Personal Trainer Questions (And 7 Expert Answers!) | OriGym COE

Personal trainer questions are the thing nobody tells you about.

Sure, you know anatomy, how to construct a training programme, you might even have a full business plan at your disposal.

But when a client comes asking specific personal trainer questions that catch you off guard, you could find all your plans and hopes for structure come crumbling down.

Now, we’re here to make sure that doesn’t happen.

In this guide, we’ll take you through some of the most popular personal trainer questions we get asked on a day-to-day basis and how you can go about pleasing your clients (even if you don’t have the answers straight away!).

Continue developing your health & fitness knowledge by having a Level 4 Sports Nutrition qualification alongside your Level 3 Personal Training certification. Enquire today to find out more or download our course prospectus here.

Chapter One: Question Proofing Your Website!

Step one in stemming the tide of repeated personal trainer questions.

Get a website.

Here’s the thing: the fact you’re receiving so much attention and being asked for advice on so many different matters means you are popular. Your advertising & personal trainer marketing strategies are working!

The one problem you now have is fielding all the enquiries you have coming in. And, as you’ll soon realise, the easiest way to do that is to have a website.

So, before we even touch upon the most popular personal trainer questions, let’s look at the ways in which a basic website are going to save you hours of time answering the same questions.

Setting Up Your Website: What You Need

This much should be obvious in 2019, but if you’re a personal trainer looking to expand your business, you’re going to need a website.

More to the point, a website should be the first place a client goes if they have personal trainer questions to ask you.

This is why design is so important. Picture the scene for a second:

You’re a client who has never had a personal trainer. You don’t know what to expect, how much you have to pay, and how long you need to hire someone. All you know is that you want to get fit, and that you want help in order to achieve that goal.

That person – the one we’ve just described – is the perfect client.

They are open to possibilities, they will follow your advice, and they will have a tremendous amount of trust for you, as long as you play your cards right during early interactions.

First impressions are therefore paramount, and as such, your website needs to do a number of things:

Do you notice something here?

Everything about your website should be geared towards answering clients’ personal trainer questions.

In too many instances, personal trainers set up a website to look the part, without actually knowing what the goal or purpose of their website is. You, on the other hand, should have a clear goal in mind, whether that’s converting enquirers into clients, or expanding your brand reach outside of your immediate area.

FAQs – An Essential Page

A page ignored by many, but one that is invaluable with regard to reducing the number of personal trainer questions you receive.

Your FAQ page shouldn’t just be a section of your website hidden away at the bottom of another page.

If you use it properly, and guide potential clients towards it, it can be an amazingly useful conversion tool, and one that can drastically expand your business.

Think about it practically…

When you’re on the gym floor supervising customers, one of your main responsibilities is to provide answers to personal trainer questions, and to be on hand to guide beginners through new workouts and equipment.

On one level, you’re just offering advice, but on another, you’re advertising your expertise and selling your services to a massive customer base.

Well, the FAQ section of your website should do exactly the same thing!

Here’s how to optimise your FAQs to convert more online readers into paying customers: 

Social Media Links

Here’s the thing, your website doesn’t have to do everything.

There’s absolutely no way that your website can portray who you are, describe all of your services, qualifications and success stories, and then go on to answer every personal trainer question a client might have.

And, let’s be honest, it shouldn’t do that.

If you tried to achieve all of this, your website would be an absolute nightmare to negotiate for your clients.

Instead, you should split your content between two different platforms: your website, and your social media.

By having prominent links to your social media on your website, and links to your website on your social media pages, you are encouraging online users to engage with you outside of the gym.

This increases the likelihood of clients staying loyal, and might also mean that you receive fewer personal trainer questions on a day to day basis (if, for example, you are demonstrating your work with other clients on social media, new clients are less likely to bombard you with questions about your methods).

Video Content and Introductory Videos

Of course, not everyone has the patience to read through a page of FAQs, and not everyone is a huge fan of social media platforms.

Here’s where you can use multimedia to your advantage.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 10-20 years, you’ll have noticed that online content has moved away from static text, and towards graphics and video-based instructions.

While you may have to invest in a graphics designer or videographer, some interactive and engaging content is going to drastically reduce the number of personal trainer questions you receive on a day-to-day basis.

Not sure what kind of content would make a good video on your website?

