If you’re looking to pursue a personal training career, you’ll have to read a PT job description to make sure you’re the ideal applicant.

In the following article, we will guide you through this process by exploring the topics:

• What Are The Responsibilities Of A Personal Trainer?
• The Qualification Requirements To Become A Personal Trainer
• The Types Of Insurance A Personal Trainer Requires
• What Are The Salary Expectations Of A Personal Trainer?
• The Different Roles You Can Expect in a PT Job Description
• PT Job Description Checklist

Before we begin, enquire about our CIMSPA-endorsed Personal Trainer Diploma to become a fully-qualified  personal trainer!

What Are The Responsibilities Of A Personal Trainer?

No two days are the same when you’re training clients as a personal trainer. However, some responsibilities are a common part of your working day.

Whether you work in a gym, as a freelancer or are a self-employed PT, you’ll spend a significant amount of time on the gym floor delivering one-to-one classes.

Before training individuals, you’ll have taken the time to write programmes that reflect the physical health of each client and their exercise goals.

You’ll also be responsible for performing health checks, physical checks and performing consultations to discover what clients hope to achieve with their personal trainer.

During your time with clients, you’ll also be responsible for tracking their progress and whether the training programme you’ve developed for them is helping them achieve their goals.

You may find it necessary to discuss with your client if you notice that they aren’t achieving their fitness goals and make necessary changes, based on their feedback.

When you aren’t training clients and depending on your employment type, you may be required to perform miscellaneous tasks such as:

• Maintaining a clean and safe gym environment
• Carry out marketing to attract new clients
• Perform administrative duties such as answering email queries
• Running group classes

Now that you have an overview of what responsibilities a personal trainer could perform in a gym environment, let’s look at the qualifications you require to become one!

The Qualification Requirements To Become A Personal Trainer

To become a personal trainer, you require two qualifications to improve your employment prospects, these are:

• Level 2 Gym Instructor Certificate
• Level 3 Certificate in Personal Training

You can achieve these qualifications by enrolling on OriGym’s PT Diploma!

It’s important to note that you will not be considered for employment without these qualifications and won’t be able to coach clients one on one.

Consequently, this will impact your ability to secure insurance which we will discuss shortly. Next, we’ll explore how these qualifications can benefit your career as a personal trainer.

Level 2 Gym Instructor Qualification Is Your First Step To Becoming A Personal Trainer

Completing a level 2 gym instructor qualification is a crucial first step to eventually becoming a personal trainer.

This will teach you the fundamentals of gym instructing, such as:

• Understanding human anatomy and physiology
• Principles of exercise and fitness
• How to motivate clients

The level 2 qualification will help prepare you for working in a gym environment, including how to:

• Complete gym inductions
• Assist gym members with equipment
• Run group classes

Before you enrol on a level 2 course it’s important to make sure your qualification is CIMPSA endorsed and Ofqual regulated. This means your qualification is nationally recognised by future employers and ensures you’re taught to a professional standard accepted by the industry.

As you can see from Let’s Get Healthy’s job advert, holding a level 2 qualification is a requirement to have your application accepted for their Gym Instructor role:

This is a qualification that employers will always look for when recruiting for a gym instructor at their place of business.

It also serves as a prerequisite that enables you to enrol on a level 3 course on your journey to becoming a personal trainer.

A Level 3 Qualification Is The Next Step To Increase Your Employment Prospects As A PT

After completing your level 2 gym instructor course, you’ll naturally want to expand your skill set and begin providing one-to-one sessions with clients.

This is where completing an Ofqual-regulated Personal Trainer Diploma is advantageous. The modules in the course will teach you:

• Advanced anatomy & physiology
• Nutritional principles
• Delivering tailored classes to clients
• Learn how a fitness business is marketed and structured

If you’re looking to apply for a personal trainer job in the future, you’ll see that this too is a requirement, such as this job advert from Ultimate Performance Manchester:

The reason this is a prerequisite for such a role is that you’ll be delivering sessions that are tailored to each client, requiring a higher skill set.

This will require you to have the ability to perform consultations and assessments that will determine the best training programme for the different clients you work with.

The Types Of Insurance A Personal Trainer Requires in a PT Job Description

When reading a job description of a PT, you’ll need to make sure you have the correct insurance to make sure you are eligible to apply for the position

This vacancy at Anytime Fitness Leigh, for example, requires applicants to have public liability insurance to apply for the position:

 Alongside, public liability insurance, there are also two other types of insurance you to secure, these are:

• Professional Indemnity Insurance
• Personal Accident Insurance

Let’s examine these three insurance types in further detail to see what they offer you.

#1 Public Liability Insurance Is One Of The First Pieces Of Insurance You Require

The first type of insurance you should consider getting as a personal trainer is public liability insurance.

It can help provide you with the minimum coverage required to protect you financially when you’re training clients in the event:

• A client was injured under your supervision
• A client’s property is damaged or lost during a session with you
• You damaged equipment at a gym you’re operating in

This type of insurance helps you cover the costs of legal representation or the replacement of lost or damaged equipment if you need financial assistance.

You’re placing yourself at a financial disadvantage if you don’t have public liability insurance as you’ll be responsible for the full costs associated with any claims.

One company you may wish to secure a policy from is AXA Insurance, which provides an overview of what’s included in their public liability insurance on their website:

No personal trainer is immune from having a claim being made against them which is why it’s sensible to secure liability insurance.

#2 Professional Indemnity Insurance Can Provide You With Coverage For Any Claims

The next type of insurance you’ll require to operate as a personal trainer is professional indemnity insurance.

This form of insurance differs from public liability insurance as it centres around claims on incorrect advice you provided clients that resulted in them sustaining an injury or illness, following:

• Poor advice you gave to clients to perform an exercise
• Your training program that fails to achieve the fitness goals of your client
• Nutritional advice that your client follows which leads to your client’s illness

Markel UK provides an overview of what will be included in your professional indemnity insurance if you decide to purchase your policy from them:

Regardless of the experience a personal trainer has in the industry, clients receiving poor advice can be as damaging as them suffering from an injury or accident during a session with you.

Professional indemnity insurance can provide you with coverage in the event you provide poor advice that results in a client suffering from a health problem or injury.

#3 Personal Accident Insurance Can Help Support Your Health Expenses

The last essential type of insurance you require to operate a PT is personal accident insurance, which will cover you in the event you fall ill or suffer an injury whilst working.

This type of insurance will assist you with the costs associated with any treatments that help with your rehabilitation.

For example, after breaking your leg, you might be instructed by your doctor to undergo physiotherapy which brings with it costs to undergo the treatment.

If your physiotherapy proves costly, Insure4sport’s personal accident insurance can provide you with up to £50,000 coverage:

Anyone in the fitness industry can experience an injury whilst they’re working, which is why purchasing a personal accident insurance policy can provide you with financial peace of mind.

You may also need to consider getting equipment and employer’s liability insurance as other types of personal trainer insurance and first aid training depending on your work as a PT.

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If you’re enjoying this article, we think you’ll enjoy it even more!

• Personal Trainer Salary
• Qualifications To Work In A Gym
• Personal Training Career Options

What Are The Salary Expectations Of A Personal Trainer?

For each PT job description you read, you’ll notice that salaries can vary depending on the location of the position but also the level of experience they require from the personal trainer.

To help you understand whether you’re applying for a position that offers a competitive salary, we’ll examine what the average salary of a personal trainer is.

If you visit Indeed, for example, you’ll learn that the national average salary of a personal trainer in England is £29,144:

You’ll also discover that the average salary between regions can vary too with Liverpool personal trainer salaries averaging £26,927 compared to £30,555 for London PTs.

It’s also important to note that the maximum salary you could earn according to Payscale, is £86,000:

The salary you can as a PT, will be reflective of the number of clients you train, combined with the qualifications and expertise you have.

The Different Roles You Can Expect in a PT Job Description

When viewing vacancies to help you become a personal trainer in the fitness industry you’ll discover that each vacancy will have a different PT job description.

This is because there are many employments types you can undertake as a personal trainer, these include:

• Part or Full-time
• Freelance
• Self-Employed

We’ll run through these employment types and what they mean in a PT job description and how they can influence your salary as a personal trainer.

#1-Part-Time And Full-Time Personal Trainer Jobs Provide The Most Financial Stability

To understand how much you could earn as a full-time or salaried member of staff, it’s best to research the positions online to see what companies are offering.

Ultimate Performance Manchester, for example, is offering a personal trainer to earn between £20,800 and £30,000 depending on your skills and experience:

It’s important to make sure that when you apply for positions like this you meet the requirements outlined in the job description.

This job application, for example, requires people to work between Monday to Friday and be available to help with overtime and weekend shifts.

It’s also important to note that full-time and salaried positions are difficult to secure, so it’s vital to make sure you have the right experience and skills to give you a competitive edge during the application process.

#2-Freelance PT Jobs Can Help You Increase Your Earnings

The reason many people opt to work as freelance personal trainers is the uncapped earnings associated with this line of work, providing them with the chance to maximise their salary.

However, there are some financial obligations you may be responsible for including paying rental fees whilst you work as a personal trainer.

It should come as no surprise to you that rental and licence fees can vary between gyms but you can opt to work at gyms that offer the most competitive fees.

In some cases, you may get free access to the gym floor as long as you assist with timetables, which this position at Liberty Leisure Centres Ltd is offering:

It’s important when you apply for a freelance position that you make sure you have checked whether the PT job description asks that you pay a licence fee or require insurance, as these will affect your profits.

With this in mind, you should notice there shouldn’t be limits to how much you could earn compared to a fixed salary position.

#3 Self-Employed PT Jobs Can Allow You To Set Your Service Prices

It’s possible to find yourself reading a job description to become a self-employed as PT where a company requires someone looking to become a self-employed personal trainer.

As a result, you can determine the price you want to charge for your services, which will vary between gyms and be determined by their licence and rent fees.

Serco Plc in Birmingham, for example, are seeking a self-employed PT and is offering competitive rates, alongside no requirement from their personal trainers to pay licence fees:

However, it’s important to note that you’ll be responsible for the expenses that are associated with you promoting your own brand.

With this type of position, you’ll also be responsible for obtaining your personal trainer insurance and completing your tax returns using an accountant.

Similar to a freelance position, there is no limit to your earning potential working as a self-employed personal trainer, other than the number of clients you can train.

PT Job Description Checklist

After reading the sections in this article, you might feel overwhelmed by the information you’ve been presented with.

To help simplify the journey you’ve been on to understand a PT job description, we’ve created a checklist template for you to use.

You can simply fill out the document to find out whether the position is most suitable for the type of work you wish to carry out as a personal trainer.

Next time you’re searching through job adverts, you can use this as a way to prioritise which jobs to apply for based on the qualifications and experience you possess.

You will benefit from completing this template with information that reflects the ideal personal trainer role you would like to be employed in.

It will allow you to compare positions that you’re interested in and determine how they closely correlate with the ideal job you would like to have.

Before You Go!

You now understand what a personal trainer does and the information to find in a PT job description. Remember with our Diploma in Personal Training you can expand your skills and earning potential.

Alternatively, you can download our 2023 course prospectus to discover the full range of courses OriGym offers.

Before we discuss the best trampoline parks in the UK, did you know you can embark on a fitness career journey with our L3 Personal Trainer Diploma!

Download our course prospectus to learn more information!

Remember when you were young and there was that slightly-too-cool friend who owned a trampoline?

Well, prepare to put all the years of childhood envy behind you, because trampolines are back… but not as you might expect. In fact, 2018 has seen the rise of the trampoline park, with indoor trampoline parks springing up across the UK at an alarming rate.

But how do you know what are the best indoor trampoline parks in the UK?

Fear not my thrill-seeking friend! Here at OriGym, we have scoured the land to find the 30 best indoor trampoline parks in the UK. We have surveyed our students, as well as fitness professionals in a variety of different fields, to discover their favourite venues in order to bring you the most comprehensive list available.

But what – you may find yourself asking – do fitness students and professionals know about indoor trampoline parks? Well, you may be surprised to hear that indoor trampolining is one of 2018s hottest fitness trends, with indoor trampoline fitness classes soaring in popularity over the past six months.

So, by following the advice in this best indoor trampoline parks article, you can both fulfil all of your childhood dreams of soaring high above your friends, pulling off the most outlandish flips and tricks, while also improving your fitness.

So, what on earth are you waiting for? Get reading!

Featured: What are the best indoor trampoline parks in the UK?

1. Freedome Park – Cheshire Oaks
2. Xscape – Yorkshire
3. Gravit8 – Airdrie
4. Kick Air – Manchester
5. Red Kangaroo – Nottingham
6. Skyline Trampoline – Aberdeen
7. Rush UK – Birmingham
8. Infinity Trampoline Park – Cardiff

Best Indoor Trampoline Parks in Scotland

Flip Out – Glasgow

Starting our list of the best indoor trampoline parks is Glasgow’s Flip Out, a 63,000 sq ft space that boasts a range of exciting features for both kids and adults.

Flip Out is one of the first trampoline parks in the UK to feature a Ninja Obstacle Course to put your flipping skills to the test.

The park also includes:

• Flip Street for adults
• Inflatables
• Basketball course
• Bungee run
• 5m helter-skelter

They also host Flip Fit classes that teach you how to perform the best front flips, backflips, and other tumbling tricks to show off to friends.

Each of these classes aims to tone and strengthen your physique while burning up to 1000 calories.

So, just when you thought that indoor trampoline parks were exclusively reserved for kids, think again – they’re also fantastic for helping you break a sweat and for keeping fit.

“Flip Out is a Worldwide family-focussed leisure entertainment brand selling a trampoline and adventure park experience.

“All our focus is on delivering a fun family experience from the minute you enter the park and creating memories that last a lifetime.

“We take pride in being an innovator and leader within the industry while “keeping ahead of the pack” with an evolving offer and customer experience.”

Skyline Trampoline – Aberdeen

Skyline Trampoline is Aberdeenshire’s premiere indoor trampoline park and leisure facility. Housed inside a massive 32,000 sq. ft. arena, with 1,000s of square feet of trampoline space, the facility caters for jumpers of all ages. As well as trampoline areas, the facility also houses dodgeball courts, battelebeams, foam towers, Olympic rings, a traverse climbing wall, a 2 metre jump tower, and much more. Essentially, if you want to jump off something and fall onto something either springy or padded, Skyline Trampoline has you covered. They also host a massive range of kids’ parties and jump classes, including the hugely popular Sky Fit.

“Skyline’s wow factor begins when you walk through the front door of our trampoline park. The openness of the space, the brightness, and the colours are a feast for the eyes and senses. The park was designed with a focus entirely on the participating and viewing customer. We wanted to create a space which gives the customer a freedom and excitement despite being indoors. We love to see families playing together, it’s a great way to bond, have fun and keep fit without the ‘grind’ of more traditional ways of exercising: it’s harder than it looks, but everyone can jump!”

Gravit8 – Airdrie

You may be wondering where the distinction lies between a regular trampoline park, and an extreme trampoline park (the description used by Gravit8 for their facility). Well, we might start with the extremity of this venue’s ambition: they are self-proclaimed as one of Glasgow’s top trampoline parks, and are currently Europe’s second biggest trampoline park, with over 80 trampolines, 16,000 square feet of free space, and a range of different activities and state-of-the-art equipment. The venue cherishes the expertise of its staff, and as such can provide a friendly, welcoming, and safe service, in addition to running specialised trampoline fitness classes on a regular basis. Gravit8, we might say, are therefore extreme in every sense: in ambition, fun, and in their attention to detail.

“Our inclusion comes so soon after our Dinom8 soft play area was named Best Soft Play Area of the Year 2018 at the Scottish Hospitality Awards. For the 2 years that we have been open, it has been a combination of the great staff and their work ethic to ensure the safety of all our customers on the trampolines as well as our inclusive facilities that have created the great place Gravit8 is today. 

“The facility itself is a credit to the owners. They have designed a trampoline arena that allows for endless hours of enjoyment for the children and ‘big kids’ whilst the parents can observe the entire trampoline area whilst enjoying a bite to eat or a hot drink. The size of the park is perfect for the younger children who require extra supervision but at the same time provides the older ones a game of dodge ball or to fight their mate on our gladiator zone.  

“Soon after the opening of the facility, various members of our staff created a range of fitness classes to help the local community engage in physical activity on whatever night of the week would suit. A combination of the vast freestyle area we have in the park, consisting of over 40 trampolines and variety of classes such as BounceFit or our 30 Day Challenge class, created a welcoming and accessible opportunity for many people to get active.”

Air Thrill Falkirk

“The skies are no longer out of reach, with Sky High.”

With a slogan like that it’s hard not to think of Air Thrill Falkirk as one of the best indoor trampoline parks in the country. This indoor trampoline venue, based in Scotland, wants its visitors to be creative in how they use their park, encouraging freestyle exploration of their many trampolines, or high intensity games of basketball and dodgeball on their trampoline courts. They also have a super-sized air bag, specifically designed for perfecting aerial stunts.

For those looking for specific activities, Air Thrill run neon parties on the last Friday of every month, in addition to their Sky Fit classes, utilising trampoline-based activities to create a high intensity, high-entertainment cardiovascular workout.

Infinity Trampoline Park – Inverness

The “infinity” of Infinity Trampoline Park is perhaps referring to the options jumpers have once they are inside. This is because the entire park is parkour-inspired: designed with freestyle jumping and creativity in mind. Visitors therefore have access to over 50 interconnected trampolines, vault boxes, tumble tracks and performance beds.

Whether its practising flips into the foam pits, working on a gymnastics routine in the main court, or even walking the walls in Infinity’s specifically designed parkour arena, you can be sure of keeping fit in an exciting and engaging way when you visit this indoor trampoline park.

Best Indoor Trampoline Parks in the North of England

Airbox – Cramlington

With a promise to deliver the “ultimate trampolining experience for children and adults alike,” Airbox have grasped the broad demographics of trampolining and its increasing popularity and ran with it (or jumped with it). This can be seen in their wide range of facilities, from interconnected trampolines, to roll-over platforms, angled walls, foam pits, and battle beams.

There’s also plenty for the fitness enthusiasts to enjoy. Airbox have a fairly unique “cardio wall” combining athleticism and flexibility, with aerobic fitness. They also run dedicated Jump Fitness classes on a regular basis, with benefits that include improved physical strength and cardiovascular ability, and muscle development and coordination, in a fun and inclusive environment.

Planet Leisure – Newton Aycliffe 

Based in the North East, Planet Leisure offers a veritable feast of entertainment activities including ten-pin bowling, roller skating, laser quest, and, of course, a fully equipped trampoline space ranking among the best trampoline parks in the UK. Located above their roller skating rink (testament to how large this venue actually is), Planet Leisure’s indoor trampoline facilities are some of the best in the UK, including dodgeball courts, a wide array of interconnected trampolines, and an airbag area on which to perform stunts.

The venue also runs an increasingly popular trampoline fitness class, with the dual aim to get more people excited about living a healthy lifestyle, and to get more people into trampolining as a serious sport, rather than a one-time weekend activity. These sessions are all coached by professional fitness trainers, and as such participants are guaranteed a fun but comprehensive workout, during which they can expect to lose anything up to 1,000 calories.

Xscape – Yorkshire

If you haven’t heard of it, Xscape in Yorkshire is a massive multi-entertainment complex, which includes facilities that can cater for climbing, snowsports, and, you guessed it, trampolining. The venue’s indoor trampoline park is actually run by Gravity Trampoline Parks, who are market leaders when it comes to safety. As you might expect, this venue has all the added extras that come with being one of the best trampoline parks in the UK: dodgeball areas, a large air bag on which to perform stunts, slam dunk arenas, and much more.

We also found, in our initial survey, that the venue was popular for its HIIT-style trampoline fitness classes. In Xscape’s and Gravity’s own words:

“Our HIIT Fitness Trampoline classes, are fun packed fitness with loads of health benefits! High Intensity Interval Training Classes on a trampoline get your blood rushing. It is high energy, and helps to tone, condition and burn fat.

“Jumpers can expect enhanced cardio vascular performance, better balance, improved muscle tone, core strength and a healthier lymphatic system after just a few sessions with us. And it’s fun!”

Adrenaline International – West Yorkshire

It is perhaps unfair to describe Adrenaline International as solely an indoor trampoline park. Instead, it’s more accurate to consider the wide array of facilities and activities that they host on a regular basis. Owned by the Fitzpatrick Family, recent investment in the venue means that they now boast a comprehensive trampoline park, with a main court, free style court, slam dunk lanes, two dodgeball courts, and an airbag arena, in addition to toddler adventure play zones, VR gaming areas, and dedicated party rooms. Basically, if you’re looking for an adrenaline filled day of activities, it should perhaps be unsurprising (given the name) that Adrenaline International should be your first port of call.

Not content with just improving people’s day-to-day enjoyment of life, Adrenaline International have also invested in improving their fitness too. Their Cardio Fitness classes, for example last 45 minutes, and focus on all areas of the body.

Kick Air – Manchester

Kick air Manchester describes itself as a “freestyle park,” rather than just being an indoor trampoline park. What does this mean? Well, the venue is separated into different zones, comprising of an air zone (trampoline based activities including dodgeball, basketball, and total wipe-out), a kick zone (football based activities including taking on the robokeeper, and football darts), and Little Kicks (kids’ play area and soft play). The venue runs special events and themed evenings, ensuring that there are plenty of opportunities to get fit in fun and exciting ways using this premier facility.

“Kickair will have been recommended for a number of reasons. It’s the largest freestyle park in the UK; the number of challenges available to the participants are so vast that each participant is guaranteed to feel they have received value for money; the challenges vary in degree of difficulty and therefore anyone from beginners or experts can use them.

 “There are also a number of standout features to our venue. The Kick Zone housed in Kickair is unique and not seen in any other park in the world, and all of our equipment is of high quality thus offering a quality experience.”

Air Unlimited – Liverpool

Air Unlimited is hands down one of the best trampoline parks in the UK. It features:

• Wall to wall trampolines
• Inflatable playground
• Bouncy football pitches
• Mega drop slides
• Obstacle courses
• Tumble tracks… just to name a few

You and your kids can bounce, run, and slide forever thanks to Air Unlimited’s vast features that put flipping skills to the absolute test.

This indoor trampoline park has 3 different sessions; Open Bounce, Toddler Morning, and Air Autism.

Open Bounce is the most frequent session that allows all over the age of 5 to take part in all that Air Unlimited has to offer.

Toddler Morning is for those under 5 to bounce safely without big kids getting in the way. More kids’ inflatables are brought into the mix for enhanced excitement and fun.

Air Autism are customised sessions to accommodate young people with autism to play in a relaxed and safe environment

“Air Unlimited has something Amazing for everybody. Whether you bounce, slide, run, or jump around, it is adrenaline-fuelled fun for the whole family.

Our Urban Indoor Playground hosts plenty of activities, offers, events, and Air-Mazing times!”

Fusion Trampolining – Preston

Energi Preston quickly garnered a ton of votes from our students and fitness professionals, and it’s easy to see why. The sheer number of different activities on offer at this venue is mind boggling. As well as being a fully kitted out indoor trampoline park, with high jump targets and a variety of different surfaces and platforms to jump from, the facility also caters for parkour, indoor bouldering, and trampoline basketball. There are also a couple of unique features to Energi Preston, including the Fusion Skyride – the UK’s first indoor skyride – and The Wall – a Cirque Du Soleil designed freestyle piece of equipment.

With this abundance of space and facilities, Energi Preston stay well on top of the fitness benefits of trampolining:

“We think trampolining and fitness go hand in hand. We run three dedicated fitness sessions a week so that as many people as possible can come and get fit and have fun at the same time. People – adults and children alike – come off the Park exhausted, exercising without even thinking about it. It is great for kids who perhaps don’t particularly like sport but can come here and get fit without realising it. 

“However, I think the main reason people like coming back to us is purely down to the team here at Energi Preston. We all work together irrespective of position in the company. We are a proper team effort, and we put our customers’ experience with us, and their safety, first. The most comments we get are related to how friendly our staff are, how much we interact with our customers, and how we have fun with them to improve their visit. Our customers know, as soon as they arrive, that they are going to experience a great atmosphere, and know that we are going to keep them safe.

“We love what we do, and we absolutely love having fun with our customers.” 

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Freedome Parks – Cheshire Oaks

Freedome indoor trampoline park is a one of a kind facility. Innovated by Sky Zone, the world’s leading manufacturer of trampoline parks, Freedome has a mightily impressive list of events and facilities guaranteeing its place on this list of the best indoor trampoline parks in the UK. These include fitness classes, open jump sessions, competitions, state-of-the-art trampolines, air bags to perform stunts onto, ultimate warrior courses, and a variety of jump-sports arenas. Perhaps then, given their expertise and facilities, it would be best to hand over to them to describe why you should visit Freedome…

“Whether you’re looking to feel the fun and benefits of simply bouncing around or want to practice your flips and tricks in a fun-and-safe environment, then Freedome has the facilities and activities to suit your needs. 

“At Freedome you can channel your inner Patches O’ Houlihan and dodge, dip, duck, dive, and dodge your way around our Ultimate Dodgeball Court, which is the world’s first pad-less trampoline court specifically designed for Freedome.

“Not a dodgeball fan? Show off your inner Michael Jordan and practice your alley-oops and slam dunks on the high-flying FreeSlam, or if you just want to bounce you can FreeStyle on our enormous continuous trampoline court complete with sprung walls for the serious jumper.

“We also, run our very own high-intensity fitness class, FreeFit. FreeFit is a new concept in trampoline fitness classes, based on the popular HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) principle, and consisting of a specific 45 minute full-body workout and 15 minutes of open jump, all of which takes place on our trampolines.  

“Don’t just take our word for it though. Numerous studies have been conducted on the subject and trampolining has been found to have a whole host of health benefits when done safely. Such benefits include: Increased balance and coordination; low impact, so less stress placed on joints compared to running; and increased cardiovascular endurance and oxygen capacity.

 “So if you want to get fit and have fun in an exhilarating, innovative, friendly, and safety first environment, get down to Freedome now, the UK’s leading aerial freestyle park!”

Ascent Trampoline Park – Blackpool

Self-proclaimed the North West’s best trampoline park, Ascent Trampolines does a lot to earn their title. They are kitted out with trampolines in the dedicated “flip zone,” a professional air bag to safely perform stunts and flips onto, a bouldering wall, parkour facilities, as well as slam dunk and dodgeball arenas. You would, however, be mistaken in thinking that this wide variety of activities detracts from the trampolining itself. Ascent offer a variety of different themed sessions, including Ascent Todds, autism friendly sessions, and beat night (Friday nights with music aimed at 11-17 year olds), in addition to Ascent Academy and in-house fitness classes. All in all, Ascent have pretty much every base covered.

