FitSW Blog - Page 3 of 17 - Personal Trainer Software & Fitness Business Blog

How To Create A Meal Plan For Clients

When running a personal training business, there a multitude of things you have to do in order to be successful. It can difficult to manage all of the marketing, consultations, workout building, and meal planning. Even with the use of personal trainer software, running a fitness business is no easy task. A big part of many trainers’ fitness programs is meal plans. Nutrition plans can help your clients reach their goals faster, as you won’t have to worry about them losing their progress once they go to a restaurant. We’ll go over how to create a meal plan for clients and how it can help your clients further their progress.

Initial Assessment For Your New Clients

If you are working with a new client, you’ll want to get to know their food preferences, any allergies they have, and take into account their overall goals before creating a meal plan for them. You want to ensure that the meal plan you create for them is going to contribute to the success of their fitness journey. Sit down with them and go over their nutrition history. This will enable you to create the best meal plan for your clients possible.

Help Them Understand The Importance of Meal Prepping

If your clients are just beginning to eat healthier or are struggling to stick to their nutrition programs, meal prepping could be your answer. Meal prepping makes eating healthy a whole lot easier. Your clients won’t have to continuously make meals throughout the week. They’ll spend a few hours one day per week (we recommend on Sunday) creating healthy and portioned meals. To start out, give them a simple and cheap meal plan ideas.

Create Realistic Meal Plans

Creating over-complicated nutrition plans can make everyone’s life harder. Not only will they be harder to program, but they also will be much harder for your clients to adhere to. Start with a simple meal plan, something short such as 7 days. After this, you can begin to program more complicated meal plans based on your client’s fitness goals, though make it simple at the start.

Adjust Them Over Time

Following up with your clients to see how the meal plans are working for them is crucial to the longevity of both their meal plans and fitness programs. See what they like about the meal plans, what they dislike, and everything in between. Also, remind them that roadblocks are normal for everyone. If they are really struggling to stay on-track, try something different. Making sure your client’s meal plans fit them as closely as possible, which adjusting them over time will help, will ensure they are getting the best experience possible.

Example Meal Plan For Clients

Below you can find some examples of meal plans! Remember that your meal plans should be specifically made for your client’s fitness goals, though we hope this can be a good start/inspiration for you!

FitSW Wants Your Feedback!

We highly value our community and take your feedback seriously. So, if you have any feedback or comments on this article or anything else, reach out to us! You can do this by connecting with us on our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or support page! Additionally, you can leave a comment on this blog article or on any other article on our blog! After that, we typically reply within a day or so!

FitSW iOS App For Personal Trainers – Purchasing Update

We have just released a big update to our iOS app for personal trainers. This update includes the ability to purchase directly in your FitSW iOS app! While not all of our top tier plans are available through our iOS app, we still have plenty of options for you to choose from! If you would like to have one of our top tier plans (over 120 clients), these are still available on our website on our upgrade page!

Benefits of Upgrading Your Account

You can add up to 2 clients into our software and use it free, forever! However, there are many benefits to upgrading your FitSW subscription. For starters, you can add a minimum of 15 clients to our software. All of your clients can use FitSW for free and can log in to the app with a username and password that you create. Additionally, you’ll be able to add more workouts, diets, tasks, and save more progress pictures than you can with our free version. For more information on everything you can do with an upgraded subscription, check our Upgrade page!

How To Upgrade Directly In The-App

To upgrade directly through the FitSW iOS app, it only takes 3 simple steps! First, you need to click the “More” text in the bottom right portion of your screen. Next, scroll down and find the “Upgrade” tab. Once you are successfully on the upgrade screen, select the plan you want and follow the instructions on your screen. It’s that easy!

FitSW iOS App For Personal Trainers - Purchasing Update

FitSW Wants Your Feedback On iOS App For Personal Trainers – Purchasing Update

Turn New Year Resolution Clients Into Long-Term Clients

With the new year right around the corner, many individuals will vow to get in shape as their new year resolutions. This makes it one of the best times to be a personal trainer. Prospective clients are looking for someone to help them keep their resolutions. However, these clients can be different than clients that you obtain from other times from the year. This is because they may not be as committed to their long term fitness plans as other individuals. So, how do you turn your new year resolution clients into long term clients and ensure that they stick to their new year resolutions longer than just a few weeks?

