Personal Training: Programming Basics

Training your clients doesn't have to be complicated as long as you have a system in place to build personal training programs.

A simple system is to break down your training session into 3 phases, warm-up, main movements, finisher.

Yes, every client is different but if you build workouts with this in mind you will build effective training sessions for all your clients.

Phase 1: Warm-up / corrective exercises

Design a personal warm-up for your clients that they can do before every workout. This is where you get to show off all your knowledge, the warm-up should include rehab, mobility, stability, and flexibility movements that you know will benefit your client's muscular balance, core strength, address injuries and increase flexibility.

Some examples are hip-flexor stretches, shoulder mobility drills, ankles stability drills, core strength for the lower back, and hip mobility drills.

If you can train your clients to do a custom warm-up before your session even starts you'll get a lot more done during your training session. The same will go for the finisher.

Phase 2: Main movements

This is where you program the meat and potatoes of the workout go. The big compound movements you learned when you got your personal training certification go first usually deadlifts, squats, and lunges and for the upper body a horizontal push, pull and vertical push and pulls.

After your personal training clients finish their big movements then you can add single-joint exercises like biceps curls, triceps extensions, chest flys, and hamstring curls.

If you have online personal training clients you can use our app The Training Notebook to email your clients all of their workouts with color-coded circuits and links to tutorial videos.

Phase 3: Finisher

This is when you get your clients to sweat and get that feeling of "damn that was a good workout!"

Many clients are under the impression that you have to sweat and be sore to have a good workout and that's what the last 10 minutes of the training session can be.

By adding EMOM, HIIT, Crossfit, Sprints, boxing, aerobic, and anaerobic exercises into the last 10 minutes of the workout you will give your clients what they want... sweat and some muscle soreness.

This is also a great way to keep your clients long term, if you can get your clients to leave your training session feeling like they had a great time, smiling and full of good endorphins you will keep your client coming back for more.

You can do all this programing for your client on our app, test our app for 15-Day's with a free trial.

T-Notebook Founder
Coach Hector