Below I am going to outline the method I use when designing training programs for my online personal training clients. I believe that to truly get the best out of a health & fitness program, there are many points or ‘steps’ at which personalisation should take place.
Of course, the modern fitness industry is dominated by highly scaled and unpersonalised training apps and workouts, but there is still an art to fitness coaching that is practiced by the best personal trainers.
This is the exact 28-step method I use to create a training program for my online personal training clients. It covers everything from basic personal biometrics to the goals at play, lifestyle constraints, psychological motivations, and individual preferences for exercise.
Let’s take a look at the process I go through when writing a training program for a client. Perhaps this is the time to brew yourself a coffee, as this will be a long read.
Biometrics (The Basics)
Age – Whilst you can achieve great things at any age with your health & fitness, and I’m working with many people well into their fifties right now that would give the majority for thirty-somethings a run for their money, The truth is that to get the most out of any training program, it should be age-appropriate, recovery levels and baseline energy levels change as we get older, which can have a significant effect on how effective any given training program will be. Age will also inform an individual’s optimal workout frequency, of course, cross-referenced with many of the distinctions discussed below.
Gender – Whilst there are universal fitness principles, gender should be considered when creating a tailored training program, there are some technical elements, for example, females can generally train more frequently than men, at a higher rate, whereas men have a higher threshold for power training. Of course whilst assumptions should never be made, exceptions don’t override experience, and part of good coaching is being able to switch between individual nuance and pattern recognition, so looking out for a desired shape or potential historic challenges more likely to be present with one gender or the other is important.
A great training program will have contingencies in place, for example during the luteal phase of a monthly cycle a female candidate may not be expected to carry out the exercise at the same intensity as is laid out in a program, this will be an individual scenario, but without the contingency in place, this could create a reference for perceived failure that could easily have been avoided.
Cross-referencing age and gender is also important as menopause or andropause can affect recovery levels, and also help get forensic about why intended results aren’t presenting.
Activity Level – When designing a new training program, an individual’s current activity level is going to have to be taken into account, effectively you’ll be asking them to add your workouts and activities onto their current level of activity, so that’s got to be calibrated correctly, especially if you are also providing a nutritional solution to match the training program. Sometimes, in the delivery of a training program, prior activity levels will need to be re-negotiated particularly if the activity is aimed at achieving the same goal, but it isn’t helping. Of course, when it comes to things like manual labour for work, this just needs to be accounted for.
Bodytype – Somatotypes are not a universally accepted concept, but offer a rough taxonomy to split body types into broadly one or a mixture of three types: Mesomorph, endomorph, and ectomorph each from a coaching perspective each of these is going to have its own likely challenges, and have their own best practices.
Logistics (Adapting to Circumstance)
Home or Gym training – Training at home or in the gym both have their advantages and disadvantages, but ultimately, there is no reason you can’t achieve everything you can achieve in a gym at home. Sometimes training at home saves a great deal of time and significantly lowers the logistical burden. Other people like the ‘third space’ concept, where it is motivation to have a gym setup as your spot to go and exercise in.
Equipment Available – The amount of equipment available will inform how a training program is built, diversity of equipment doesn’t have to be shoehorned in, effective exercise is surprisingly simple. What needs to be taken into account is how scalable the equipment present is, for example, should you have a muscle-building goal but very light equipment, we’re going to have to engineer a way around that i.e slow cadence or short rest periods or just get hold of more scalable equipment
Travel Frequency – Many people travel frequently for work and this should be understood in the creation of any training program, both by way of the original program being as transferable and mobile as possible, and having contingency workouts in place for hotel room style workouts etc.
Time Constraints – Time constraints will inform how a workout is built, there will be many different routes to the same end results and short periods of time or infrequent workouts can be accounted for. For example, EDT, Complexes, Circuits, and Tabata drills can also be highly effective workouts that could be wrapped up in as little as ten minutes, and muscle could theoretically be gained with one Highly intensive training workout, Mike Mentzer style as infrequently as every 7-10 days. Of course, this would also pertain to any meal-planning element of a training program as well.