“Ascent Trampoline is dedicated to providing a fun, safe and challenging environment for all shapes and sizes looking to improve their fitness and wellbeing. Since the park opened in March 2016, we have held Fitness Classes several times a week, and to date have had over 3000 participants join us on the trampolines. Tests have shown that you can burn up to 409 calories per hour on a trampoline, so the benefits of the exercise, plus the enjoyment the classes bring, have resulted in the classes being so popular.

“Our state of the art facilities provide the perfect venue for fitness enthusiasts, with over 100 trampolines in our large and high capacity arena. We are pleased to say that during our peak months, the classes are attended by over 70 attendees per day. We also run our Fitness Classes alongside our Children’s gymnastic classes to encourage parents who might struggle with childcare to bring their child along to get fit and learn new abilities.”

AirVault Inflatable Indoor Trampoline Park – Bolton

AirVault in Bolton offers 90 interconnected trampolines that are suitable for kids and adults alike.

Whether you want to play a game of dodgeball and basketball or just want to try out AirVault’s vast features, then this is the ideal place for you.

Just a 1-hour session provides plenty of time to experience the following:

• Leap up and down the ninja wall
• Dive into the foam pit
• Reach the top of the climbing wall
• Try out all of the mega slides

Alternatively, you could take part in AirVault’s exercise classes. Trampolining is a low-impact form of exercise that puts less strain on your heart and joints with each jump.

You don’t need a flashy gym membership to get fit and burn calories, just a space dedicated to jumping to your heart’s content!

AirVault’s varied schedule is why it’s one of the best trampoline parks in the UK. Why not head on over to Westhoughton in Bolton to see what all of the fuss is about?

“Grab your nearest and dearest and head down to AirVault for our exhilarated airjump sessions.

“Book for just turn up and get your bounce on for an hour after school, college, or work. Laugh, leap, flip, twist, and get super fit in the process.

“After your session, hang out in our Mezzanine Cafe and cool down with a refreshing slush or relax with a hot coffee.”

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Velocity – Wigan

Next on our list of the best indoor trampoline parks is Velocity, situated in Wigan.

Velocity is an incredible 46,000 sq ft trampoline park, one of the largest parks in Europe.

Whether you want to literally bounce off the walls, slam dunk in the trampoline basketball courts, or play a game of dodgeball, you have the option to do so again and again.

You can also practice your and your kids’ tumbling skills on the track or challenge them to a battle beam, all in a safe environment with cushioned padding in every corner.

But, as well as accommodating for bigger kids, Velocity also hosts their Toddler Time sessions during term time from 10am-2pm.

This allows younger kids to exert their energy in an exciting place that makes a nice change from the local park or daycare.

With prices starting from just £6 per session, you can guarantee your kids can get their trampolining fix without breaking the bank.

“Velocity Trampoline Park in Wigan is one of the largest of its type in Europe, and our jump sessions are perfect for hanging fun, keeping active, fun with friends, practising flips, leaps, and keeping fit!

Our indoor trampoline courts offer an exhilarating fun experience for everyone from beginner to a seasoned gymnast, so come along and give it a go!”

Bounce Central – Manchester

Bounce Central has over 90 trampolines which creates a huge bounce area that’s perfect for families, friends, school groups, and aspiring gymnasts.

This indoor trampoline park also features a super exciting Jurassic Jungle soft play area with a range of fun inflatables that is designed for little jumpers.

Alternatively, if you plan on taking big kids to Bounce Central, their Twilight sessions will be right up their street.

Held each Friday and Saturday evening, Twilight night is an exclusive bouncing disco with flashing lights, party music, and sweet treats.

Bounce Central also hosts fitness sessions every Monday and Tuesday that work the whole body with minimal impact.

Fitness classes operate by moving for 20 seconds with 10-second breaks, working different muscles each time. Just 1 session can burn up to an incredible 1000 calories!

Bounce central offers everything and more which is why we think it’s one of the best indoor trampoline parks in the North.

“Looking for indoor active fun? We’ve got you covered. You can jump over to our trampoline park and join in the fun, no matter what age or ability.

“We are the very best indoor trampoline park in Manchester with interconnected trampolines, airbags, rollover blocks & basketball lanes!”

Best Indoor Trampoline Parks in the Midlands

Red Kangaroo Nottingham

Red Kangaroo Nottingham is one of the largest venues in the midlands: when they say they have “wall-to-wall trampolines,” they really aren’t exaggerating. Among the many trampoline-related activities, the indoor trampoline park also includes Wipe-out facilities, a mega Ninja course (enough to warrant inclusion in our list of best trampoline parks alone), a tumble track allowing for more acrobatic somersaults, and a double cardio reaction wall.

Indeed, many of our students recommended Red Kangaroo Nottingham exactly for the facilities they provide in terms of gymnastics and fitness, in particular their high intensity “KANGA Fitness” classes, during which participants can burn up to 1,000 calories per hour.

“For some, the social pressures surrounding a visit to the gym may be daunting. Where trampoline parks like RedKangaroo Nottingham come in is that we offer exercise dressed up as fun. Accessible for all, RedKangaroo provides the chance to get fit together in a relaxed, low pressure environment, where every individual can exercise at their own pace regardless of perceived fitness levels or abilities. Parks like ours are ideal in the face of a growing childhood obesity crisis.

“There are so many health and wellbeing benefits to trampolining from building muscle strength to increasing cardiovascular fitness, improving co-ordination, and significantly reducing stress. Ten minutes of trampolining is believed to be a more efficient cardiovascular workout than 30-minutes of running. It is also lower impact on joints compared to other forms of exercise.”

Rush UK – Birmingham

The team at Rush UK are all about championing trampolining as a serious way of getting fit. In their own words: “Did you know that you can burn up to 1,000 calories an hour on a trampoline? Fitness is about feeling good, inside and out, and at Rush we want that for you and your family. Rush Birmingham is the perfect place to get fit while still having fun!”

Rush UK’s indoor trampoline park is a huge 35,000 square feet, with appropriate facilities for kids, gymnasts, casual jumpers, and even circus enthusiasts! With over 100 wall-to-wall connected trampolines, dodgeball courts, gigantic foam pits, and trapezes, among many other pieces of equipment, the park ensures that everyone is catered for. Perhaps most importantly, everyone is welcome. Whether you know nothing about trampoline parks in the Uk and simply want to pop down on your own for a quick jump, or want to seriously train for an upcoming gymnastics routine, Rush UK can accommodate your needs. 

“Founder, Sam Williams, and Fitness Director, Jo Edwards, are passionate about health and fitness and are on a mission to get the UK into shape. Both have a profound understanding on what you can achieve and how you can achieve it whilst having an exhilarating and fun experience.

 “Incorporating a trampoline into your fitness regime allows you to experience low-impact, healthy fun that combines core exercises, strength and conditioning exercises with high intensity interval training (HIIT).Individual 1-1 attention is given to everyone in every class and the motivational highly experienced Instructors cover ALL abilities.

“Why you’ll love it? There is NO Membership tie-in. You can ‘pay as you go’ or buy a block of 10 or 20 sessions.Just one hour of low impact training on the trampolines will help you burn up to 1000 calories, and 10 minutes of exercise on a trampoline is equal to a 30 minute run.”

Freestyle Trampoline Park – Kirkby in Ashfield

As the largest indoor trampoline park in the midlands, Freestyle Trampoline Park have a lot to boast about. What’s perhaps more impressive are the range of classes and services they run for their growing customer base. With everything from freestyle fitness classes, to party bookings, and school trips, Freestyle have the space, expertise, and knowledge to cater for most, if not all needs. The venue, of course, boasts a massive range of state-of-the-art apparatus, including 140 interconnected trampolines, a giant air bag, a traverse wall, and arenas for slam dunk and dodge ball games. Open to all ages, Freestyle are a premium facility for anyone in the midlands and was a certainty for inclusion when it came to our list of the best trampoline parks in the UK.

“One of the things that make us special are the staff that we employ. 

“All of them undergo regular training to ensure they are providing an outstanding experience for every customer that walks through the door. Our aim is to ensure that all customers understand the health benefits as well as the potential risks that are associated with trampolining. We strive for enjoyment, but safety is our TOP priority.

“Then there’s the unique facilities we offer.

“Currently, we stand as the largest Trampoline & Fitness Park in the East Midlands. With over 140 interconnected trampolines spread across 8 fun-filled activities. Not many parks boast this many trampolines and this many activities. Our facilities are second to none.

“The perks of trampolining are becoming more and more clear and each day we notice an increase in the demand of our sessions, whether that’s our open jump sessions, parent & toddler, sensory or our fitness classes. We offer a variety of sessions that benefit EVERYONE.

 “Our main aim as a trampoline park is to provide a numerous amount of opportunities to the public to get fit and healthy whilst having fun doing so. We encourage families, couples, people of all ages and sizes to come and experience what Trampolining and in particular, what we have to offer.”

Bounce Revolution – Derby

Set up by a local entrepreneur, Bounce Revolution is one of those special indoor trampoline parks rooted in their local community. Supporting other local businesses in the Derby area, the venue also places emphasis on catering for school parties and group sessions, and provides a wealth of facilities to keep everyone entertained. Whether it’s strictly trampolining, wipe-out style inflatables, or just a coffee from their friendly café, Bounce Revolution is an indoor trampoline park that is as welcoming as it is fun. 

“I believe Bounce Revolution is recognised due to our friendly and approachable staff, our top of the range attractions such as Wipe-out and Airbag, and due to being great value for money.”

Best indoor Trampoline Parks in the South of England

Base Jump – Essex

Base Jump don’t mess around when it comes to describing their venue: they describe themselves as the UK’s Ultimate Trampoline Park. With over 35,000 square feet of trampoline space, the venue also has some outstanding unique features ensuring their place on our list of the best indoor trampoline parks in the UK. For example, visitors to the park can enjoy the exhilarating experience of the UK’s first trampoline half-pipe, in addition to 2 metre high base jump platforms (with an air bag to soften the landing) and a freestyle jump arena with over 75 interlinked trampolines. The venue also runs a range of fitness classes in addition to “standard jump” sessions, including weekly Bounce Fit and HIIT Bounce classes.

“Base Jump is a fun, friendly and vibrant park! Our staff are young energetic and make every experience an enjoyable one. Whether you are bouncing in our fun and well-designed park, or enjoying some chill out time in our trendy café, we really do cater for everyone. We feel we are one of the BEST parks in the country.”

Jump Evolution – Essex

There’s no doubting it, Jump Evolution is one of the UK’s biggest, and most impressive indoor trampoline parks. Based in Essex, the sheer size of the park means that it is split into dedicated sections, each homing state-of-the-art, and in some instances unique, trampoline-based equipment. These include, Jump Evolution’s infamous obstacle course, “The Wall”, Gladiator Arena’s where visitors can battle it out above foam pits, the UK’s first Cageball facilities, a game that tests your stamina and skill, and the UK’s first indoor trapeze hanging over a foam pit.

The park holds regular trampoline lessons and junior sessions, in addition to venue hire, and increasingly popular Jump Fit classes. Their fitness classes are also designed to be suitable for jumpers of all abilities, and are an impressive workout in their own right. 10 minutes of trampolining, for example, is a better cardio workout than 33 minutes of running!

Jump Street – Colchester & Chelmsford

Jump Street have created an amazing couple of indoor trampoline parks that are as fun for children, as they are for parkour and action sports enthusiasts. Their venues are spacious, safe, and full of colour, and include state of the art equipment allowing for gymnastics, slam dunk sessions and dodgeball. They also run a host of fitness classes and children’s sessions, and have even included Clip’N Clumb facilities for those more at home scaling a wall, than they are jumping over it.

“Boasting two large trampoline parks in Colchester and Chelmsford, both Jump Street sites are set up to offer fitness fanatics the chance to bounce themselves into shape. Each park runs a range of fitness classes suitable for beginners to more serious jumping enthusiasts.  

“The classes focus on core fitness aspects, such as High Intensity, Metafit, Jump’n Tone and many more routines to get fitness lovers smiling as they jump. Whatever your end goal, whether it is tone up or lose weight, Jump Street offers a class to suit you. To make life even more affordable for guests, the parks offer a fitness multi-pass of just £35 for 8 fitness classes per month.”

Flip Out – Brent Cross

Flip Out Brent Cross has everything you would expect from a member of one of the UK’s most popular indoor trampoline parks. Facilities include an advanced trampoline area, trick park, and ninja skills centre, in addition to wall runners, tumble tracks, super-hero themed obstacles, and much, much more. As you might imagine, then, the venue itself is lurid and exciting, and the venue is also set to announce brand new Flip Fit classes in the near future, offering visitors another avenue to get fit in a new and exciting way.

“We believe the arena is the perfect spot for gymnasts, free runners and anyone with an enthusiasm to jump. Flip Out Brent Cross is perfect for anyone 6 months plus. We hold sessions for everyone within the North London community. Our Unlimited Mini Flipper sessions are a hit for children aged 5 and under, we also hold SEN sessions for anyone with special educational needs. Tuesday Takeover has gone down with a storm as we have some of the UK’s best free runners using our stunt boxes to practise and film their amazing tricks and flips. Every Friday and Saturday, our After Dark 2 Hour Clubbing Experience gives your weekend a twist. The lights are low and the music is up!

“The arena boasts a wide range of energy busting things to do. Challenge yourself with the ninja obstacle course (as seen on TV!), try your stealth skills in our laser maze, plunge into the foam pit, try out your balancing skills on the battle beam, or flip your way down the tumble track. Set in our massive arena we also have an Olympic standard trampoline for budding gymnasts, there’s a trick park to try out new stunts, and there’s a designated area for under 5’s to keep them safe and having fun. With free parking and a café onsite plus a sky lounge for arena views, we are a must visit destination for any age!”

Flip Out – London E6

Taking a slightly different approach to indoor trampoline parks, Flip Out London E6 is more comfortable with the label “trampoline and adventure park.” In actual fact, they are the biggest indoor trampoline park and adventure facility in the capital, with a mind-boggling range of facilities. These include a large arena of trampolines, stunt boxes, and trick obstacles, London’s first 100 meter indoor caving and potholing experience, 12 climbing walls, and a laser maze, to name but a few. While also running children’s parties and a variety of age specific opening hours, Flip Out London E6 offers a variety of ways in which adults and kids can stay fit while also enjoying themselves.

“I think we were selected due to our unique features such as our 100m indoor caving experience and our 30ft ninja drop slide. These activities and features all add to our uniquely urban feel.

“Our centre is perfect for people wanting to get fit through trampolining because of our diverse classes from learn to jump, learn to free run, and our climb fit. These sessions are all run by our amazing safety and climbing team, and we also pride ourselves as being the perfect place for families, where kids and parents can both come and have an amazing time whether that be to get fit, or just to have fun!”

Super Tramp – Bodmin

Super Tramp is located in Bodmin, Cornwall, and has a range of activities for kids of all ages.

Super Tramp has top-quality sports corners designed to transform into different sports courts.

Whether you want to play a game of bounce football, dodgeball, or basketball, you can do each in the same space over and over.

They also have airbags and wall-to-wall trampolines with tumbling tracks to practice a whole range of gymnastics tricks.

But, if you’re after indoor trampoline parks for younger kids, Super Tramp has you covered too.

Their soft play area has a wealth of small slides, inflatables, and mini trampolines for toddlers to have tons of fun in a safe, supportive environment.

Super Tramp, therefore, is a great way to keep kids fit and active while being the perfect location for a play date.

With prices starting from just £6 for a 1-hour session, there’s never been a better way to exert some energy than here. We’re sure you and your kids will thoroughly enjoy your time!

“We have been established for over 35 years, so there’s not much we don’t know about trampolines and trampoline parks.

“We are passionate about trampolines and strive to deliver a first-class customer experience in all of our venues.

“We value the support of our customers and look forward to welcoming you to Super Tramp in the future.”

Super Tramp – Plymouth

Based in the heart of the South West, Super Tramp Plymouth was one of the most popular indoor trampoline parks we encountered, with over 30 years experience in safety and trampoline entertainment.

In addition to open bounce sessions, the venue runs after school and family bounce sessions, making it hugely popular with a wide variety of ages. They also have more specialist equipment and facilities. For example, Super Tramp offers the South West’s #1 Wall Running set up, combining the skills of trampolining with parkour. In addition to hugely popular workshops for wall running, Super Tramp’s Superfit exercise class was recommended highly by our students and readers. These 60 minute trampoline fitness classes have all the benefits of a high intensity gym session, but are a lot more fun!

Best Indoor Trampoline Parks in Wales

Infinity Trampoline Park – Cardiff

With over 70 interconnected trampolines, vault boxes, tumble tracks, and more, Infinity Park is one of those special indoor trampoline parks that cherish flexibility and creativity for their customers. As you might imagine, the park is aimed at a wide range of ages, running everything from family sessions and parties, to the hugely popular Infinity Active sessions. Indeed, the fitness side of Infinity Trampoline Park really stands out, with a host of qualified instructors offering everything from introductions to trampoline fitness, to intense aerobic trampoline classes. What’s more, as one of the oldest centres in the UK, Infinity Park is a trailblazer in terms of design and innovation, with many high-end parks subsequently taking inspiration from their early ideas.

“Infinity Trampoline Park in Cardiff was one of the first parks in the UK to open, but what we take pride in is the revolution in trampoline parks that we initiated. Before we opened, parks were typically very flat (ironically). The idea of connecting trampolines in a long expanse was very common abroad and in the UK, and using our experience in extreme sports, we wanted to create something that would take trampoline parks to the next level. We spent months pouring over the design of Infinity Cardiff, and used raised platforms, vault boxes, and other parkour-inspired features to create an experience unrivalled in the UK. We designed a ‘performance wall’ section that involves bouncing on your back and running up the wall, with multiple levelled platforms allowing advanced users to unlock a whole new dimension of freestyle tricks and manoeuvres. 

“Since we opened, we frequently hear of other park operators taking inspiration from our design and take pride in this.

“Our whole Infinity Team and ethos revolves around personality, customer engagement and enthusiasm for the freestyle niche that we’ve created. Because of this, we’ve secured a 5 star rating across Facebook and Trip Advisor, and display a Trip Advisor certificate of excellence with pride. We’ve also won several local, regional and even national awards, with more ‘finalist’ status secured for upcoming ceremonies. Examples include – Wales Start Up of the Year 2017 in the Leisure & Tourism sector, Inspiring Entrepreneur of the Year at the national Start Ups Awards, and finalists for Entrepreneur of the Year at the Cardiff Business Awards (announcing June 15^th) and finalist for the Elite Awards’ Fitness Award (announcing June).”

Hangar Five – Pembrokeshire

Hangar Five is another seriously popular trampoline park, known throughout Wales and the UK. With around 10,000 square feet of interconnected trampolines, including special features like angled walls, an airbag for stunts, slam dunk basketball courts, dodgeball areas, and facilities for volleyball, Hangar Five have enough equipment to compete with the best trampoline parks in the UK.

What’s more, the venue is popular for kids’ parties, meaning that staff are fully trained and friendly, and that the venue has additional facilities like a soft play area to cater for every child’s need. For adults, there are the hugely popular (and effective) Rebound classes: trampoline fitness classes designed to give a full body workout without any stress on joints.

“We think that Hangar 5 is so highly regarded by our readers and our customers because of the dedication of myself, Mandy, and indeed all our staff to make sure that every bouncer that visits Hangar 5 Trampoline park is treated the same way.Customer satisfaction and safety really are at the top of our list. We also have the Hang 5 café serving Hot and Cold Food/Drink, Birthday parties which are very very popular at Hangar 5, and loads of fantastic reviews.”

Before You Go!

And there you have it!

If you’re looking for a new way to get fit, we can’t encourage you enough to get out and try a trampoline fitness class in your local area.

Indoor trampoline parks are opening all around the country, so if you feel we’ve missed anyone off our list, be sure to get in touch on Facebook or Twitter.

If you’re interested in joining one of the fastest-growing training providers in the UK and becoming one of our amazing students, be sure to download our FREE prospectus to learn more about our L3 PT Diploma!

Last (and certainly not least!) you can find more amazing health and fitness resources on the OriGym blog!

Do you know your bouldering from your belays? Your rock over from your dyno?

Bouldering walls and indoor climbing have soared in popularity in recent years, and with that rise, there has been a concurrent explosion in the number of bouldering gyms and climbing centres popping up around the UK.

Having surveyed our students, fitness professionals, and climbers, and contacted over one hundred of the best bouldering walls in the country, we managed to come up with an exclusive list of the 38 best bouldering gyms (UK) so you can discover the “the best bouldering near me.”

All of these centres bring unique elements to the table, but some of the things they have in common are a fantastic range of facilities, their reputation in the climbing industry, the availability of expert tutors on-site, and perhaps most importantly, supportive and enthusiastic communities ready to welcome new and experienced climbers alike.

Whether you’re looking for the best UK bouldering walls for beginners or a centre with a reputation for competition climbing, there’ll be something here for you. All our bouldering walls and climbing centres are organised by region, so you can easily search for the best indoor climbing wall near where you are. We’ve also provided a featured bouldering gyms list before our article’s meat, to help narrow down your choices.

As if that wasn’t enough, there’s a handy bouldering FAQ section at the bottom of this article, to help with any lingering questions.

All set?

Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get stuck in!

The Best Bouldering Gyms in the UK

Glasgow Climbing Centre

Glasgow Climbing Centre has everything a budding climber could possibly need, based in the heart of one of Scotland’s greatest cities. They cater for climbers of all abilities, with a mixture of bouldering, lead ropes, top roping, and autobelays. Their bouldering walls in particular are impressive, with three dedicated areas and around 100 different problems available at any one time.

What’s more, Glasgow Climbing Centre regularly reset their walls, with around 58% of their overall routes less than one month old, and none of their routes older than two months. Therefore, you can guarantee a fresh and exciting experience with each visit.

Of course, this bouldering gym holds its community in equal regard to the facility itself:

“We think of ourselves as a community hub for climbers, rather than a climbing gym. We know our customers, chat with them, and find out how they are climbing. Our setting team is keen to craft problems and routes that appeal to a customer’s favourite style, or one they are working to improve on.

“They stay for the banter, and some start down the climbing path too. With this sense of belonging to something, and our great chat, you could consider us as a top Craic Climbing venue.”

Opening Hours: Mon-Fri: 10 am-10 pm and Sat-Sun: 9 am-6 pm

Location: 534 Paisley Rd W, Glasgow G51 1RN, United Kingdom

Prices: Juniors £9 and adults (£11 off-peak and £13 on-peak)

Ice Factor – Kinlochleven

Sure, the main attraction of Ice Factor may be the largest indoor ice climbing wall in the world. However, climbers more familiar with their hands than they are with ice picks will testify that Ice Factor’s impressive variety of roped climbing routes, twinned with a popular bouldering wall area, more than suffices to warrant their inclusion in our list of the best bouldering gyms in the UK.

The routes are also regularly reset by experienced climber Dave Macleod, ensuring that climbers will be kept interested and challenged. In addition to these fantastic facilities, Ice Factor places emphasis on welcoming climbers from all walks of life:

“Being based in Kinlochleven, we are conveniently placed for those that are passing through on holiday in the beautiful Highlands, and to those experienced climbers who are here for a taste of the local outdoor routes. With us, such climbers can escape the weather or have an indoor training session with a coffee/beer on hand in our centre’s café and Chillers bar.”

The Ridge Climbing Centre– Stockport

The Ridge Climbing Centre has recently introduced some new features to their centre after making some exciting changes to make the bouldering experience they offer one to remember.

They’ve recently redone their entire boulder room, investing in over 600 new holds giving you plenty of variety and challenges to explore routes on their bouldering walls. 

Shortly, they will also be introducing a freestanding bouldering wall to their centre to help you develop your climbing skills further and will also be adding a new bouldering room to give you more space to explore.

The Ridge Climbing Centre prides itself on its passion and expertise and its team will be happy to answer any questions you have 

Opening Times: Mon: 4 pm – 10 pm, Tues- Fri: 10 am – 10 pm, Weekends: 10 am -10 pm

Location: Goyt Mill, Upper Hibbert Ln, Marple, Stockport SK6 7HX

Prices: Day Passes from £8

Climb Newcastle

Climb Newcastle is ideal for beginners and seasoned veterans alike. Operating out of two venues, The Valley in Ouseburn and The Pool in Byker, visitors pay one membership fee to gain access to both bouldering gyms. As such, emphasis is placed upon inclusivity: The Valley in Ouseburn caters for serious bouldering enthusiasts, and The Pool in Byker offers classes and training areas for both adults and children. The dual bouldering wall venues also make it perfect for climbers in the North East wondering “what’s best rock climbing near me” – surely the more choice, the better!

This emphasis on accessibility for the sport is emphasised by the staff. Chris Graham told us that, “at climb Newcastle we pride ourselves on offering an inclusive environment for climbers of all ages and abilities. Our unique centres are within walking distance of each other, offering everything from beginners’ areas and dedicated kids’ rooms, to one of the UK’s largest competition walls.

“It’s a place where first time climbers can mix with international athletes in a relaxed environment and friendly community.”

Opening Times: Mon – Fri: 7 am – 10 pm and Sat-Sun: 9 am – 8 pm

Location: Shipley Place, Byker, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE6 2DQ

Prices: Adults (£10.50) and Junior ages (£6.50)

The Climbing Works – Sheffield

The Climbing Works is a monster of a venue, not just in terms of its local area, not even in terms of the bouldering UK scene, but internationally. Opening in 2006, the venue, which now has two dedicated buildings to bouldering, was for a time the largest bouldering gym in the world. Indeed, the venue has also been awarded National Performance Centre status and is therefore able to cater for climbers from beginners to elite athletes.

Owed to its size, The Climbing Works offers a massive 600 boulder problems, with around 120 climbs for casual climbers and over 100 climbs set for experts and elite-level athletes, including members of the British Bouldering Team. In line with bouldering’s ethos of being an inclusive sport, The Climbing Works also offers a student rate on Wednesday afternoons and has a large social media following online, making it a fun and vibrant bouldering wall for all to enjoy.

