / need. It's hard to hold back though. Man I thought I had a lot of stuff, but I could just continue to buy, buy buy!! If my 'client' gets another 6 weeks worth, I will make some more big purchases again - I can't wait Anyway, I'm looking at jump ropes right now. There are too many different kinds. Do you have a kind to recommend? I would want a basic one, but I don't know what to go with beaded, viny, leather??? Thanks for all your helpk, it is appreciated! And I loved your story about moving the dryer to get the kitty..hee..hee.. Being strong is so wonderful in all aspects! DarcyOn 6/18/06, Tonya - <mslightning@...> wrote: Darcy, Here, I'll just cut and paste...LOL Darcy, I'm just starting a new thread so I can tell you everything in one post instead of trying to reply to several. First of all, CONGRATS ON YOUR FIRST CLIENT!!! I'm sure you will do a great job. As for working from home as a personal trainer, that is what I am currently doing. I have my web page set up with my rates, etc, so potential clients can see exactly what to expect money wise before our first session. This will cut out those who are just casually thinking about personal training wasting your time. Trust me, after a few years, you will get sick to death of people setting up appointments and then not showing up, or coming and saying they are just price shopping for when they can afford it, costing you time when you could have been training someone else. To get clients for this, I go to several gyms and teach classes. You get paid anywhere from 15 to 35 per class, and it is a great way to get your name out there. Most gyms won't let you advertise your training business directly in classes, but they can't stop you from driving your vehicle in the parking lot with magnetic signs on the sides. Be sure to wave goodbye to your class participants as you get in your car...LOL Corny, I know, but it does give you clients, without you ever mentioning that you are a private personal trainer. Another way I get clients is through flyers. I just did one up on my computer and made copies at the local office supply store. Walk around neighborhoods with those newspaper slots on their mailboxes and put them in the newspaper slots. First of all, it's not legal to put them in the mailboxes so you have to put them in the newspaper slot. Second, the neighborhoods with those tubes on each mailbox are typically higher end housing with residents who can afford training. The home owners associations put those things there specifically for the flyer people so there aren't flyers everywhere from them blowing out from behind the flags on mailboxes. Some people will look at them and some won't, but it is the cheapest advertising I've found so far. Also, look at your local paper. Small towns are great for this because they need stuff to fill the pages. Write an article for them and it is great advertising. Some will even pay you for the articles. As for certification--DEFINATELY go with ACE! It seems that no matter where I go or what gym I'm in, they accept ACE. While I have done very well with the lesser known certifications for 10 years, having ACE certification gives you the opportunity to go to work for a gym if you can't get enough at home clients. Also, after certifying with ACE, they have a site for job referrals, which can be helpful too. What books, study guides, etc. came in you study kit? I bought the newest one from ACE back in February or March but just started looking at it a couple of weeks ago becuase of the move. I spent the 400 on the biggest kit, so I have every study guide, cd, anatomy book, anatomy dvd, flash cards, etc. Maybe we could do some online studying together and we can share info. I know that it is hard for me to get stuff when I'm just reading and answering questions in the study guides, but maybe reviewing it with someone else will help us both. I've been a trainer for 10 years, and I'm still nervous about this test. It is the most in depth course I've taken and I've taken a ton of courses, including a degree program, so I truely feel like it is the best certification I'll have. Well, until I finish my Bachelors in Athletic Training because ACSM certification is part of that degree. And everyone else takes their stuff from ACSM. As for what to do with clients, don't do videos. I don't even do cardio machines unless they are part of a dynamic circuit because they can do that at home. In order to get people to pay top dollar for personal training, they have to feel like they can't do it without you. Some people will pay you to watch them do cardio but it is a rare client who will because they feel like you are just there as an expensive babysitter. Some people need that because they won't workout otherwise, but most people who hire a trainer are basically paying for better or faster results then what they could do on their own. Typcially, what I do with a client is to use the first session as an assessment instead of a session. We do their measurements, body fat analysis, muscular strength and endurance tests, cardiovascular endurance tests, and flexibility tests. These give you a baseline of where they are when they start with you. Then after a month, two months, three months, etc. I'll redo those assesments so they can see how they've changed since signing up with you. This adds value to your services because they have physical evidence of their changes. Even if they aren't coming to you for weight loss, you can so them improvements to their muscular strength or endurance and they will see the benefits of working with a trainer. Also during these assessment sessions, I review their goals with them, making sure they are realistic, and also making sure I design a program that will work toward those goals. A typical session with a client begins with a warm-up, moves to weights, then to dynamic cardio circuit, then to cool down/stretching, and I tell them to add extra cardio on their days off from working with me. The times spent on each of these depend on their specific goals, as does their weights, speeds, etc. I'm sure you know what the warm up, weights, cool down and stretching are, but I probably have you confused when I talk about a dynamic cardio circuit. Basically, what I'm talking about is making cardio fun. I'll do crazy things like ladders, tire runs, hop-scotch, jumping jacks, bosu squats while playing catch with a medicine ball, alternate leg balances on a bosu, etc. My favorite is to take a jump rope and make shapes on the floor and have the client jump in and out of the shapes on each side. You can use cones to make mini obstical (sorry, I'm a personal trainer not a spelling teacher LOL) courses for them to run around. Like I said, making it fun, and changing it up every minute or two so they can't recreate