Help Them Set Realistic Goals

Many of new year resolution clients will set unrealistic goals. Then, once they aren’t seeing these results in the first few weeks, they’ll get discouraged and discontinue using your services. Setting realistic goals can help with this tremendously.

If your client wants to lose 50 pounds, set intermittent goals over a 10 month period of losing 5 pounds per month. This is much more achievable and will help your clients realize the timeframe they need to achieve their goals.

Educate Your Clients

The clients you obtain around new years are most likely not well educated when it comes to fitness. This is why it’s imperative to educate your clients on all things fitness. If they understand nutrition, the effects of proper hygiene, how much they need to sleep, hydration, and of course exercise, they’ll be much better off.

Stay In-Touch Often

These clients may need extra motivation to stay on track than others. Thus, reaching out to them is a great way to keep them engaged and motivated. See if they were able to stick to their nutrition plan, how their soreness level is, or anything else related to your training with them. This will not only show them that you are committed to their long-term success but can build a healthy trainer-client relationship with them. Better yet, they’ll be more motivated to achieve the goals you set for them if you keep reminding them of their fitness plan.

FitSW Wants Your Feedback On Turning New Year Resolution Clients into Long-Term Clients!

Peripheral Heart Action Training For Weight Loss

Peripheral heart action training for weight loss is one of the best training systems out there to effectively lose body fat. The training not only helps you lose weight but also helps you improve overall cardiovascular fitness and improve the size and tone of your muscles.

The creator of this forgotten system was Arthur Steinhaus, Ph. D. Created in the 1940s, this system became popular in the 1960s by Bob Gajda.

Why Did This Training System Disappear?

With the reintroduction of recently popular training methods like Yoga, HIIT, Pilates, and Kettlebell training it is not surprising that PHA is an old training system that has been long forgotten.

The training methods mentioned above are old, yet they have successfully been able to make a comeback and become popular again.

About Bob Gajda

Bob Gajda, Ph.D. was a well-known bodybuilder in the 1960s. In 1966 Bob Gajda had managed to win the FICH Mr. Universe competition. He had always been on the lookout for a training system that could improve his physical condition while building muscle and improving his definition.

The PHA training system condenses a huge volume of work into one session and this made Bob Gajda turn to PHA. This training system requires you to perform an intense exercise for your upper body before performing another hard intense exercise for your lower body.

While he was exercising his upper body, the lower half of his body would rest and while he trained his lower body the upper half of his body would rest. Other than that, he refused to take breaks in between these exercises.

Because of these continuous actions, the heart would be pumping blood to the working muscles continuously. The change in training from the upper body to the lower body made the heart work harder and continuously.

A good amount of lactic acid was produced in his body due to the heavy load that his body lifted. This build-up of lactic acid is essential to improve aerobic conditioning.

Know More About The PHA

In a general weight training session, the lifter usually will complete a certain number of sets per exercise before they switch to the next set of exercises. For instance, you can complete 2 sets of 6 repetitions while doing the front squat.

PHA is not the same as this. PHA is kind of a combination of weight training & circuit training. In PHA once you finish one exercise you continue to do the next one. You will perform a set amount of exercises per circuit. Here is an idea of what it normally includes:

5-8 separate exercises
3-4 circuits
3-4 sequences (one sequence is made up of 3-4 circuits)
8-10 repetitions
Hypertrophy – 60-80% 1RM (This kind of load is used for the building of muscles)
No rest between exercises
You will rest for a total of 90 seconds after completing one circuit.
Accordingly, with your maximum heart rate, your heart rate must be maintained at 80%.

Example of a sequence in PHA

Hip thrusts
Shoulder Press
Hamstring curl
Close-grip pull-ups
Lunges
Bicep curls

What Are The Results?

