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About becoming a personal trainer

Cafes and restaurants are another. You wouldn't believe how many clueless yuppies start up thinking they'll spend their lives sitting around drinking wine with customers who are all their bestest friends.

Clothing and "craft" and homeware retail's another. Check out Toorak in Melbourne or Bondi Junction in Sydney, heaps of rich blokes' wives with little shops.

Happens in every industry. The main difference with fitness, I suppose, is that we have 18-25 year olds doing it, usually it's older people. They're all convinced they'll have six figure incomes in the first year. "$60-$100 an hour times 40 hours times 52 weeks..."

If you're really really good, start your own business, you'll make more money and have more freedom that way. If you're just good or okay or crap, work for someone else. Of course, everyone thinks they're really really good, especially the ones who aren't. Oh well.
I remember doing that math back at TAFE and being really excited. For some unknown reason, I'm not yet even near rich enough to smoke hundred-dollar bills :eek:
 
From a client,

"[The other trainer] trained me with fairly basic movements that didnt involve squatting, not sure if this is the best way of training for me. I've seen more results in 1 month with you on the squat rack then any isolated movement over the past 5 years."​

Actually his results have not been too dramatic, but it's nice to have my training philosophy confirmed.
 
I have tested myself on a few things, and I still have what I consider to be adequate fitness for military life. Not just the official tests which are mostly just cardio fitness, but what I know is actually required in the job. That's my personal standard.
And for those interested, the below is what I did on Thursday. The goals are written in there, these are what I consider to be useful for people who wish to join the armed forces, not merely to pass the minimum to get in, but to do well physically, and learn to just put their heads down quietly and work. Some of you may recall I trained some people who were preparing to enter the armed forces, 12 came to me, 5 gave up before the first session, of the remaining 7, 4 lasted till they achieved all this, including one woman, tough.

My results are in square brackets, I did it in order.
  • Pushups 50 [67]
  • Situps 75 [61]
  • Heaves 6 [8]
  • 200m walk with 60kg sandbag, no time limit, but bag must remain off ground the whole time [done]
  • 2.4m wooden wall climb with 35kg pack, pack could be pulled up on rope but rope couldn't be used for ascent [done]
  • 1km walk with 20lt jerrycan of water in under 10'00" [8'30"]
  • 2.4km run in under 10'30" [11'10"]
  • [broke for lunch!]
  • 15km with 35kg gear in under 2hr30' [2hr21']
  • swin 200m in light clothing [did not attempt, was shagged]
I was completely shagged after this, I still hurt today.
 
I had a lady from my Tuesday group class make the comment she felt stronger since doing my circuits
Guess that's what happens when you don't spend all your time doing crunches or on a stationary bike lol
Also had a lady deadlift 88.5kg today. Only her second time, think she'll have 100kg just before the easter break
Before she came to me she'd gone from 120kg to 84kg, think she's about 82 now
I like her cos she enjoys getting stronger as evident by todays session - an hour and aside from 1 set of KB thrusters all we did was deadlift haha
 
Everyone enjoys getting stronger, the only question is whether they're worried about "bulking up." Men and women both tell me this. I still haven't found a tactful way of saying, "mate, it's not your muscles making your belly and bum big."
 
Sometimes you just have to be painfully honest... And thats the only way they learn.

I actually like the way you put it.

The same thing happens when i hear.. So when can i go back to cheesecake?
 
Everyone enjoys getting stronger, the only question is whether they're worried about "bulking up." Men and women both tell me this. I still haven't found a tactful way of saying, "mate, it's not your muscles making your belly and bum big."

I'll just throw the whole "if a women says she got bulky lifting weights odds are it wasn't muscle" in wherever I can. If you try and not direct at them personally sometimes they take it a bit better lol
It helps that I'm still pretty skinny as well in that regards
"lifting weights makes you bulky"
'do you think I'm bulky?'
"uh . . ."
Winnage
 
Today Agatha at ~64kg squatted 50kg 2x5 and rack pulled 65kg 1x5 with ease. Very positive mindset, which makes a big difference.

Trained another woman earlier today, started her on knee pushups, she did 10 confidently and smoothly, "try them on your toes." 40 years old or so, never tried them before - she did 5 without trouble. She was very happy.

Strength's a great thing, everyone feels better when they're stronger. Obviously cardiovascular fitness and flexibility are great, too - but they're usually less tangible. If you do another rep or slap another plate on, there's no arguing - you're stronger.
 
And just to cement why I don't like doing evenings, tonight I saw a guy actually doing bodyweight squats on a swiss ball. I was with a member introducing her to useful training, so did not have a chance to ask him what the fuck he was doing. He was squatting in front of the Smith machine with the bar between waist and chest, had he fallen forwards the bar would have struck his neck or jaw, so perhaps natural selection will sort him out.