Try some of the following:

• Workout demonstrations – particularly using lighter equipment like dumbbells and kettlebells.
• Gym tours of your local gym – really effective if you are targeting local clients.
• Anatomy and nutrition seminars – the more the fitness industry grows, the more people are turning towards experts for advice on matters regarding their health.

Chapter Two: How To Keep Clients Happy on the Gym Floor

Once you’ve set up a website with useful resources and links back to your contact details, you might start to see an influx of new clients.

Great!

What this also means, is that your timetable is about to get incredibly busy. While it's great to make money as a personal trainer, this is typically where personal trainers feel a little overwhelmed, especially when it comes to personal trainer questions.

If you’re being bombarded by questions ranging from nutrition, to the fastest way to lose weight and gain muscle, you’ll start repeating yourself pretty quick. Unfortunately, the monotony of answering the same personal trainer questions day in, day out, is what drives a lot of promising PTs out of the industry.

But it doesn’t have to be like this!

Check out the chapter below for some of the best ways to keep your routine fresh, by coming up with new answers to personal trainer questions! 

Keep Them Surprised: Offer Something New

This is one of those pieces of advice that sounds fairly straight forward, but that actually goes a long way in keeping you satisfied in your job, and keeping your customers engaged.

If you find that your using the same answers to personal trainer questions every day, the easiest way to combat this is to add something new to your routine.

See, the best personal trainers out there are not necessarily the fittest ones, or even the ones who make the most money.

The people who really innovate and drive the industry forward re those who can spot opportunity in their everyday routine.

Rather than treating personal trainer questions as an obstacle, then, why not use them as a platform to try some new ideas…

Admitting You Won’t Know Answers to all Personal Trainer Questions  

Now, here’s something that many personal trainers would be reluctant to admit…

You don’t have to know everything.

And you shouldn’t pretend to! Half of the fun of this line of work are the things you can learn on the job.

Say, for example, a new client wants to start working with you, and says they want some personal training with the view of improving their strength to help them become a better climber.

Now, if you’ve never tried bouldering or climbing, there’s no way you’re going to able to immediately consult on what’s best. However, it’s an opportunity to start researching what kind of muscles are used in climbing, and devising a specialist programme for that client to help them improve.

The fact of the matter is, as a personal trainer, you have the foundation of knowledge to answer personal trainer questions about a broad range of subjects pertaining to anatomy of fitness – however, when things get specific, you will still need to go and do your research.

To anticipate such personal trainer questions, make your programme flexible and adaptable to change. The easiest way to do this are by setting both short-term and long-term targets for your clients.

Adopt the Researcher’s Mind Set

Going hand-in-hand with admitting you might not know all the answers to personal trainer questions, is committing yourself to research.

There’s no way you’re going to make it in this industry if you’re not prepared to research to get ahead of the game.

Now, research needn’t mean going through textbooks every spare hour of your day. You need to identify what the best method of learning is for you, and then programme it into your daily routine.

But what happens when independent research isn’t enough to keep on top of personal trainer questions.

When you’re an established personal trainer, you should always look at what CPD Courses are available to keep on top of fitness trends.

The fitness industry moves fast, and if you want to keep on top of your competition, you need to spend time researching, and improving your skillset through completing CPD qualifications.

Chapter Three: The Seven Most Common Personal Trainer Questions (and how you should answer them!)

Now for the bit you’ve all been waiting for.

We’re going to take you through the most popular personal trainer questions that we hear on the gym floor, and how you should answer them to keep your clients happy.

Or let’s rephrase that…

You shouldn’t just want to keep your clients happy, you should want to keep them loyal and excited to train with you.

Your answers to personal trainer questions then, should at all times look to advertise your services and why it’s important that they trust your advice.

1. What are your qualifications?

This seems like a fairly straight forward question, but it is one that leaves a ton of room for expansion if you want to prove your worth to potential new clients.

 As far as answering the personal trainer question at hand, just remember to address the following straight from the off:

In addition to those things you need as a personal trainer – namely, your Level 2 fitness instructor qualification and Level 3 personal trainer course as well as some CPDs under your belt – you should use this personal trainer question as an opportunity to outline what makes you different from other trainers.

Think about going into detail on any group classes you run, and any previous experience in professional or semi-professional sports.

