As an online personal trainer, the most important aspect of your job is keeping clients safe and healthy. When you start with a new client, you always make sure that they have the correct form before adding any resistance or load, otherwise there’s a risk of injury. 

When you don’t get to see some of your clients on a regular basis or at all (as may be the case with online personal training), you still want to ensure they are progressing safely on their own. It can be scary to wonder how your clients are performing the exercises you are prescribing, but it doesn’t have to be. There are tactics you can implement as an online personal trainer that’ll keep your clients injury free and you worry free as they work out in their living room or approach the squat rack on their own.

Notes in Each Workout

In the general notes section of each workout, you can remind proper form for particularly challenging exercises within the session. That way, they can understand what they need to focus on and pay close attention to. Small reminders are always helpful, no matter how many times they’ve heard them. Things such as “sit your hips back to lower into your squat” and “brace your core” are useful reminders to fitness novices and pros alike.

Video Demos

One obvious way to teach clients proper form is to show them. Trainerize already has hundreds of demos that are easy to follow along and informative. When you create your own video demonstration for clients, write a thorough description and consider talking through the exercise during the clip as well. That way clients can learn by seeing, hearing, and then doing. Everyone learns differently, so keep this in mind as you build new exercises.

Chat Communication

As an online personal trainer, you need to establish great communication with your clients. You can build a strong bond with clients even through your online chat. If you communicate enough, it starts to feel like you are right there with them. Check in on them often and ask for feedback about what felt challenging yet achievable and what may have felt awkward or painful. From there, you can avoid particular exercises that aren’t right for them, scale things back, or strengthen/stretch the muscles that may be contributing to the issue. They can also send pictures of themselves completing the exercises so you can check in periodically on exactly how they are executing certain exercises.

Video Communication

If chatting isn’t feeling like it’s quite enough, you can invite your client to hop on a video call through your chat button or on their profile if they’ve connected their Skype account. Schedule a monthly or biweekly check in so you can not only get some face time, but you can also go over some of the new or regularly scheduled exercises and check their form.

Although you can’t always be right there making form adjustments with online training, you can still do everything needed in order to keep your clients safe. As long as you consistently check in and utilize the features of Trainerize, you’ll have a firm grasp on what exercises your clients can perform safely. The key is communication, so encourage your clients to be as open and honest as possible while providing them with all the tools they need to be confident in their workout.