Background & Training Experience
Exercise History – Different levels of exercise experience will influence the complexity and challenge with which a training program will be built. For example, certain rep ranges will be more appropriate to reduce risk, perhaps even certain equipment, it’s for this reason that what is the best workout to achieve x, may have a different answer to what is most appropriate for you to achieve that same goal. There will also be more and less appropriate times to use more complex training protocols, for example using rest/pause, cadence manipulation, multiple rep ranges or heart rates in the same workout may prove overwhelming in the early stages of training, even when they are effective their novelty proves overwhelming and nullifies the intention of their inclusion.
Goal Specific history – Exercise and sports span a massive breath of activity, so for argument, sake a professional or hobbyist cyclist may have spent years keeping their weight down for efficiency, may enlist a trainer for a muscle-building goal, and whilst they are a seasoned athlete, their particular area of skill and expertise doesn’t translate over and they actually become a complete beginner in another area of fitness. For this reason, strength, fitness, and mobility should all be considered separately in creating a personalised training program.
Last 30 days – The immediate run-up to starting a new training program is going to be just as important as historic experience because current conditioning or lack thereof is going to influence currency exercise capacity and recovery rates. This is also perhaps the biggest opportunity for contrast, whenever we present contrast to what went before we create an opportunity for adaptation, which is how we get better.
Sports history – Some sporting backgrounds will influence or nuance the delivery of a training program, for example, will racquet sports have created one side dominance, etc
Performance Consolidation – Sometimes the introduction of a new goal and the direction of training it takes to achieve it can inadvertently lead to a loss in performance in other areas. For example, adding a strength goal to a seasoned runner. Continued running would not contribute toward the strength goal but may still.
Goals & Objectives – Generally speaking it is best to work toward a singular quantitative goal with the possible inclusion of accompanying energy goals, i.e. can we achieve this in a manner in which we also see an improvement in energy, too many primary goals can dilute focus and efficacy.
Auxiliary Goals – Some auxiliary goals can be incorporated into a program without being deleterious to the primary goals, i.e lose weight + get more mobile, gain muscle + be able to do a pull-up, whereas some auxiliary goals may not be ideal, i.e gain muscle + run a marathon, it is not impossible for these goals to coincide, but it makes both goals more complicated to achieve so these goals may need to be prioritised and set about periodically.
Injuries or immobility – `Contraindications are to be considered as far as injury or health concerns, some may just be down to comfort, for example, a candidate for a considerable weight loss goal might appreciate low impact programming i.e no jumping/running, etc. Some Injuries will be local to a particular part of the body, and easily worked around, for example, an ankle injury should not rule out your ability to gain upper-body strength. Some injuries will be short-term, purely needing rest, others will be more permanent and necessitate a program being created in a way that will not exacerbate them. Immobility can also present as a contraindication, for example, overhead presses may not be advised until adequate shoulder mobility is restored. Still, other scenarios are common and less obvious, for example, hypertension, and should be accounted for once medical approval is received, i.e. do not include isometric holds.
Individual Psychology (Motivation & Preference)
Achievement Vs Avoidance – Motivation is a huge factor in whether or not an individual achieves their health and fitness goal, and whilst motivation can come from accountability at a very high level accountability is someone telling you to get up and exercise in the morning and motivation is getting up and wanting to exercise in the morning.
The fascinating thing about motivation is that a lot of people don’t believe they have it, but that isn’t really true, it’s there it’s just under-utilised, a bit like the way we harness electricity, electricity was always surrounding us, but it wasn’t until we figured out to harness it until it could be of utility to us.
The extent to which you will use motivation to your advantage is in observing your behavior right now, if you aren’t exercising frequently, walking around fit and strong, and at the weight and level of body fat you are at right now, on some unconscious level it is probably true that you have associated more pain with attempting that process than in staying the same, the moment that you consider it more uncomfortable to stay the same than to go through everything it will take to make the change is the moment you will start. For many, you are at that point at this moment, and that’s why you’ve found this website.