Opening Hours: Midweek (except Thur) 10 am -10 pm, Thur 12 pm – 10 pm, Weekend: 10 am – 10pm

Location: Unit B2, Centenary Works, 150 Little London Rd, Sheffield, S8 0UJ, UK

Prices: Adult (£9.50), Over 60s (£8.50) or U14 (£7) 

The Foundry – Sheffield

Put simply, The Foundry is a legendary venue for aficionados of indoor rock climbing and bouldering in the UK, and we were not surprised in the least when our students and climbers voted for it in their droves. Although it was the first dedicated bouldering wall to appear in the UK and maintains a serious reputation in the industry, The Foundry runs classes for all, including regular introduction to climbing courses and 1:1 coaching sessions including the facilities to run lattice assessments.

The Foundry also has big names like Steve McLure and Dave Mason setting routes for them, ensuring that their four distinct bouldering circuits are full of tricky and challenging problems for climbers of all abilities. However, if there is one thing The Foundry is famous for its unique bouldering wall: The Wave. Differing from normal wooden walls, this resin construction mimics the feel of real rock and is the central attraction of this legendary venue. The brainchild of legendary climber Jerry Moffat, he says of his creation:

“The idea of The Wave was to simulate climbing outside, enabling the climber to transfer the skills learnt indoors during our wet winters, to real rock later in the year. The Wave absolutely does this. Every single professional climber who’s come to the Peak District has had a go on the wave and loved it. Put simply, it’s great climbing.”

Location: Unit 2, 45 Mowbray Street, Sheffield, S3 8EN

Opening Hours: Mon – Fri 10 am – 10 pm and Sat-Sun 10 am – 8 pm

Prices: Adult (£9.50), Student/Concession (£8), and U18 (£6)

The Climbing Lab – Leeds

Boldly advertising themselves as the best indoor climbing and bouldering wall in Leeds, The Climbing Lab does a lot to deliver on this promise. Offering beginner and experienced climbing courses all week from their massive 500m sq. climbing area, this dedicated bouldering gym also runs competitions and has a thriving social community.

The climbing centre is also popular for its bouldering problems, with new routes set every two weeks at a variety of different grades and difficulties. In addition to climbing, there are also dedicated training areas, for those looking to seriously improve their skills on the wall. Because the venue is run by climbers, you can guarantee that they can cater for your ambition, regardless of your skill level.

Of course, when it comes down to it, a large part of climbing is how much people enjoy themselves on the wall. Staff from The Climbing Lab told us, “One thing we hear all the time from climbers of all abilities is how much they love the friendly and relaxed atmosphere at The Climbing Lab. There is a real sense of community where nobody feels alienated or unwelcome because of their ability.”

Opening Times: Mon – Fri: 10 am – 10 pm and Sat – Sun: 10 am – 8 pm

Location: 45 Mowbray Street, Sheffield, England, S3 8EN, United Kingdom

Prices: Adults (£9.50), Students (£8), and U18 (£6)

ROKT – Huddersfield

Put simply, ROKT is huge, both in terms of reputation and in its actual size. As well as its indoor climbing facilities, which we’ll come to in a minute, this multi-purpose venue boasts the UK’s highest man-made outdoor climbing wall, a Nerf arena, escape rooms, an award-winning pub, and a restaurant.

But it’s the climbing we’re here for. Diehard climbers need not worry that, with all those other distractions, ROKT won’t deliver when compared to the standard of other bouldering gyms and climbing walls. In fact, with over 400 meters squared of climbing surface, ROKT is one of the largest dedicated climbing centres in the UK.

Beginners also need not be intimidated. In ROKT’s own words:

“Whether you are an experienced climber, you’re a little rusty, or you’ve never climbed before – we have the facilities to suit your needs.

“If you are a boulderer or rope climber, the facilities within the centre are extensive and will provide you with everything a climber needs to have fun, train safely, and push on through the grades.”

Opening Hours: Booking/Appointment Only

Location: Old Flour Mill, Mill Road Street, Brighouse, HD6 1EY

Prices: To Be Confirmed Upon Enquiry

City Bloc – Leeds

Founded in 2009, City Bloc is by no means the oldest bouldering gym on our list. Nor is it the biggest… What it does have, however, is the prestige of its creators: four members of the British bouldering team. Pair this with a serious reputation for being one of the best bouldering walls in the country, in addition to City Bloc’s avid community of elite and newbie climbers, and you end up with a facility that inarguably deserves its place on our list of the best bouldering gyms (UK).

Facilities include 800m sq. of climbing space, containing 9 different bouldering circuits which are reset every week, and a training area that includes a beatmaker finger board, gymnastic rings, free weights, and yoga mats, to name a few. Given the expertise of the staff, one of the main attractions of the venue is the option to partake in free beginners’ coaching sessions throughout the week, as well as 1:1 coaching which can be booked through City Bloc’s website.

“The centre might be on the smaller side for a modern bouldering wall, but all styles of climbing are catered for and the coziness just adds to the great vibe. The wall was originally designed by four former members of the British bouldering team – Ben Meeks, Tom Sugden, Martin Smith and Rachel Seymour. They wanted to replicate angles they had climbed on in international competitions, so many parts of the wall are handpicked from some of the best climbing walls around the world. The wall stays up to date with the latest holds and volumes available on the market, and head-setter Ben Meeks is one of the highest qualified setters in the country.

“The grades range from beginners with many new to climbing joining every week, up to professional with some of the world’s best often visiting and using the wall as a training venue.”

Opening Hours: Mon: 7am – 10pm, Tue: 10am-10pm, Wed: 7am– 10pm, Thur: 10am – 10pm, Fri: 10am – 10pm, Weekends: 10am – 10pm

Location:1-4 Kitson Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS10 1NT

Prices: Adults (£10), Concessions (£9), Junior (£8), and student deals from (£4.50)

Eden Rock – Carlisle

Though Eden Rock technically now has two venues, Eden Rock Carlisle and Eden Rock Edinburgh, it is the original Carlisle bouldering wall that was recommended by our students. And if you’ve visited, you will see why…

With over 240 problems to scramble up at any one time, the climbing centre boasts routes appropriate for climbers of all skills. What’s more, Eden Rock has, in its own words, “one of the best wooden circuits in the world, lovingly handmade by our team, and sourced from our own gardens.”

Eden Rock is all about inclusivity when it comes to rock climbing. As such, they employ three route setters of different shapes, sizes and abilities, ensuring that there is something for everyone to climb.

And it goes further:

“We have training facilities designed by the massively talented Dan Varian (One of the founders of Beastmaker), which are some of the best in world, hidden here in Carlisle!

“I guess one of the most important things that has shaped us is that we started without much money, so really had to do everything by ourselves, particularly with regard to being creative with what we did instead of just throwing money at it. Eden Rock is very much who we are and we’re very glad people like it!”

Opening Hours: Mon-Fri 10 am-10 pm and Sat and Sun 10 am – 8 pm.

Location: 9 Brunel Way, Durranhill Industrial Estate, Carlisle, CA1 3NQ

Prices: Adult (£9.50), Concessions (£8.50), Adult Non-Member Entry (£10.50), Junior Prices (£6.50-£8.50)

Boulder UK-Preston

Boulder UK in Preston was established in September 2017, and emerged as a premier destination for climbers, succeeding the original wall in Blackburn since 2003. Boasting a rich legacy and a team of seasoned climbers, Boulder UK offers a welcoming environment for both beginners and experts alike.

The facility features a diverse range of indoor rock climbing walls, catering to various skill levels and preferences. From gentle slabs to challenging overhangs and roofs, climbers can find routes suited to their abilities and aspirations. With over 150 problems available, the gym ensures a fresh challenge each week, with routes spanning from V0 to V8+.

In addition to climbing walls, Boulder UK provides comprehensive training facilities, including a dedicated gym and rock training areas. Equipped with free weights, campus boards, fingerboards, and specialized Beastmaker boards, climbers have access to tools to enhance their strength and technique.

The gym caters to climbers of all ages, offering junior clubs, development squads, and academies starting from age 5. Whether a novice or aspiring GB standard athlete, there are programs tailored to nurture skills and foster growth.

Boulder UK also offers a range of instructional sessions, including bouldering inductions, lessons, and taster sessions for both adults and juniors. Expert coaching is available, along with options for birthday parties and group sessions, ensuring an inclusive and enjoyable experience for all.

One of Boulder UK’s standout features is its expert route-setting team, comprising some of the country’s best setters. With experienced in-house setters complemented by national BMC competition route-setters, climbers can expect fresh and innovative routes regularly, ensuring an engaging and dynamic climbing experience. 

Opening Hours: Mon, Tues, Thur, Fri: 10 am-10 pm, Wed: 7am-10pm, Weekends: 10am-7pm, Bank Holidays: 10am-7pm.

Location: 3B Carnfield Place, Preston PR5 8AN

Prices: Adult (from £10.50), Concessions (from £9.50), Juniors from (£8.00) 

Kendal Wall – Lake District

Kendal Wall is another one of those institutions known by climbers up and down the country. Starting from humble beginnings, the idea of three climbers in the early 90s to open a dedicated climbing wall, the Kendal Wall has grown to become a legend of the bouldering UK scene, and remains one of the top indoor climbing venues in the UK.

And it gets better. Many of our students voted for Kendal Wall as a result of its newly extended bouldering facilities which opened in 2010 as part of the centre’s huge development scheme. There are dedicated rooms and bouldering walls for beginners and intermediate boulderers, as well as routes and problems catered for the expert audience that this bouldering gym regularly attracts. In addition, there are plenty of other forms of climbing, including the UK’s tallest wall (25m) and the infamous 20m King Kong wall, with a range of different problems.

“We feel that we have a fantastic centre, with a huge variety of climbing and bouldering to suit all abilities. For bouldering, there is an easier selection of problems in the Den on the first floor, ideal if people are new to bouldering and a great area to warm up. We also have 6 auto-belays in the main wall including one on our 20 meter wall, so if you don’t happen to have a partner to climb with you can always come along and improve your endurance on these. There is also our training room facility which you can use (with an induction) to either recover from injury or for your warm up.

“For the more experienced climber we have all the above and our spectacular Petzl main wall at 25 meters, still the tallest in England. There really is so much to do!”

Opening Hours: Mon-Fri: 10 am-10 pm and Sat and Sun: 10 am – 10 pm

Location: Unit 27, Lake District Business Park, Mint Bridge Rd, Kendal LA9 6NH

Prices: Adult (£14.50), Over 80s (£8.60) Concession (£11.60), Student Days (£8.60), Children (£3.00-£11.60).

Manchester Climbing Centre

You may be drawn to this amazing North-West climbing wall purely as a result of the stunning venue in which it is based. In truth, there are many reasons to visit Manchester Climbing Centre – not least the availability of two dedicated bouldering areas, a traverse room, auto belays, top-ropes, and lead climbs – but the bouldering gym’s setting of a repurposed 19th-century church with huge stained glass windows is, nevertheless, something to be impressed by.

And, let’s be honest, the staff aren’t afraid of talking about the amazing climbing centre they have helped to build (and why would they be!)…

“I think the biggest draw to our centre is a combination of the community feel and great energy in the centre, plus the amazing location, both in terms of city centre and the building we are in.

“We are one big family at MCC and I believe that comes across in all the events and setting we do. As our website says, we are trying to fuse climbing with culture to create a vibrant community, driven by passion. From week to week we are trying to mix things up with different setting and competitions, but also film nights, lectures and music events. All of this means that MCC can be a quite unique climbing experience.”

Opening Times: Mon – Fri: 10 am – 10 pm/Sat and Sun: 10 am – 6 pm

Location: St. Benedict’s Church, Bennett St, Manchester M12 5ND

Prices: Adults (£12) and Junior/Concessions (£11)

The Climbing Hangar – Liverpool

The Climbing Hangar Liverpool offers some serious facilities for bouldering and climbing purists. The whole climbing centre is dedicated to bouldering, and with over two floors packed with circuits, bouldering walls and routes appropriate for climbers of all abilities, it’s a stunning venue.

As a result of its reputation, The Climbing Hangar attracts some serious climbers but has also created an atmosphere where anyone feels welcome. Running everything from competitions and climbing opens, to NIBAS courses for kids, the hugely popular “Hangar Women Rock” class every Wednesday, and social climbing on a Friday evening until late, the venue has valued its community in addition to its climbing walls. And if that wasn’t enough, there is a fantastically well-stocked training area with gymnastic rings and fingerboards, a shop, and a café that serves some of the best coffee around. If you’re looking for maximum enjoyment alongside world-class facilities, this is your venue.

Opening Times: (Liverpool North): Mon-Fri: 6:30 am -10 pm and Sat and Sun: 9 am-7 pm.

(Liverpool South): Mon: and Tue: 8 am-10 pm, Wed and Thur: 6:30 am-10 pm, 6:30 am-9 pm, and Weekends: 9 am-7 pm

Location: (Liverpool North): 6 Birchall Street, Liverpool, L20 8PD and (Liverpool South): Units 14 & 15, 40 Speke Rd, Liverpool L19 2RF

Prices: Adults (£14.50), Concessions and Students (£13), Juniors (£8.50-£12.50) 

Awesome Walls – Stockport

Awesome Walls Stockport is a multipurpose climbing centre for boulderers, top-rope climbers, and lead-rope climbers. Part of the Awesome Walls family, the Stockport venue was popular with our students and climbers because of their expert courses to help you improve your technique, and develop a love for the sport. In addition, their massive 23.5-metre wall is one of the biggest in the UK and provides a focal point for the venue…however intimidating it may be.

“Our customers are our priority and we strive to deliver the best experience to everyone no matter their age, or whether they are a novice or an advanced climber.

“We offer as much as we can to our members, including free membership, free parking, discounts, regular route changes, and a variety of wall styles, combined with our passion and love for everyone who comes through our doors. As such, we are a place where anyone can try something new, train, have a great time, and somewhere we are sure they will want to come back.”

Opening Hours: Mon-Fri 10 am-10 pm and Weekends: 10 am-8 pm

Location: Pear Mill, Lower Bredbury, Stockport, SK6 2BP

Prices: To Be Confirmed Upon Enquiry

Redpoint Birmingham

Opened a decade ago in 2008, Redpoint Birmingham has gone from strength to strength in their short ten years on the Bouldering UK scene. They are perhaps most famous for their use of tricky angles and shapes throughout the climbing centre, with tempting stalactites hanging from every inch of the roof.

However, we’re here for the bouldering, and again Redpoint Birmingham does not disappoint. Their bouldering is split across four areas, comprised of: Redbloc, vertical climbing walls, and all manner of overhangs with a 100m traverse route to practise your endurance; The Bunker, a basement bouldering area full of overhangs and a roof that extends for 40ft; a fully kitted training room containing Beastmaker fingerboards and so much more; and Babybloc, designed for group sessions and childrens’ climbing.

Rest assured, with over 200 bouldering problems to be tackled at any one time, Redpoint Birmingham can cater for all manner of climbers.

“We have a reputation for quality routes, great customer service and a friendly atmosphere. This means that beginners and Jedi climbers alike can all feel at home. We change routes regularly and all of our staff are passionate about climbing and happy to help.

“As our bouldering centre, Redbloc, is just one part of our climbing centre; we cater for all types of climber. We also have a great on site shop – the legendary Rock On – and we run outdoor climbing courses to help indoor climbers make the transition to the world of outdoor climbing. We also have great cakes!”

Opening Hours: Weekdays 10 am – 10 pm, Weekends & Bank Holidays 10 am – 6 pm

Location:77 Cecil Street, B19 3ST

Prices: Adults (from £8), Students (from £7.50), and U16s (from £8)

The Climbing Depot – Birmingham

Part of the hugely successful and popular Climbing Depot family, The Climbing Depot Birmingham is one of the newest venues on our list. Currently, the biggest bouldering gym in the Midlands, and the second largest in the UK, the Climbing Depot is already a nationally recognised powerhouse.

The venue is, therefore, large enough to cater for climbers of all abilities, with weekly re-sets, coaching courses, yoga nights, and kids’ clubs ensuring there is something for everyone. With over 250 climbs at any one time, and 10 circuits graded V0 to V11+, the venue also promises the widest range of holds of any wall in the UK, in addition to dedicated training areas, a well-stocked shop, and a café for relaxing. If you’re looking for a venue to immerse yourself in this increasingly popular sport, there aren’t many better bouldering walls than The Climbing Depot.

“The Climbing Depot – Birmingham is one of the newest centres in the UK, and no expense has been spared in providing the absolute best in indoor climbing experiences. From the cafe to the climbing area – there is a high quality finish throughout. Building on 10 years of prior experience – with climbing centres in Leeds, Nottingham, and Manchester – The Climbing Depot provides tailored sessions and general entry for every standard and age of climber – from complete beginner to National Team member, and from toddlers to OAPs!

“Once you’re hooked they’ve got coaching sessions, new problems every week, kids sessions, and they also host several large events each year, with competitions, gear demonstrations, and more taking place throughout the year.”

Opening Hours: Mon – Fri: 6 am – 10 pm, Sat and Sun 9 am – 9 pm, Bank Holiday Mon: 9am – 10 pm

Location: 10 Sherlock Street, Birmingham, B5 6LU

Prices: Adults (From £12.50), Concessions (from £12.50), U18s (£8) and U5 (free with paying adult).

Ape Index – Leicester

Ape Index is perhaps our most multi-purpose venue, with indoor climbing facilities, ninja warrior-style training, and an obstacle race gym (which looks about as fun as it sounds). Set up by Nigel Leeming, the facility is designed as a part-climbing centre and part-training base where beginners and experts can improve their fitness in a variety of fun and effective ways, designed specifically to improve explosive pulling and jumping power: crucial for top-level climbers.

Nigel himself holds the training aspect of his facility in equal regard to the bouldering itself. He says:

“[We offer] a broad range of movement based activities: rock climbing, ninja warrior, obstacle skills, gymnastics, and parkour. As such we can offer aspiring movement based athletes a great area to train in, keeping them well rounded.”

But let’s not forget about the bouldering. Ape Index’s 200 sq. metre climbing wall, which is reset regularly, more than suffices to keep climbers entertained meaning it can stand alone as both a bouldering gym and a fitness hub.

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Climbing The Walls – Shrewsbury

Perhaps a little optimistically, Climbing The Walls advertises on their site that their bouldering walls are appropriate for ages 5-105. While there may not necessarily be many centurions scrambling up these Shrewsbury walls regularly, this bouldering gym does boast an impressive range of climbing-related challenges and games. From their ingeniously designed action walls, adding an added puzzle element to climbing, to their 200 square metres of bouldering walls over two floors, Climbing The Walls is an excellent choice for those looking for constantly reinvented challenges.

Of their bouldering options, Climbing The Walls told us,

“Consisting of over 100 problems at any one time. Climbing The Walls keep our problems totally fresh with regular route changes every six weeks, using some of the UKs top route setters.

“We also chose Walltopia to fit out our 12 month old centre, and as such and lot of thought was put behind design of the bouldering area. This has resulted in some great angles to test even the best of boulderers. Routes range from V-0 to V-8 so there’s something for absolutely everyone, and Climbing The Walls recently announced accreditation to teach up to NICAS Level 5 as a primary centre”

Opening Times: Mon-Fri: 10 am – 10 pm, Sat 10 am – 8 pm, Sun: 10 am – 8 pm

Address: Unit 3, Market Place, Battlefield Road, Shrewsbury, SY1 4AN

Prices: Adults (from £12), Concessions (from £10)

Wolf Mountain – Wolverhampton

Perhaps winner of the best-named-gym award, Wolf Mountain was established in 2005, combining an impressive number of top rope routes, with a creative bouldering wall section and training facilities for climbers, including the infamous (and ominously named) Stamina Tunnel (pictured above). The climbing centre is set up to be accessible for anyone, with beginners only requiring a quick safety briefing and some tips before being unleashed upon the venue’s many bouldering problems.

What we noticed in our research was the close-knit community that drives the popularity of the venue. Along those lines, the staff told us that,

“here at Wolf Mountain we have a sense of community amongst our climbers, where the good climbers interact with the novices and visa versa. Climbers of all ages discuss, encourage and help each other to become the best they can, while also challenging each other to improve in a fun environment.”

Opening Times: Mon: 6 pm -10 pm, Tue: 4 pm – 10 pm, Wed: 10 am – 10 pm, Thur: 10 am – 10 pm, Fri: 12 pm – 8 pm, Weekends 10 am – 6 pm

Location: Paget Road, Wolverhampton WV6 0EP

Prices: Adults (£9.00), Junior Entry (£8.00), OAP  

The Ballroom Climbing Wall – Coventry

Opened just over a year ago by a trio of entrepreneurial climbers, The Ballroom Climbing Wall has quickly garnered a reputation for being a fun bouldering gym with some serious challenges on offer. Although the team and centre may be comparatively smaller than some others on this list of the best bouldering gyms UK, The Ballroom still manages to run group and coaching sessions for all ages, as well as themed evenings and events throughout the year.

When we asked the team how they have achieved this early success, they told us:

“We created a team of people who not only live for climbing, but who also share this passion with anyone and everyone that walks through our doors. This, coupled with world beating holds, the country’s best setters, and a mean coffee menu, resulted in what we believe to be one of the best Bouldering centres in the country today.”

“The spirit of the Ballroom has its community to thank as well – we have created one of the most open and friendly atmospheres seen in a bouldering wall – allowing all climbers, regardless of ability, to come and enjoy climbing without feeling judged or embarrassed if they fall off the easiest of jug ladders!”

Opening: Mon – Fri: 12 pm – 10 pm, Sat: 11am – 8 pm, Sun: 11am – 6 pm
Bank Holidays: 10 am – 8 pm

Location: Ironmonger Row, Coventry, CV1 1LZ

Prices: Adults (£12), Children (£11), and U11 (£10)

The Climbing Hangar – Plymouth

The Climbing Hangar Plymouth are the very definition of new kids on the bloc(k), having only opened their doors in March 2018. They have, however, proven popular, both with climbers in the South West and with our students. And it’s true, part of this may be down to their affiliation with the wider Climbing Hangar family, currently operating out of Liverpool and London. However, most of their success is homemade and stems from their excellent attention to detail and facilities.

The quality of the problems and climbs available at The Climbing Hangar is assured, given the existing reputation of venues like The Climbing Hangar Liverpool. The Plymouth incarnation then, brings to the table a huge dedicated bouldering space, a training area with Beastmaker hangboards, campus boards, weights and more, a next-generation Moon Board to train on, and a World Cup Circuit for amateur climbers to test their abilities.

“The Climbing Hangar, Plymouth is an extraordinarily spacious dedicated bouldering centre with many nooks and crannies to explore! With problems set to suit and challenge climbers of all abilities, we have created an extremely inclusive and welcoming atmosphere. Our focus is on creating a community feel with a cosy cafe, bodacious boulder and sumptuous studio space, giving everyone a plethora of opportunities to meet new people and have a great time!”

Opening Hours: Mon and Wed: 6:30 am–10 pm, Tue and Thur: 10 am–10 pm, Fri: 6:30 am–9 pm, Weekends 10 am–7 pm

Location: Unit 9, Burrington Business Park Burrington Way, Plymouth, PL5 3LX 

Prices: Adults (£14.00), Concessions (£12.50), Junior Climbers (£12.00)

Rockburn Bridport

RockBurn Bridport is a small yet continually expanding bouldering wall in the south-west of Dorset. With a dedicated bouldering arena, as well as taster sessions and group classes that run through the week, what sticks out about this gym is the grassroots and community feel of the venue. The venue actively welcomes families and has provisions for school visits and Duke of Edinburgh courses, therefore opening up bouldering to locals and youngsters in the immediate vicinity.

The team reflects this community feel, comprised of a tightly knit group: Will Martin the Managing Director and brains behind the whole project; Kevin Long, head coach and route setter; and Hannah Whaley, who runs sessions including Rockburn’s ladies’ night on Friday evenings, in addition to setting routes for the centre.

Of his venue, Will told us:

“I designed and built the centre after years of working in other climbing and outdoor venues. Our centre is on the smaller end of the scale with 75 linear metres of wall. We are actively developing still, adding key new features to the centre to ensure climbers have everything they need to develop their strength, skillset and techniques appropriately.

“My aim is to create an environment where climbers can come and have a social climb, test themselves, get some input and banter and generally keep things in the vein of friends coming over to climb.”

Opening Hours: Mon, Tue, Thur 4 pm-9:30 pm, Wed and Fri: 12 pm-9:30 pm, and Sat 12 pm-5 pm.

Location: Priory Lane, Bridport, Dorset DT6 3RW

Prices: Adults (from £8), Concessions (from £7), U18s (£6), Parent and Child (£11).

The Climbing Academy (The Church)– Bristol

Bristol’s Undercover Rock is one of those blessed venues (quite literally) which enjoys the setting of a 15th-century church, meaning climbers can take in the views when they’re halfway up some of Undercover Rock’s varied climbing walls. And it’s true, most of this venue is dedicated to rope climbing, with a lot of the tutors and sessions being dedicated to this form of the sport.

There is, however, a dedicated bouldering wall section, with regularly reset problems and routes to keep local climbers coming back for more. In addition to a varied programme of beginner’s sessions and advanced tutorials, the climbing centre also runs a healthy calendar of competitions, catering for athletes on the more experienced end of the spectrum.

“Situated in a 15th century church, Undercover Rock (UCR) in Bristol is the South West’s oldest climbing wall (open since 1992). UCR offers a unique climbing experience, the dramatic setting has walls up to 13 metres high which lead into interesting roof spaces and archways, giving-way to hangovers and powerful gradients.

“But it’s not just for the pros; with top-roping, lead climbing and with a dedicated bouldering area for training whatever your climbing know-how, UCR is a must visit for anyone living in or visiting Bristol.”

Opening Times: Mon-Fri: 12 pm-10 pm (Peak 3-8 pm) Sat-Sun: 9 am-6 pm (Peak 9 am-3 pm)

Location: St.Werburgh’s Church, Mina Road, Bristol, BS2 9YQ

Prices: Adults (from £11), U16s (from £7). 

Golden Gecko Climbing – Romsey

Our students and climbers only had good things to say about Golden Gecko. In fact, despite the fact that the venue also has auto belay facilities and a range of roped climbing options, it was the 150 metres squared of bouldering space that attracted the most praise.

Golden Gecko regularly switch up their routes and bouldering walls, which attracts a range of climbers to their venue, from children to professionals. Their walls include tricky overhangs and arêtes, as well as traverse sections and some top-quality volumes, and the range of difficulties available means that there is plenty of room for climbers to develop and hone their skills.

“Golden Gecko offers a unique mix of bouldering, roped climbing and a set of 10 auto belays. This mix allows us to cater for climbers from 5 years with little or no experience right up to experienced climber who are looking to train indoor to prepare for big adventures outdoors. Our friendly and open environment welcomes all newcomers to enjoy this fast-growing sport.

