In a recent issue of “Personal Fitness Professional,” Kaiser Serajuddin of GoHard Fitness defends planning training sessions as a great way to set yourself apart as a trainer. Having a program designed ahead of time along with in-session note-taking, he adds, may be time-consuming, but will pay off with a little patience. When clients and referrals notice the thought, effort, and extra time you put into devising an exercise plan, they will be more likely to pay a premium price for your services. Having a plan and updating it regularly will help in delivering high quality service and make a good, professional impression.
The ideas of planning a training session ahead of time as opposed to delivering one off the cuff have supporters on each side. When I first started out as a trainer, working for a large commercial club, we had to write summaries of training sessions with clients, but there was no obligation to write down a detailed program for each session. Computer access was limited when there were a dozen trainers sharing access to half as many computers, most of which were often exclusively used by membership sales reps. Planning sessions was often a personal objective completed off the clock.
