3 Keys to Training Clients in Their Homes

When considering your options as a personal trainer, one of the very first things to decide is WHERE you are going to train your clients. The most obvious answer for most trainers is to get a job at a local fitness facility and train clients there. This is certainly an option, and one that is recommended especially in the beginning of your career. The structure and experience that you will get by working at a successful gym or fitness center is invaluable for a new personal trainer. However, there are drawbacks to working with your clients at a gym, and some clients will be unwilling or unable to workout at a local facility. Don't lose those clients by not having other options!

Working out with your clients in their homes is an option for any trainer, and by offering this option to your clients you can increase your potential client base by a dramatic number, and you may even decide to exclusively offer home personal training. In order to decide if this type of business model is for you, there are several points to consider, and they include time management, exercise modalities to be used, and business resources that are available.

Time Management

Managing your time and your schedule is a critical consideration when deciding whether or not to work with clients in their homes. Unlike working at a facility, the amount of time that you need to dedicate to each client is increased, sometimes to the point of even doubling the time spent for each client session.

For example, let's use a standard one-hour training session as our business model for this discussion. Although many trainers are utilizing different training times with their clients these days, one hour is still a good time frame to use for your scheduling reference. You want to remember that as a home personal trainer, you can be on a tight deadline to get from one place to the next, so you don't want to schedule your sessions back-to-back like you can when you are working at a fitness facility.

You must also factor in your travel time to get to your client's home, as well as to get to the home of the following client, the client after that, and so on. If you live in an even reasonably populated area, you will have to allow at least 15 minutes of driving time to and from every client's home, and sometimes as much as 30 minutes per client, depending on the size of the geographic area that you train in. Using our one-hour training session as an example, just one training session can cost you as much as 2 hours of your time.

A standard 8-hour workday will now only allow you to train between 4 and 6 clients, depending on where they live in relation to your starting point, as well as in relation to each other. Your best bet whenever possible is to set up your clients in a roughly straight line, or possibly a circle that brings you back to your starting point at the end of the day. The last thing that you want to do is set up a client who lives 30 minutes north of your starting point followed immediately by a client who lives 30 minutes south of your starting point. Not only will you eat up massive amounts of time driving to and from your client's homes, but you will put serious mileage on both your car as well as your wallet at the gas station! More on that in the Business Resources section below.

Exercise Modalities

The next thing to consider is the type of training that you will be doing with your clients in their homes. Unless they have a full fitness facility set up - which is rare - it is very likely that you will have to come up with ways to put them through a vigorous workout without the massive amount of equipment that is available at a full-size fitness facility. In order to put together these home workouts, you need to address the two different energy pathways that your clients will need to use during their workouts: aerobic and anaerobic.

Anaerobic Workouts

Although many trainers are used to the massive resources available at a local gym, getting your clients a variety-filled and intense anaerobic workout in their home is actually easier than most would think. With nothing more than an exercise ball and a portable set of dumbbells, you can take your clients through the full range of motion and exertion on almost the same scale that is afforded those clients training at a gym.

If you are just starting out in the industry, or are simply used to working your clients out at a fitness facility, you should do some research on the Internet for dumbbell workouts, bodyweight workouts, functional training, and sport-specific training. Those 4 keyword combinations alone will net you hundreds of websites with free or low-cost resources that will teach you thousands of exercises that can be done with little or no equipment.

The key to getting your clients a good anaerobic workout at home is not the type of equipment that is used, or the actual amount of weight that is moved, but rather the INTENSITY of the workout. A bit of trial and error will teach you how to take a client through their paces in a safe but intense manner that will leave most people ready to call it quits in 30 minutes or less!

Aerobic Workouts

Taking your clients through appropriate and effective aerobic workouts can happen on many levels. The 2 obvious differences are going to be whether they get their aerobic activity during their session, or if you assign them activities to do after you leave. You could also do a combination of both, depending on the needs and the fitness level of the client.

If you are going to take your clients through an aerobic workout during their session, you can either incorporate "heart rate maintenance" exercises into the workout itself, or you can get the anaerobic exercises out of the way, and then move into an aerobic workout for the second half of the session. Just remember that if your goal is to keep your clients inside their target heart rate zone, there will be very little rest time in between exercises.

However, before you blindly go forcing all of your clients to stay inside their target heart rate zone for the entire session, consider the fitness goal of the client, and the metabolically intense benefits of structured strength training compared to a session when you just make sure they are sweating the whole time!

Another option for your client's cardio is to have them do it on their own after the end of the training session. Obviously they still need your guidance on what to do, how to track their heart rate, and how long they should perform the activity, but not all clients will actually need you to stay there and guide them during the activity.