“Climbing provides individual challenges which you set to your own level with physical advantages of a full body workout and 3D problem solving. We can offer inductions for both ropes and bouldering beginners, as well as fun, have-a-go sessions where you can concentrate on the climbing movement without the worry of ropes.”

Opening Times: Mon-Fri 10 am-10 pm, Sat 10 am-7 pm, Sun 12-7 pm

Location: 34 Romsey Industrial Estate Greatbridge Road, Romsey, SO51 0HR, UK

Prices: Adult prices (from £10.50), Students and U18s (from £8.50), and U5 (from £5.00).

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Boulder Shack Climbing Gym – Southampton

The first thing we noticed about Boulder Shack Climbing Gym was their dedication to getting as many different demographics into climbing as possible. The bouldering gym runs regular induction classes for adults, introducing them both to the climbing centre and rock climbing in general. Boulder Shack also runs a wide range of classes for kids, including holiday climbing programmes and junior climbing taster sessions. They are also fantastic for competitions, and as a dedicated venue to bouldering walls, there’s more than enough space to develop and improve as a beginner to bouldering.

“Here at Boulder Shack we make climbing activities as approachable and as fun as possible in a relaxed and inclusive atmosphere. We are a community supported climbing wall that thrives by making the priorities of our customers our own.

“The variety of climbing facilities attracts beginners and professionals alike, and with fitness classes and a café area, there really is something for everyone.”

Opening Hours: Mon-Fri: 10 am – 10 pm and Sat & Sun: 9:30 am – 8:30 pm

Location: Unit 4 Imperial Park, Empress Road, SO14 0JW

Prices: Adults (from £9.50), Concession (from £7.50), and U16 (from £7)

Blue Spider Indoor Climbing – Guildford

It’s been all change at Blue Spider Indoor Climbing Club in Guildford, with the large venue recently benefiting from a substantial expansion and rebuild. As you might expect then, there’s plenty here to keep everyone entertained, including over 300 frequently set routes, and a massive, brand new bouldering wall, in addition to the centre’s existing facilities.

The centre runs Adult and Kids Climbing programmes, to ensure that everyone feels welcome and to improve their skills on the wall.

The club also comes with 2 areas for climbers to solve 50 different bouldering problems, 8 auto-belays for you to explore four different routes on each one, and around 100 top-rope and lead climbing lines for people looking to climb between grades 3 to 8b.

Opening Times Mon – Fri: 10 am – 10 pm, Sat-Sun: 9 am -7:30 pm, Bank Holiday: 10 am – 10 pm

Address: Unit 9 Cobbett Park, Slyfield Industrial Estate, Moorfeld Road, Guildford, Surrey GU1 1RU

Prices: Adults (from £11.50), Concessions and Juniors (from £8.50)

Boulder Brighton

Boulder Brighton, as you might expect from the name, is Brighton’s premier bouldering wall dedicated entirely to bouldering. This place cares about one thing and one thing only: facilitating the best climbing experience for their enthusiastic community. With this in mind, they run an extensive program of adult training sessions, kids’ classes, as well as a healthy timetable of competitions for the more serious athletes.

Because of their love of what they call “climbing in its purest form,” Boulder Brighton have built a venue over 1,000 sq. metres in size, with over 250 regularly reset problems for climbers of all abilities. Rest assured, regardless of what you want to get out of bouldering, Boulder Brighton will have you covered.

They told us,

“At the end of the day, a climbing centre is only as good as the routes on the walls. We know this at Boulder Brighton, and we spend huge amounts of time and money trying to get the best climbs that we possibly can. We set a chunk of new routes at least once a week, often two or three times, we buy fancy new holds whenever we see something new and exciting on the market, and we make sure that we have a good variety of route-setters setting in different styles, whether they’re in-house staff of visiting guest setters.

“But all of this would be worthless if it weren’t for our amazing community of staff and climbers – bouldering is always a friendly sport, but we think we’ve got a pretty special bunch of people down here in Brighton. There’s lots of space around the walls to sit, chat, and plot how to take down your latest project, and that means that talking to people you’ve never met before becomes completely normal and happens every day. Whatever grade you’re climbing, you’ll find plenty of help available.”

Opening Times: Tues, Wed, Thu, Fri: 6 am-10 pm and Sat, Sun, Mon: 8 am-10 pm.

Location: Unit 7B-C Victoria Road Trading Estate, Portslade, Brighton, BN41 1XQ
Prices: Adults (from £7.60) and Concessions (from £7.60) 

Colchester Climbing Project

Proud of their status as Essex’s only dedicated bouldering gym, the Colchester Climbing Project is all about improving people’s health through this fun and community-driven sport. As such, they have all the facilities you might expect from a top-quality bouldering wall, including kit hire, a dedicated shop, over 150 climbs and problems at any one time, and a training area including a moon board. They also have some pretty neat extras for more adventurous climbers, including a 7m tunnel and caving area.

While the team has decades of bouldering experience shared between them, above all else they value their open and welcoming nature. This extends from offering climbing advice to new members, and the diverse range of routes set around the centre making climbing available to everyone.

“When we started to put together the idea of what we wanted from our centre, we decided to put our customer’s needs at the forefront of what we want to offer. All this adds up to a place in which you can come and de-stress. We don’t want to just be a place that people come to climb, we want to be THE place that’s at the centre of their climbing lifestyle.

“The founding team behind CCP are a group of passionate climbers with decades of experience in the industry. This has driven us to deliver as high quality product as possible. We love sharing our knowledge and having a good time with our customers which creates a supportive environment for all abilities.”

Opening Times: Mon: – Fri: 10am to 10 pm and Sat & Sun: 10 am to 8 pm

Location: Unit B&C Global Park, 12 Moorside, Colchester, Essex, CO1 2TJ

Prices: Standard Day Pass (£11), Concession Day Pass (£10), and U16 Day Pass (£8)

Highball Climbing Centre – Norwich

There is no doubt that highball is a top-quality bouldering gym. They describe themselves as an “adult training facility with a family-friendly atmosphere,” and this ethos is reflected in their excellent facilities, which include state-of-the-art matting for safety, one of the largest, if not the largest, competition-grade bouldering walls in East Anglia, strength and conditioning areas with Beastmaker Training board, a library of resources, and much, much more.

And if 600 metres sq. of bouldering surface wasn’t enough to tempt you, Highball Climbing Centre, according to both our students, and the venue’s reviews and testimonials, is just about the best community a climber could hope for. Supporting each other through competitions like The Big Flash annual climbing festival, as well as a varied programme of social events, you could not hope to find a more welcoming venue to practise indoor rock climbing.

“Highball has risen from the Norfolk flatlands with the mission to develop world class climbing facilities for all ages and abilities. In five short years, we have progressed from a small group of core adult climbers to a much larger vibrant community including young climbers and young athletes performing on the national stage. In doing so, we have introduced thousands of new people to the sport, and we host one of the best Annual Bouldering Competitions in the country, The Big Flash.

“Our Crew, Cafe and Community receive fabulous feedback from everyone, from one off visitors to visiting climbers and competitors nationwide, and our relentless route setting schedule means our regular climbers never get bored. The most important value we have is Never Stand Still; we have lived and died by this since day one, reinvesting and developing the centre year on year; we keep pushing forward…”

Opening Times: 2 pm – 10 pm, Tue, Wed, Thur and Fri: 10 am – 10 pm, Sat and Sun: 8 am-6 pm, and Bank Holidays: 10 am-6 pm

Location: 1 Twickenham Road, Norwich, NR6 6NG

Prices: Adults (from £13), Concessions (from £11.50), and U14s (from £8.50)

The Arch (Building One)

The Arch is one of London’s premiere indoor rock climbing venues. If you haven’t climbed before, they offer intro lessons to get you going on their bouldering walls, but after this you will be free to visit and climb whenever you want. What’s most tempting for climbers is that membership will grant you access to any of their three London venues: The Arch North; The Arch Biscuit; and The Arch Building One.

Of course, perhaps what makes the Arch so popular with London climbers, as well as their facilities, is their existing community.

“We offer a dynamic social environment to hang out with friends, make new bouldering buddies and drink coffee. Our setting is second to none and with 5 route-sets & over 100 new blocks a week, there’s no time to get bored! We have dedicated training areas, an 18-metre roof and a super long traverse wall.

“New to bouldering? With Introduction lessons running daily and free follow up Improver sessions there’s nothing holding you back. Already a climber? Come to use our Moon board, work some problems or join our BumpMyGrade session. Fancy a challenge? Join our monthly TAMRU Competition night.”

Opening Times: Weekdays: 6:30 am — 10:30 pm, Weekends: 9 am — 9 pm, Bank holidays: 9 am — 9 pm

Location: Drummond Rd, London, SE16 4DG

Prices: Adult prices (from £11) and children’s prices (from £6.50)

Castle Climbing – London

Established in 1995, Castle Climbing describe itself as a mixed-use climbing centre, meaning that they caters for bouldering, top-roping, auto belay and lead climbing. But bouldering purists need not fear. Given that it’s the bouldering we’re here for, Castle Climbing offers 10 different bouldering areas, including, fairly uniquely, three outdoor walls.

The centre is set up to be easily navigated by all, following standard grading from VB to V5, and with each different route colour-coded.

“Aside from the abundance of climbing on offer and unique features of the building (it actually looks like a Castle!) there’s much more to our Centre than your conventional climbing wall.

“We’ve got an award winning vegetarian Café with healthy meals and snacks to replenish you after climbing. We’re also constantly developing the Castle, with new areas opening up each year. Our routes are set by the best in the industry and we’re always on the lookout for innovative ways to make our climbs more exciting for customers.

“Potentially the most distinctive characteristics of the Castle is the inclusive atmosphere and our commitment to sustainable development. For many of our customers the Castle is an integral part of their life and we pride ourselves on the community that has developed here.”

Opening Times: Mon to Fri: 8am – 10 pm, Sat and Sun: 9 am – 8 pm, Bank Holidays: 9 am – 8 pm

Location: Green Lanes, Stoke Newington, London N4 2HA

Prices: Adult (18+) £16.50, Concessions or Under 18s Off-Peak – £9.50, Concessions or Under 18s Peak Time – £11.50

Westway Climbing – London

What can we say about Westway climbing, other than the fact they are one of London’s biggest and most well-equipped climbing centres? Well, we could start with the fact that our students voted in droves to have them included in this article, and then there’s the not-so-small matter of their facilities…

Westway has a massive 350 rope climbing routes, up to 150 bouldering problems at any one time, 4 belay machines, training rooms and a renowned coaching and junior programme. But don’t just take it from us…

“The Westway is a leading, lead and Bouldering centre in zone 2 of the Capital. We are the largest Climbing Centre in the South of England and we offer a huge range of different climbing styles and cater for every level of climber – from Beginners all the way through to the absolute elite.

“Having recently expanded our Bouldering walls and looking to rejuvenate our Beginners areas this year we are well set to facilitate for the Students of Imperial, Kings, UCL, Brunel and further afield.”

Opening Times: Mon – Fri: 8 am-9:45 pm, Sat & Sun: 8 am-8 pm

Location: 1 Crowthorne Rd, London W10 6RP

Prices: To Be Revealed Upon Enquiry

Harrowall – London

As the UK’s largest bouldering centre, HarroWall has several eye-watering features. For starters, their venue is massive. At 40,000 sq. ft. of climbing space, it is by some distance the largest climbing centre on this list. But it isn’t just quantity: HarroWall have got plenty of quality, too. All of their bouldering walls, for example, were purpose-built by Walltopia, the world’s leading climbing manufacturer.

And the best bit? The vast majority of that space is dedicated to bouldering, with problems ranging in difficulty from beginners, to seasoned professionals. And if that wasn’t enough, the more adventurous climbers can enjoy access to the largest indoor cave in Europe with multiple challenges built in, a Krazy Kong facility, and a piece of kit terrifyingly named “The Death Slide.” So what do the creators of such a venue have to say for themselves…

“Knowing we were building something huge, we knew we had to really invest in the build to wow everyone from day one. This meant creating a climbing centre for all abilities that delivered all styles using the very best climbing holds the industry has to offer. We have a dedicated play area though to multiple elite training boards in addition to endurance training facilities.

“This creates a pathway for climbers of all ages, abilities and disciplines to train, enjoy and explore HarroWall. Membership to HarroWall also has the fantastic added benefit of entry to out two central London centres VauxWall West and East, with more centres in the pipeline.”

Opening Times: Mon, Wed and Fri: 10 am-11 pm Tue and Thur: 6 am-11 pm, and weekends, 8 am-10 pm.

Location: Neptune Trading Estate, Neptune Road, Harrow, London, HA1 4HX

Prices: Adults and Concessions (from £7)

London Fields

Next on our list of the best bouldering gyms in the UK is London Fields. 

Whether you’ve never climbed before or consider yourself quite the expert, London Fields offers a wealth of climbing packages designed to take your skills to the next level.

These include:

• Induction sessions
• Refresher sessions
• Neill Gresham classes

Neill Gresham is an author and expert climber who has been involved in the sport for over two decades. 

He has teamed up with London Fields to create a program that allows avid climbers to truly put their skills to the test in ways they never thought possible. 

He is just as passionate about climbing as he is about teaching and so is a fantastic opportunity for those considering getting involved in the sport. 

With that, the centre operates without the use of ropes or harnesses as they wish to embrace ultimate freedom during each and every climb, and the climbing centre’s dedicated team will teach you how to do this with confidence. 

“We operate the UK’s largest indoor bouldering wall offering hundreds of bouldering problems for climbers of all abilities, onsite cafe, and a large, open-plan training area. 

“We also believe that climbing centres are more than just places to hone climbing skills – which is why you’ll find numerous areas to hang out and socialise.”

Opening times: Weekdays: 7 am – 10:30 pm and Weekends: 9 am-9 pm

Location: London FieldsUnit 30, Canal Place, Andrews Rd, London E8 4FX

Prices: Adults (£15.50), Concessions (£12.00), and Junior Day Pass (£9.00)

Dynamic Rock – Swansea

You could be mistaken for believing that Dynamic Rock’s ambitions were modest. On their website, they claim not to have set out to build one of Britain’s biggest, or even Wales’ biggest indoor rock climbing walls, but instead to provide a friendly centre for climbers from all walks of life. What’s more, they are a non-profit organisation, with all funds being put back into their climbing wall.

Well, what Dynamic Rock have built is a bouldering gym with a serious reputation. Their small, but regularly reset bouldering room is open to anyone above the age of seven years old. The climbing centre also runs coaching sessions for climbers who want to improve their skills. What is clear, from both Dynamic Rock’s excellent testimonials and the friendly nature of the staff, is that everyone involved with this venue is proud to call it their own.

“We feel that Dynamic Rock has been noticed because we have the best, friendliest, and most welcoming staff. We pride ourselves on our community feel and relaxed approach. We pack in as many problems as we can, especially lots of the most commonly climbed grades, and our setters are fun, creative and committed to ensuring that our customers have a super fun experience.”

Opening Times: Mon (2-8 pm), Tue, Thur, Fri (2-10 pm), Wed (4-10 pm), Sat, (10 am-6 pm), and Sun (10 am-4 pm).

Location: 16-18 Hebron Road, Clydach, Swansea, SA6 5EJ

Prices: General Entry (£10.50)

Boathouse Climbing Centre– Llandudno

Since 2019, The Boathouse Climbing Centre has served as a welcoming space in North Wales for anyone interested in bouldering.

Ran as a family business by Andy and Emma Jane, utilising their experience from working in the outdoor and education sectors to create a customer-first climbing experience for climbers in Llandudno. 

Converting the town’s old lifeboat station you’ll be able to climb walls you won’t be able to find anywhere else, including original stonework found in their climbing tower!

On their website, The Boathouse Climbing Centre describes their centre as containing:

approximately 200 square meters of climbing surface with a bouldering wall 4.5 meters high. Our climbing tower is 8 meters high with a series of lead climbs, top rope, and now includes 2 Auto Belay’s. Route grades are accommodating to beginners and we also have ones that will challenge the most experienced climbers.

Opening Times: Check website for up-to-date times

Location: The Old Lifeboat Station, Lloyd Street, Llandudno, North Wales, LL30 2YG

Prices: Climber Entry (£8.50)

Beacon Climbing – Caernarfon

Beacon Climbing has that unique feather in its cap that it can proudly boast: that they are the largest indoor climbing centre in the region (North Wales). The facility first opened in 1994, making it one of the longest-lasting bouldering gyms in the UK, and it has since established its reputation among beginners and pro climbers alike. They offer a high-end, bouldering experience with highly skilled setters. With extensive bouldering facilities, as well as rope climbing and Crazy Climb, ideal for active kids, Beacon Climbing has an amazingly diverse and welcoming community.

If you are a beginner, they also run a popular Climbing Intro course for £80, which also gives you access to one month’s free climbing on their bouldering walls, so you can test out your new skills.

“Our aim at Beacon has always been to give everyone the opportunity to enjoy climbing regardless of age or ability. Our users are aged 4-80,+ and our climbing is designed to cater for all levels, from first experience to elite performance.

“We’re not just about climbing either. We’re about people, and Beacon remains at the heart of the local climbing community. Our users make us what we are and by choosing to climb at Beacon, you are creating an opportunity to meet some of the best, most likeminded people in the are.”

Opening Times: Mon, Tue, and Wed: 10 am–9 pm, Thur 8 am–9 pm, Fri 10 am–9 pm, Weekends 10 am-6:30 pm

Locations: Cibyn Industrial Estate, Caernarfon LL55 2BD

Prices: Adults (from £13.50), Concessions (from £9.50), and U18s (between £5 and £10)

Boardroom Climbing – Flintshire

With a slogan like, “We are more than just a climbing wall, we are a way of life,” it’s fair to say that Boardroom Climbing has fully bought into the enthusiasm for the sport that many boulderers share. The climbing centre is dedicated largely to bouldering, and has problems suitable for all ages and abilities, in addition to some serious training facilities including lattice boards and personalised training plans.

The centre also runs training sessions for adults and children alike. As such, as you might imagine, the centre’s testimonials from climbers and our students were overwhelmingly positive, talking about both the venue’s facilities and the team behind it.

“We aim to inspire health and happiness, passion and knowledge through a creatively stimulating and physically challenging environment. Helping you realise and achieve your full potential. We call it play!

“The Boardroom is a community, we are a family. Oh, and we use amazing route setters, cook great food, serve wonderful coffee, dangerously moreish cake and have a wonderful, friendly, happy and very knowledgeable team.”

Opening Times: Mon-Fri: 6:30 am-10:00 pm and Weekends: 8 am-8 pm

Location: Rectors Ln., Pentre, Queensferry, North Wales CH5 2DH

Prices: Adults (from £15), Children 7-17 (between £6 and £12), Children 4-6 (£6), and over 60 (£12.50)

Boulder World Belfast

When it comes to bouldering in Northern Ireland, Boulder World Belfast is a heavyweight. As the biggest (and as they would argue, quite convincingly, the best) bouldering gym in NI, Boulder World Belfast has that perfect mix of challenging routes for competition climbers and entry-level problems for beginners. They also have an active calendar of community events, competitions, coaching, and welcome sessions, ensuring everyone’s needs are covered.

Where Boulder World Belfast also excels is their range of facilities. With a comprehensive range of boulders that are regularly reset, which also include state-of-the-art grips and volumes, as well as training rooms, a well-stocked shop, and a café for climbers to relax and chat, members do benefit from the size and reputation of this excellent venue.

“From day one we have tried to ensure we provide the facilities and environment to allow every single person who comes to our wall to very simply have ‘the best day ever…” It’s really that simple.

Opening Times: Weekdays: 10 am – 10 pm and Weekends 8 am – 8 pm

Location: 41 Boucher Road, BT12 6HR, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Prices: 14+ entry (£11.50), U14 with Adult supervision (£7.50), and Concessions (£8.00)

Before You Go!

We hope we answered all of your questions regarding the best bouldering gyms in the UK, and that you may now have an answer to the question “what is the best bouldering near me?”

If you feel we missed anyone, or if you spotted your local climbing wall and want to champion it as one of the best in the country, be sure to get in touch on Twitter or Facebook.

Looking to begin your career in fitness? Go ahead and download our FREE prospectus for more info on what you could be learning!

When it comes to supposed expert personal trainer advice and guidance, there’s a huge amount of misinformation out there, which can lead to future professionals making the wrong decisions, misleading clients, or not having the impact they want to have.

With our article, we’ll provide you with our own, handpicked advice for PTs that’ll ensure you’re providing the best possible service to your clients, as well as boosting your own earnings.

The best advice we can give, though, is to diversify your services through a specialist qualification. OriGym’s Level 4 personal trainer courses provide just that, setting you apart from your competitors, and giving your clients a fantastic experience.

Expert Personal Trainer Advice & Guidance

As the leading provider of personal trainer certification in the UK, we’ve compiled our top advice for those who are still finding their feet in the fitness industry.

#1 – Organise Your Schedule

Perhaps the most crucial piece of expert personal trainer advice we can provide is to ensure that your schedule is always organised and structured effectively.

There’s multiple, very good reasons behind this. By keeping a well-maintained schedule, you immediately appear much more professional to your clients.

They’ll immediately recognise you as someone who’s passionate about what they do, as well as someone who isn’t likely to cancel sessions at the last moment, or to turn up late and unprepared, all of which are red flags for a client.

This level of organisation also allows you to be much more aware of the time where you’ll need to be working, and the time where you can relax, unwind, and spend time with friends and family.

We can’t stress enough how important it is to dedicate time to yourself, outside of being a PT. While it might seem self-explanatory, it’s one of the most crucial pieces of expert personal trainer advice we can give.

Without leaving yourself time to recuperate, you run the risk of becoming overwhelmed and burnt out, which can lead to poorer quality services for your clients, and a lack of enthusiasm for the industry you’re passionate about.

It can have a huge knock on effect on all the services you do, but by building this time into your schedule, you’re able to take the break you need, and approach each session refreshed.

If this is something you feel like you’ll struggle with, we’d suggest trying out a mindfulness practice, like meditating.

This same principle applies to building in time to undertake new developments in your professional life, too, which we’ll touch on more in our next piece of expert personal trainer advice.

#2 – Seek Out Opportunities For Professional Development

Personal training is a hugely popular, but highly contested industry, and for good reason. It’s a hugely rewarding career, the roles of a PT are diverse and interesting, and there’s scope to earn a substantial amount.

However, to do this in the most effective way possible, you should seek out opportunities to develop and grow as a professional, and in turn expand on the services you can offer to potential and existing clients.

The best way to do this is through a Level 4 course. Often referred to as a specialism or “master” personal trainer course, these provide additional benefit for clients, as well as helping to focus the PT packages you offer.

Think about it like this. Given the choice of two equally-priced personal trainers, a client will, understandably, opt for the PT who can ultimately offer them a more complete service.

For instance, our example personal trainer might have completed a qualification in nutrition, or be more equipped to deal with special populations after having completed a Level 4 in Obesity and Weight Management.

The same is applicable to other skills and specialisms. If a personal trainer already has a qualification in becoming a running coach, they’ll be much more appealing to clients who are looking to improve their sprint times, or prepare ahead of a marathon.

You can capitalise on this, by augmenting the skills you already have, and discovering the niche you know that you can most apply yourself to, whether that’s tailoring your services to those who want to focus on weight loss, or specialising in training those at the peak of physical fitness.

Let’s look more closely how finding that niche, and discovering the area of fitness that you’re best equipped to train clients in, forms another key piece of expert personal trainer advice.

#3 – Establish Your Niche

Whether you’re just starting out in the fitness industry, or you’ve been established for any length of time, the importance of establishing yourself in a niche cannot be overstated.

In fact, for many of the most influential trainers in the business, it’s a key component behind their success – they spotted a gap in the market, and used it to their advantage to create a successful, lucrative business.

That’s the reason why it’s a vital piece of expert personal trainer advice, and should be something that you factor into any plans you make.

A niche not only provides you with the necessary focus to produce meaningful results for the clients you want to train, but it also gives you the opportunity to discover an area of fitness that’s not oversaturated, and can therefore be a fantastic way to attract those clients.

Many PTs often neglect this crucial piece of expert personal trainer advice in favour of aiming to appeal to a much wider audience, and end up losing out on a highly focused demographic that would benefit massively from their services.

Instead, we’d strongly advise discovering what you’re passionate about, and structuring your services around that area of fitness.

If this is something you’ve not yet explored, or are unsure of how you can best establish the area in which you want to work, check out our complete report on how to find your personal training niche.

#4 – Always Be Learning

The frontrunners in any field never stop learning, and that’s never truer than when it’s applied to the fitness industry.

Our next piece of expert personal training advice is to ensure that you continue learning and expanding your knowledge, long after you graduate from your personal training course.

That can come in many different forms, including:

• Fitness Magazines – these are often great ways to keep up to date with larger scale changes in the fitness industry, as well as gain insights through interviews and expert columnists
• Online Blogs – more regularly updated than a physical publication, these offer a fantastic opportunity to build up a complete picture of the nuances of personal training, sports nutrition, and exercise. Check out OriGym’s blog for a great example of this.
• Academic Journals – a much more scientific approach to understanding fitness, but no less important. Academic journals represent the very latest in exercise science and developments, and can help inform the training you provide.
• Published Books – while these aren’t necessarily the most up-to-date view into fitness, they can offer suggestions and ideas on how to improve and refine the services you offer.

All of these essential personal training resources offer unique ways to build on the ideas you already have, and understand on a deeper level how you can best provide for your clients.

It’s a common misconception that, once you graduate from your PT course, you don’t need to do any further research or reading. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

While good personal training courses (like industry leader OriGym’s personal training diploma) provide you with exceptionally solid foundations, you should always seek out new ways to build on what you can already offer clients.

Our top expert personal trainer advice would be to use multiple different sources for your development, learning and absorbing as much as you can to create a well-rounded, complete service for your clients.

#5 – Fully Utilise Online Resources

Technology has slowly become a more integral part of our lives, and our next piece of expert personal trainer advice is to take advantage of that movement.

As we’ve already touched on, personal training is a career that offers numerous options when it comes to incorporating technology into your sessions, whether that’s using data tracking software to effectively plan, or a scheduling app to keep track of sessions and meetings.

However, we’d recommend that you look into going beyond that, especially if you’re at the point in your career where you need expert personal trainer advice to progress.