But motivation alone will only get you so far, the end goal is to become disciplined, and driven even to the point that you will continue to take action whether you feel like it or not, once you are at this point you’ll be operating at a level above comfort and motivation and nothing will deter you from achieving your goals.
The most effective way to do this is to do a mental exercise where you think about everything achieving your goal is going to mean for you, and I mean emotionally. Things like If I achieve my goal I will feel more confident, and more attractive, and I’ll know I followed through on a goal that a lot of people thought I couldn’t achieve.
Then do the opposite, and think about everything that it could mean for your life to never successfully complete your goals, for example, if I don’t establish consistent exercise practice my mobility is going to get worse and worse, and sooner or later i won’t be able to do all the fun things I want to do in my retirement or, I know I have a history of diseases that get worse with inactivity in my family and if i don’t start that could be my future too.
Really take time to feel not think, these scenarios through, this may be uncomfortable at first but you can use these emotions as what’s known as a psychological anchor, and re-access them mentally whenever you need to drive action, these powerful associations will serve you on those dark rainy evenings when you don’t feel like taking action and I mean that literally and metaphorically.
The ‘why now?’ Factor – Whilst stress has been covered, I would consider the creation of a new training program uninformed if the personal trainer writing it did not seek to understand what I call the ‘why now’ factor. Motivation is one thing, but often there is a key moment in a person’s life in which they know something has to change. This could be a conversion an event a cathartic moment, or even a ‘dark knight of the soul’ experience which makes taking action inevitable. Understanding this may help provide priceless context which will help coach a client to success.
Major Paint Point – Addressing the major pain point on arrival will be important when designing a training program is very important, reducing the primary pain point should be addressed as a priority. The intensity of the primary pain point should be taken into account when creating a program as it can inform the degree to which the program takes a linear route, and or any steps away from the main goal. This needs to be cross-referenced with personality factors.
Coaching Style – When coaching an individual through a training program, it is imperative to understand the coaching style that is going to be motivating for them personally. For example, some people are more motivated by an empathy-led approach whereas others are more motivated by strict accountability. Of course, no trainer should operate outside of their authentic personality, though there is room for nuance and adaptability along a scale of coaching style.
Preference for Intensity – Whilst intensity is relative, there is a notable differential in preference for intensity, it’s actually a misconception that intensity is necessary for an effective workout, however, on a psychological basis some individuals prefer to ‘feel’ intensity more than others, in some scenarios an individual could be given a very effective program that is not intensive, i.e long rest periods, low heart rate and will actually feel that the program is ineffective despite composition change, this should be accounted for in the creation of a training program. Likewise, some individuals especially in the early stages of consistent exercise, do not feel comfortable with high heart rates, sweating, and being out of breath, so again, it is best accounted for at the point of program creation.
Preference for Diversity – Just as with intensity, exercise diversity is a psychological preference not directly correlated with program efficacy, i.e. the program could be extremely effective, but if under-stimulation due to repetition leads to low compliance it renders a very effective program redundant. For this reason, diversity of exercise and protocol should be considered and a minimal amount of diversity should be included for those that show a preference for it, there is a threshold here of progressive overload & workout tracking vs diversity that borders disorder/chaos, this is a nuanced consideration and should be taken into account.
Mental Health Considerations – At the time of writing this method in 2022 it has been a challenging couple of years for many people on multiple fronts. Many people are turning to consistent exercise and positive lifestyle habits to help them with their mental health challenges. Whilst exercise cannot be considered an out-and-out antidote to mental health conditions it would be remiss not to consider the positive impact exercise can have on mental health. However mental health challenges can be exacerbated by overly challenging, exhausting, and rigid workout programs and coaching styles, this is a very nuanced and delicate area of personal coaching.