Also, it is not uncommon for people to own a piece of cardiovascular training equipment such as a treadmill, elliptical trainer, stair-stepper, etc. Nonetheless, most clients will still need some specific guidance on how to maximize the benefits from the type of equipment that they have access to. Things like interval training, cross training, and training at different heart rate levels are all things that you should educate your clients on, especially if they are going to be doing cardio on their own.

Business Resources

You must also consider the business resources that you will need access to when training clients in their homes. The time factor has already been discussed, and you should also consider the daily expenses involved in this type of training model. These include equipment expenses, "on the road" expenses, and auto expenses.

Equipment expenses should be minimal. You may have an initial cost, but after your initial purchases, all of those assets are reusable. Basic items for home training include an adjustable set of dumbbells and an exercise ball at a bare minimum. It would also be a good idea to have a roll-up exercise mat, a jump rope, and any other items needed for the type of activities that your clients will be engaging in. A great cardio idea for clients training at home is boxing drills. If you were to utilize that type of training, then a decent set of protective gloves for the clients would be in order, as well as target mats that you hold for them to strike during their drills.

In all cases, the items that you own stay with you, and they are simply taken from one client's house to the next. It is a great idea to have your clients eventually buy their own gear, however, which keeps you from having to tote arm loads of equipment into and out of their houses day after day. Also, depending on the type of program you put them on, they may use some of their own equipment in between training sessions.

"On the Road" expenses include food and drinks while you are traveling. Depending on your schedule, you will be on the road anywhere from 2 to 12 hours at a time! In those cases, you will obviously need to plan healthy places to eat along the way, or keep portable meals in your vehicle each day. In any event, make sure that you consider the cost of eating away from home as part of your business expenses.

Auto expenses are potentially the biggest expense that you will have to face in order to train people at home. The wear and tear on your vehicle - although accountable on your taxes - can still be a drain on your financial resources. You have to keep your vehicle insured, fueled up, and in good working order at all times. The last thing that you want to do is be late for a client session because your car broke down, or you ran out of gas! Also, at anywhere from $1.50 to $2.50 per gallon, gas can get expensive if you put in a lot of miles every day.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many considerations when deciding whether or not to train clients in their homes, and you must weigh those considerations against the benefit of being "free" from the gym trainer's normal boundaries, and instead being in charge of your own day to day business. In return, you can command higher per session fees for home training. Since you are saving your clients a lot of driving time and gym expenses, as well as giving them an opportunity to get healthy in the privacy of their own homes, it is not unheard of for a home trainer to charge $75 to $100 or more per session. Figure in scheduling issues, the exercise program that you will have your clients on, and the resources needed, and decide for yourself if this type of training program will work for your business!

3 Powerful Ways to Position Yourself as an Expert

Regardless of what profession you are in, it is critical that people believe that you know what you are talking about! You won't find very many successful lawyers whose clients never win in court, or popular doctors whose patients are continually misdiagnosed. This concept obviously applies to personal trainers as well, and making sure you are viewed as an expert in your field is as important as having the knowledge to begin with.

It is helpful to be aware of the simple fact that a person's perception is their reality, even if that perception is incorrect. Let's use the example of the doctor in the above paragraph. If you heard through personal references that Dr. John Smith wasn't a very good doctor, the chances that you would ever go see Dr. Smith are pretty slim. However, do you actually know for a fact that Dr. Smith is a bad doctor? No - you just have the perception that he is a bad doctor because that is what you heard. Do you see how your perception is your reality, and how Dr. Smith is unlikely to be getting any of your business?

Your mission is to make sure that you are always viewed as an expert in your field! Otherwise you will end up like poor Dr. Smith, and your list of clients will be short indeed, as will the life of your business. However, if you have done your job and created the impression that you are an expert in your field, then the opposite will hold true. People will have "heard" that you know what you are talking about, and your reputation and your business will grow as a result. In order to get to this desired end result, three effective ways for you to build your reputation include media exposure, writing books, articles, or success tips for your field, and approaching any given situation from a "position of power".

Media Exposure

The most common ways to get viewed as an expert using media exposure include news programming on television, magazine and newspaper stories, and radio time. Each of these methods has one thing in common: mass exposure via a publicly accepted system of obtaining information.

Consider this point from your own perspective. If you see an interview on the news, read an article about a company in the newspaper, or hear about a professional organization on the radio, your natural instinct is to believe that the company or organization has a firm grip on the ins and outs of their product or service.

Why do you think that? Is it because the radio program included a long list of professional references for the company? Is it because the magazine article listed a passing grade by a professional review board or other certifying agency qualified to judge the advertised organization?

The answer to those questions is most likely "no". Why then do you believe in the company's ability to provide the product or service that is discussed? The answer is simple: because you were exposed to the company via a publicly accepted system of obtaining information. Whether that system was the six o'clock news, your local daily paper, or your favorite magazine, chances are that you believed what you read or heard simply because of WHERE you read or heard it!