Offering an online option is an ideal way to achieve this next step. You’re immediately offering something that many of your competitors won’t or can’t, as well as making yourself a convenient option for clients who can’t go to the gym.

We’ve written a complete guide to getting online personal training clients, if you’re interested in establishing this as part of your service.

This isn’t a hugely difficult option to set up, either.

You will, of course, need a strong Internet connection, and a way to speak to clients over video (softwares like Zoom or Skype offer free options for this), but these are the only strict requirements of diversifying your services to include an online option.

However, as with any kind of training, there’s one crucial piece of expert personal training advice that you need to follow – schedule everything as effectively as possible.

This can be more of a challenge with online personal training. You’re likely to be training clients from your home, and you could struggle to separate work from your personal life.

Take the time to fully plan out your day, and ensure that you leave time to relax, and step away from your role as a personal trainer.

You’ll then be able to devote the necessary time and energy to every session, and approach each session you deliver with enthusiasm and focus.

#6 – Refine and Adapt Your Business Plan

When you first started out as a personal trainer, you should’ve produced a business plan.

If you didn’t (and some trainers are so keen to get started that they neglect this aspect), check out our complete guide to personal training business plans here.

If you did, though, our next piece of expert personal trainer advice applies to that aspect of your role. Your business plan should develop just as much as you do.

Think of it this way. As you start to gain more qualifications (whether that’s a CPD course, or a Level 4 specialist fitness qualification), you should factor these into your plans for the future, as well as your current services.

Many wrongly assume that a business plan is a static document, and that it should only inform a set period of time in your career.

In fact, a business plan should act as the rudder that steers your business, and guides you through the next steps you’ll need to take to maximise your profits and continue to provide a quality, effective service for your clients.

Our expert personal training advice would be to dedicate time each month to looking over your business plan, and check whether or not the targets you’ve planned out are still applicable.

This should include:

• Auditing both your long and short term goals
• Checking each step of the way you’ve outlined
• Altering any aspects that could change (like your qualifications/certifications)
• Updating any services you provide/plan to provide
• Ticking off any major accomplishments or targets you’ve already achieved

A business plan is ultimately a fluid document, and it should reflect how you’ve changed, and how the changes you’ve personally made affect your business decisions, and the direction you want to go in.

#7 – Market Yourself, Not Just Your Business

When it comes to expert personal training advice, we’d always say that the biggest asset you have isn’t necessarily the service you provide – it’s you.

What we mean by this is that, when a client signs up to your services, regardless of whether that’s in-person or online, they’re not just paying for your expertise, they’re also paying to spend time with you.

Many personal trainers forget this in their quest to try and secure clients, and it can be to their detriment.

While your qualifications, especially specialisms like sports nutrition, will go a long way towards gaining clients, you can (and should) supplement this with your personality and, and how you can help clients reach and understand their SMART fitness goals.

A great example of this is Ollie Chick, who immediately describes their training, but hints towards the additional expertise they possess through unorthodox training methods and experiences.

Utilising aspects that make you unique, in tandem with the expertise you can offer to potential clients, can ensure you’re reaching exactly the clients you want to reach, and telling them what they can expect from you.

You can also carry this over into your social media presence, too. Interact with your followers, and let them see part of who you are, what you believe in, and how you can help them, even if it’s just a small piece of expert personal trainer advice.

Take Preston-based PT Dean Flynn as a good example of this. His Instagram combines occasional personal posts with practical, actionable advice for his followers and clients.

This also gives potential clients a glimpse into what they can expect from you should they choose to become a client.

How you market yourself and your services is an integral part of being successful in personal training, and a huge part of that is putting yourself across in the right light. Check out our complete report on personal trainer social media ideas for inspiration and suggestions.

#8 – Combine Training With Rehabilitation

As you start to train more and more clients, there’s bound to come a point where a client sustains an injury. This could be during one of your sessions, while they’re working out alone, or just in everyday life.

Naturally, this can create a disruption to your service, the plans you’ve outlined for that client, and (crucially) your revenue from that client.

That’s where one specific additional qualification can be highly advantageous. We’ve already touched on how Level 4 personal trainer courses are hugely beneficial for your business, but a Level 3 in sports massage therapy offers an entirely new facet to your training.

What we mean by that is that you’ll be able to combine your personal training certification with your sports massage qualification, and offer clients a way to return in a quicker and safer way.

You’ll also be able to essentially “double” the revenue you receive from one client. By providing rehabilitation that works in tandem with the workouts you’ve set for them, you’re able to pre-empt any areas that could undergo significant strain or pressure.

The same is true of your sports massage clients. If they’re struggling with injury, you could recommend your personal training services to them, as a way of still achieving progress while mitigating against the strains that can come with working out alone.

Sports massage works excellently as a career on its own, too. If you’re interested in a career switch, or are just uncertain of how to add this skill to your repertoire, check out our full article on becoming a sports massage therapist.

Having an understanding of the principles of sports massage can also better inform the sessions you prepare, in that you’ll be more aware of the muscles and joints that might strain during a workout.

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Enjoying our curated expert personal trainer advice so far? Here’s a few suggestions on articles to improve your knowledge:

• The Different Types Of Personal Trainer
• How To Become A Personal Trainer
• Personal Trainer Facts & Stats

#9 – Focus On Your SEO

As a personal trainer, you’ve likely got some form of online presence. This could be in the form of social media pages, a personal training Google My Business page, or a website.

Regardless of how you’re representing yourself and your business online, you should set aside time in your schedule to work on your search engine optimization (SEO), or how Google and other search engines rank your website or profile.

This essentially determines how many people see your page, and how well received it is by the audience you’re aiming to reach. For this reason, many combine their website with their chosen niche.

Here’s a clearer example of what we mean by this. These personal trainers have clearly optimised their website for those who are searching for “personal trainer for disabled glasgow”, and therefore rank highly on Google because of that.

Now, this is a skill that can take time and effort to understand and implement, but it’s one that can pay off hugely in the long run.

By investing the hours into optimising your website to rank better in Google, you’re ultimately increasing the likelihood that clients will find you with a simple search, rather than having to work on other personal trainer marketing strategies that may not have the same payoff.

Here’s a few of our expert personal training tips to help you get started with optimising your content for search engines:

• Scope Out Your Competitors – Check out the competition in the niche you’re planning to optimise your website for. How are they presenting their services? What are they doing that you could make better, or adapt for your PT services?
• Research Your Keywords – Your main keyword should be the most relevant topic for your website, and ultimately the term you’re trying to rank for. In the example we gave earlier, the main keyword would be “personal trainer for disabled glasgow”. With this, we’d recommend using a tool like SEMRush, Google Trends, or Ahrefs. Software like this also provides you with suggestions of other, similar keywords that your site should also aim to rank for. With our example, secondary keywords could be “disabled pt in glasgow”, “disabled personal trainer glasgow”, or “personal trainer for disabled glasgow”.
• Optimise Your Site For Mobile – Mobile is by far the most popular way for users to visit a website, and by ensuring that your site or page is well-optimised for a mobile browser, you’ll be considered more favourably by Google.
• Build Authority – This is often done through link building, which is where you link out to good websites, and good websites link back to your site, which teaches Google and other search engines that you’re a trustworthy site, and one that’s relevant to users who are searching.

These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to website design, management and optimisation, though.

#10 – Build An Online Community

With our expert personal trainer advice so far, we’ve already discussed the importance of creating and maintaining an online presence. It’s absolutely vital if you want to succeed in personal training.

However, we’d advise taking this a step further, and creating your own online community that clients can be part of.

This can sound complex at first, especially if you’re new to the idea of having a larger platform for your clients to use, or are uncertain of how best to create an option for sharing larger scale updates to your client base.

It doesn’t need to be, though. The easiest way to achieve this is through Facebook, one of the most popular social media sites worldwide.

Facebook’s guidelines on creating a group are exceptionally simple, and offer a quick and easy way to create a Group that your clients can join and share ideas, ask questions, and start discussions.

Before doing this, though, you’ll need a professional Facebook account.

While it’s simple and available to the vast majority of your clients, having a group on Facebook isn’t the only option. You could also:

• Create a group chat on a messaging app, like Messenger, WhatsApp, or Instagram
• Set up a private, PT-focused Instagram account
• Establish a dedicated subreddit
• Build a group emailing list, and send out weekly/monthly newsletters

Creating and managing an online community also provides you with a way to provide updates to a large group of people.

For instance, you could have a holiday or prolonged absence coming up, and using your online group, you’ll be able to let all your clients know at once, saving you time and effort.

#11 – Produce Online Fitness Programmes

Personal trainers have very busy schedules, and an incredibly diverse role profile that sees them go from training, to structuring their schedule, to building tailored nutrition plans for clients.

All of these roles leave little spare time, but our next piece of expert personal trainer advice can help to supplement your role, and provide additional income even when you’re not training clients.

Online fitness programmes are exceptionally popular, and provide clients with a great way to access professionally-guided exercise routines whenever and wherever is most convenient for them.

These don’t require a huge amount of effort, either – many modern smartphone cameras are powerful enough to support filming, and you’ll just need an Internet connection to upload them to your website or platform of choice.

With this, we’d advise having a dedicated way to charge your clients for each transaction.

This could allow them the option to make a one-off payment (called TVOD, or Transactional Video On Demand) for a set amount of content, or subscribe on a recurring basis to receive regular content updates (called SVOD, or Subscription Video On Demand).

Perhaps the most well-known example of this approach is Peloton, which combines an SVOD service with exercise equipment that helps to track your data, as well as offer integration with their classes.

While this may sound like a strenuous process, it’s actually one of the most actionable pieces of expert personal trainer advice we can give, as it allows you to make passive income while still promoting your brand and services.

For a more in-depth look at exactly how to set this up, plus how it can benefit you, we’ve put together a full report on selling fitness programmes online.

#12 – Work On Your Networking

Communicating as a personal trainer is absolutely essential. Without proper communication, you won’t be able to pass on your expertise, manage a schedule, or progress effectively in the fitness industry.

Part of that should always include networking, and our next piece of tailored, expert advice for personal trainers is that you should include this as part of your schedule.

Now, at first, this can sound demanding, especially as an average PT’s timetable is already overflowing with the different roles and responsibilities they’ll need to undertake to ensure their clients succeed.

But it doesn’t need to be. Networking can (and should) fit seamlessly into your day-to-day life, and is as simple as:

• Talking To Other PTs – This is ideal if you work in a gym environment, and have the opportunity to talk to the other personal trainers during your downtime.
• Messaging Via Social Media – Again, this is simple yet effective, in that it helps to build and maintain your professional relationships, and can even foster partnerships (which we’ll touch on more in a moment).
• Attending Dedicated Networking Events – Sites like MeetUp offer excellent ways to discover conferences, seminars and other events where you can meet other personal trainers to discuss ideas, and learn more about the industry.
• Going To Classes – It may seem like a simple step, but attending another PT’s classes can give you an insight into their training style, and provide you with an opportunity to chat to them after class.
• Joining Social Media Groups – Earlier, we touched on how social media can allow you to create private groups for your clients and followers. It’s also an excellent way to join groups that are relevant to your career development, and provides a fantastic way to network with other PTs.

Of course, these tips and ideas are just a few suggestions on how you can implement this piece of expert personal training advice.

For more information, and practical direction on how to incorporate professional relationships into your schedule, check out our top tips for personal trainer networking.

#13 – Collaborate With Others

One of the best resources at your disposal (and one that many personal trainers forget to consider) are your fellow PTs.

While we’ve touched on the importance of building support and information networks with others in the industry, you should aim to take that a step further by collaborating on projects and working closely with other brands and members of the community.

The relationships you build through these collaborations are much stronger than those you can acquire through networking.

You’ll be able to create sponsorship and brand deals that mutually benefit both you and the company.

Take Gymshark as a great example, who work with hundreds of fitness influencers to both provide them with quality products, and to use their platform as a way to build brand awareness and recognition.

Many different companies offer ambassador or affiliate marketing programmes, ensuring you’ll always be able to represent a company that matches with what you want to promote, how you train, and what matters to you.

Our expert personal trainer advice here would be to look locally, too. Small businesses will relish the opportunity to work alongside a qualified personal trainer, and will provide you with everything you’ll need to properly promote their business.

The Lab, a small personal training gym in Liverpool, is a fantastic example of this, partnering with a personal trainer to better promote their facility, as well as provide that PT with everything they need to train their clients.

By outreaching to smaller brands and businesses close to you, you’re able to establish strong relationships, and form meaningful bonds that can allow both you and your partner to benefit, as well as bring in additional rewards and revenue.

#14 – Start Your Fitness Blog

Now, this may not be something you’d considered, but our next piece of expert personal training advice is to start up your own fitness blog.

There’s a number of reasons why you might choose to do this, not least of which is that a regularly updated blog can help to improve your website’s search engine rankings, as well as increase the authority that Google considers your site to have.

By producing a varied range of content and articles, you’re able to attract more organic visitors to your website, as well as demonstrate to search engines that your site is relevant to the reader.

A fitness blog also allows you to keep your clients and readers interested, especially if you use it to inform the sessions you deliver, and the training regimes you implement.

By writing articles and producing content that’s both relevant to the services you offer, and that provides value to potential readers and (crucially) potential clients, you’re proving to your readership and to search engines that you’re a site that can be trusted.

Plus, writing a blog allows you to put research and time into the areas of fitness that really interest you, which can help to inform key areas of your service, including:

• How you plan your sessions
• The exercises you get clients to perform
• How exercises can complement each other
• Communication before, during and after sessions
• How to tailor exercises to match client lifestyles

The variety of content you publish on your blog can also help to reflect your level of expertise, and knowledge of the industry you work in, too. Take OriGym’s blog as a great example of this.

Of course, we’re the biggest provider of personal training courses in the UK, so it makes sense that our content would primarily revolve around personal training, and the clients we train.

However, we make sure to diversify the content that we produce, and have even separated our blog by specific topics.

You’ll notice, though, that all of these relate closely to fitness, to ensure that relevance to our readership, and to the products and services we sell.

Ultimately, by doing this, we both demonstrate our expansive knowledge of the field, but also appeal to a much wider audience, and bring in readers from across a range of interests and search terms.

You can do this, too. Take the service you provide (say, personal training for weight loss), and expand that to include different topics, such as:

• A PT’s favourite foods
• Structuring diet plans
• Addressing misconceptions surrounding food and exercise
• Exercises and exercise variations
• Simple exercises to do daily
• Helpful foods for weight loss

These are just a few suggestions you could incorporate into your fitness blog to better market yourself and your services, as well as increase your standing with search engines.

#15 – Start Your Own Personal Training Business

Our last piece of expert personal trainer advice is one that immediately seems daunting, especially if you’re still relatively new to personal training.

It doesn’t have to be, though. In fact, it can be done on a very limited budget, with time and hard work being the key components that determine your business’ success.

Our video below explores exactly how you can do this for no money at all, guiding you through every step of the way.

To quickly summarise, though, the key concepts all revolve around adapting the services and workouts you provide to fit with a limited budget.

For instance, you could:

• Train clients outdoors, to minimise costs associated with renting a space
• Deliver online training
• Utilise workouts that require limited or no equipment at all
• Develop reciprocal working relationships

While the concept of starting any kind of business can be intimidating, it’s the natural progression for a personal trainer who’s reached their peak, or wants to pursue new avenues to earn more, gain more freedom, and take on additional challenges.

You’re in control of everything you do with your own PT business, and can make decisions that ultimately influence how you progress, the clients you take, and the money you earn.

Before You Go!

As one of the industry frontrunners when it comes to personal training courses, our expert personal trainer advice comes from our combined years of experience, and a complete understanding of what it takes to succeed in fitness.

Ultimately, the best piece of guidance we can impart is to continue developing and learning, and the best way to do that is with additional training and qualifications.

OriGym’s specialist Level 4 courses provide that extra step, setting you apart from the crowd with a bespoke certification in sports nutrition, weight management, or lower back pain management.

When you’re considering your fitness progression, it’s natural you’d look to a personal trainer and the advantages they can bring. But are they as simple as helping you to get fit and make lifestyle changes?

In fact, working with a PT can bring a wide range of unexpected benefits. Below, we outline the 10 biggest advantages of working with a personal trainer.

Table Of Contents:

• What Does A Personal Trainer Do?
• 10 Key Advantages Of Having A Personal Trainer
  • #1 – Access to Specialist Knowledge
  • #2 – Avoiding Injuries
  • #3 – Improved Accountability
  • #4 – Customised SMART Goals
  • #5 – A Holistic Approach To Fitness
  • #6 – Improved Progress Monitoring
  • #7 – Greater Variety In Your Training
  • #8 – Rehabilitation Support
  • #9 – Benefits For Your Mental Health
  • #10 – New Career Opportunities
• Before You Go!

What Does A Personal Trainer Do?

A personal trainer is simply a certified fitness professional who works on a 1-to-1 basis with a client to help them achieve their fitness goals.

One of the main roles and responsibilities of a personal trainer is to create and deliver a tailored fitness programme for a client. This is predominantly done through sessions in which the PT guides the client through various exercises.

They may also offer advice on nutrition and lifestyle and specialise in particular areas of fitness. To learn more, you can check out our guide to the different types of personal trainers.

10 Key Advantages Of Having A Personal Trainer

#1 – Access to Specialist Knowledge

Perhaps one of the more common misconceptions when it comes to personal training is that many assume that the knowledge PTs have only relates to exercise. That’s simply untrue.

By signing up with a PT, you can benefit from their extensive knowledge. This can range from anatomy and physiology to more complex aspects of exercise like optimal heart rates and muscular endurance.

To give you a sense of the scope of the fitness knowledge acquired when you become a personal trainer, here’s a complete breakdown of what OriGym’s prestigious personal training diploma covers.

For reference, this diploma includes the Level 2 Gym Instructing qualification and the Level 3 Personal Training qualification. Both of these are necessary to deliver sessions and work in a 1-to-1 capacity.

Level 2

• Motivating Groups and Individuals
• Tailoring Training Sessions
• Basic Human Anatomy & Physiology
• Principles of Exercise and Fitness
• Health, Safety & Welfare
• Learning the Fitness Business

Level 3

• Advanced Anatomy and Physiology for Health & Exercise
• Key Principles of Nutrition
• Personal Training Delivery
• Programming Training Sessions
• Developing & Demonstrating Leadership
• Understanding the Fitness Business

As you can see, the range of knowledge your PT has access to is extensive. That means they’ll be able to tailor an exercise program to your specific needs and provide in-depth guidance as you progress.

#2 – Avoiding Injuries

When you’re training solo, it can be easy to exceed your limits and end up causing yourself an unnecessary and potentially dangerous injury. In fact, a study found that 41% of gym users have injured themselves while working out.

One of the main benefits of a personal trainer is that they can help you integrate injury-avoidance strategies into your training program. These include:

• Planning out when you intend to rest, even mid-session.
• Effectively controlling your workouts to scale up the intensity over time.
• Utilising massage and therapeutic remedies to alleviate joint and muscle pain.
• Identifying opportunities to increase (or lower) the intensity of exercises.
• Shifting strain away from injured or sore areas (e.g. making use of leg workouts when the arms are sore).
• Balancing workouts across the whole body.
• A nutrition plan that focuses on regrowth and effective recovery.

Your trainer isn’t just there to help you get stronger. They’re also there to make sure that your fitness programme is sustainable and that you continually make improvements to your performance without the risk of injury.

#3 – Improved Accountability

Increased accountability is one of the most pivotal personal trainer advantages. It can influence how and when you exercise and therefore how quickly you see the results you’re looking for.

On the one hand, simply having a personal trainer makes you more accountable. When you’re spending money on a PT, you’re obviously not going to waste your allotted hours by cancelling your sessions at the last moment.

There are also a range of ways a personal trainer can help spur you on or adapt your training if your schedule gets disrupted, including:

• Online training options. Many personal trainers allow you to train via video or discuss plans and schedules over Zoom or Skype. This ensures that, even if you’re unable to get to your session, you’ve got options available to you.
• Bootcamps. These are usually intensive, concentrated sessions that utilise high-intensity exercises and movements. These are often an ideal alternative for those who are undertaking rigorous training ahead of a big goal or event.
• Small group personal training. Some personal trainers may offer smaller group sessions to accommodate multiple clients at a time or make up for missed sessions due to injury, illness or holiday. Learn more in our complete guide to small group PT sessions.

#4 – Customised SMART Goals

One of the main reasons people turn to fitness trainers is a PT’s ability to structure workouts and ultimately help them reach their fitness goals.

If you’re training on your own, you may see some early progress as your body adjusts to your new routine. But without knowledge of the scalability of workouts and proper training, you’ll soon hit a frustrating plateau when it comes to long-term programme design.

To avoid this, a personal trainer can help you set SMART goals that will be:

• Specific. You should be able to fully define what your goal is.
• Measurable. Your goal should have data attached to it, to prove that you’ve reached the point you want to get to.
• Achievable. This is often a sticking point for creating your own goals, in the sense that we often set ourselves unattainable targets. A SMART goal should always be within reach.
• Relevant. Your goal should always relate to what you’re trying to achieve.
• Time-bound. Setting yourself a time frame to achieve your goals is an ideal motivator, and can be a great way to plan for the future.

By helping you set clear and effective SMART goals, a good personal trainer will always have you aiming for something more on the horizon, something extra that will keep you going.

#5 – A Holistic Approach To Fitness

One of the first things a PT will tell you is that personal training is not just a get-fit-quick scheme, but about making tangible lifestyle changes.

There’s no point altering your fitness schedule if everything else is going to remain the same. But this is a mistake that many make when training alone or without any prior knowledge of the fundamentals of exercise.

In addition to your training sessions, a personal trainer will help you to focus on:

• Nutrition. A PT will encourage you to change what you eat, how much you eat, and when you eat it.
• Routine. This can range from your current sleeping patterns, to how you structure your day to make time for exercise.
• Mindset. A PT will help you to think about how you view yourself, exercise, nutrition, and ultimately the way you feel about yourself

The idea is to supplement your new gym routine with changes to your everyday schedule. This will help you capitalise on some of that adrenaline and optimism at the start of your personal training journey to make some sustainable, meaningful changes to your lifestyle.

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If you’re enjoying this article on the advantages of having a personal trainer, you should check out these OriGym articles:

• 9 Benefits of Online Personal Training
• Pros and Cons of Being a Personal Trainer 
• Should I Become a Personal Trainer: 12 Reasons 

#6 – Improved Progress Monitoring

While exercise may not necessarily be the first thing you associate with facts, figures and data, these all play a pivotal role in fitness. In fact, they are one of the best advantages a personal trainer can offer.

A PT will use data to not only create meaningful and impactful training experiences but also to put into perspective how far you’ve come. They can help you track key metrics, such as:

• Key measurements, including chest, waist, hip, and bust measurements (particularly for clients looking to lose weight), and measurements for the main muscle groups (like biceps, quads and shoulders).
• BMI (Body Mass Index)
• Heart rate
• Calorie intake
• Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) which measures how intense the exercise you complete is.
• Daily Step Total

Each of these data points combines to give your personal trainer a much clearer picture of your overall fitness levels. This won’t just help them create a schedule that works for both you and your lifestyle, but it will also give you a clear picture of your progress.

#7 – Rehabilitation Support

Rehabilitation is a huge part of fitness. It forms a key component of effective recovery and ensures you’ll be able to pursue your goals even after you’ve suffered an injury that might’ve otherwise stopped you.

However, this is tricky to get right when you’re training alone. You can even risk aggravating or worsening an injury if any rehabilitation exercises are done incorrectly.

This is where the advantages of a personal trainer shine through. They’ll help you to recover effectively while still ensuring that you can continue to progress and develop.

Rehabilitation is learnt as part of any good personal training diploma and ties together key aspects of the course, including advanced anatomy and physiology, the components of exercise, and how best to keep clients safe and healthy.

Great trainers will also be able to structure workouts and routines to better accommodate any pre-existing injuries or complaints that could potentially impact how a client exercises.

#8 – Greater Variety In Your Training

It’s natural that, when we train without the help of a trained professional, we’ll start to reach a plateau or begin to get bored with the same, stagnant routines.

That’s where a personal trainer comes in.

One of the biggest personal trainer advantages is that, using their encyclopaedic knowledge of exercise and fitness, they can provide new and exciting ways to progress or push past some of the monotony you might experience with your training routines.

They’ll draw from more unorthodox training methods (like sandbag training), as well as more traditional exercises, like squats and deadlifts, to create a routine that doesn’t feel stale or monotonous.

#9 – Benefits Your Mental Health

Most people may think of personal trainers as helping you achieve physical or aesthetic results, such as weight loss or muscle toning. But in fact, personal training benefits your mental health too! 

There are countless proven mental health benefits of exercise, such as boosting your mood, promoting sleep and improving concentration.

A good personal trainer is not only a fitness coach, but also a positive role model who will encourage and motivate you. This is a huge benefit of personal training as it can help boost your mood and improve your self-confidence!

Personal training can also help those who are stuck in a rut or lacking structure in their lives. The regularity of sessions can help you form a routine, which can be extremely beneficial for your mental health.

#10 – New Career Opportunities

Here at OriGym, we have a direct view of the kind of people entering the industry as new personal trainers.

Many of our students often cite their own personal trainers as a key inspiration for pursuing a career change and opting for fitness as the ideal way to do that. This is one of the key personal trainer advantages – and one that often goes unnoticed.

Once you start training with a trainer, you’ll start to use more equipment, gain more knowledge, and attend more classes than you ever would have if you were just training alone. For many, this translates as a newfound desire to change career paths and start a fitness business of their own.

Ultimately, seeing your personal trainer as happy and fulfilled in their role can help you make the decision to change your career for one that’s more suited to you and your newfound hobby.

Before You Go!

Personal trainers offer the complete skillset you’ll need to be able to accomplish your fitness goals, implement meaningful lifestyle changes, and ultimately become a healthier individual.

If you’d prefer to be self-sufficient, take that step yourself and qualify as a PT with OriGym’s exceptional personal training diploma. You’ll learn everything you need to know to be a prosperous personal trainer in as little as 4 weeks.

Our personal trainer tips for beginners are specifically tailored to help give you the best possible foundations to build a lucrative career from. 

We’ll look at:

• Establishing A Business & Brand
• Personal Trainer Tips for the Gym Floor
• Advice On Marketing Yourself and Your Services

If you want to take your personal training career to the next level, enquire about OriGym’s Level 4 personal trainer course and expand the services that you can offer your clients. Download our prospectus to learn more about our courses, and what they can offer you!

Establishing A Business & Brand

Your first port of call when you’re new to personal training should be to start to build your business, and create the brand that’s going to set you apart from the competition.