it at home, or if they do it costs much more then my rates. Again, just another way to add value to your services. The other thing I wanted to mention is Cover your Butt! Have all clients sign a contract & a liability waiver, and get personal training insurance. There are several places you can get insurance, but I got mine through IDEA. I can't remember how much it costs to join IDEA, but I got a free membership with a certification from FiTour (might be worth the $99 for a certification to get more education and a free membership for the insurance discount since you are new and looking for other ideas for types of training) and the insurance for a year is only $172. This will cover you if anyone gets hurt while they are training with you. I also have all my contracts, waivers, and other forms on the computer as Word documents if you need them. I got them from my first certification company and modified them over the years to meet my needs. You may have something similar in your course materials (I haven't looked that far into the ACE book yet), but if you don't have something, I'll be glad to send you mine so that you can modify them to meet your needs as well. If you have any other questions, or things I can help you with, or if you want a study partner, email me off list. Again, congrats on your first client and good luck with building your business! Tonya As for the drills, I typically base them and everything else on their fitness assessment. The assessment I do includes strength tests so I can see how much weight to give them, flexibility tests so I can see how much time to spend on stretching (Most people need a lot of stretching, but every once in a while you will get a client who does yoga or pilates regularly that is extremely flexible so you won't have to focus too much on that aspect of training.), muscular endurance tests so we can determine the amount of reps they need, and cardiovascular tests to determine how much they can handle on the drills. If their cardiovascular test scores are low, I'll have them do more balancing instead of plyometrics, or have them walk the drills instead of jumping. If their cardio scores are high, then I know I can push them harder. I base everything on the tests so I know I'm giving them what they need. If someone comes to me with great cardio fitness but no strength, I'll do more strength stuff. If someone comes to me with excellent strength, but no cardio skills, then I'll do more cardio drills. My goal as a trainer is to balance out their program so that they get a well rounded end result. Unless I'm working with a body builder, or an athlete who has to focus on something specific for their sport, I just try to round everyone out and get them fit in all the components of fitness, focusing on their weakest area first to make it even out. They are so thrilled when they see the results of their fitness tests in a couple of months and see that they have gone up on those weak areas. I do this because I've seen too many people who focus on just one aspect of fitness and then realize that it is hindering them. Guys are the worst about this because they will work hard with the weights and look great, but they can't walk up the stairs without huffing and puffing from lack of cardio, and don't even think of having them go outside the range of motion of their favorite weight workout because their flexibility is horrible. What good are huge muscles if you can't breath long enough to use them, or you can't reach the protein powder in the top of your cabinets? Women are bad in that we will do the flexibilty and cardio and skip the weights. But if something happens to our kids, we aren't going to be able to run them to the doctor if we can't pick them up and carry them there. I realized this when my son got to be my size and started playing football. Should something happen and he break his leg on the field, I have to be strong enough to carry him off the field, ya know? My husband laughs that I lift weights so I can make the movers look bad. We just moved into this house and they were struggling when they delivered our appliances. While they were setting up the fridge, I picked up my dryer (that they had huffed and puffed to put into place) and moved it out of the way so I could get the kitten that snuck behind it, handed the kitten to my daughter, and then picked up the dryer and put it back in place. Mike just stood there and laughed at the expressions on their faces because other then my 11 year old daughter and the cat, I was the smallest one in the room. I bet I won't be able to hire them to help me move again..LOL But functional strength is what it is all about, right? As for the studying, give yourself plenty of time. It seems to me that the first 3 chapters are the most indepth. ACE wants you to know muscles and stuff I've never seen on any other test. I'm doing the quizzes in the anatomy book right now and I honestly don't know why we need to know the parts of the femur, shoulder blade, skull, etc. Yeah, I'm taking tests on the various parts of the bones, not just the muscles and bones. It's nuts! Let me know when you start reading and I'll type up the flash cards and email them to you. They seem to be a pretty good for giving the info consisely. The cd's are okay, but I can't seem to get it from listening to them. They just aren't as indepth and harder for me to get then looking at it on paper. The anatomy book is very good, but the video is long! Over 2 hours and boring!! I have the cd rom from the anatomy book too and it has the quizzes, pictures, etc. that I can email you if you want. They are really good, showing exactly where muscles are in a way I've never seen before. It goes into a lot of muscles I've never heard of before, too, like the small muscles of the hands. Anyway, let me know what you want to do about studying. I have to hurry and get through it because I'm suppose to take the test August 5th...aaaahhhh! Tonya Tonya / PT stuff.. For some reason my computer will not bring up your past message on personal training..ugh.... I only skimmed your post as I was short on time and would like to re-read so i can better reply..ugh.. I value what you had to say in regards to what you do w/ clients especially. So far I have just been walking/jogging w/ her, but I would love to do drills w/ her eventually, but I think it will be a bit before she's ready. I don't know. Do you wait for your clients to become more fit before doing hard drills? I would love to study w/ you! However, I haven't even opeend up my book yet. I'm reading a personal trainer for dummies book right now. AFter that, I plan on digging in on the hard stuff..ugh.... LOL..Darcy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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