Ideally, all consumers - including professionals such as yourself - would use other additional methods to determine the qualifications of a company before purchasing their product or service, but in reality, does that happen very often? No, not really. Most people believe what they read and what they hear, and as a Fitness Professional, you can take advantage of that fact. Granted, you should not profess to be an expert if you aren't, but assuming that you really do know what you are talking about, use the media to let others know, too!

Writing Books, Articles, and Success Tips

Comparable to the "expert" status that is afforded a company based on their mass media exposure, a similar assumed professional status can be taken on by any company or individual that publishes written works in their field.

Refer back to the power of the mass media that is referenced above, and you will see a very similar effect generated by published works. If someone writes a book, publishes articles, or generates a regular flow of "success tips" in any given field, it is automatically assumed by the reader that the author of the book, article, or success tip knows what they are talking about.

Is it true that the author is an expert in their field just because they know how to write or type? Of course not! However, the mass media phenomenon applies to published written works just as much as it applies to interviews done on the news, in magazines, or on the radio. The author is assumed to be proficient in the field that the book, article, or tip discusses, even though there is rarely indisputable evidence of the writer's expertise included with the written works.

Again, it is not being suggested that you write books, articles, or success tips unless you really do hold expert status in your field. However, since the "assumptions of excellence" apply as much to the written word as to audio and visual exposure, take advantage of that fact and write as much and as often as you can!

As a side note, writing is also an excellent way for you to enhance your own knowledge in your field. Frequently during the process of writing a book or article, you are called upon to reference the sources of your information, and gathering that type of information expands your own knowledge, as well as your understanding of how to find information for similar projects in the future.

Assuming a "Position of Power"

Utilizing a "position of power" is one of the most effective methods of positioning yourself as an expert in your field. Approaching a situation from a position of power is simply the art of assuming that whoever you are talking to already perceives you to be an expert. Remember that a person's perception is their reality, so as long as the other person believes that you are an expert, then in their eyes, you are!

For example, let's use the story of a talented personal trainer who is applying for the position of Director of Fitness Programming at a small but successful local gym. We will call our imaginary professional Joe Trainer, and we will say for the record that Joe does indeed hold an effective track record in the personal training industry. His clients have benefited from his knowledge and guidance, and he has successfully changed many people's lives in a positive manner. However, Joe Trainer has never been a "Director of Fitness Programming" before. Is he qualified for the job?

Let's review Joe's history. He has worked or worked out in dozens of gyms over the years. Joe has utilized all manner of fitness equipment, from paint cans in his garage when he was a teenager, all the way up through the most modern computerized workout machines available in some of today's fitness facilities. Joe has put together hundreds of different workout programs for hundreds of different people over the years, and we have already determined that his client track record is excellent. Joe has also been called upon many times over the years to recommend fitness equipment purchases to his many clients, including a cost to benefit ratio analysis (in other words, if the equipment is worth the money). Joe has also been exposed to many different lines of nutritional supplements, dietary guidelines, and he has even taken aerobics classes and yoga from time to time.

Has Joe Trainer ever been a "Director of Fitness Programming" before? No. However, is Joe Trainer qualified for that position? Most likely yes! However, now Joe has a dilemma. He has scheduled an interview with the local gym, he really wants the job, but he is nervous about the fact that he has never really been a "Director of Fitness Programming" or a director of anything at all, for that matter. Joe now has 2 choices.

Choice number one is for Joe to go to the interview, ramble on uncontrollably about the hundreds of clients that he has successfully trained, babble about how many different gyms he has been in, and go into mindless detail about why he thinks Supplement A is better than Supplement B.

Do you think Joe will get the job? Let's try a different approach.

Joe mentally prepares for the interview by reviewing the many different ways that his experience will benefit the facility. He puts together a few examples of how he successfully recommended or used one type of fitness equipment more effectively than a different type. Joe puts together mental notes about how aerobics and group exercise classes have added success to his training programs over the years, and how incorporating a cross training approach has kept his clients motivated and continually seeing results from their training programs.

By this point, Joe's confidence in his ability to be a "Director of Fitness Programming" has increased, and he honestly believes that it is not him who is being interviewed, but it is he who is interviewing the facility. Joe doesn't need this job - he has proven his ability to make a living as a personal trainer dozens of times over the years. He is applying for this position because he believes that he can be a great asset to the facility, and he wants to expand his experience in the field. In fact, the facility would be lucky to have him! For that matter, he may already be considering countering the posted pay scale with an increase if they want to hire him. After all, he is Joe Trainer, and his success record speaks for itself!

Now, do you think Joe will get the job? Pretty safe bet.

