Essential Tips for Incorporating Cardio into Personal Training

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Practical Advice for Adding Cardio to Your PT Sessions to Enhance Clients' Results

Following on from Part 1 of our basic programme writing series, we’ll now look at the cardiovascular aspect of your client’s programme....


Interval training is more effective than steady state cardio

• For most clients, we recommend training CV after the resistance component has been completed.

• This is because for most client’s goals, the resistance training will be the most important part of the programme.

• This will obviously change if the client’s goals are CV or endurance based.

 

Steady State CV:
  • Steady state CV refers to exercise where the heart rate is maintained at a consistent level for an extended period of time (20 minutes +).

  • This type of exercise is typically performed at a consistent, moderate intensity throughout the workout. 
Interval Training:
  • Interval training involves alternating periods of high-intensity exercise with periods of lower intensity or rest.

  • The high-intensity intervals are typically short, lasting anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, while the lower-intensity intervals or rest periods allow for recovery.

 

 Interval Training vs. Steady State Continuous CV Training

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• Generally, we will look to start beginners off doing some steady state cardio
and progress the workload intensity to interval training as their capability advances.

• In an hour long programme, we suggest to do between 10-20 minutes of CV training.

Benefits of interval training:

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• Working at a higher intensity so that the workload is achieved in a shorter period of time.

• Involving the client more in the workout as they need to concentrate on the work:rest intervals.

• Increasing their metabolic rate and keeping it elevated for a longer time period once training has ceased.   
     
   This will impact the number of daily calories burned.

• Spending less time overall doing CV, as most clients get bored doing long periods of CV.

• Lowering the incidence of overuse injuries.

 

 

Stay tuned for part 3 of my program design series coming to you soon, and in case you missed it – here is part 1.

Essential Tips for Warming Up and Cooling Down Your Clients

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From Injury Prevention to Performance Enhancement

Following on from Parts 1 & 2 of our essential tips for PT programme writing series, we’ll now look at the best ways to begin and end your client’s programme.

1. The Warm Up

Elevate Your Group Training Skills

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Tips for Delivering an Effective Fitness Class

 

If there's one thing that EPTI know about… it's group training!!!

We specialize in group training, and it's a key part of our Master PT Diploma. Our Personal Trainer graduates are equipped with the skills to teach large groups of clients, thanks to the qualifications included in the program.

Group training sessions, whether they are being run indoors as a “circuit” style session, or outside, as a “bootcamp” style workout, must still follow the basic rules of programme design that we looked at in our previous program design articles 🔑 Every effective training session should consist of three key components:

1️⃣ Warm up and dynamic stretching to prepare the body for exercise

2️⃣ The main conditioning phase, where you challenge your body and work towards your fitness goals

3️⃣ Cool down and post-workout stretching to help your body recover and reduce the risk of injury.

Now, we’re going to tell you about a little trick we use for our group training, which help keep our sessions consistent and balanced in terms of providing instruction and giving motivation to the group... 💫 The Circle of Awesome Instruction:

When we hold any group training session with multiple training stations, we apply the circle of awesome instruction to the work interval of each exercise station.

So, if we were to apply this to a 45 second station:

1. 0 – 10 seconds —> SET UP:
Give clear instructions & teaching points

2. 10 – 30 seconds —> WORK THE ROOM:
Give teaching points, make corrections and start bringing in some motivation

3. 30 – 45 seconds —> BRING IT HOME:
Time to let your personality shine through, get louder substituting teaching cues with motivation & encouragement.

Get a timer so you can watch the participants. don't stay rooted in the same place looking at your watch counting down time.

By splitting the work interval roughly into 3 sections, we find that we’re able to provide the group with enough coaching tips, get in and correct those individuals that need our help, and still make time to ensure that the group is motivated to work at 💯%

 

 

 session during the EPTI Master Personal Trainer Diploma course.

 

The EPTI Master PT Diploma is the fitness industry gold standard in Personal Training qualifications and features popular CPD courses such as Circuits Instructor, Kettlebell Instructor, Suspension Training Instructor, Outdoor Functional Bootcamp Training Instructor, and Boxing Padwork Instructor.

 

 

What is Your USP?

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Identifying Your Fitness Strengths and Using Them to Your Advantage

One of the first things you need to consider when building a fitness business is ‘What is my USP?'