Our next few personal trainer tips for beginners are all dedicated to taking those initial steps before you secure your first clients.

#1 – Find Your Niche

At first, this might seem like quite a difficult task to accomplish, but doing so is one of the most important things to keep in mind when it comes to personal trainer tips.

The early stages of your personal trainer career should be dedicated to setting yourself up as a sustainable business, putting in the research at an early stage so that you can hit the ground running.

Much of this research should be dedicated to finding the personal training niche that’s right for you. 

Essentially, this means narrowing down your skills and knowledge to the areas you’re truly passionate about, and creating a service that revolves centrally around that. You can then market your service to those you know will use it, meaning you can make more money as a personal trainer.

Some personal trainers opt for weight loss, focusing their services on helping clients to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Others will choose to train those at the peak of physical fitness, designing programs for athletes and sportspeople.

Finding this specialism is an ideal way to set yourself apart from the competition, as well as target the clientele you want to attract. Our complete guide to finding your personal trainer niche explores this in much more detail.

Of course, once you’ve identified your niche, there’s still steps you can take to ensure that you’re as prepared as you possibly can be for your career in personal training.

#2 – Learn From Others

This much should be obvious. If you’re a newly qualified PT looking for personal trainer tips for beginners, then the best place to start is with those who have gained years of experience in the industry.

This is especially true of personal trainers who are operating and marketing themselves in a local area. You’ll be able to get insider tips on creating a business that’s both sustainable and prosperous.

Plus, asking existing personal trainers does two things.

Firstly, it gives you perspective on clients in the local area. You’ll be able to discover:

• What kinds of things work for them
• How they like to train
• Where they like to train
• What services other trainers are having success with
• Where the gaps in the market are

Secondly, it gives you the opportunity to scope out your opposition. If you know what works for them, and what opportunities they are missing, you can shape your whole business plan around their weaknesses, and around gaps in the market.

Asking fellow personal trainers is therefore crucial to securing success at a later stage, which makes the following question prompts some of the most important personal trainer tips for beginners.

You could ask: 

• How long have you worked in this area?
• Are you freelance, self-employed, or hired by a gym?
• What classes and services have you found to be most popular?
• What marketing techniques have you had success with in the past?
• What obstacles have you had to overcome in personal training?
• Do you have a specific target audience?
• What career path have you taken since becoming a PT?
• What are your plans for the future? How are you planning to develop?

You can then use these answers to influence and shape how you create the personal training packages and services you plan to offer.

But to effectively establish a successful business plan, there’s a few more personal trainer tips you can follow to streamline that process.

#3 – Adopt A Business Mindset

This may go without saying, but it’s hugely important to recognise that becoming a personal trainer is about more than just training your clients.

Sure, having an in depth knowledge of anatomy and health and fitness is going to put you ahead of most average gym goers. 

But remember – every other qualified personal trainer should also have this skillset, providing they’ve passed their Level 2 and Level 3 qualifications.

With that in mind, one of the most important personal trainer tips for beginners is to approach your new career as an entrepreneur, rather than a fitness fanatic.

It’s important to understand the difference between the two. An entrepreneur identifies opportunity, and invests time in sales tactics. A fitness fanatic approaches their personal training in a dedicated, but unstructured manner.

You should aim to combine both your passion for fitness with a keen business mindset, and an eye towards carving out a successful career path in the industry.

To get you started, here are a few of our key beginner personal trainer tips when it comes to beginning your business, and establishing a successful brand.

• Always keep your end goal in mind – With anything you do in terms of business decisions, you should always consider how that will help you to ultimately achieve your goals, and progress in your career.
• Seek out opportunities – This can be for continued professional growth, to provide your clients with a more comprehensive service, or to streamline the process you complete as part of your business.
• Don’t be afraid to make changes – Without seeking out change and development, you risk stagnating and losing the clients you’ve worked so hard to gain. Innovation and new ideas can only happen if you leave your comfort zone, and try new things in terms of fitness.
• Make the most of your time – Time is perhaps the most valuable asset you have at your disposal. You should maximise what you do with, as well as set some aside so that you can still meet your personal commitments, and spend time with family and friends.

There is no definitive key to succeeding in business, and in truth, success in itself is a bit of a grey area. What you can guarantee, though, is that personal training (like any other business) is all about identifying clear goals, and plotting how best to achieve those goals.

By following our personal training tips for beginners, you’ll always be on the lookout for ways to offer your clients more resources and utility, so they can achieve their personal SMART targets. 

This is usually in the way of additional tips through online platforms, adding more skills to your programmes and repertoire, and augmenting the service you provide through the use of CPD courses and specialist qualifications.

#4 – Develop Effective Structures

Now that you’re starting to think like both an entrepreneur and a fitness enthusiast, it goes without saying that you need to start implanting structure into your fitness workflow.

While this may sound tedious, and even something that you could miss out entirely, creating effective business structures and models can ensure that you’re always on the right track when it comes to achieving your goals. 

In terms of offering personal trainer tips for beginners, one of the most common mistakes new personal trainers make is to not focus on structure and planning in the early stages of their career.

The truth of the matter is, structure needn’t be boring. It’s long been thought that 90% of having a good product is based on the ability to set out a clear structure, and having the vision to be creative in your planning.

And that’s the real key here – creativity. You need to be creative with how you set up your business and how you market it. You need to be innovative with:

• How you structure payments
• Your use of software
• The terms and conditions of your business

Let’s examine each of those in more detail, and look at how our personal trainer tips can revolutionise the way you view your business.

Payment & Package Structures

Your payment structure shouldn’t be thought of simply in terms of the amount of profit you could make, but in how you can attract clients to your business, and what will attract those clients to choose your service over others. 

If you’re new to making PT packages, check out our video below to see how you can build exceptional payment plans for your clients from the ground up.

Of course, while one strong payment package is good, you shouldn’t just offer one. Doing so will only alienate clients who can’t afford that price tag, or that don’t have the time to commit to multiple sessions per week.

Try and develop premium packages that attract different target audiences. For instance, you could offer multiple packages that offer 1, 2 and 3 sessions per week, or that combine different services you offer into one large-scale option.

Take Impact Training’s pricing model as a good example. Offering multiple packages that are geared towards different levels of fitness is an ideal way to target clients across different demographics.

Ultimately, the more choice you can offer to potential clients, the more likely you are to convert those into paying customers, especially if they were unable to fit around one of your initial packages.

Software Usage

In terms of personal trainer tips for beginners, choice of software is huge – it can massively impact how easy it is to complete some of the day-to-day roles and responsibilities of being a personal trainer. 

Regardless of how you intend to conduct your business, you will be using software on a day-to-day basis, but there’s certain things you should consider before rushing into something that might not necessarily be right for you and your business.

The key is to not pay for a service because it is the most expensive, or the newest. Identify your workflow, research what you need, and buy a software package that offers exactly that.

Check out our guide to the best personal trainer software for more advice, what to choose based on your circumstances, and what you’ll need to set yourself up for the future.

 

Your Contracts and Terms of Service

Here, you have to be more clear cut, and explain what you expect of your clients in easy-to-understand terms. This includes things like cancellation policies, behaviour rules, and when and when not to contact you.

However, that’s not to say that you can’t offer your clients more rights, and opportunities to cancel sessions or be flexible with their bookings.

In terms of personal trainer tips for beginners, the key here is not to undermine your business. You should allow for some wiggle room for those clients you trust, but equally you need to value your time, and the income you could lose.

If you can’t accommodate clients cancelling with less than 24 hours notice, then make sure you write that clause into their contracts. However, if your business plan allows for a certain degree of flexibility, be sure to highlight that when you’re selling your product on the gym floor

#5 – Analyse Your Audience

Now that you’ve fully established the kind of audience you want to target, as well as gained highly valuable insights from those around you, you should look at arguably the most important aspect of your role – your future clients.

Many new personal trainers fail to try and understand their audience before they start trying to recruit clients, meaning they reach the gym floor and have no idea who they are targeting with their sales pitches.

As you might imagine, this means these PTs are often unprepared, and not properly equipped to deal with the demands of clients.

Instead, and one of the most important personal trainer tips for beginners on this list, you should conduct a full audit of the local audience before you even start to look into recruiting your clients.

You should always be aware of key information, like:

• Demographic data, such as age and gender
• The area where you’re working, and the clients that attend that gym
• Whether you’re looking to work with new gym-goers or those who are more experienced
• The environment you’re training in
• What you can provide in terms of expertise or specialist knowledge

Having this information in your back pocket gives you a number of advantages over the competition, as well as preparing you better for the challenges that a day in the life of a personal trainer can bring. 

What’s more, it also gives you something to talk about in a personal trainer interview – a clear idea of who you want to target with your services shows a degree of confidence and forward planning.

Personal Trainer Tips for the Gym Floor

Now that we’ve fully covered our top personal trainer tips for getting started with your business and brand, it’s time to turn our attention to gaining clients.

Our next suggestions all focus on the gym floor, and how you can turn every opportunity into a way to provide additional value to your potential clients, and maximise the impact you have.

#6 – Master The Basics

Out of the many personal trainer tips for beginners, a recurring piece of advice is to put maximum effort into your early clients, so that word of mouth news travels about your services and business.

And this advice rings true. If you’re new on the scene then you should be doing everything you can to impress potential clients around you, and to assert yourself to competitors.

However, a more specific piece of advice is to ensure that your clients achieve early wins, so that they keep coming back for more.

You don’t want to tire your clients out, and to tire yourself out by working on ten or twenty different goals. 

The key to keeping your early clients happy is to focus on a specific goal, and to help them achieve that in as little time as possible.

This doesn’t mean compromising on quality. Instead, ensure you do the basics well, and that your clients know every time a milestone is reached, however small.

Remember, people are their own harshest critics, and it’s your job to motivate a client, as well as train them in a physical capacity.

Here’s a few key pointers to keep in mind as you train those first few clients:

• Gather Evidence – use progress photos, measurements and other data to prove the effectiveness of your sessions and training regimes.
• Make Your Programmes Goal-Focused – with any programme, you should always keep the client’s overall goals in mind, and have a full understanding of how this session will help them get there.
• Success Reminders – remind your clients of how far they’ve progressed, and offer words of encouragement when they feel they’re struggling or haven’t achieved anything.
• Use Linear Progression – gradually build on the workouts and sessions you’re completing with each client, using incrementally increasing challenges to keep clients interested.

#7 – Provide Free Advice

Once you’re in your chosen career path, and you’re trying to establish yourself as a personal trainer, there’s one piece of advice that will be more effective than any of our other personal trainer tips for beginners.

Offer customers and gym goers advice without any expectation.

While this may seem somewhat counter-intuitive, not charging money or hard selling can be the golden ticket to securing a long-term client.

Here, your tactic is to incrementally introduce yourself to the client, so by the end of your relationship they consider you a friend, not a personal trainer.

Try progressing through these stages before even mentioning that you’re a PT:

1. If you spot a gym goer struggling with a routine or piece of equipment, offer to lend a hand, or provide informal advice. You shouldn’t mention that you’re a personal trainer here.
2. Next time you see them, make sure to say “hello” and ask them about how their routine is going.
3. Then, when you see them again, focus on a specific aspect of fitness that they’re looking to improve. Discuss their goals, and what they’re hoping to achieve. If they ask you about your own aspirations, subtly mention that you’re a personal trainer who helps others achieve their goals.
4. Offer them a piece of advice that’s tailored to their personal goals, free of charge.
5. Mention that you’re a personal trainer, and that you’ve got a specific offer or promotion at the moment that could interest them. This could be in the form of a free consultation, or a class that you’re teaching at the gym. They’ll have already experienced the advice you can give at this point, and so should be more inclined to attend.

By proving your expertise, you lay the groundwork to recruit these customers, turning them into long-term paying clients.

Your personal trainer marketing should also help, as your presence should be visible around your workplace.

This is, without fail, one of the best personal trainer marketing tips for beginners in terms of recruiting reliable clients who will stay with you in this early stage of your career.

#8 – Finding The Right Career Path

Even if you’re a newly qualified personal trainer, you’ve probably realised that there is more than one career path to choose from.

In fact, if we’re talking about fitness careers in general, there are countless different career paths, professions, and niches in which you could specialise. 

The difficulty is not in choosing one, but finding the right one for you, and discovering the kind of clientele you want to work with.

Let’s explore some of the main options available to you when you’re looking to kickstart a successful career as a personal trainer.

• Employed In A Gym

This generally means you’ll be paid a set wage, with the expectation that you’ll also complete many of the tasks associated with a gym instructor, like teaching classes, carrying out gym inductions, and helping out members of the gym with their queries. 

• Freelance Personal Training 

This is where many personal trainers fall, and for good reason. It offers a balance between creating your own schedule and sourcing your clients, and having the opportunity to use the facilities at a gym or fitness centre.

• Self Employed Personal Trainer

With this option, you’ll be working as your own boss, using your own personal space and equipment to deliver your sessions with clients you’ll have sourced yourself. This is often a natural progression for those who’ve worked in the industry for a longer period of time.

As far as personal trainer tips for beginners are concerned, choosing the best career path for you is crucial with regard to maximising your future earning potential.

#9 – Understanding Your Clients

One of the most important tips for new personal trainers is to always remember that your clients are individuals with their own needs, aspirations and ideas of exercises.

Think about it like this – if you have interests, a life, and hobbies outside of your work in the gym, so do your clients, and it’s vital that you take those into consideration when planning your sessions.

You also have to keep in mind that a lot of your clients are new to gym work and the health and fitness industry. The key to understanding your clients is keeping an open mind, and being flexible when you are planning their programmes.

You have to make sure that your client is seeing the benefits of your training, while also not tiring them out or intimidating them.

When you’re working with new clients, keep in mind the following to ensure that they have an enjoyable experience while training with you. Here’s a few key beginner personal training tips to help you make the most of your time with your clients.

• Always be prepared to explain and demonstrate key components of exercise
• Go the extra mile – offer unparalleled flexibility with your sessions, and additional help for those who are struggling
• Remember that your client is paying for your expertise, and you can never provide them with too much information or expert guidance
• Understand that the gym can be an intimidating environment, especially for those who are new to fitness. Learn more about the data behind this with our full “Gym-timidation” report.
• Get to know your clients on a personal level. Talk about their interests, what they enjoy doing outside of the gym, and strike up conversations that can help you build stronger bonds with your client.
• Be yourself. This is hugely important to remember – clients are paying not only for your expertise, but your time and your company too, so it’s vital that you put across your personality and enthusiasm.

#10 – Fully Utilise Data

Data is integral to everything you do as a personal trainer. It should form a core part of how you plan each individual session, as well as how you structure longer term ideas and routines to ensure progress.

There is no more powerful tool, and few more effective personal trainer tips for beginners, than taking regular measurements, surveys, and fitness checks with your clients, and using that data to improve workout programmes.

Here’s a few quick tips on the data you should be measuring, as well as why you should take those specific measurements.

• Always ensure that your first session with a client starts with measurements, as well as their starting point
• Check in regularly with your clients, taking measurements of key data such as weight, body fat percentage, BMI, and heart rate.
• Use progress photographs to help clients fully grasp how far they’ve come, as well as provide a visual representation of their progression.
• Take qualitative measurements as well as quantitative. This means asking how your client is feeling generally, as well as using more number-based data to back up those feelings.

Data will also convince your client that they are getting value for money from your services.

If you can show the progression they have made, or what needs to be done in order to meet their target, then you are more likely to retain them as a client in the long-term as they will view you as a trusted authority on their fitness.

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Looking for more tips & advice for personal trainers? Check out these three articles for further guidance:

• Types of Professional Development for Personal Trainers
• How To Find Your Personal Trainer Niche
• How To Make Money As A Personal Trainer

Advice On Marketing Yourself and Your Services

#11 – Develop Your Brand and USP

If you’re looking for personal trainer tips for beginners, then it’s likely that you’re also wondering how to get people enthusiastic about your services and programmes.

While this may sound like an impossible task at first, there’s actually a few simple steps you can follow to help you make an impact in the fitness industry.

Developing a USP is all about looking at what makes you stand out, and applying that to your research, as well as how you market your services. 

We’ve already touched upon the importance of thorough market research when you’re first starting out, but it bears repeating that this is perhaps one of the most integral tasks when it comes to personal trainer tips for beginners.

Once you’ve found out where the gaps in the market are, you’ll need to tailor your programmes and services to capture what customers want to see. There’s a number of ways you can do this:

• Keep It Simple – While it can be tempting to try and push the boundaries of what’s expected in your current niche, it’s best to try and make your initial idea as simple as possible. Offering low-cost alternatives to expensive services on the market, small group personal training, or late-night sessions can all set you apart without being overly difficult to accomplish.
• Make Your Brand Clear – When you’re trying to come up with a name for your personal training brand, it’s important to keep it as clear, concise and focused as possible. For instance, “Walter White PT” or “Jesse Pinkman S&C Coach” provides a clear picture of what you can offer, without being overly wordy or difficult to remember.
• Success Comes From What You Offer – You should always make sure that the programs you offer are well advertised, and they’re consistent with what you offer, your USP, and your branding. For example, if you’re offering group PT sessions, you should make sure that potential clients know that that’s what you specialise in, and how you plan to offer that service.

#12 – Dedicate Time To Marketing

Regardless of experience, all personal trainers will have to deal with the tough decision on how to effectively market themselves, and how they can maximise their time to make sure this is done properly..

In terms of tips for personal trainer tips for beginners, dedicating a good chunk of time to marketing is essential. Without marketing, you won’t be able to develop your personal training business, and your future clients won’t know where your expertise lies.

In general then, we suggest following the 75-25 rule of time distribution. This essentially states that 75% of your time should be spent on the gym floor and training your clients, and 25% of your time should go towards marketing.

While that may sound a little extreme, it’s absolutely vital to remember that marketing isn’t just about sitting at your computer, posting on social media and sending newsletters – it’s a hugely diverse part of the roles of a personal trainer. 

You can market yourself while training clients and helping customers on the gym floor, through some of the beginner personal trainer tips we’ve touched on, as well as putting across your personality, and what you can offer to clients.

#13 – Remarket To Your Current Clients

While it might seem that all marketing is about targeting new clients, and increasing the size of your client lists in order to maximise your revenue, it absolutely isn’t. 

Your current clients are perhaps one of your most reliable points of reference for your marketing strategies, and remarketing to them can act as a way to determine whether or not your ideas are successful. 

You’ll gain a clear understanding of what people are looking for, what you’re doing well, and what you can improve upon.

Here’s a few ideas on how to target your current clients, as well as gain an additional perspective on attracting new clients, too.

• Start a newsletter that you can sign clients (and potential clients) up to
• Create seasonal offers that you can use on a monthly basis which can supplement a client’s training programmes. Check out our complete guide to personal trainer package ideas for a huge selection of suggestions.
• Offer a “Bring-A-Friend” scheme, where your existing client can bring a friend along to a session free of charge, so that they can experience what you have to offer.

In addition to earning you more clients through referrals, incentivising also keeps your existing clients interested. The more referrals they bring you, the more discounts and free sessions they receive.

Remember, it’s important to offer trusted clients something in return for their commitment to your services, and referrals are an easy way of capitalising on this.

#14 – Seek Out Opportunities

As mentioned previously, not all marketing is about sitting at your computer, or placing posters and business cards around your local community.

You can just as easily market yourself while working on the gym floor. Now, this may be surprising, but marketing yourself while you work is incredibly effective.

In fact, there is no better method of improving your brand and increasing the size of your client lists than being on the gym floor as much as possible, interacting with potential new clients.

Next time you’re on the gym floor, think about:

• Offering gym classes and taster sessions to better demonstrate your personal trainer skills
• Working with charities in the local community to provide fitness-related activities and events, like fun runs and fundraisers
• Providing free advice and demonstrations to help familiarise yourself with potential new clients
• Ensuring that other gym goers can see you training your current clients, and can therefore see how you’re helping them

#15 – Maximise Your Visibility

While defining your brand and USP is absolutely essential, dedicating a set amount of time in your timetable for personal development is going to take you far, you should always be striving to improve.

When it comes to personal trainer tips for beginners that actually make a difference to your weekly earnings, you are going to have to make sure that you are visible around your workplace.

Or rather, you need to be more visible than your competitors, and ensure you stand out as the right option for those looking for a personal trainer.

There are a couple of guaranteed ways to achieve this and, despite what you might read elsewhere, you should not undervalue the power of posters and printed materials with regard to ensuring future success.

Here’s a few key pointers when it comes to printed promotional materials, and how to maximise your sales through posters and personal trainer business cards:

• Always ensure that your posters have the correct details, including ways to contact you, the services you offer, and any promotions you’re running
• Make sure you keep a few business cards in your pocket, and at the reception desk of your gym
• Use local community spaces that are visited regularly, like cafés and community centres
• If you’re one of very few personal trainers at your gym, ask the reception staff to mention you if a customer is looking for a trainer
• Focus your attention on just a few channels, rather than trying to gain new clients in many different areas. Social media and newsletters are ideal ways to start, and require little effort to get going.

Remember, it’s not all about being visible. You also have to offer something to entice clients, so ensure that your service matches the efforts you put into your marketing.

Seasonal discounts, and bring-a-friend offers are fantastic for increasing the range of your marketing, and for building up healthy client lists in the early stage of your career.

Before You Go!

Our top personal trainer tips for beginners are all designed to give you the best possible foundations for a successful, lucrative career in the fitness industry. 

Each suggestion is designed to provide you with actionable advice, and ways to revolutionise your approach to personal training. But the most important advice is to enhance your knowledge, and pass that expertise on to your clients.

By qualifying from one of the best nutrition courses in the UK, you can expand the number of services you offer and provide your clients with a much more comprehensive experience. Learn more about the rest of our qualifications by downloading our FREE prospectus!

So, what skills do you need to be a personal trainer? This article breaks down all the personal trainer knowledge, skills, and abilities you need to succeed.

Start your career off in the best way by developing your skills with our Personal Trainer Diploma. You can also download our free prospectus to browse our full range of courses.

What Is A Personal Trainer?

Before we delve into the key personal trainer skills, what exactly is a personal trainer?

Put simply, a personal trainer is a certified individual who works on a 1-to-1 basis with a client to help them achieve their fitness goals.

They help a client reach these goals by delivering a fitness programme specifically tailored to their needs. Every client is different, but common goals include weight loss and building strength. Personal trainers may also work with athletes to help improve their sports performance.

The fitness sector is always evolving and changing, making personal training one of the most exciting career choices out there! For more information about what exactly you can expect from a personal training job, check out our guide to a personal trainer job description here.

As we will discuss in this article, there are some key qualities, attributes and skills required to become a personal trainer. You will also need to have completed a Level 3 Personal Trainer Diploma. Once you have both the relevant skills and qualifications under your belt, a whole host of employment opportunities await you!

Soft vs Hard Personal Trainer Skills

When it comes to discussing the skills needed to be a personal trainer, it is useful to categorize them into ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ skills.

Soft skills are generally personal attributes, character traits and qualities. They are mostly based on emotional intelligence rather than knowledge, making them difficult to measure and define.

Hard skills are more concrete skills such as industry-specific knowledge and expertise. These skills are generally gained through practical experience, such as courses and qualifications or on-the-job training. They are therefore much easier to measure than soft skills.

Employers in all industries look for both soft and hard skills in potential employees. And the same goes for the fitness industry! That’s why the best personal trainer courses enable you to develop both these types of skills to help you stand out in the fitness job market by maximising your employability.

Soft vs Hard Personal Trainer Skills

1. Motivating

Arguably one of the most important skills for a personal trainer is the ability to motivate your clients. After all, this is one of the main reasons that people decide to get a PT!

As a personal trainer, you should be able to see the potential in your client and push them to reach it. A good PT is fully invested in their client and wants to see them achieve their goals.

The ability to motivate others is hard to measure, which is why it is seen as a soft skill. But ultimately, if your client is engaged in the programme, working hard and making progress, this is a sign that you are successfully motivating them!

During the sessions themselves, you should be confident enough to give words of encouragement to your client as they are performing the exercises. If they are close to giving up before the final rep, it is up to you to help them make that one last push! This is all part of having good personal trainer leadership skills.

As well as motivating your clients during a session, creating an interesting and dynamic programme for them is a surefire way to motivate them to carry on. If the programme is too easy, they will lose interest. But make it too difficult, and they could feel like they are failing. Finding a balance between the two is therefore a key skill of a personal trainer.

2. Empathy and Compassion

Perhaps two of the most overlooked personal trainer skills are empathy and compassion.

When people think of personal trainers, the stereotype is someone who just shouts at clients in the gym – but this couldn’t be further from the truth!

In fact, personal trainers should be sensitive to their client’s emotions and adapt their training style to each individual. This can be harder than it sounds, especially if you have lots of different clients in a single day.

For example, empathy is a good personal trainer skill to have if your client is struggling to complete a workout. Whilst it can be easy to put this down to lack of motivation or disinterest, a good PT should instead think about any other reasons that may be affecting your client’s performance. Is there something on their mind? Have they had a particularly stressful day at work?

Simply asking your client a few questions such as ‘how was your day?’ or ‘how are you feeling today?’ before you start a session is an easy way to demonstrate this personal trainer skill.

Empathy and compassion cannot be taught, but OriGym’s L3 PT Diploma equip you with the practical knowledge and tools to develop this personal trainer skill.

3. Communication

Personal trainer communication skills are essential for building a positive and trusting relationship with your existing clients, as well as attracting new ones.

Clear communication between you and your client is particularly important when guiding them through an exercise during a session. Although this can be shown by a demonstration, you should also provide verbal guidance whilst they are doing the exercise itself.

A good PT can explain even the most complicated of exercises in simple terms. This is a skill that simply requires practice, as well as personal trainer leadership skills.

Communication is just as much about listening as it is talking! An important aspect of personal trainer communication skills is the ability to listen to feedback from your client. For example, if they say that they are finding the programme too easy, you can then make the appropriate changes to make it more challenging.

A good PT should keep up communication outside of the gym too. Whether it’s arranging your next session or checking in with your client in-between sessions, it all contributes to maintaining a positive relationship with your client!

4. Positivity

One of the most important skills needed to be a personal trainer is positivity! Making your sessions a positive experience is an easy way to make sure that you are getting the most out of your clients.

As a personal trainer, your clients will feed off your positive energy. There will be times when they are feeling unmotivated or they are struggling with the programme, and having a positive and optimistic attitude is key for helping your client get through these times.

Essentially, if you are really passionate about fitness, this should come across to your clients. Positivity really is infectious!

