The Personal Trainer Roadmap

If you're a personal trainer working in a commercial gym, you already know that talking to members is one of the best ways to find new clients.

But knowing you should be doing something and actually doing it are two very different things.

Approaching somebody you've never met, interrupting their workout and trying to start a conversation can feel incredibly awkward.

Which is why I want to share a simple method I've been using with some of the PTs I mentor.

I call it The Gym Floor Survey Method.

All you need is a clipboard, a pen and a handful of questions.

In this episode, I'll explain:

• Why talking to gym members should be one of your biggest marketing priorities.
• How the survey method makes approaching strangers considerably easier.
• The seven questions you can use to start meaningful conversations.
• How to turn those conversations into opportunities to offer genuine help.
• Why offering something useful before asking for anything in return can be so effective.
• How to set yourself a realistic target and track whether the method is working.

I also share a recent story from one of my mentoring clients, who approached a woman using this method and discovered she'd been waiting for a personal trainer to speak to her for an entire year.

If you're spending hours creating Instagram content but barely speaking to the people training in your gym, this episode might be the push you need.

Give the survey method a try this week and see what happens.

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Find Out More About Stuart & The PTR:

• Instagram
• 50 Recommended Books for PTs

At his busiest, Jake Weekes was coaching between 55 and 60 personal training sessions a week.

Three of his working days were 14 hours long.

But how did he build a client base that busy?

And, perhaps more importantly, what can other personal trainers learn from how he did it?

In this episode of The Personal Trainer Roadmap Podcast, I'm joined by Jake Weekes, an experienced in-person PT and founder of the Complete Trainer Project.

Jake now coaches 15–20 sessions a week from his own private studio, alongside helping other PTs develop their coaching skills and businesses.

We discuss:

• How Jake built up to 60 sessions a week within his first couple of years at a commercial gym.
• Why getting to know gym members was more valuable than complicated marketing strategies.
• How introverted PTs can become more confident approaching people on the gym floor.
• Why teaching classes can be such an effective way to find clients.
• What working 14-hour days taught Jake about building a sustainable career.
• Why Jake still wants to coach at least 10 sessions a week, even as his education business grows.
• Why the fundamentals of building relationships haven't changed as much as some PTs think.

There's a lot of advice out there about social media, funnels and content creation.

But sometimes the most effective way to get more PT clients is to become somebody that people in your gym know, like and feel comfortable approaching.

If you're an in-person PT struggling to fill your diary, this is an episode worth listening to.

Find out more about Jake:

• Instagram

Find out more about Stuart:

• Instagram

Does your personal training business sometimes feel like it's being held together by WhatsApp messages, emails and things you're trying to remember to do?

If so, this episode is for you.

I'm sharing five simple systems that I believe every personal trainer should have in place to run a more professional, consistent and successful business.

We'll cover how to track the numbers that actually matter, create a marketing routine that keeps working even when you're busy, onboard clients properly, generate more referrals and spot potential client retention problems before somebody cancels.

None of these systems require fancy software, expensive automations or hours of additional admin.

Most can be managed with a spreadsheet, a checklist and a few recurring calendar reminders.

If you're an established PT who wants to feel more organised and confident about how your business operates, pick one of these systems and put it into action this week.

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Find Out More About Stuart & The PTR:

• Instagram
• 50 Recommended Books for PTs

What if the exercise you're trying to get your client to perform simply isn't the right exercise for them?

In this episode of The Personal Trainer Roadmap, I'm joined by Ben Yanes to talk about biomechanics, exercise selection and what it really means to coach the person in front of you.

Ben has built a reputation for making complex topics like anatomy and biomechanics much easier for personal trainers to understand and apply.

We discuss why understanding biomechanics can make you a more adaptable coach, why exercises shouldn't automatically be labelled good or bad, and how to make better decisions when a client struggles with a movement.

We also get into:

• Why the same exercise can look completely different between two clients.
• How to start learning biomechanics without getting overwhelmed.
• Why exercises should fit people, rather than the other way around.
• What to do when an exercise causes discomfort.
• Why assessments should happen throughout the coaching process.
• How to think about good and bad technique.

One of my favourite messages from this conversation is that you can be extremely confident in your coaching ability... while still accepting that you won't always know what will happen next.

If you're a PT who wants to become better at understanding movement, solving problems and adapting your coaching to individual clients, I think you'll really enjoy this one.

Find out more about Ben:

• Instagram

Find out more about Stuart:

• Instagram

Most personal trainers probably talk too much when they're coaching.

I certainly have.

After hosting Nick Winkelman in Edinburgh for a full-day seminar on The Language of Coaching, I came away with a load of ideas that have already changed how I'm approaching my own PT sessions.

In this episode, I'm sharing six of the most useful.

We get into why you should sometimes shut up and let your clients move, why giving someone five coaching cues at once rarely helps, and how using analogies can make your coaching more memorable, effective and enjoyable.

I'll also explain how to involve your clients in creating their own cues, why greater awareness of what you're actually saying matters, and what personal trainers can learn from comedians about preparing for their sessions.

Nothing here requires new equipment, another qualification you won't use or a complete overhaul of your coaching.

Just a willingness to pay a little more attention to how you communicate.

Give a couple of these a go in your next session and see what happens.

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Find Out More About Stuart & The PTR:

• Instagram
• 50 Recommended Books for PTs

What does REALLY good personal training actually look like?

Michael Goulden has been a personal trainer for nearly 30 years, still coaches 25–30 sessions per week, and has clients who've been with his business for more than 20 years.

So I wanted to find out what he's doing differently.

We talk about why Michael treats every client like an individual project, how to stay curious even after you've coached someone for years, the standards he's built into every part of the client experience, and the tiny details that can separate a brilliant PT from everyone else in the gym.

We also get into consultations, knowing when NOT to take someone on, keeping long-term clients engaged and what should actually be happening while your client is performing a rep.

This conversation reminded me just how much depth there is to being a great personal trainer.

If you care about getting better at the actual craft of PT, you'll enjoy this one.

Find out more about Michael Goulden:

• Integra Education

I've started a personal training business from scratch four different times.

And the first attempt nearly ended with me quitting the industry altogether.

In this episode, I take you through my slightly windy journey from qualifying as a PT in 2012 (I think...), losing most of my first clients and barely being able to pay my rent, through to rebuilding my PT business in Dundee, New York and eventually from a garage in North Carolina.

Along the way, I learned a LOT about becoming a better coach, getting clients, building a local reputation and what it actually takes to make personal training work as a career.

I'm now pretty confident I could move somewhere new and build a PT business again.

Not because I have a massive following or some secret marketing tactic... but because I've developed the skills, systems and confidence to know how to do it.

Hopefully this episode helps you build some of those too.

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Find Out More About Stuart & The PTR:

• Instagram
• 50 Recommended Books for PTs

Personal training can be a brilliant career.

But somewhere along the way, it feels like the fitness industry became obsessed with helping PTs escape it.

Go online. Open a gym. Scale. Stop trading time for money.

I want this podcast to be a little different.

Actually...

Very different.

In this first episode, I explain why I've started The Personal Trainer Roadmap Pod, who it's for, and five things I believe about building a successful, long-term career as a PT.

We'll talk about getting clients, becoming a better coach, retention, being fully booked without working yourself into the ground, and why there's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be a really bloody good personal trainer.

If you care about the business, the craft AND the career of being a PT, this podcast is for you.

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Find Out More About Stuart & The PTR:

• Instagram
• 50 Recommended Books for PTs