Lowers blood pressure
Improvement in stamina
A gain in muscle mass
Loss of body fat

Do You Recommend PHA?

I recommend PHA for those looking to lose weight, build muscle, improve definition and physical condition. It would be great if this training method gained popularity again as it would prove to be of great benefit to individuals on the lookout for the best training system. The results achieved with this system have been jaw-dropping.

One of my clients was able to lose 10 kg in 12 weeks and had toned muscle mass making him look bigger and healthier, another client of mine was excited because she had could fit into her favorite dress she had bought during her college years, that was a drop in 2 dress size from what she wore, the best thing was her body was toned but her weight remained the same.

You can achieve such amazing results by implementing PHA into your training routine as well.

Author bio

Gerald Smith is a personal trainer and fitness blogger from London. He has his own personal training business in London and writes a fitness blog covering personal training, weight loss and running.

FitSW Wants Your Feedback On Peripheral Heart Action Training For Weight Loss

Keep Personal Training Clients On Track This Holiday

When your client’s fitness plans are thrown off, this can reflect poorly on the personal trainer. This is why it’s important to keep your clients on track. The holiday season brings lots of sugary alcohol, fatty foods, and busy schedules. This can make it hard to train and your clients fitness plans could suffer because of this. In this article, we’ll give you some tips on how to keep your personal training clients on track this holiday season.

Short, More Intense Sessions

The holidays are a very hectic time for most people. With family, shopping, and everything else, they’ll have less time to focus on their fitness plans. Creating workouts that are shorter but more intense is a great way to make sure your clients have time. If you’re unsure how to create faster workouts, check out NASM’s guide 30-minute workout programs for busy clients.

Being more flexible over the holidays is also a great way to keep your personal training clients on track. Working around your client’s schedule can ensure you keep your revenues up while keeping your client’s retention high.

Reach Out To Your Clients

To make sure your clients are staying on track in the off time, it’s important to reach out to them. Whether this is a text message, an email, over social media, or over the phone, check in on them on see how they are doing. Not only will this show them that you care about their fitness success, but it’ll help them stay on track. Ensure their sticking to their nutrition regime. Also, you can talk about their goals or an upcoming session you have with them. You’d be surprised what a little motivation can do for your clients!

Tips To Give Your Clients

Your clients will have a lot of time away from you during the holidays, so giving them tips on how to stay on track on their own could really benefit both parties. While each client is different, here are a couple of tips you can give to your clients when you aren’t with them:

Eat Before Social Gatherings

We all know that parties are filled with delicious but unhealthy foods. Eating before social gatherings can help cure the cravings of all the nutrition wrecking foods. While it’s fine to eat desserts and foods alike in moderation, if you’re hungry, you’re more likely to indulge a little too much.

Choose Healthy Options First

Choosing healthier options at the party you’re at, before getting that slice of cake, can really help stay true to your nutrition plan. Often times, parties will have some healthy options, so eating these before unhealthier options can help you stay within your daily caloric intake.

FitSW Wants Your Feedback On How To Keep Personal Training Clients On Track

Personal Trainer iOS App Updates – New Features

We’ve just released an update to our personal trainer iOS app! Recently, we’ve added many new features to our software including the one we just released. These features include the ability to see drafts in our iOS app, countless updates to our Android app, and the word Diets being changed to Nutrition throughout our software. With this most recent update comes new features, usability improvements, and minor bug fixes.

New Personal Trainer iOS App Features

This new update includes the ability to delete workouts, diets, and tasks from multiple screens. While you could always delete your events from the workouts, diets, and tasks on the main page, we’ve made it easier to delete unwanted or old events. You can now delete your events from the following screens:

The dashboard of workouts, diets, and tasks
Workout, diet, and tasks details page
Edit workout, diet, and task screen

For some examples of what this looks like, please refer to the images below. However, you can view this in our own FitSW right now! Simply ensure your app is up to date and you can see this feature on your own phone.

