Personal training for coaches who run their own schedule and carry their own risk

Personal training is a service business that happens to involve exercise. The squat cues matter, but so do the cancellation policy, the drive between clients, the intake form and the insurance certificate sitting in your email. This section covers the work of being a trainer, in a commercial gym, in a client's living room or on a park lawn at 6 a.m.

We write for independent and mobile trainers as much as for staff trainers at big-box clubs. Expect practical pieces on intake and screening, session structure, pricing and packages, client retention, and risk planning that goes past the waiver. When a question crosses into medical, physical therapy or legal territory, we say so and point to the right professional.

Coming up in this section: how new trainers can build a first client roster without overbooking themselves, and the beginner advice that saves the most grief later, like pricing packages before a client asks for a discount. Got a question from the gym floor? Send it through the contact page.