How to Align Your Client’s Goals With Your Own as a Personal Trainer

With so much of your time and energy as a Personal Trainer spent on clients, it can be easy to lose sight of your own goals along the way. Below, we’ll explore some of the ways you can use your daily client work to fuel your long-term goals and dreams as a Personal Trainer.

Know Your Goals

First of all, get clear on your own goals.

As a PT, it’s so easy to just focus on the goals your clients have. After all, you want them to grow and succeed, right? But it’s also important that you grow and succeed too. If you haven’t done so already, your first step should be outlining your goals over the next few months and years.

Do you want to:

• Double your client base within one year?

• Get more personal training qualifications within one year?

• Grow your social presence by a thousand followers in three months?

• Try a new exercise routine every month?

• Make an impact in more people’s lives?

Whatever your goal is, be specific (with numbers and dates). And don’t be afraid to be ambitious. And if a goal seems too big to reach, break it up into bite-sized tasks you can put straight into your calendar.

Now that you know your goals, find out what your client’s goals are.

Expand Your Client’s Goals

Goals play a huge role in personal training; they give your client a reason to show up on tough days. And while most Personal Trainers ask about their client’s fitness goals, they may only scratch the surface. One way how to be a better personal trainer is to dig deeper.

Do they want to:

• Be able to do 50 pushups within three months?

• Feel more confident at the beach by next summer?

• Help their close friends develop healthy habits?

By enquiring and asking questions, you can help your clients paint a clearer picture of what they want to achieve. You’ll also get great information to help you improve their sessions and, eventually, align your goals.

Aligning Goals

When you break down each goal, you may find some similarities. When you do, you can start aligning your actions to achieve both. Below, we’ve put together four tips on aligning goals.

1. Share Your Goals

Sharing your goals with your client (when it’s appropriate) gets the goal out of your head and into the real world - where it can take shape. For example, if your client knows you’re looking to take on more clients, they may encourage their friends or family members to contact you. And if they know you’re passionate about your social media page - and are creating some valuable content - they may follow you and share your content.

2. Plan Two Goals Each Session

While you show up for them, you still need to stay aware of your own goals. So, when planning training sessions, write down goals for your clients, but also for you. That way you can continue to move forward as a PT, bringing your clients with you. This could be as simple as planning to try a new exercise during each session.

3. Work Together

If you discover you both have similar goals, work together on fulfilling them. For example, if you want to make a positive difference in more people’s lives, and your client wants to help their friends develop healthy habits, teach them basic nutrition tips or exercises that they can share with others.

4. Keep Learning Together

The more you learn, the more you can improve your training. And let’s face it, it’s exciting being able to train in new ways. This is a great cycle for clients and personal trainers; if you both want to keep learning, you’ll end up inspiring each other.

If you’re looking for your next course, AIPT offers a variety of different personal training qualifications.

And if you’re wondering how to be a better personal trainer in your city, check out our article on setting yourself apart as a Personal Trainer.