Is the Joe Trainer in the first example any different than the Joe Trainer using the second approach? No - we're talking about the same person. What is different then? Joe's belief in himself - and more importantly - Joe's ability to show the facility how they would be missing a great opportunity if they didn't hire him. It is Joe who is interviewing the facility, not the other way around. Joe assumed a "Position of Power" before he even got to his interview. He walked out with a new title and a nice salary, an increased confidence in his own abilities, and the opportunity to mold an entire staff of personal trainer into successful, results-oriented Fitness Professionals!

This same concept can also be applied when negotiating with potential new clients. Remember that you are the fitness professional. You are the one with the knowledge and the experience that the client needs. You are not asking them to be your clients, but rather you are giving them the opportunity to become your clients.

Conclusion

As you can see, as Fitness Professionals in the ever-growing field of health and physical fitness, we have many tools at our disposal when it comes to positioning ourselves as experts. However, we have an equal amount of responsibility to not utilize these tools unless we are 100% confident in our status as experts in our chosen disciplines. Use your knowledge and your tools wisely and appropriately, and you will see your professional and personal success grow beyond your wildest dreams!

5 Easy Steps to Sanity on the Road

If you have been a personal trainer for any length of time - or any fitness professional, for that matter - then you know what it's like to spend a lot of time on the road. For trainers who work with their clients in homes or a geographic mix of local fitness facilities, you especially have some serious time behind the wheel on a regular basis.

Regardless of where you train your clients, most trainers spend a good deal of time driving to and from training sessions, seminars, and other work-related activities. For most people, that time ends up being "dead time", during which you really can't be very productive. Listed below are some great ideas for making the most of that time, and making it time that you even look forward to!

Audio Learning

Audio learning is listed first in our list of great ideas because it is VERY powerful on many levels, and there are numerous resources available for this productive practice. The basic idea here is that you listen to any number of audio learning resources while you are driving. You don't have anything else to do, and you can't effectively or safely do anything with your hands, but your EARS are just fine, so put them to work!

Here are some of the educational and motivational items that you might consider listening to, and many of them have resources geared specifically for fitness professionals: Self-help programs, Audio interviews, Recorded conference calls, Recorded radio programs, Career enhancement tools, and Motivational recordings.

As you can see, there are enough ideas for things to listen to while driving to fill up endless hours of time, and if you know where to look, there are literally more things to listen to than you will even have time for.

Planning Workouts

Driving time is a perfect time to work on the training protocols for your clients. If you are doing the same workouts week after week and month after month, both you and your clients are going to get bored doing the same thing all the time. A great way to keep your own motivation up while also keeping your clients from hitting plateaus in their training programs is to change up the training routines on a regular basis.

Think about all of the muscular and cardiovascular training principles that you are familiar with, and come up with new and inventive ways to put those resources together in effective training routines. Also, for specific clients, you can spend that driving time thinking about their individual workouts, and ways that you can make them more intense, or fill them with more variety. This is a valuable practice, especially if you have long-term clients who need things to be changed up on a regular basis.

Working on Products

Another trait shared by many successful trainers is that their actual training wages make up only part of their income. They also have many products that they sell to their clients, through their websites, and via their newsletter distribution lists. However, just as with training, the same products can only be utilized so many times, and driving time is a perfect time to think up new product ideas.

Whether you are talking about "information" products, such as books, e-books, CD's, DVD's, manuals, etc., or if you construct actual training equipment, use that dead time when you are driving to think of cutting edge product ideas that will not only help your target audience towards their goals, but will also make you a nice residual income in the process.

Making Phone Calls

As most trainers have realized, phone work is an integral part of keeping a steady flow of clients. Contacting and following up with prospective clients is a sure-fire way to keep your training schedule packed from week to week.

In addition, you can call your present clients to check on them. See how they feel after yesterday's brutal leg workout, or find out if their sore shoulder is feeling any better, or maybe check in with them to ask how their job interview went, or their anniversary dinner. TALK to your clients! When they know that you care, they will keep training with you!

Nothing!

One of the most effective things that you can do as a busy personal trainer when you are driving is NOTHING! Just let your mind be blank. Pay attention to the road, obviously, but otherwise, just enjoy some mental down time!

You spend hour after hour every single day training, motivating, and educating countless people. Sometimes to the point that if you tell one more person the proper way to do a push up, you just might have to SCREAM!

Let those mental energies have a well deserved break! Listen to some relaxing music and (safely) let your mind wander. Crank out some hard rock and sing your frustrations into the wind. Plan your next bout of Karaoke - whatever! The point is that you are doing anything BUT putting your brain on overdrive.

Conclusion

Your time traveling from place to place is YOUR time. Use it well and you will find both your success and your sanity under control, and keep both headed in the right direction!