Negative associations – Very often clients will have negative associations with certain types of training, or exercises. For example, some clients hate to jump around and do very theatrical workouts because it makes them feel self-conscious, others will prefer not to do certain exercises or forms of exercise because they have a negative association with it. For example, many people hate burpees and others hate deadlifting, we might argue as coaches that the exercise is of utility, or want to explore the origin of an association i.e did you get injured deadlifting because deadlifting is dangerous or because your posture over time set you up to have an injury event and deadlift was the catalyst? The answer to this may not be fruitful to explore if it is not essential to achieve primary goals, and maybe a part of a consolidation project after the major pain points are achieved. I.e once you are at a comfortable weight, we will focus on your mobility as a priority.
Again, a coach needs to be able to interpret which challenges need to be overcome at what stage and in what order, for example, an individual may be anxious in the gym environment, would it be best advised to encourage them to face this head-on, whilst they are also already uncomfortable with exercise technique and their weight? Perhaps this is a battle better fought at a later time. This takes both intuition and open communication.
Lifestyle (Contraindications & Challenges)
Daily Schedule – The vast majority of people cannot live and train like bodybuilders or athletes, their lifestyles are way too busy. For this reason, an attempt to replicate the training schedules of professional athletes would be impossible, therefore we must ‘borrow’ methodology from both the bodybuilding and sporting world where appropriate, but it must be delivered in a way that the individual can both implement and equally as important, recover from.
Sleep – Sleep duration and quality plays a huge role in recovery, which means that if sleep is a concern, it should inform training volume and frequency. For example in a muscle-building goal, whilst German volume training 10 sets of 10 reps is hard to compete with for sheer efficacy, it has second-order effects of being a big burden on the central nervous system, so in a sleep-deprived individual wouldn’t be the most appropriate choice of protocol, a higher frequency, lower volume choice may be a better fit.
In a sleep-deprived individual, discussions should be had at attempting to bridge the gap of sleep debt to cover subjects such as Non-sleep deep rest and optimising room temperatures for restful sleep.
Stress – Stress can be very deleterious to both efforts to lose body fat and gain muscle due to the effects of chronically high cortisol levels. As with sleep steps to reduce stress can be discussed and the intensity of the program should be considered. Of course, exercise can be fantastic for mitigating stress, but only on the basis that the exercise is calibrated well enough that it can be recovered from.
Intangibles – There are often intangibles in an individual’s life that should be factored into the creation of a training program, for example, either a young family or busy professional life should be kept in mind, not necessarily in regard to backup measures, alternate workouts, etc. For example consider a man or woman with three young children who is also running a business, the likelihood that as a day unfolds, something might come up that would preclude a workout taking place, is fairly likely. Do we then want total body workouts? Perhaps not, as a missed workout made up the next day could mean working tired muscles day after day. Of course, even this is nuanced, as if there is a trend toward many missed workouts over time, switching back to total body workouts could be advantageous as there one is then able to achieve a greater bang for the buck in each workout. Intangibles count and as with many things in coaching are equal part to intuition and communication.
Implementation (Post-Delivery Factors To Consider)
Basic mechanics – It is important to deliver a cursory explanation of the basic mechanics of a workout, i.e. reps, rest period, cadence, exercise selection, and order and technique. The main reason for this is that whilst a workout will work for an individual without them understanding why, if they do it, what actually tends to happen in practice is that ‘Chesterton’s gate’ style problems tend to arise. I.e because an individual does not know why certain things in the program are the way they are, they do not know why they should not be changed, consider the difference between a 30-second and 3-minute rest period or a 5 rep range vs a 10 rep range, these differences only matter if you know their implications.
Workout Logging – A program is delivered and intended to be the best-laid plan for achieving a given goal if coaching is to follow the delivery of the training program, then mechanisms should be in place to ensure that the program was calibrated correctly in the beginning and that it is paying dividends over time, i.e if circumstances change following the program being delivered logging performances of workouts allows for feedback mechanism which will indicate that there is a problem that needs to be overcome, for example, 2-3 training sessions in a row where progressive overload could not be achieved within a given rep range, or indeed an intuitive feeling that performance is suffering, without logging these circumstances are difficult to pinpoint.