Sometimes, even if you have a brief knowledge of a sport that your client plays, it’ll be enough to convince them that you’re the right trainer for the job.

2. What should I be eating during my personal training programme?  

This is a huge one in 2019.

Ask any practising personal trainer in the modern industry and they’ll tell you that clients want more than just gym training these days. Their personal training is just one aspect of a wider shift towards healthier living.

So, when they ask you about what they should be eating while training, don’t be tempted to just give an off-the-cuff answer.

Notice above how this simple question can lead to months, if not years of client loyalty?

You should always look to how you can offer the best advice in a professional context. You benefit from the transaction, and your client receives practical advice that they can action in their everyday lives.

3. What else should I be doing, outside of our sessions?

This is a good sign.

If your client has reached the point where they are asking personal trainer questions like the one above, it means they believe they are ready to ramp up their training schedule.

Now you have two clear options ahead of you in terms of answering their enquiry.

Option two is a particularly good move if you are looking to expand your business around the time that your clients poses this personal trainer question.

Group classes can help you save time, expand your client lists, and increase your earnings, and if you have existing clients you can offer them free sessions to run some trial group classes before you open it up to the general public.

One thing you do have to make sure if you’re looking to move into group classes on a professional basis, is that you are fully qualified with the correct CPD courses for the classes that you intend to run.

4. Do you travel to your clients?

Now, you have to be careful with this personal trainer question…

There’s a difference between a client who will occasionally travel for their clients, and a mobile personal trainer.

A client who will occasionally travel is more likely to be someone who, while being based in gym setting for the majority of their working hours, will occasionally make exceptions on a request-basis, particularly for long-term clients.

This may happen if a client is training for a competition but can’t make it to the gym at a crucial stage in their training, or if a client’s work means they can’t make a chunk of their paid for sessions.

Remember, as a personal trainer you have to be prepared to be flexible…

Being flexible, however, does not mean constantly disrupting your routine to travel to clients homes. Your schedules are going to be really tight as a personal trainer, and if you haven’t made allowances for factors like travel time, then you’re not going to be able to build a sustainable career out of travelling to clients’ homes.

If that was the route you wanted to go down, then you’d be better off building up a reputation as a mobile personal trainer, rather than a gym-based PT.

5. How quickly should I start seeing results from our training?

The only way to answer this personal trainer question is to reemphasis the importance of short-term or long-term goals to your clients.

You’ll soon learn that a lot of personal training is about reading between the lines. Knowing where and when to dive deeper into why a client is asking that question.

In this instance, a client tends to ask this question when they’re feeling frustrated with their progress, and it happens a lot with clients who have never hired a personal trainer before.

As opposed to allowing this question to slip under the radar, which will only delay the client’s problem until a later date, you should instead nip the issue at the bud.

Of course, another way of reassuring your client that they are making progress is by tracking their progress through training diaries, and by taking frequent before and after photos.

Clients are the worst at downplaying their achievements, however large or small, so if you can provide evidence of their forward progress then you reassure them that their training has been worth it.

6. What happens if I get injured?

In truth, if a client gets injured there isn’t much you can do.

Outside of having the correct insurance, sometimes there’s nothing you can do other than suggest a period of rest and reassure the clients that you’ll be there when they are back to full health.

There is, however, another route you could pursue to ensure you have something in your back pocket when clients pose this personal trainer question.

Usually, when a client asks this question, they are looking for reassurance that you have the requisite experience to deal with obstacles and issues in your path.

If, however, you have pursued a sports massage therapy qualification, then you’ll have something in your back pocket that makes you stand out above the competition.

7. How much do your services cost? 

Again, as long as you’ve done your research, this personal trainer question is a relatively straight forward one.

It is, however, one of the most important personal trainer questions there is.

As such, you don’t just want to give a stock answer to every client.

This is why client interviews, are so important. You need to sit down with your client, discover exactly what they are looking for, and then offer them a price or deal depending on exactly what they are looking for.

Before You Go!

Now it’s your turn!

We want to hear what are the most common personal trainer questions you hear on the gym floor.

Join the discussion on Facebook and Twitter.

To make sure you can answer any of your clients questions, why not combine your personal training knowedge with our Level 4 Sports Nutrition Course? Get in touch with our team today and download our course prospectus to find out more.