I need help with rates/length of sessions. - Personal Trainer Community - Forum

[Kickboxer]

"I think too man trainers only think about strength or cardio, when there is so much that can be done during the warm-up and please don't waste their time with 5-10 minutes on a cardo machine that will do nothing but waste their time and money."

Hello everyone. I am new to this forum. Lot's of great threads. Pertinent to session structure... I have had a few clients that require me to literally stand over them like a hawk, and enforce an adequate level of intensity for their warm-up (and no! walking 3.0 on the treadmill does not count - lol).

I have also had clients who were so deconditioned, that their sessions were split up to 30 minutes of effective cardio, 20 minutes strenght/balance exercises, 10 minutes stretch/cool down. It is my philosophy that preparing a client to exert a higher level of intensity is paramount to continued success. This mehtod works well with my fighters, and I just tone it down to accomodate newbies in the health club arena.

[chrismccombs]

My trainers do group training and we do 1 hour workouts. Usually a 5-10 minute warm up, 30-40 resistance training and and 10 or 15 minutes of stretches

But honestly people don't pay for time they pay for results. I actually think if a trainer can get a client into shape in shorter workouts that trainer is more valuable because he's saving people time and should be able to charge more.

So a trainer who get's someone into shape with 20 minute workouts should be able to charge more than a trainer who takes an hour

That said we do an hour because we train groups and theres some time and the start and the end of the workouts for getting ducks in a row

[kaiserS]

I know that 30 minutes go awfully fast. Sometimes I cant get in what I want within 60 minutes. Some people will go on and on about their personal life, and I have to quickly answer to make them happy and also let them know that they are here to work out, not to talk.

Sandy opcorn: I love this little guy... had to use him.

I agree, but also kickboxer is right that some clients are so deconditioned that they can only take a half hour in the beginning -

The way to handle this is to just give them half hour as a courtesy in the beginning, but get them back up to hour sessions as soon as possible -

If you can't find a way to fill an hour, you really need to explore different types of training and new techniques -

Could you imagine working out yourself for much less than an hour? Probably not, so you're clients need the same -

I know a lot of programs promise amazing results in 2-3 half hour sessions a week - it's possible with very careful eating, but it's much more realistic with a little more training -