Nobody saw the coronavirus pandemic shutting down the gyms and throwing thousands of fitness professionals out of work.
You can get started by following these eight steps:
1. Decide what types of clients you want to work with online
Think about if you get 30 clients who are paying £50, that’s £1500 per month.
You don’t need tens thousands followers or a massive marketing budget to land 30 clients. What you need is to find your 1% niche where you have a clear advantage, confidence and expertise. For example instead of advertising yourself as a fat-loss expert, you’re someone who helps men in their 30s and 40s who used to play sports at a high level but let themselves go and want to feel good about themselves again. Yes, you’re limiting who you can train, however that 1% factor you’ll be the obvious choice.
2. Create a template with three or four training phases for each type of client
You may think templated workouts are bad. But if you do them correctly, it’s the opposite. You can still individualise them and make it specific after completing their needs analysis during the consultation.
Programming considerations – Things like sets, reps, rest, and tempo will likely stay constant.
Order of movement patterns – Your first exercise may not always be a squat or deadlift, but it’ll probably be some sort of compound lower-body movement.
Workout split over the week – How many times the client trains and how the programs are split over the course of the week likely won’t change much.
Specific exercises – While the exercise category will stay the same, the specific exercises may change as you take into account the client’s goals, experience, skill level, and previous injuries etc.
Grips or implements – Clients will have access to different types of equipment, abilities and restrictions.
Specific aesthetic aspirations – Even among fat-loss clients, you’ll find a lot of variety in how they describe the type of physique they want to achieve. For some it might focus on waist size. For another it may be about a more athletic appearance such as bigger arms.
3. Compile a video library of the exercises in your online training programs
Since you’re not there to demonstrate exercises for your clients, you need videos to show them how to do each movement. Seen a lot of trainers use mypthub. If you can try and compile your own videos. We have our NHF gym so learners have access to make their own videos going over technique and form. You can then upload these videos onto google drive, drobox. Show at least two reps and make it at least 10 seconds long. Remember their demonstrations, clients don’t want to see you waffle on.
4. Decide if you want to use personal training software
I recommend Trainerize or mypthub for example, is usually a great choice for trainers who work with clients both in person and online.
These platforms offer a free 30-day trial. That should be enough time for you to decide if it’s going to work for you and your clients.
5.Decide how much you want to charge for online personal training
Avoid being cheap, if it’s cheap potential clients will immediately think it must be low quality. If it’s more expensive, you assume the opposite.
There is no “right” or “best” price. There’s only what’s best for you, and what makes sense within your business structure.
Start with these four considerations:
- Your income goals
- The hourly value of your time
- The services you offer, and the time it takes to create and deliver those services
- A realistic assessment of how many hours you want to work, keeping in mind that online training requires more time devoted to building and marketing your business
- That brings us to the most important question of all.
How will you demonstrate value?
When a potential client understands the value in what you offer, when they decide you’re the person to help become the person they want to see in the mirror, price becomes irrelevant. A potential client in that frame of mind will pay almost anything within reason. But if it doesn’t perceive value, what you offer will be too high.
6. Create an online personal training questionnaire
An online personal training questionnaire doesn’t have the luxury of meeting a client in person, shaking hands, smiling, and responding to questions. To replicate that in-person experience, it has to do more than just collect information—as important as that is. It needs to serve as a application form.
Here’s an example I found after scanning the web:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScaUwSUEbDHyV27CqBe0O8dZK4wyXFsPSlG-3zVZZjqn2Y1ZA/viewform
7. Choose a payment processing service
I personally use PayPal for business, there’s no reason to look at anything else. It’s easy to implement, fees are reasonable, and you can deposit money directly into your bank account for free. Stripe is also a good option, if you prefer it. Both are well known to the public.
8. Become a go-to expert for the types of clients you train online
When you train clients in a gym, everyone who walks in the door knows you’re a trainer. You’re dressed like a trainer. You carry yourself like someone who’s there in a professional capacity. And, of course, you train clients
No one can see you training people online, which means it’s entirely on you to make sure everybody knows what you do. That applies to potential clients as well as social contacts who can recommend you to people in their own circles who might be looking for the services you now offer.
Start fitness blogs just like what I’m doing right now, concentrate on just helping people first and build a reputation.
Summary
Online training is almost entirely unregulated. There are rules about giving nutrition advice, but virtually no barriers to entry when it comes to fitness. Anyone can go into business as an online personal trainer, and they can work with anyone who’s willing to hire them. However, these individuals will not be insured. They won’t be able to do the job well without knowing enough about anatomy and exercise science. Accredited organisation to do a personal training diploma in Norfolk, BTN Academy to become accredited nutritionist.
And although it’s not necessary, I personally think you should have experience training clients in person before working online.
Understand that online personal training is actually more difficult than working with someone who’s right in front of you. An online coach has to anticipate the problems a client is likely to have, and proactively prevent them from occurring.
That’s why the best online personal trainers often start out as the best trainers in a gym setting.
Written by Kevin Mantle (Managing Director)