Usability Improvements

We have also added multiple usability improvements to our software. For example, we’ve made using our exercise list more intuitive. Now, after you are finished editing an exercise, our software will take you immediately back to where you were browsing. Beforehand, it would take you back to the top of the exercise list.

We Want Your Feedback On Our FitSW Personal Training iOS App Updates!

We highly value our community and take your feedback seriously. So, if you have any feedback or comments on these updates or anything else, reach out to us! You can do this by connecting with us on our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or support page! Additionally, you can leave a comment on this blog article or on any other article on our blog! After that, we typically reply within a day or so!

5 Reasons a Soft Mattress Helps for Better Muscle Recovery

If you’re a gym devotee, you probably know that a hardcore training session may affect your normal functioning for the next couple of days.

But did you know that sleeping on a soft mattress can help for better muscle recovery?

If you’re skeptical about this, here are five reasons to change your mind.

#1 Better Pressure Relief

women sleeping on side for Better Muscle Recovery

Depending on your sleeping position, some areas of your body may stick out more than others when you’re lying on the mattress. Side sleepers typically feel the most tension in their hips and shoulders, while back and stomach sleepers may experience lower and upper back pain if their mattress doesn’t support them properly.

And if you already feel sore after the training, the last thing you want is to get some more pressure points on your exhausted body.

Soft mattresses have a pronounced hug, so they create little to no tension and conform to your body, allowing you to drown deeper into the layers.

Thus, a soft mattress can adjust to your body shape better and support proper spine alignment without putting a strain on your deep muscles.

#2 Lower Stress

Our body is actually pretty vulnerable and susceptible. Whenever something goes out of the habitual order of things, the stress levels increase.

Now, a 2008 study found the correlation between high-intensity training and an increase in blood cortisol levels.

How this can harm you, you may ask?

Well, cortisol is one of the main chemicals that trigger the ‘fight-or-flight’ response. It’s a fundamental survival mechanism that prepares your body for concentrated physical activity within a short period of time.

However, if you experience chronic stress — such as when you work out regularly — the elevated levels of cortisol can suppress other bodily functions — such as immunity and reproduction — because your brain starts considering them as less important.

Suppressed immunity, in turn, will likely negatively affect your muscle recovery and athletic performance, thereby slowing down your progress towards the goals.

The good news is, a soft mattress — thanks to its ability to cradle your body — can also alleviate agitation after the training and trigger the relaxation response in your neural system. So, you can reduce your stress level and recover faster.

#3 Great Motion Absorption

When your muscles are sore, any extra motion may add up to the discomfort. Even those occasional bouncy impulses from the other side of your bed where your partner is snoozing may result in painful feelings.

But with a comfy soft mattress, your peaceful sleep will be protected.

A plush mattress, especially if it’s made of memory foam, can isolate motion very well. In case you worry that pronounced shock-absorbing effects will make it harder to get out of the bed, choose a mattress made of denser foams: they typically are more responsive and won’t interfere with your movements.

#4 Heat Therapy for Your Muscles

Soft mattresses tend to offer deeper sinkage. This means that the area of contact between your body and the mattress is larger and comfort layers trap more body heat.

Usually, even slight heat retention is an inconvenience.

But if your muscles ache from hard training, it can easily turn into a benefit.

Heat therapy is widely used as a method of coping with pain and soreness because of the following benefits:

Improved blood flow. Dilated blood vessels increase the blood flow to sore muscles and flush out the inflammation agents, such as lactic acid.
Reduced swelling. Improved blood flow also reduces water and lymph retention inside the muscles, preventing them from swelling.
Muscle relaxation. Warmth relaxes the muscles and makes them less stiff, which can alleviate painful sensations.

Besides, a 2006 self-reported study showed that the use of heat wrap made the manifestations of the delayed muscle soreness twice as less pronounced in the first 24 hours.

So, instead of burying yourself in heated pads, you can just lie down on your soft mattress for relieving soreness.

