A Top Personal Trainer’s Checklist
Becoming and being a successful personal trainer or coach can be defined in a lot of different ways, by many different people.
Some might argue that the defining characteristic of a top trainer is having a high number of daily, monthly, or yearly clients sessions. Others might peg a top trainer from a mediocre one by how many specialized certifications or niche knowledge those trainers have.
What can’t be argued or changed, is that a top trainer always aims to best serve the people who need their help the most, and to maintain positivity and consistent always!
To help you be the best trainer possible, we have come up with a list of daily and monthly tasks that will help your place amongst elite fitness professionals!
Here are the daily and monthly lists of a top personal trainer (remember, you can edit these lists to fit your work location, team size, and the number of clients.)
Daily List
- Don’t cheat team and clients by being late. Never be less than 20 minutes early for a class, small group or PT session
- Check team goals for the day and week in the office on the whiteboard
- Daily cleaning (trash, vacuum, align and organize KBs/ equipment)
- Check training schedule and prepare training session/pull out binders for clients that have them, timers, etc.
- Smile genuinely at every client, prospect, and visitor that walks through the door and greet them with excitement (if you do not know them then introduce yourself to them and ask for their name)
- Call every client by their name at least 2x every session. If you do not know someone’s name, find out and repeat it more often during that session so you remember it
- Touch every client at least 1x during every training session to cue them or encourage them.
- TEACH! Praise – correct – praise, always use positive reinforcement
- Bring ENERGY and EXCITEMENT to EVERY MEMBER and EVERY TRAINING SESSION
- Ask members for referrals (ask at least 2 clients every day)
- Read and hand out any awards at the beginning of class
- Get members to check in on the gym/facility/business Facebook page daily (check yourselves in as well)
- End all sessions with praise and positive reinforcement and stay in the training area until EVERY member has left
- Go to the Facebook members-only page (if you don’t have one you should definitely create one!) and post useful information, from quotes to pictures. Post pictures of people from training( if they have given you permission), and answer any questions and comment on members replies
- Take at least one picture of the client/class you’re training and post it on your page while tagging the member (unless they request you not to)
- After boot camp/training, always announce any important things, events, specials, “bring a friend” days, referral contests, etc.
- Remind everyone of any special gym contests or competitions
- Create a “To do” list (make sure all tasks are completed, if so, move on to tomorrow’s to-do list)
- Get new contract folders ready for appointments/assessments tomorrow
- Complete task list and give to a designated staff member or operations manager
- Clean up, and organize equipment, etc.
- Send out a brief e-mail, text or call (if necessary) to your team about any concerns/questions
- Place checklist on your staff members desk for review before leaving for the day
Weekly List for Personal Trainers
- 300- to 500-word article for your website, training, nutrition, mindset, strategies that will help people in real life and that can be applied.
- Spend some extra time with clients you feel need it, whether just spending 5-10 minutes talking about personal things/training or nutritional help/strategies, setting up a desk date (15-20 minutes), or calling them to let them know you are proud of their accomplishments, acknowledging something important to them, etc.
- Submit a scorecard to your staff members (it should have the required amount of points for the week!). At the end of the month, I will be rewarding the team member with the most points.
- Come to the weekly meeting with any ideas, a positive attitude, observations on improvements, as well as questions, concerns, etc.
- Get clients a small gift, from something useful and functional (pedometer, book, etc.) that will help directly with their program
- Share a new recipe or flavor combination with client
Monthly List For Fitness Pros
- 500- to 1000-word article for your website
- Report what books, manuals you have read and DVDs you have watched. You should read a MINIMUM of 1 book each month and watch 1 DVD each month.
- Check on client progress by weighing them in, doing measurements, asking about pant sizes, etc. (We will create a tracking chart in the client folder). This is a great opportunity to get a written testimonial, video testimonial, or before and after pic.
- Create a client handout with useful, applicable information in areas they are interested in.
Other Things to Consider that will Create a Remarkable Experience for Your Clients
- Private and Semi-private clients could receive water, Vitamin Water or some kind of facility approved protein drink after their training session. This is a huge added value!
- Tell clients specifically what they have achieved and let them know that you are proud of them – you know how much effort they put into achieving that.
- Listen. They want you to know them. They want to know that you know them.
- Research study. Share with them the latest findings in whatever area you are working with them on.
- Show them something special – specific exercises or stretches geared toward low back pain, easier sleep, etc.
- Offer to go to their kid’s school for show and tell or to speak and demo or offer to do a lunch and learn for their church or social group – you just may get some new clients in the process.
- Ask them specifically if there is anything you can do for them.
- Remember their birthday or their anniversary of working with us.
- For women: Give them a flower on Mother’s Day (during that week) or Bosses Day (explaining that you work for them)
- Surprise them with a chair massage, create a poster or sign that recognizes the personal best or achievement – the names of the achievers, have their name embroidered on one of your shirts or sweatshirts, when they achieve the dress size they wanted to get to – cross promote with a popular clothing store and give them a discount coupon.
Here’s a free resource to learn how to better market your personal training services.