Having a positive social media presence is a great way to appeal to potential clients. You can post inspiring videos or share your favourite motivational quotes.

Positivity cannot be taught or measured, which is why it is a soft skill. However, in a job interview for a personal training role, you can show positivity simply by smiling, being enthusiastic and outgoing.

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Thinking about becoming a personal trainer? Here’s 3 more article we think that you should check out:

• 9 Roles and Responsibilities Of A Personal Trainer
• Should I Become A Personal Trainer?
• Becoming An NHS Personal Trainer

5. Self-Development

As with any job, it can be easy to get set in your ways and get too comfortable. However, one of the most important qualities of a personal trainer is self-development.

Self-development is simply about wanting to progress and add new skills to your repertoire. This is not only beneficial on a personal level, but it also means that you can expand your client base to reach more niche clientele.

In the fitness industry, self-development is one of the best personal trainer resume skills you can have. As one of the fastest-changing sectors out there, employers will want to see how you are keeping up with the latest trends and changes in the industry.

The best way to practice self-development as a personal trainer is to add more skills and qualifications to your CV. OriGym knows how important this is, so we offer a huge range of specialist fitness courses such as our sports nutrition qualification and this Level 4 obesity and weight management course.

6. Being Friendly And Approachable

As a public-facing role, being friendly and approachable is a particularly good personal trainer quality to have.

Many clients come to personal trainers because they are uncomfortable or inexperienced in a gym environment. So, the last thing they need is a personal trainer who is just as intimidating!

Your client should feel comfortable asking you questions about anything they don’t understand, no matter how obvious the answer may be.

Being friendly and approachable is particularly important when it comes to working with clients with special requirements or disabilities. A good personal trainer must be tolerant and understanding to people of all levels and abilities. If you’re interested in designing specialist fitness programs, why not check out OriGym’s Level 4 Obesity and Weight Management Course?

Since it is a soft skill, a friendly and approachable attitude cannot be taught! It is simply something that you naturally possess or develop over time. This can come either from your own self-development or from observing other personal trainers and how they interact with clients.

However, there is a fine balance between being friendly and being a push-over; you should still maintain an element of authority and demonstrate good personal trainer leadership skills!

7. Commitment and reliability

Like any job, a personal trainer must be committed and reliable. This is especially the case if you are a freelance or self-employed personal trainer, as you essentially determine your own hours.

When you take on a client, you have a responsibility to always deliver only the best service to them. This means always turning up on time and giving your all to every single session.

A good personal trainer would encourage your client to commit to the training programme, so you need to practice what you preach!

For employers, commitment and reliability is one of the most important personal trainer skills they are looking for, as it determines how you will be as an employee. They may ask for references from your previous job to vouch for how reliable you are.

Don’t think you can commit to a full-time personal trainer position? You might want to consider becoming a part-time personal trainer instead!

8. Creativity

When wondering ‘what skills does a personal trainer need?’, you might not have thought of creativity. But in fact, whilst it can be a very technical job, creativity is a good personal training quality to have.

Since it is a soft skill, creativity cannot technically be ‘taught’. Many would argue that you have it or you don’t!

When it comes to keeping your client engaged, having a creative and varied programme is a great way to do this. A good personal training session should achieve a balance of being fun and creative as well as effectively working towards your client’s goals. Check out our guide to how to plan a personal training session for more tips!

As well as making the sessions more enjoyable for your client, another reason why creativity is such a key skill for a personal trainer is that it helps you stand out as a business. If you are known as being a fun and creative PT, potential clients are much more likely to choose you than a PT who follows a more traditional teaching style.

Social media is also a great way to express your creativity as a personal trainer. You can really build up your personal brand by making creative content such as photos and videos. This ultimately helps to attract clients. In fact, having a strong social media presence is one of the best ways to stand out as a personal trainer.

9. Flexibility

Another important skill to have as a personal trainer is the ability to be flexible in terms of your working hours.

Personal trainers certainly do not have a conventional 9-5 working pattern. However, your clients probably do! You should therefore be prepared to meet clients early in the morning before work or late in the evening- and everything in between.

If you are employed by a gym, you may have more regular shifts, but they may still be during unsociable hours! Flexibility is therefore especially important if you are working as a freelance personal trainer.

In fact, the flexible nature of the job can actually be a great benefit of being a personal trainer. Since you are mostly in control of your own hours, you can schedule a long weekend or a midweek day off if you want to!

Hard Personal Trainer Skills

10. Extensive Fitness Knowledge

Whilst the soft personal trainer skills we have discussed thus far are important, they are irrelevant unless they are backed up by in-depth fitness knowledge!

The best way to gain this knowledge is of course through completing a personal training qualification.

When it comes to personal trainer resume skills, a personal training qualification is top of the list. For most PT jobs, you will need to have completed the following:

• Level 2 Fitness Instructor Qualification: This is an entry-level course that will qualify you to be a fitness instructor in a gym, or to go on to be a personal trainer.
• Level 3 Personal Training Course: Once you have your Level 2 Qualification, you can take this course and become a qualified personal trainer!

You can gain these qualifications by enrolling on a Level 3 PT Diploma.

Completing a PT course is not only an essential prerequisite for most jobs, but it equips you with all the necessary knowledge to be a good personal trainer. You will gain an extensive knowledge of human anatomy, physiology, nutrition principles, how to deliver training sessions and more.

It is also important to take the time to choose your personal training course provider wisely. There are several factors you should consider before choosing, such as course accreditation, location, study method and reviews from previous students.

Choosing the right qualification for you is arguably one of the most important steps to becoming a PT. With so many options and so much to consider, we’ve made it easy with our becoming a personal trainer!

11. Marketing Skills

When wondering, ‘what skills do you need to be a personal trainer?’, your first thought might not be marketing. But in fact, it is one of the most important aspects of being a PT.

In addition to extensive fitness knowledge, an important personal trainer skill is the ability to use that knowledge to make money! In other words, you need to know how to market your services in order to attract clients.

There are many aspects to marketing, which is all about using techniques such as advertising, email campaigns and social media to reach your target audience or retain your existing clients.

Although marketing is a hard skill, it also requires many soft skills to be an effective marketer. For example, you need to be creative in aspects of marketing such as social media and advertising.

Marketing also requires other soft skills such as empathy, as you need to be able to understand your target audience and what they want. Knowing your audience is one of the most fundamental principles of marketing!

Before You Go!

If you think you have the skills to start a career in fitness, get started with our Personal Trainer Diploma! You can also download our free prospectus here for more information about all of our courses!

A personal trainer meal plan is more accessible than many people think. It’s not something that requires a lot of expense or time; it can be both simple and nutritious!

Thinking of working on your personal trainer meal plan, but not sure where to start?

Well, you’re in the right place! OriGym has compiled the most nutritious and popular personal trainer food, as well as where to find the ingredients/how much they cost.

Interested in turning your passion for fitness and nutrition into a career? Go check out our Level 4 Qualification in Advanced Sports Nutrition before you carry on reading!

Contents:

• Food Recommendations For a Personal Trainer Meal Plan
• Nutrition Basics: Micro and Macronutrients 
• Benefits of Vitamins and Minerals
• Personal Trainer Meal Plan Prices (Supermarket Comparison) 

Food Recommendations For a Personal Trainer Meal Plan

Tuna

Tuna is a fantastic personal trainer food to have as your pre-workout natural source of protein. It is a low-carb source of protein too, and filled with essential polyunsaturated fats. What more could you want for your personal trainer nutrition plan?

Make sure you serve alongside some raw vegetables, as your body will need the micronutrients that they contain. One example of this would be heirloom tomatoes… yes, they’re as fun as they sound!

If you chop the heirloom tomatoes and add them to bowl with a can of tuna, then drizzle some extra virgin olive oil on top, you’ve got a quick and easy source of protein and essential nutrients. Plus, it tastes amazing considering such little prep time,

The fish is a nutritional powerhouse, containing Omega-3 fatty acids, Potassium, Iron, Vitamin A, C, and Calcium.

However, one thing to look out for is the mercury content within some types of tuna, due to the fish being at the top of the food chain. So, keep an eye out for White Albacore and Chunk Light tuna in particular. White Albacore should be consumed every 9 days, and Chunk Light should be consumed every 3.

If you’re a big tuna fan and can’t steer clear of these for your personal trainer diet, then go for the Chunk Light!

Avocados

Avocados are an incredibly nutritious food to incorporate into your diet, and hugely popular on personal trainer diet plans. They are great to have both before and after your workouts, as they contain a higher amount of potassium than bananas!

They are loaded with essential heart-healthy monounsaturated fatty acids, as well as being brilliant for lowering cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Their fat content is also said to help the body absorb nutrients from plant foods, which is incredibly helpful if you’re eating a lot of them as part of a nutritious personal trainer diet.

In terms of future wellbeing, the fruit has been linked with the prevention of cancer, and may also help to relieve symptoms of arthritis. As well as this, they contain powerful antioxidants that protect your eyes, making them a great choice for personal trainer food.

They are loaded with fibre, which in turn aids the process of digestion. One study found that people who eat avocados were generally a lot healthier than people that don’t. It’s no wonder almost every personal trainer meal plan includes them!

Half of an avocado counts as one portion of your balanced 5 a day, so there is absolutely no harm in going over that… they taste amazing, too; why not make your own guacamole?

Clementines

If you’re looking for a personal trainer meal plan that has a great alternative to energy bars or energy gels, then this is it. Clementine’s are the perfect bite-size energy boost for either before or after your workout, and are loaded with essential vitamins.

Rather than packing yourself full of processed foods, taking this as a natural glucose kick pre-workout could have great benefits. Think about it; you can use the calories you save by eating delicious and filling whole foods instead. We’ve all ended up eating more energy bars than we should on some days, so it’s better to carry around something that can’t undo your hard work!

They also aid digestive troubles, provide better cardiovascular health, strengthen the immune system, and balance the electrolytes in the body. The enriching nutrients that are present in clementines contribute to building strong bones, as well as supporting muscle contraction and relaxation.

If that isn’t enough, the bioactive molecules present in clementines make them an anti-cancer fruit, and contribute to the smooth functioning of the brain. They’re thought to reduce the risk of cancer cells developing in the breast, stomach, colon, lung, and mouth in particular.

Greek yogurt

After a great snack to demolish between clients? This could be your hidden gem.

Yogurt may not sound like much, especially compared to a filling energy bar… but it may surprise you. Greek yogurt is packed with protein that helps to aid muscle recovery after workouts, and to curb your appetite during the working day.

A. Caroli, A. Poli et al state the following in their essay on dairy intake and bone health:

Due to the lower pH of yogurt, dairy minerals such as calcium and magnesium are present in their ionic forms, which increases their absorption.

It’s clear here that Greek yogurt boosts the absorption of vital minerals (that we’ll discuss later on in this article), which is one of the overlooked benefits of this popular personal trainer food.

An average serving depending on the brand can have 12 to 17.3 grams of protein! This is great considering the fat and sugar content is next to nothing. It’s no mystery that good personal trainer meal plans have Greek yoghurt.

One serving of plain Greek yogurt can also help you to meet the recommended dietary guideline of three daily servings of low-fat or non-fat dairy products. This is a great way to pick up on your calcium, potassium, and zinc!

If you suffer from lactose intolerance, you may also find Greek yogurt easier to digest because of the bacterial breakdown of the milk’s sugars.

The most recognised benefits of Greek yogurt include improving your gut health, boosting the metabolism, aiding muscle growth, and strengthening your bones. The benefits are almost endless!

People tend to have yogurt as part of their breakfast but having it with some dried fruit and nuts will also be a great snack for during the day.

You can also add some agave nectar in moderation, as this will make it taste even sweeter. Who said that personal trainer diet plans had to be bland?

Red Meat (Beef)

Beef is a great red meat option for satisfying your appetite. It’s also good for staying as nutritious as possible at the same time as getting your fill of lean meat.

In order to stick at your goals, it’s important to ensure that you’re full when you’re not working out. It’s no use hitting the gym hard, only to fill yourself with junk food when you get home… That’s why a personal trainer food plan aims to keep you satisfied.

Beef will do exactly that. It serves as a great base to any meal you have post-workout, and its high-protein content will also aid your recovery, particularly after heavy lifting.

If you really want to make the most of your steak portions, then consider buying grass-fed, local cuts, as they are much more likely to be packed with important vitamins and nutrients that your body needs to perform its most basic functions.

You can also pick up extra lean mince at your local supermarket, as this will have less fat percentage, and ultimately be better for your health.

One serving of lean mince contains around 30g of protein, which is pretty impressive. Of course this makes it more expensive, but we’ll price it up later in the article for you.

Typically, those who follow carnivore or keto diets/lifestyles will say that having red meat every day isn’t detrimental to your health. However, health experts advise to only consume 70g a day, or 500g a week. A personal trainer meal plan will usually promote balance between meat and vegetables.

Watermelons

Watermelons are a fantastic option when it comes to recovering after a heavy workout session. They aid the replenishment of depleted glycogen stores within the liver and muscles, meaning that they stop you from running out of energy.

You know when endurance athletes say they ‘bonk’ or ‘hit the wall’? You can avoid this with watermelons, as well as other foods such as milk or yoghurt, bananas, coconut water, or avocados (like we mentioned earlier).

Watermelons are particularly good for stocking up on glycogen, as well as having a high water and electrolyte content. You don’t have to take a watermelon to the gym with you though; blending a portion up with ice would make a great homemade recovery drink to sip on during or after a strenuous cardio workout.

Like the clementine and avocados, watermelons are great both before and after your workouts, and are also one of your 5 a day. One portion/serving is around one cup, or a 1-2 inch wide slice.

Almonds

Looking for a source of filling and healthy protein that you can eat on the go? Almonds are your saving grace!

Every personal trainer meal plan has room for almonds. With a whopping 21g of protein in 100g of almonds as well as plenty of vitamins and minerals, they’re an easy snack.

However, you should be cautious; having more than a handful at a time can mean that you consume too many calories and too much fat to make eating them worthwhile. Almonds are very moreish and high in calories if overeaten, so you’re better having them in moderation.

If you’re not keen on eating them on their own, then an almond butter smoothie could be a great option for you. Yes, it’s as nice as it sounds!

Here’s what you need:

• Unsweetened almond milk
• 1 scoop of whey protein (to aid muscle recovery and growth)
• Dry oats
• 1 frozen banana
• 1-2 tbsp natural almond butter (to add some essential fats)

If you follow the serving guidelines for each ingredient depending on your own requirements, then you’ll have the perfect almond based smoothie for protein intake and workout recovery!

Whether you try out the smoothie or choose to graze on almonds during the day, they’ll be something you won’t regret adding to your personal trainer meal plan.

Oats

Every personal training meal plan has oats. Whether it’s porridge for breakfast or oats with yogurt and fruit as a midday snack, they’re definitely something you’ll want to look into.

So, why are oats so popular?

Two of the main reasons for this are that oats are high in fibre, and they can be eaten together with many different foods such as nuts, chia, flax, and fruit.

In their essay on the health benefits of oats, A. Kristek, M.Y. Schar et al. state:

Wholegrain oats are rich in dietary fibre and an important source of many bioactive components, including minerals, vitamins and phenolic compounds.

Evidently, oats are vital to the body when it comes to consuming and absorbing important micronutrients (which we go into depth with later on in this article). They’re a great breakfast option due to this, as eating healthily after consuming them will also aid the absorption of micronutrients!

Oatmeal/porridge is just one resistant starch that makes your body work harder to digest your food, and subsequently helps you to burn more calories. Oats are famously eaten for breakfast, but adding them to greek yoghurt is really popular also (this pairing of food is unreal for your digestion and protein intake!)

Eating oats with greek yoghurt will curb your hunger, and therefore lead you to consume less calories. They are rich in antioxidants and beneficial plant compounds called polyphenols. Most notable is a unique group of antioxidants called avenanthramides, which are almost distinctively found in oats.

Avenanthramides may help lower blood pressure levels by increasing the production of nitric oxide, a gas molecule that helps dilate blood vessels and leads to better blood flow. It is rich in fibre, particularly one called Beta-Glucan.

It benefits the body in several ways. It reduces LDL and total cholesterol levels, blood sugar, and insulin response. This increases the feeling of fullness, as well as the growth of good bacteria in the digestive tract.

In short, oats are very good for you, reduce your appetite, and can be consumed in different ways (so that you don’t get bored of them!)

Soybeans (Edamame)

Soybeans pack a big punch when it comes to health benefits. They are low in calories, rich in essential amino acids, and a great source of fibre.

They actually come in different forms, the two most popular being soy and edamame. In case you didn’t already know, edamame and soy aren’t necessarily the same. They are from the same plant, but earn their different names due to being harvested at different stages of maturity.

Edamame is raw soybeans, whereas soybeans are those that have lost their greenness, and take on a brown/grey colour instead.

Does this make a difference when it comes to nutrition? Yes. One serving of edamame contains around 300-400 calories and 33g of protein, whereas one serving of mature soybeans contains more like 700-800 calories and double the amount of protein.

Edamame is most popular in a personal trainer meal plan, clearly due to its low calorie count compared to its alternative. 33g of protein is still quite a lot after all, especially if you eat them alongside lean meat!

Edamame comes with its health benefits; it contains anti-inflammatory properties, which can be beneficial to those with arthritis or anyone suffering from inflammation.

It is rich in micronutrients, particularly folate, manganese, phosphorus, and vitamin K, which makes it a valuable healthy snack or side portion to your personal trainer meal plan!

Eggs

How could we put together a personal training meal plan and leave out eggs?

Besides being rich in protein (as you will already know), they also contain healthy fats and vitamins that boost your health and recovery after workouts. Plus, they’re cheap! Meaning you can go without protein shakes if you’re low on budget.

Mistakenly not named as one of the so-called superfoods, they’re packed with nutrients which are rare within the 21st century diet. One of these is Choline, which is often grouped with B Vitamins, a scarcely seen substance which aids the brain cell building and production.

They also contain Lutein and Zeaxathin, which is an antioxidant that counteracts the degeneration of our eyes; you won’t regret picking them for your personal trainer diet!

Up until recently, most nutritionists argued that eggs were high in harmful cholesterol that could lead to heart disease. In fact, most foods with high cholesterol content were painted in the same light. A large egg contains just over 200mg of cholesterol, and the recommended daily amount is 300mg… it’s easy to see how this was a cause for concern.

However, after years of research studies have recently shown that the cholesterol content in food doesn’t necessarily harm your blood cholesterol, and that it actually raises your HDL levels instead (good cholesterol).

So just avoid saturated fat when choosing personal trainer food, as this is the main culprit in high blood cholesterol and heart disease!

Good news: healthy people can have up to 3 eggs per day. That’s around 18g of protein, which makes up a good amount of your daily intake when building muscle or losing body fat.

Kale

Given its incredibly low-calorie content, kate is among the most nutrient-dense foods in existence. Eating more kale is a great way to dramatically increase the total nutrient content of your personal trainer diet.

As far as leafy greens go, it’s actually very versatile; it can be eaten alongside all three meals of the day, or as a snack!

Kale can help to lower cholesterol, which may reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. It contains very little fat, but a large portion of the fat in it is an omega-3 fatty acid called alpha linolenic-acid.

This acid is essential for all mammals, and used to prevent heart attacks. Studies have actually shown that consuming a high amount of alpha-linolenic acid over 6 years can reduce a heart attack risk by up to 59%… that’s definitely something worth knowing about!

A lot of people saute kale in a frying pan, and enjoy it this way. Why not add some garlic, a squirt of lemon juice or soy sauce and get your daily fill of leafy greens and their nutrients in just a few minutes?

Alternatively, you can even make kale crisps. These are a fantastic way to get into eating kale as they are very quick to make, and can be made with very different flavours (meaning you won’t find them boring after a while).

You can try them with salt and pepper, a sprinkle of parmesan and pine nuts, or seafood spices. They can even be made with chocolate! (eat in moderation to keep it as healthy as possible).

Kale smoothies are also a great option, as you get all the health benefits from the kale, but can mix it with lots of different fruits and flavours. Already making smoothies with grapes, pears, bananas, and orange juice? Add in some kale, and you’ll get even more of a health boost!

Nutrition Basics: Micro and Macronutrients

Without going into ridiculous depth, we’re going to explain the basics that you’ll want to know if you’re going to start taking inspiration from our personal trainer meal plan suggestions.

Let’s start with macronutrients! Their name is the first clue as to what they are, and what their role in nutrition should be. The word ‘macro’ itself means large-scale, which is a great indicator into the fact that our body needs each of the macronutrients in large amounts to make it able to function correctly and healthily.

Macronutrients:

• Carbohydrates
• Proteins
• Fats

When we say that the body needs them in large amounts, we still mean in moderation and in a well-balanced manner. If you consume too much of one of the macronutrients about another, you’ll be in danger of over-eating.

On the other end of the scale, we have micronutrients, which are still incredibly important in a personal trainer meal plan (or any nutrition plan that is healthy and well-balanced), yet they are needed in much smaller amounts.

Micronutrients:

• Water
• Minerals – Sodium, Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Iron, Zinc, Copper
• Fat-soluble vitamins – Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Vitamin K
• Water-soluble vitamins – Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid (B9), Vitamin C

We know, it’s a lot to take in… but not to worry! Every food that we’ve mentioned on this list contains both macro and micronutrients, so you’ll be consuming them simultaneously without even realising.

To make things easier, we’ll talk a little more about how to structure your meals in the next section to ensure that you’re getting a good amount of each nutrient!

For now, we’ll quickly explain the benefits and functions of each of the vitamins and minerals mentioned above.

Benefits of Vitamins and Minerals

Fat-Soluble Vitamins:

Vitamin A

Vitamin A is found in a good amount of foods, including dairy foods, fish, meat, and poultry. Personal trainer meals are full of it!

Unless you have a medical condition, it is unlikely that you’ll experience a Vitamin A deficiency due to how prevalent it is in common food sources.

In terms of function, Vitamin A aids the formation and maintenance of healthy skeletal and soft tissue, mucus membranes, teeth and skin!

Vitamin D

This main function of Vitamin D is to regulate the levels of phosphate and calcium in the body. It also aids the formation and maintenance of healthy and strong bones.

The parathyroid hormone within the body absorbs bone tissue, which can cause thin and brittle bones when it is released. Vitamin D protects the bones by blocking the release of this hormone, so you don’t want a deficiency!

You can absorb Vitamin D by consuming foods such as fortified foods (orange juice, soy mile, cereals and some types of dairy products), beef liver, tuna, salmon, mackerel, cheese or egg yolks. Fish is probably the best option in terms of Vitamin D content.

However, catching some sun is the best way of absorbing this vitamin! If the winter months are kicking in, be sure to take some supplements if your doctor gives you the all clear to do so.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is actually an antioxidant and protects the body from ‘free radicals’. Free radicals are substances that attack either cells, organs or tissues within the body, and Vitamin E protects the tissues within the body from this damage!

In terms of finding good sources of Vitamin E, you should look to consume more almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, sunflower seeds, leafy green vegetables, vegetable oils, or soybean oils.

Vitamin K

Luckily, Vitamin K can be found in a good variety of foods, which is why deficiency is rare with this vitamin. These include mainly leafy green vegetables such as kale, broccoli, spinach, etc. and in some types of fruit, vegetable oils, eggs, dairy products, and meat.

The primary function of this vitamin is to aid blood clotting in the body by releasing prothrombin, which is a protein that allows this to occur.

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Water-Soluble Vitamins 

Vitamin B1

The function of Vitamin B1 is to aid the cells within the body to transform consumed carbohydrates into energy. As well as this, it aids muscle contraction across the body, and also the transmission of signals in the nerves.

The foods that Vitamin B1 can be found in include nuts, seeds, oats, yeast, beef, liver, pork, eggs, dried milk, oranges, legumes, and peas.

Vitamin B2

Vitamin B2 is responsible for the maintenance of energy within the body, as well as the breaking down of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. This is the main reason that it should be included on every good personal trainer meal plan!

It is quite prevalent across a number of different foods, which include nuts, yeast, whole-grain breads, wheat bran, lima beans, peas, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, mushrooms, avocados, artichokes, asparagus, eggs, dairy products, fortified cereals & more.

Vitamin B3

This vitamin can be found in a number of foods, including:

• Red fish
• Meat
• Poultry
• Legumes
• Seeds
• Yeast
• Cereals

Its main function is to regulate cholesterol levels within the body. It lowers LDL (bad) cholesterol, and increases HFL (good) cholesterol, which is useful if you ask us! It helps to prevent heart disease, as well as boosting brain and skin function simultaneously.

Vitamin B5

B5 has a few different yet important functions, as you can see above. It aids the nervous system by producing neurotransmitters like acetylcholine, which then in turn activate muscles. It also aids the body in transforming carbohydrates and fats into energy!

Sources of the vitamin include egg yolks, milk, yogurt, peanuts, legumes, mushrooms, avocado, sweet potatoes, fish, liver, kidney, chicken, & more.

Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6 functions by boosting brain health. It is a natural mood booster, which goes hand in hand with the reduction of the symptoms of depression. As well as this, it boosts eye-health in the sense that it prevents disease in the area, namely ‘AMD’ which is a strain of vision loss in older adults.

Healthy sources of B6 include fish, pork, poultry, milk, eggs, cereals, peanuts, bread, vegetables, potatoes, soya beans & more.

Vitmain B9

Vitamin B9 plays an important role in preventing hearing loss in the body, as well as maintaining brain health (mainly in infants). It also produces red blood cells alongside Vitamin B12, and thus aids the iron content in the body to function correctly.

It can be found within many beans and dark leafy greens, such as kidney beans, lima beans, mung beans, soybeans, white beans, asparagus, spinach, Brussel sprouts, etc. and also in salmon, liver, orange juice and milk.

Vitamin C

Perhaps one of the most well-known nutrients out there, Vitamin C is known for protecting some of those who consume it in appropriate amounts from cardiovascular disease, ageing skin, eye diseases, prenatal health problems, and even immune system deficiencies (although the myth that it directly cures the common cold is untrue).

If you’re looking for the sources of Vitamin C to add to your personal training diet, some of the best are as follows:

• Chilli peppers (red & green)
• Sweet potatoes
• Spinach
• Cabbage
• Broccoli
• Sprouts
• Tomatoes (& tomato juice)
• Oranges

(Macro) minerals

Calcium

We’ll start with one of the most well-known and abundant minerals that exist within the body for this section in our personal trainer meal plan article; calcium.