#5 Excellent Spine Support

Thanks to a significant hug, soft beds can precisely contour your body curves and distribute the body weight properly while keeping the spine in the relaxed neutral position. Also, a soft mattress supports your joints in any sleeping position, which promotes relaxation.

What does it have to do with faster muscle recovery?

Well, when your spine and joints are relaxed, the muscles can relax as well. And this, along with deep sleep, is the best way to reduce soreness and feel better the next day after training.

FitSW Wants Your Feedback On 5 Reasons a Soft Mattress Helps for Better Muscle Recovery

Get More Personal Training Clients This Holiday Season

The holidays bring lots of parties, family reunions, and a lot of tasty food. However, all this food can catch up to you fast. This, along with multiple other things, are the reasons there are so many fitness-related new year resolutions. While some people will try to start their fitness journey alone, many will seek the expertise of fitness professionals to guide them through the process. This is where you come in. If you want to get more personal training clients this holiday season, there are multiple things you can do to ensure this happens.

Social Media Marketing Campaign

Social media is a powerful marketing tool and can really help you grow your business. Additionally, it’s a great way to reach new clients in your area. If you are an online personal trainer as well, you can reach prospective clients all around the world.

If you want to get more personal training clients this holiday season, run a special on your training programs. Run a promotion for 25% off one of your most popular packages. Another great idea is to suggest that your training is a perfect gift for someone else! Everyone knows someone who wants to get in shape.

Once you figure out what promotion you want to run, its time to create some eye-catching creative. There are a lot of free tools you can use out there for creative. We would recommend using Canva, as it’s very easy to use and enables you to make some great looking creative. Check out the image below for an example of a great looking ad that we made on Canva.

example creative for running a promotion to get more personal training clients

Once you make your creative, it’s time to choose your audience. If you are a local personal trainer, target people in your surrounding area. However, if you are an online personal trainer, choose territories that you are interested in training people from. After choosing your audience, you’re ready to finalize your campaign and start reaching new people!

Offer A Referral Program To Existing Clients

Offering a referral program to your existing clients can be a great way to attract people to your programs. Plus, it takes a lot of the leg work out of marketing, as you’re current clients will do most of the work for you. There are multiple incentives you can offer to your clients that can motivate them to recruit clients to your fitness business:

Free personal training sessions
Gift cards to online or local health stores
Reduced pricing on programs you offer
Client-specific rewards

Regardless of what you offer your clients, make sure it’s worth their while so they are incentivized to refer other people to you. Also, if someone does get you a referral, shout them out on social media! Recognition for their efforts will make them feel appreciated and increase their retention and engagement.

Be Flexible

The holiday season is one of the busiest times of the year for both you are your clients. If you want to book more appointments, then you are going to have to be more flexible than other times of the year.

Also, you may want to offer higher intensity, lower time commitment workouts during this period. This may incentive users who are on a time crunch to still purchase your programs, as they can still get a good workout in.

FitSW Wants Your Feedback On How To Get More Personal Training Clients This Holiday Season

How To Increase Personal Trainer Client Retention

How To Increase Client Retention and Motivation Featured Image

Personal trainer client retention is important for maintaining a steady client base and it can really boost your revenue. While bringing in new clients can help you grow your fitness business, keeping clients for longer is a sure-fire way to boost your personal training revenues. Additionally, by increasing your client retention, this means you won’t be neglecting your existing clients. They’ll be happier, you’ll be happier, and your pockets will be much happier.

Tracking Client Progress

track progress and increase personal trainer client retention

Your clients start training with you because they want to see results. Whether this is to lose that beer belly, look leaner for the summer season, or build a more sculpted upper body, they want results. Tracking progress is not only a great way to show your clients how far they’ve come, but it’s also a fantastic way to pull data from. It’ll show you exactly what your clients are doing and how you should update their fitness programs.

You’ll be able to see how they’ve been performing, where they are struggling, and you can update their fitness programs based on that data.