USP = Unique Selling Proposition

Your USP is what you offer your clients that your competition doesn’t (or can’t), and why someone should do business with you over every other personal trainer out there?

If you don’t know what your USP is I strongly urge you to think of one, and fast!

Without a USP there is nothing separating you from your competition.

How To Set Up A Domain For Fitness Business

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In today's digital age, having a strong online presence is crucial for any business, especially those in the fitness industry. With the increasing popularity of online fitness programs, social media fitness influencers, and fitness-related e-commerce stores, it's more important than ever for fitness businesses to have a strong online presence to stand out from the competition.

One key aspect of building a strong online presence is having a great domain name for your website. 

A domain name is the web address that people type in to visit your website. It’s like the physical address of a brick and mortar store. Choosing the right domain name for your fitness website is crucial, as it can impact your website’s search engine ranking, user experience, and brand identity.

A memorable and relevant domain name can make a lasting impression on potential customers and can set you apart from the competition.

So, how can you buy the perfect domain name for your fitness website? Here are some easy steps to follow:

Decide on Your Brand Name: Before you can choose a domain name, you need to decide on your brand name. Think about what makes your fitness business unique, and try to incorporate those elements into your domain name, so that it stands out from your competitors. Once you have your brand name, you can start thinking about domain names that are available and that match your brand.

Keep it simple and memorable: Shorter domain names are often easier to remember and type in, so try to keep your domain name as concise as possible so potential customers can easily find your website again. Aim for a maximum of two or three words and avoid using complex words, numbers, and hyphens, which can make it harder for people to remember and type in the web address. Stick to simple, easy-to-spell words and phrases that are relevant to your fitness business.

Choose the right domain extension: TLDs or Top-Level Domains are the extensions added to the end of a domain name, such as .com, .org, .net, .edu, etc. While .com is the most popular and widely recognised extension, it's not always available for the domain name you want.

If your desired domain name is already taken with a .com TLD, you can consider using a different TLD such as .co, .io, or .fitness. However, keep in mind that certain TLDs may not be recognised in some countries or industries, so do your research before choosing a TLD.

Choose an extension that reflects your fitness business and is easy to remember. If you’re based in the UK, you could use the .co.uk extension, for Malta consider the com.mt extension.

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Include keywords: SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of optimising your website to rank higher in search engine results. When choosing a domain name, it's important to consider SEO. Including relevant keywords in your domain name can improve your website’s search engine ranking. For example, if you specialise in bootcamp classes, you could include the word “bootcamp” in your domain name.

Avoid trademark issues: Before finalising your domain name, do some research to ensure that it's not already being used by another fitness business or website. You can use online tools like Namechk to check the availability of your desired domain name across different social media platforms and domain extensions.

Check for availability and register your domain: Once you have a list of potential domain names, check to see if they're available. There are several domain registrars that you can use to check the availability of your desired domain name. Some of the popular ones include GoDaddy, Namecheap, and Bluehost.

Simply go to any of these domain registrars and enter your desired domain name in the search bar. The registrar will let you know whether the domain name is available or not. If it's available, you can proceed to purchase it.
If your preferred domain name is not available, try adding a word or phrase to the end or beginning of the name.

When buying a domain name, keep in mind that you'll need to pay an annual fee to keep it registered. The cost of domain names varies depending on the registrar and the TLD you choose. Generally, .com domains are more expensive than other TLDs.

It's also important to note that some domain registrars may offer discounts for the first year of registration. Take advantage of these discounts if you can, but keep in mind the annual renewal fees when budgeting for your website.

Link Your Domain Name to Your Website: After buying your domain name, the final step is to link it to your fitness website. This involves changing your domain name server (DNS) settings.

The process of linking your domain name to your website will depend on the hosting provider you choose. Most hosting providers will have step-by-step instructions on how to change your DNS settings.

In general, you'll need to log in to your domain registrar account and locate the DNS settings. You'll then need to replace the existing DNS settings with the ones provided by your hosting provider. This process may take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days to complete, so be patient.

Conclusion: 

Having a strong online presence is essential for the success of any fitness business, and choosing the right domain name is a key part of that.

However, it's important not to overthink it and spend too much time on it. Your domain name is just one aspect of your website, and ultimately, it's the content and value you provide that will attract and retain visitors.

By following these tips, you can choose a domain name that not only reflects your brand identity, but also helps you rank higher on search engines and stand out from your competitors.