Exercises for Personal Training

Ask 10 different people what their fitness goals are, and you will likely get 10 unique responses. If you are a personal trainer, you will want to tailor and implement individualized training plans to help each of your clients achieve his personal fitness goals. Though each will be customized, every comprehensive fitness training plan should include cardio, resistance training, stretching and balance exercises.

  1. Say "Hello" to Cardio

    • The American Council on Exercise recommends 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise most days of the week. If you have a personal training client who is trying to lose weight, you may consider customizing a plan that includes even more cardiovascular exercises. These exercises use your large muscle groups, cause you to breathe faster and help you burn more calories. Walking, running, cycling, stair climbing, and swimming are all excellent examples of cardiovascular exercises that you can include in a personal training program.

    Pump Up the Resistance

    • Resistance training helps increase muscle and strengthen bone density. Because muscles burn more calories than fat, resistance training also helps burn more calories at rest. You can use dumbbells, weight machines, medicine balls, resistance bands and other equipment to do resistance training exercises at least two days each week. You can also perform body weight exercises like pushups, squats, lunges, and triceps dips. Personal training clients whose primary goal is to make strength strides, may require even more strength training exercises in their program.

    Ready, Set, Stretch

    • Stretching exercises are often overlooked and even blatantly avoided in exercise programs that would otherwise be well-rounded. It is important to take personal training clients through five to 10 minutes of stretching at the conclusion of each training session. Stretching helps increase range of motion, reduce stress and improve posture. Hamstring, calf and quadriceps stretches are all effective stretching exercises to do after performing cardiovascular exercises that utilize the large muscle groups in the lower body. Clasping your hands and straightening your arms overhead then slightly back is a simple stretching exercise for your arms and chest.

    Balance It Out

    • While balance exercises are important for everyone, if you have an older population of personal training clients these exercises are particularly important. That's because balance is often compromised with age and can cause an increased likelihood of falls and related injuries. A simple yet effective balance exercise is standing on one foot. You can make this exercise more challenging for your personal training clients by having them change their focus while balancing or by asking them to extend the leg that is lifted.