Be Involved In Your Clients Lives, Outside The Gym

Your clients want someone who knows them well and is involved with their lives. Knowing what their strengths and weakness in the gym are great, but that’s not the only thing you should know about them. Checking in on your clients is vital to increasing your personal trainer client retention. Make sure it’s related to their training, but messaging them outside of the gym shows them that you are committed to helping them reach their fitness goals. See if they’ve stuck to their nutrition program, if they completed the tasks you set for them, or anything else related to your training. It will show them that you are committed to helping them reach their fitness goals.

Set Goals For Your Clients

Setting up goals is a great way to increase your client retention. They probably started training with you because they have a long-term goal. However, you should set up short-term goals that really highlight the progress they make towards that long-term goal. If they want to lose 30 pounds in 6 months, set goals such as losing 5, 10, and 20 pounds! When they achieve these milestones, celebrate this with them and give them a small reward. This can be something such as a prescribed cheat meal, a large shoutout on social media, or anything else related to your business. This will help motivate them and show them that they are achieving results through your training.

Use Social Media

Not only is social media a powerful marketing tool, but it’s a great way to keep your clients motivated and engaged. Whether it is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or your platform of choice, there’s no better way to engage with your clients outside of the gym. Social media lets your clients get to know you better. Additionally, you can show why you’re the expert in your field by posting exercise information, nutritional advice, or a new workout you’ve been creating.

FitSW Wants Your Feedback On How To Increase Personal Trainer Client Retention

5 Proven Strategies to Grow Your Fitness Business

Every business needs to employ a set of marketing strategies if they wish to expand. A fitness business is no different, whether it is a single room gym in your home or a multiple facility spa center spread across an acre of land. This is why we will go over the 5 proven strategies to grow your fitness business.

Stand Out

Fitness has become a mainstream business, and you probably have a few strong competitors in your area. If you want to convince people to select your services among others, build a strong case for yourself. First of all, come up with a unique name for your club; keep it short, sassy and easy to pronounce. Do not try to copy your competitors or keep up with a conventional theme.

Offer something out of the ordinary in order to attract the passerby. For example, you can offer a hip-hop dance class or yoga sessions alongside basic gym facilities. The building you operate from must display a prominent signboard. It should be clearly visible and readable from a distance, especially if you are located on a busy street.

Highlight Your Presence

Nowadays an online presence is crucial to reach a wide audience and make a name for your business. If someone hears about your gym or fitness center, he/she is likely to look you up on the internet for further information. A personal website is great, but you can always start with a Facebook page if your budget is limited. Your page or website must provide all the necessary details of your business; add maximum visuals to strengthen the impact.

Do not forget to list your business on Google maps; pinpoint your location accurately, so that people encounter no problem finding you. Add a fitness blog to your website to increase SEO ranking, and tempt visitors with useful & interesting content. Showcase promotions like “free registration” or “free fitness session” to attract new leads.

Buddy up with Local Businesses

Advertising on social media is great, but personal networking is more important in the beginning. You must target people nearest to your business, and you can do that by making acquaintance with other local businesses around you. Go visit cafes, juice bars, hair salons, and other vendors in your area. Make small talk, befriend them, and exchange info about each other’s work.

Later make an appeal for a good word towards their regular clients; offer to do the same for them in return. Use their services or make a purchase to build trust. You can also refer a local business in your social circle and request every reference to mention you on their visit.

Be Up-to-date

Businesses that embrace the latest technology always stay one step ahead. Your business must have a modern approach, whether it is the building décor or just the way you communicate with customers. You must offer all the latest fitness equipment and routines; this will provide you an edge over businesses that are dragging old-fashioned logistics. Regular renovation and new music will also support your reputation.

Build a Team

Many newbies in the fitness business have a habit of managing everything on their own. They think they can run a business singlehandedly and personally deal with every client. It is a nice thought to be willing to get personal with every detail and every customer that joins you, but in the real world that is agonizing.

If you tend to everything by yourself, you will overwork your mind and body. Subsequently, you will get sick and need to quit work entirely. It is better to hire a few capable candidates and work with them as a team. When your business grows and clientage multiplies, hire more professionals to accommodate them.