He may have had dumbbells, too, I was too busy looking at his feet to see if the ball was going to burst.
 
Are you busier mornings or evenings, Kyle? I would assume peak periods are before and after the regular 9-5, are evenings busier?
 
My current regular hours at the place I do PT are Sunday afternoons and Mon-Thur 0600-1000. I do some other hours at other places to fill it up and make it 50-70 hours a fortnight.

I basically just do the mornings, doing PT then. I've been filling in some evening shifts, look upthread a few posts. For a while I did both mornings and evenings, but all the driving and waiting around did my head in. If people want to work with me, they come in the mornings.

Evenings are much, much busier in terms of how many people are running around in the gym. Does that mean more PT in the evenings? I don't know. Where most of the PT sessions are happening, I couldn't say. I'm now the third busiest PT a month, the two guys above me (with 50% more sessions) one has clients from 0600 to 2000 or something and Mon-Sat, he basically lives in the gym, the other just does Mon-Fri 0600-1400, something like that.

The other trainers are scattered all over the show, the ones just working in the 9-5 zone have fewer clients, though how much of this is the time and how much is the trainers is hard to say - as I said, the two busiest guys have clients during that time.
 
I think that in this thread I have contributed as much useful information about becoming a personal trainer as I can, and I feel that with the forum's focus on lots of gifs of women's breasts (I like breasts, but I don't come to ausbb.com to masturbate), relationship help where non-lifters have a sook, a generally unwelcoming-to-women atmosphere, and with a much decreased focus on physical training, this is no longer the forum for me.

I'm interested in training people, and helping people who train, or who want to train others.

If anyone has any questions about becoming a personal trainer, or training, you can send me an email at. I have disabled my private messaging since I won't be logging back on here.
 
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Thanks for your work here Kyle. Even though I don't plan to use or become a PT it's been an interesting read from start to finish. Hope all goes well for you from here on.
 
This is honestly the most tame forum i have been on.

Go have a look around..

We will see you again, because men are men regardless of the name of the forum.
 
Kyle, I like reading your insights into how you train your clients. Thanks.
 
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Well, to not let a good thread die upon it's creators departure I will somewhat take up Kyle's mantle lol.

Tonight's client is my longest serving (not hard really). She's slowly getting there. Main priority is correct her anterior pelvic tilt, and as most women she wants to look good naked.
Tonight's session consisted of:

Circuit #1:
Push Ups x 10 (feet) x 10 (knees) x 10 (knees)
Bulgarian Split Squats x 10 x 10 x 6
Inverted Row x 10 x 10 x 10 (knees bent substantially on all sets)
Prone Bridge rollovers (dunno the proper name) x 5 each side x 5 x 5

Circuit #2:
16kg KB swings x 15 x 15
single arm O/H KB press 8kg x 10 10kg x 10
Rack pulls (pin 44- below knee) 50kg x 10 60kg x 10
band pull aparts (red band) x 20 x 20
DB Horizontal bench press 12.5kg DBs x 10 15kg x 9
Krok row 12.5kg x 14 15kg x 15
BB clean and press 18kg x 20 23kg x 20

Circuit #3:
BB clean and press 18kg x 12
KB swings 16kg x 12
KB deadlift 40kg, 32kg, 24kg x 12
KB thrusters (she doesn't go all the way down cos of a sore hamstring) 8kg, 6kg, 4kg x 12

Ab rollouts
5kg DB (first time trying these) x 10
ab wheel x 10
 
Circuit #1:
Push Ups x 10 (feet) x 10 (knees) x 10 (knees)
Bulgarian Split Squats x 10 x 10 x 6
Inverted Row x 10 x 10 x 10 (knees bent substantially on all sets)
Prone Bridge rollovers (dunno the proper name) x 5 each side x 5 x 5

Circuit #2:
16kg KB swings x 15 x 15
single arm O/H KB press 8kg x 10 10kg x 10
Rack pulls (pin 44- below knee) 50kg x 10 60kg x 10
band pull aparts (red band) x 20 x 20
DB Horizontal bench press 12.5kg DBs x 10 15kg x 9
Krok row 12.5kg x 14 15kg x 15
BB clean and press 18kg x 20 23kg x 20

Circuit #3:
BB clean and press 18kg x 12
KB swings 16kg x 12
KB deadlift 40kg, 32kg, 24kg x 12
KB thrusters (she doesn't go all the way down cos of a sore hamstring) 8kg, 6kg, 4kg x 12

Ab rollouts
5kg DB (first time trying these) x 10
ab wheel x 10

the ones you've got 10 x 10 x 10 is that 3 sets of 10 or 10 sets of 10 sets of 10?

btw top looking circuits, I'll be bringing these with me to the dragonboat squad training :D


thansk for sharing Garyham
 
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