First Day as a Personal Trainer: How to Prepare and Succeed

Nervous about your first day as a personal trainer? Starting out as a gym personal trainer can be intimidating. Though being able to secure a job as a trainer should not be challenging, if properly equipped. Gaining the appropriate credentials and knowledge can make your first day as a personal trainer seamless. 

So long as you are certified and ready to go, everything else falls into place. From interacting with fellow colleagues and gym members to building rapport with potential personal training clients. Preparation, communication, and knowledge are key components to succeeding on your first day as a personal trainer. Let’s dive into how personal trainers are getting started in the gym and building their clientele.

What Qualifications Do You Need to Become a Personal Trainer?

The first step to becoming a successful personal trainer is making sure you get certified. Having the proper credentials is vital for liability and employment purposes. Most important is that the certification you hold builds value and trust between you and your potential clients. You may already have a great fitness background and foundation. Though clients don’t know that and neither does your potential employer. To prove you are worth the investment to train with, you must show credentials.

To get certified to work in a gym, you can choose a course that is administered by a reputable certification company. There are a couple of factors you want to look out for when choosing the right certification. 

• How much time you’re able to spend studying and devote to getting certified

• Your budget and what is the most cost-effective for you while retaining value

• The types of clients you want to work with and how you want to advance in the career

When choosing the best personal trainer certification, your decision should also depend on your existing knowledge or fitness background, and what types of gyms you hope to work for. Once you complete your course and gain the qualification you need to become a personal trainer, you are eligible to work at a gym. The certification process in most cases takes about 6-10 weeks depending on how much time and effort you put into your course. 

Learn more about becoming a certified personal trainer. 

Checklist: First Day as a Personal Trainer

One of the most important factors for new personal trainers to understand is the credential and knowledge they possess is only half the battle. Effectively building your clientele and advancing training business in a gym is dependent on being personable. 

The most successful gym personal trainers don’t just have the best credentials or most knowledge. They also have a great personality and a natural desire to help others. Connecting well with others will help you to get along with potential clients better. It helps build better relationships and is a major factor in being successful as a first-time trainer. 

When training via an introductory new member session, your ability to pitch an exercise plan to the new member is crucial. Here, your qualifications come into play. Though if you are unable to connect with a potential client, the likelihood of them buying training sessions with you lowers significantly.

This is where a lot of trainers miss out on new business from day one, especially on their first day when they might be nervous. It comes down to the fact that they may be highly educated but have low interpersonal skills. This provides clients with a lower perceived value of the services they provide.

On the other hand, there are many trainers who are very personable and have limited personal training knowledge. They effectively make new members comfortable during the purchasing process, but lack the knowledge to show the client they know what they are talking about.

Bottom line is, interpersonal skills and credentials paired together are imperative for a first time personal trainer. This includes effective verbal and nonverbal communication. Empathy, listening and a positive attitude should be complemented with an accredited certification.

Wondering what a daily schedule for a trainer looks like? Check out the ins and outs here.

Your First Personal Training Session

Once you attain your certification you can get your foot in the door. Your first day as a personal trainer will most likely include some introductory sessions or fitness assessments. In addition, a few personal training sessions and some housekeeping tasks would be available. For the most part, get ready to interact and build rapport with the gym members to grow your clientele from day one. 

Once you start to work with clients, remember that during your fitness sessions and workouts, you are still selling yourself. The job is not done and retention is key to sustaining a successful career as a personal trainer in the gym. Here are a couple questions you might find yourself focusing on prior to or on your first day as a personal trainer:

• What if the workout I designed is too difficult for my client?

• What if the workout isn’t challenging enough for my client’s fitness level?

• What if the gym equipment I plan to use is taken during my training session?

• What if the workout is too short, and I have to fill the time?

• What if the workout is too long and the client feels like they worked out too hard? 

Explore more skills needed as a personal trainer here. 

How to Succeed on Day One as a Gym Personal Trainer

When choosing the intensity of a workout for a new client, always consider your findings during the initial fitness assessment. You should also account for their fitness level and any limitations they have. On your first day as a gym trainer and every day after that, you want to avoid pushing a client too hard and potentially causing excessive muscle soreness or injury. If a client becomes too sore they might get discouraged to workout with you again. They also might be afraid to push themselves in the next workout.

However, you want to make sure you push them hard enough to where they feel like they got a good workout. Also, don’t forget to connect with them and have fun at the same time. Asking a lot right? Not really. As a personal trainer, it is your job to find that balance and understand how to adjust for each client individually. That’s what you’re getting paid for. Just prepare and understand for your first day, as nerves set in and sometimes cloud your judgment. 

How to Prepare as a Personal Trainer

Ensure that you prepare prior to your first session. Not the same day. The biggest mistake new trainers make is thinking because they know a lot they can prepare for sessions the day of or 15 minutes prior. This is not acceptable, appropriate, or professional. You will be doing your client and yourself a disservice. 

It doesn’t hurt to have two workouts planned. This should be a normal practice. Plus, always have a backup exercise plan. This includes modifications, regressions, or progressions that you can fall back on if needed. The reality is no matter how well you assess a client, you won’t know what they are truly capable of until you train them. If you go into training all your clients with this in mind, you will prepare the best way possible. You can never prepare too much. Having a variety of options to regress or progress your client allows you to adapt at any time. 

It will allow you to increase or decrease difficulty, move to other pieces of gym equipment when needed and fill time or cut down time when necessary. Have a strategy that can be adjusted as you go. Follow structure and have a well-thought-out format for each individual client and their goals. This is what top trainers do.

Earning Your Personal Trainer Certification

Are you ready to take that next step and gain the credential to become a Certified Personal Trainer? Check out the ISSA Certified Personal Trainer course. Study on your own terms and gain the qualification that certifies you as a fitness professional so you can start training clients at the gym.