Calcium has a good deal of functions within the body, but those that stand out as being the most important are:

• Assisting communication between nerves
• Prompting the contraction of muscles
• Maintaining bone health and strength
• Operating blood-clotting elements

We’re sure that you probably know this already, but the most common sources of calcium are milk and cheese (plus other dairy foods such as yogurt). As well as these though, some sources that are often overlooked include:

• Nuts
• Beans (Soya)
• Tofu
• Bread
• Sardines
• Pilchards
• Cabbage
• Broccoli

Sodium

This mineral is essential to your diet, as every other listed in this article. However, the truth is that a high-sodium diet can be particularly threatening to your health.

While the main function of sodium is to regulate water levels in and around the cells within the body, as well as regulating blood pressure, this doesn’t mean that it should be consumed in excess. A diet that is either too low or high in sodium will prevent it from performing these beneficial functions, and even cause it to have negative effects.

Consuming too little sodium can cause hyponatremia, a condition that is usually linked to the body containing too much water, but what most people don’t know is that having too little water yet too much sodium can still cause it!

Healthy sources of sodium (when consumed in moderation) include:

• Canned fish
• Beef
• Pork
• Poultry
• Eggs
• Milk
• Yogurt
• Low-sodium cheese

Magnesium

Magnesium has 3 important and well-known functions within the body, which include managing the function of muscles within the body (including the heart), the regulation of blood pressure, and controlling blood glucose levels. Personal trainer meals should include a good amount of magnesium sources.

As you can see, these roles are up there with some of the most important out of all the different nutrients mentioned in our personal trainer food list! Therefore, it’s also important that you know where to obtain magnesium in healthy amounts.

Sources of calcium include:

• Dark chocolate
• Whole grains
• Figs
• Bananas
• Avocados
• Peas
• Cabbage
• Brussel sprouts
• Broccoli
• Kidney beans
• Black beans
• Chickpeas
• Seafood (tuna, salmon, mackerel, etc.)

Phosphorus

Alongside most of the B vitamins, phosphorus works to aid muscle contractions, regulate the heartbeat, improve kidney function, and enhance nerve signalling within the body.

Phosphorus is common among a large variety of foods, and can be found within the following:

• Beef
• Lamb
• Chicken
• Salmon
• Tuna
• Lentils
• Sunflower seeds
• Pumpkin seeds
• Kidney beans
• Black beans
• Chickpeas
• Eggs
• Milk & other dairy products

Potassium

Along with the other nutrients of its kind (electrolytes), potassium is great for aiding the following body functions:

• Maintaining water balance
• Correct digestion
• Healthy heart rhythm
• Regulating blood pressure
• Muscle contraction

If you’re wondering what the main sources of potassium are, you’ll be glad to know that they do extend beyond bananas (so that your choice isn’t limited). They include oranges, apricots, prunes, raisins, grapefruit, potatoes, peas, spinach, broccoli, and mushrooms.

(Micro) minerals

Iron

As one of the micro minerals (and therefore one of the minerals that you can consume in small volumes), iron plays an important role by being heavily involved with the transportation of oxygen from the lungs to the body tissues.

Healthy sources of iron include:

• Meat
• Liver
• Wholegrains
• Nuts
• Beans
• Fortified cereals
• Dried fruit

Zinc

Zinc comes directly after Iron in terms of its concentration within the body when compared to the rest of the micro minerals (or ‘trace minerals’).

It is found in cells throughout the body, not only in a concentrated area, and is vital to the proper function of the immune system. It is also partially responsible for the body’s ability to heal wounds, the breakdown of carbohydrates that are consumed, and cell growth and division.

The main food sources of zinc include:

• Meat
• Shellfish
• Dairy products
• Eggs
• Nuts
• Lentils
• Beans
• Seeds
• Wholegrains

Copper

As one of the micro minerals that you should include on your personal trainer food plan, copper has a pretty wide variety of functions. Some of them are:

• Aiding brain health
• Healing wounds
• Maintaining skin health
• Helping production of new blood vessels
• Maintaining a healthy immune system

Luckily, copper is found in a good variety of foods, so it isn’t too difficult to consume. The foods that have the highest copper content include chocolate, seeds, nuts, shellfish and meat.

Personal Trainer Meal Plan Prices (Supermarket Comparison)

You’ve got your shopping list ready for the personal trainer meal plan, but now you’re wondering which shop to head out to?

Don’t sweat! We’ve compared personal trainer meal plan prices including each food from our list, meaning that your personal trainer meal plan will be cost efficient AND easy to find.

Supermarkets:

Tuna (Canned, Multipack)

Avocados (x2, Ripe)

Clementines (Pack)

Greek yoghurt

Red Meat (Lean Beef, 500g)

Watermelons (1, whole)

Almonds (Natural)

Oats (1kg)

Soybeans

Eggs (12 pack)

Kale

Holland & Barrett (Health food shop)

As you can see, the food items on your personal trainer meal plan are readily available at all of your local supermarkets. However, we’ve also included the personal trainer meal plan prices of items available at a popular health food chain.

Supplements are sometimes in place of the food itself, so if you don’t like some of the foods listed you can always try alternate ways of getting their nutrients, without having to eat them!

Before you go!

Hopefully, after reading our tips for putting together your personal trainer meal plan, you’ve got a good base to start with! (as well as a good idea of personal trainer meal plan prices).

If you’re keen to enhance your knowledge of nutrition and the role it plays in sport and exercise, OriGym offer a Qualification in Nutrition which is available to study online!

OR, you can download our latest prospectus for more info.

References

1. Caroli A, Poli A, Ricotta D, Banfi G, Cocchi D. Invited review: Dairy intake and bone health: A viewpoint from the state of the art. J Dairy Sci. 2011;94:5249–62.
2. Kristek, M.Y. Schar, G. Soycan, S. Alsharif, G. G. C. Kuhnle, G. Walton, J.P.E. Spencer. The Gut Microbiota and Cardiovascular Health Benefits: A Focus on Wholegrain Oats. (2018). Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/nbu.12354. Date accessed: 03/12/2019.

Okay, we get it… You didn’t get into the fitness industry to spend hours thinking about personal trainer website ideas.

Unfortunately, in 2024, unless you put some real thought into your online presence and strategy, you’re not going to stay in this industry very long.

Sound daunting?

Not anymore!

With our new 2024 guide to personal trainer website ideas, we’ll give you an overview of the fundamentals you need to consider when setting up your personal trainer website, and how you might focus your creative effort by going through some of the most popular personal trainer website ideas available now!

But before we begin, one of the best things you can do to improve your website is expand the number of services you offer. Our Level 4 Fitness Courses, especially our Advanced Nutrition course, is the ideal way to get started.

Get in touch with our team today and download our course prospectus here!

The Fundamentals of your Website

Sounds pretty boring, right?

Wrong!

Having a basic knowledge of what works online in terms of attracting readers, converting leads to clients, and increasing website traffic is essential if you’re to succeed in the fitness industry.

Let’s put it this way…

If you’re a good personal trainer, you’ve already mastered the tricks of the trade when it comes to approaching customers on the gym floor, offering advice and freebies, and endearing yourself to your target audience through local and print marketing.

You’re probably doing most of these things without even realising you’re doing them!

Having a basic grasp of personal trainer website ideas and how they might affect your business is only going to expand your reach both locally and to a national audience, helping you make money as a personal trainer.

So sit back, relax, and let us quickly take you through everything you need to know when it comes to the fundamentals of personal trainer website ideas.

Already know about the fundamentals of online marketing? Skip this section and head straight for our top five most effective personal trainer website ideas below!

CTA 

Doubtless, if you’ve done any amount of research when it comes to online marketing that you’ve seen the letters CTA bandied about blogs and forums with reckless abandon.

But what exactly does it mean?

CTA, pretty simply, means Call to Action, and while it’s super-easy to get your head round, getting it right could literally be make or break for your personal trainer website ideas.

Let’s take a look at a couple of examples…

Notice how you can have really clean and neat copy on your website, but still fall short of success?

Example two succeeds in terms of website copy because it has a clear and easy-to-grasp CTA at the end.

By inserting this simple command, you can start to lead readers to your most important pieces of content. And, if you’ve planned this correctly, these pieces of content should be geared towards converting readers into paying clients!

Email Capture

This may sound complicated, but really it’s just a matter of getting clients invested in your brand.

Here’s the thing, when it comes to personal trainer website ideas, in order to turn your planning into a success website you need data.

In 2024, data is king.

You need to ensure your clients are willing to let you contact them, you need to have their preferred means of contact, and you need to make sure you aren’t using their data in ways that they have not given you permission.

And the easiest form of data to get started with is email addresses.

Now, you can just outright ask for their email addresses via your website, and some readers might subscribe to your website of their own volition (particularly if they’re already committed to becoming a paying client).

But these are not the readers you have to convince. You have to convince the ones who aren’t committed.

Aside from just asking for email addresses, there’s a couple of ways you can do this…

Social Proof / Client Testimonials

This is another aspect of personal trainer website ideas that you’ve probably already thought about.

In fact, you’re most likely already doing it in your print and face-to-face advertising without even noticing.

Social Proof is simply the process of showing the world that people recognise your brand. And by people, we mean influencers, celebrities, magazines, and companies in your industry that could readily be described as an “authority”.

Let’s give an example…

As part of an article on the obesity crisis in the UK, a national newspaper reached out to you for comment and for your expertise. Great! This is amazing publicity for you and your brand. But the hard work is not done yet, now you need to show off that you’ve been covered in this newspaper.

On the homepage of your website, you decide to stick a big banner that says “as featured in NATIONAL NEWSPAPER” with a link to the article. Your readers are impressed, your current clients are reassured that they have made the right decision, and your email capture is inundated with new data.

That’s the power of social proof.

To get started, these are some of the brands and kinds of content you might want to show off as social proof…

 

Client Journey

This sounds awfully similar to your gym manager banging on about customer experience and all the jargon that goes with it, right?

Well, when it comes to personal trainer website ideas, defining your client journey is crucial with regard to designing and figuring out the purpose of your website.

Gone are the days where you could just buy a domain and leave it stationary, expecting the clients to come to you (did those days ever really exist?). You need to justify every page of your website, and be able to confidently outline the pathways a user might take through your site.

Let’s give an example:

Above, you can see how each piece of online content justifies its purpose, with the ultimate goal of converting readers to clients.

Without planning how your online content is going to improve your business, your website will come across as scattered and disorganised.

 

Five Incredibly Effective Personal Trainer Website Ideas to Try RIGHT NOW

So, we know the fundamentals of a successful personal trainer website idea: tick.

Now it’s time to choose what kind of website best suits your business ambitions.

This can be tricky if you’re out there by yourself.

But you’re not out there by yourself, you’ve got us!

So, let’s go through five of the most effective personal trainer website ideas online today.

 

1) PT Website or Landing Page

This is your most obvious function in terms of personal trainer website ideas. The scenario is typically that a personal trainer is having a good degree of success with their local business, and decides that they could expand with some online marketing.

And suddenly, as if by magic, they have a website!

While these websites tend to be quite basic, they really should be part of every personal trainer business plan. They serve a really important function for start-up fitness businesses, and therefore need to cover the basics:

2) Online Personal Trainer Platform

The next step up from advertising your services via a landing page or website is actually offering your services via an online platform.

As far as personal trainer website ideas are concerned, online personal trainer platform is the best way to expand your business. The even better news is that this can happen fast. Often, personal trainers will turn to this form of training when their client lists have become saturated.

It can save you time, energy, and with the right level of investment, can transform you from a local personal trainer to a national one.

The main thing to keep in mind is focusing on what your service is going to offer, and how that’s going to stand out above the competition.

In other words, what is your USP?

Are you offering video tutorials, or are you tailoring workout plans to clients? Are you keeping in touch via skype, or text message?

Make sure to ask yourself these questions, before setting up your online personal trainer platform using our toolkit below!

3) Online Nutritionist Platform

Where to go when you’ve conquered the online personal training sphere?

Online nutrition coaching of course!

These days, fitness is more about what people are doing in and out of the gym to stay fit and healthy. People are now taking a more well-rounded approach to fitness, incorporating mindfulness, fitness, and – perhaps more than anything else – nutrition.

Personal trainers are now capitalising on this market by offering both fitness advice and nutrition coaching, so your online platform has to stand out if it has any chance of turning from a personal trainer business idea, to a viable business strategy.

4) Content-Rich PT and Lifestyle Blog

Fancy a different approach to personal trainer website ideas?

You don’t necessarily have to advertise your services or offer online services to new clients in order to make it as a successful personal trainer on the internet.

As opposed to offering fitness services, why not use your expertise to host a popular lifestyle and / or personal training blogs?

Such blogs are big money in 2024, and you can attract huge advertising revenue if you prove that you have a committed and loyal following who listen to your advice.

Of course, you also have to have your ear to the ground in terms of content and trends, and you have to have a unique voice that will capture the attention of online readers.

 

5) Social Media Influencer

Last, but certainly not least, is the hugely exciting but ultra-competitive profession of becoming a social media influencer.

The great thing about influencers is that they are almost-always practising fitness professionals.

This means you can combine your thriving PT business with gaining followers online.

The slightly less great thing is that you really need to be an expert at branding, visual marketing, and content production to stand any chance of succeeding in the long term.

But if you already have a loyal following on social media sites, and find yourself spending more and more time catering to your online audience, you may want to consider looking into some of the below.

Before You Go!

Before you try out your new personal trainer website ideas in the real world, why not let us know which online strategies work for you!

Our award-winning, nationally accredited courses are available anywhere in the UK and could be the thing you need to begin or transform your fitness career today. Begin improving your website today by expanding the amount of services you offer clients, starting with our Level 4 Sports Nutrition course.

Find out more by getting in touch with our team today or download our latest prospectus here to find out more!

Did you know that you can kickstart your fitness career by completing our Level 3 PT Diploma? Download our course prospectus to learn more!

Before we even look at answering the question, how long should you have a personal
trainer, let me tell you one thing: this is the wrong way to approach personal training!

If you want to achieve “fitness” (whatever that means…but more on that later) in a certain
time-frame, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

The truth is, making the decision to acquire the services of a personal trainer is a big step,
and there are loads of questions you need to ask before thinking about how long you should
retain their services.

You’ve got to measure your budget vs. their expertise. You have to know exactly what you
want, and how well equipped a personal trainer is to help you achieve your goals…
Only after answering these questions, can you even begin to look at how long should you
have a personal trainer (and then you’ve got to think, why am I asking this question in the
first place?).

That does not mean, however, that how long should you have a personal trainer is an
unimportant question. In fact, as well as showing you how else you might want to approach
your PT work, later in this guide we’ll give you full timelines for some of the most popular
goals outlined by clients.

But first let’s deal with the question itself…

Choosing your personal training frequency, and the length of time you want to hire a
personal trainer for, completely depends on what your goals are.

Now, don’t worry…

If none of what I’ve said so far is helping to answer your questions, there’s plenty of time
yet. In this article, we’ve split all the need-to-know aspects regarding the question how long
should you have a personal trainer, into easily digestible steps.

Basically, by the time you reach the end of this article, you should know exactly how long
you should retain your personal trainer’s services, and all the factors you should consider on
the way to making that decision!

Step One: Shifting the mind-set, from time to goals

If you’re asking the question how long should you have a personal trainer, you might be
approaching your new fitness commitment from the wrong angle.

Think about it…

Why ask how long should you have a personal trainer, when you could instead ask about
what you could achieve in the long-term if you choose to hire one?

Thinking like this doesn’t mean your doomed from the start. Far from it!

In fact, most beginners start out thinking in terms of time rather than achievement, and all it
means is that you have to shift your perspective slightly.

Now, before we talk about what to consider during the decision-making process for
personal training, let’s look at the reason people may ask questions in terms of length rather
than achievement.

Unfortunately, all of this confusion is a product of modern dieting culture.
When people think about health and fitness, they tend to think about dieting, and dieting –
contradicting just about every piece of solid nutritional advice out there – tends to target
short-term wins.

Guess what this means…

Got it in one – that most diets are unsustainable in the long term.
Instead of treating your fitness, and your personal trainer like a short term diet, you should
instead view their services as a long-term change.

Placing emphasis on goals over time will also help you find the best personal trainer for you

Goals are a far more rewarding and sustainable approach to hiring a personal trainer. An added bonus is that it will also make it easier for you to find a personal trainer in the first place…

Personal training is a competitive industry, so trainers often try and look for clients who they believe will stick with them in the long-term. Despite what you might think, often this isn’t incentivised by money…

A client who stays with a trainer, and who is willing to develop and change their approach to fitness using a trainers advice, gives the trainer the opportunity to innovate, improve their repertoire, and improve overall as a trainer.

For you, the client, it also means that your trainer will offer you discounts, free sessions, and added services, because they will want to try new things with clients whom they trust.

In fact, one of the first things we teach our Level 2 and Level 3 personal trainers is to make sure their loyal clients are aptly rewarded with such deals. This is the cornerstone of all good personal trainer marketing.

In short then, when you’re looking for a personal trainer, ask in terms of what you want to achieve from your fitness journey, rather than how long you should train in order to “get fit.”

Step Two: Your life vs. Your Life in the Gym

So, we’ve covered why you should approach personal trainers with set goals in mind, rather than vague ideas of “getting fit.”

See, the great thing about a good personal trainer is that they will help you change your whole outlook on fitness, and to a certain extent, on life. Once you make the change from thinking that there’s some end-point where you will be declared “fit,” you can start to enjoy what you do in order to stay healthy.

This has the subsequent effect of rendering questions like how long should you have a personal trainer a bit void: why would you worry about length of time when you’re enjoying what you do?

With this in mind, the next step of deciding how long should you have a personal trainer, or whether you should have a personal trainer at all, is to consider your life vs. your life in the gym.

What we mean by this is that, unless you’re somebody like The Rock or a professional body builder, the likelihood is that you won’t be dedicating your whole life to fitness.

You’ll probably have a job, a family, hobbies, friends… and guess what? All of these things are going to be distractions away from health and fitness.

And so they should be!

Having a balanced social life and a positive mind-set is just as important as improving your physical health.

This is why a good personal trainer will help you see your fitness pursuit as part of your life, rather than a short-term thing that only occurs during the hours you spend in the gym.

Why is this important?

The statistics show that there is no magic point at which you are declared “fit for life.”

Let’s think about this…

You go to a personal trainer, and you tell them that you want to train for four months. Great, for those four months, you’re going to improve your fitness, and you’ll most likely consistently hit your recommended weekly activity levels.

But what happens afterwards?

Rather than thinking in terms of time, a much more sustainable approach is to change your lifestyle so that fitness just becomes one of those everyday things. Like filling the dishwasher or going to work.

This way, you can guarantee – even if you stop seeing your personal trainer – that you maintain some degree of fitness moving forwards.

Discover the potential of fitness careers by learning about the highest-paid fitness jobs.

How to merge your life and your life in the gym, and how your personal trainer can help you

Now, here’s the interesting bit…

Later in this article, we’re going to tell you exactly what you need to be asking your personal trainer in order to ensure that they are meeting your requirements.

But for now, let’s focus specifically on how a personal trainer might help you start changing your day-to-day routines, so that you lead a healthier lifestyle.

Nutrition

Your personal trainer shouldn’t just be there to help you improve in the gym. These days, many personal trainers will offer nutritional advice as well.

In fact, if they aren’t offering nutritional advice – or at least asking questions – then you should speak up.

When it comes to a healthy lifestyle, changing your nutrition for the better is crucial. Try asking your personal trainer what you should be eating specifically around workouts, and what kinds of meals they would recommend to improve your gains in the gym

Finding the right hobby for you

Even the most dedicated personal trainer can’t be with you all of the time. In fact, many of the people asking how long should you have a personal trainer, are asking that question because they have grown bored of their gym routine.

As opposed to spending all your time with your trainer, you should try and supplement your PT work with a hobby.

Hobbies also filter into the goals you want to achieve. For example, if you’re a climber, you might want to improve your ability to do pull-ups and chin-ups, and your personal trainer can help you achieve that.

Basically then, make sure your work with a personal trainer filters into some practical hobby, as you’ll better be able to enjoy the results.

The Competitive Edge

If you’ve spent any amount of time around people on a “health kick” you’ll notice one thing… they’re all competitive.

In fact, this is one positive takeaway from what are often short-term fitness plans.

Personal trainers are great at bringing out your competitive side, challenging you to always strive for more. If you embrace this, you’ll soon find yourself forgetting all about questions like how long should you have a personal trainer.

Instead, you’ll look at what you can achieve, and once you’ve hit your goals, what you can achieve next.

Step Three: Personal trainers as coach, friend, and service

Another reason why so many beginners ask questions like how long should you have a personal trainer, or in general are cautious about hiring a fitness trainer or PT, is because it’s hard to understand the PT / client relationship before experiencing it.

More often than not, your PT isn’t an authority figure like a doctor or lawyer. You don’t go and see them (or you shouldn’t go and see them…) out of necessity.

Instead, having a personal trainer should be enjoyable and life affirming. Investing in the expertise of a PT is the quickest way to get on track with fitness changes, and the only way to make such lifestyle changes is to really invest in your new routine on an emotional level.

So it becomes less a question of how long should you have a personal trainer, and more a case of what can me and my personal trainer achieve. 

With that in mind, let’s try and get an essence of what a client / trainer relationship is like, so that we can get to the bottom of how to shift your mind-set from being time-oriented, to being goal-oriented.

Trainer as coach

This is perhaps the most obvious dynamic.

It’s what you’re paying your trainer for, and it’s where their expertise lies.

Everything we’ve mentioned so far comes into play here. An expert personal trainer won’t want to train you for two months with the vague goal of getting “fit.” They will want you to achieve a specific goal, and will do everything they can in order to get you there.

This is why, at least at the start, you should never begin by asking how long should you have a personal trainer…

If you start by asking this, then you’re severely restricting your trainer’s ability to maximise your fitness potential, and to draw you up a personalised fitness programme in order to help you achieve your goals.

Trainer as friend

What’s the point in spending multiple hours a week with a person, without even trying to strike up a friendship.

Clue: there isn’t one…

Viewing your PT through the lens of how long you need to be with them in order to get fit completely devalues one of the most important aspects of having a personal trainer: the opportunity to make a new friend.

Here at OriGym, we’ve heard countless stories of personal trainers being invited to their client’s weddings, to birthdays, and even of lifelong friendships being forged in the gym.

The truth is, once you’ve started working with your personal trainer, you should soon forget asking about how long should you have a personal trainer for.

Trainer as service

Remember, you’re paying your trainer!

This doesn’t have to make things awkward – in fact, it definitely shouldn’t – but you do have to raise your concerns if you’re not happy.

Nine times out of ten, a personal trainer will adapt their programme for you if you want to achieve more, or if you feel like you’re being pushed a little too far.

And on the subject of using your voice…

Step Four: Making progress, and using your voice

Personal trainers are well used to hearing their own voice.

From early morning until night, they spend their days motivating clients, shouting encouragement, and talking about all the small problems clients encounter in the gym and their everyday lives.

By their very nature, they are social animals.

However, what is equally important, especially given the question of how long should you have a personal trainer, is the client’s ability to voice their opinion.

Let’s explore that a little further…

Moving forwards by telling your trainer what you want…

Before we move any further, let’s look at why you’re asking the question how long should you have a personal trainer.

What does that say about how your personal training sessions are going?

Usually, when clients are asking that question, it means that they are losing interest in their fitness sessions, or worse, that they have become frustrated with the lack of progress they are making.

This is why goals are so important: they allow you to move towards a set achievement, which keeps you motivated in the long term.

Now, it’s your personal trainer’s job to keep you motivated, and in an ideal world, they would spot you losing interest long before you became frustrated enough to ask how long you should have a personal trainer…

But remember, personal trainers are busy. And we mean busy. They will usually have back-to-back clients from early morning, right until early evening, and that excludes any group classes they run, and time dedicated to marketing.

So let’s say they haven’t noticed you’ve become bored with your routine, and you’re making no progress…

What next?

When should you ask your personal trainer these kinds of questions?

Well, the “right” answer is as soon as possible.

As soon as you feel that you are not getting your money or effort’s worth out of your personal training, you should raise it with your personal trainer.

Remember, they are there to be your friend, your coach, and a service provider, so they will be there to understand your issues and help you overcome them, whatever they may be.

Another way to look at it is to ask how close you are to your goals, and how soon you want to achieve them.

If you’re asking the question of how long should you have a personal trainer for and you’re not frustrated, then it’s usually because you’ve got an event or a deadline coming up that you want to achieve your goals by.

In this case, let’s say you’re running a half marathon, then you need to start asking questions as to how quickly you can make real improvements, and what your personal trainer can do to help.

Of course, to do this you kind of need to know how long these goals take to achieve, and what’s a realistic point at which to start training.

Now, guess what we have prepared for you in the next step…

Step Five:  How long should you have a personal trainer: The most popular client goals, and how long(ish) people take to achieve them!

Let’s recap what we know so far…

• When it comes to personal training, it’s far better to be goal oriented than it is to be time-oriented, and approaching your fitness in this manner will help you find a better personal trainer for your needs.
• Your personal trainer routine and your life are not mutually exclusive. A good personal trainer will help you lead a healthier, more balanced life by changing your routine, your outlook, and your approach to nutrition.
• You should have the confidence to speak up and use your voice to change your personal trainer plan, especially if you’ve become frustrated with a lack of progress.

So, where now?

While it is much better to talk to a personal trainer in person, and describe to them your goals, in terms of planning ahead, it is sometimes handy to know what other clients have targeted in terms of achievements, and how long it took them to get there.

But how do you get this kind of information?

We’ve got you covered! We asked practising personal trainers what their clients asked them for help with, and how long(ish) it took to achieve those targets!

We should probably also mention, that we’ve presumed clients approached their trainers as beginners, so the timelines reflect those who had little previous commitment to exercising on a regular basis.

Now, it’s worth pointing out that all of the information above is anecdotal, and people differ with their fitness journeys.

It’s also worth mentioning that in all cases, these were initial targets, and all of the clients chose to continue working with the personal trainers, dispelling the need to ask such questions as how long should you have a personal trainer for.

But if you were worried about time, looking at the above should give you some idea of how long things tend to take when your take personal training seriously, and find the right PT for you.

And before you go! 

We hope you thoroughly enjoyed our guide answering the question; ‘how long should I have a Personal Trainer?’

Are you interested in transforming your fitness hobby into a career?

Download our free prospectus for all the insider tips of what a career in fitness can offer you, or go ahead and check out our CIMSPA and REPs accredited L3 PT Diploma to get a feel for what you could be learning!