Becoming a PT
How Level 3 Personal Training Teaches You To Keep Clients Coming Back
From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in The Level 2 and Level 3 Personal Trainer course, built for people starting from scratch →
In short: Motivation is the psychological drive to engage in a behaviour, and the Level 3 course splits it in two. Intrinsic motivation is doing something because you enjoy it and like how it makes you feel. Extrinsic motivation is chasing an external reward such as money, status or recognition. A personal trainer's role is more than teaching exercise: it includes motivating clients to turn up and stick with the programme, which is what exercise adherence means. Knowing which kind of motivation a client is running on tells a new trainer what to ask about and what to build the sessions around.
The short version
Getting qualified is one half of becoming a personal trainer. The other half is a client who books again in week six. One of the things you learn on our CIMSPA recognised personal training course is how motivation works, so that second half has a plan behind it.
Two kinds of motivation
The course defines motivation as "the psychological drive to engage in a behaviour". There are two types.
Intrinsic motivation. The client takes part because they find it enjoyable and like the way it makes them feel. The reward is the activity itself. The course text puts it as moving to act "for the fun or challenge involved" rather than for an outside reward.
Extrinsic motivation. The client is working towards something external: money, status or recognition. A wedding date, a medal, a number on a scale that someone else will see.
Neither one is the villain. Plenty of people start on an external goal and discover they enjoy the training. Knowing which one a client is running on is the useful part.
Why this is on a personal training course at all
The course is plain about the job. A trainer's role is "more than just teaching exercise". You play a significant part in motivating clients to exercise and in adhering to the programme you prescribe.
Keeping clients is a skill with a name and a method, and it is taught in Level 3 as a criterion, with a mark scheme, like anatomy. It is not a personality trait you either arrived with or did not.
How it looks in a first session
A client says they want to lose weight before a holiday. That is an external goal, and it is a perfectly good starting point. A trainer who has done this lesson also listens for the other half: what did they enjoy the last time they moved regularly, and how did they feel afterwards? The programme then gets built round something they can like as well as something they can count.
Nothing about this needs a script. It needs the two words in your head, and a habit of listening for both.
Learning it your way
FASTER lessons come as written text, audio and video, with diagrams you can interact with. Answers can be typed or dictated. Level 3 is the fundamentals, the driving licence for the job, and the motivation lesson is one of the friendliest parts of it.
What to do next
If you are starting from scratch, the Level 2 and Level 3 Personal Trainer course is where this lesson lives. Once you are on it, PT Manager opens straight away so you can set up your practice while you learn, and adding real clients unlocks once you have passed.
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FAQ
Is client motivation really part of the Level 3 qualification? Yes. Unit D/617/8592, criterion 1.8, has you explain the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in exercise adherence.
What is exercise adherence? A client sticking with the programme you prescribe. The course treats helping that happen as part of the trainer's job, next to teaching the exercise.
What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation? Intrinsic is doing something because you enjoy it and like how it makes you feel. Extrinsic is working towards an outside reward such as money, status or recognition.
Do I need experience to start? No. The Level 2 and Level 3 course is built for people starting from scratch.
You just read one answer. The course is all of them.
The Level 2 and Level 3 Personal Trainer course, built for people starting from scratch: every answer marked by a real tutor, with free return access for life. The price is on the page, payment plans at checkout, no sales calls.
Also worth a look: PT Manager, free with any FASTER course, to run it all once you are qualified.
See what the course covers →What every FASTER student gets
Built around you, not around the course
- A real person marks every answerEvery answer is read and marked by a tutor, with written feedback.
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- Dictate instead of typeA microphone on every written answer: say your answer and it types it for you (Chrome, Edge and Safari).
- Listen to the lessonsVoice-overs on the lessons, and the audio to download.
- Built for the way your brain worksShort lessons, one point at a time, marked as you go, with the choice to listen, read, print or speak your answers.
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- Keep it plainOne switch turns off the extras, the streaks, the badges, the celebrations and the movement, so the site stays plain and calm. Switch them back on whenever you like.
- Bigger text and wider spacingTwo steps of bigger text, and more room between lines, words and letters, on every page.
- Calmer motionOne switch stops animations and videos that play on their own. It is on already if your phone or computer asks for reduced motion.
- A personal video lessonWhen an answer needs real explaining, your marker records a video that lands in your course.
- A note before you sendBefore you send, the page tells you if your answer copies the lesson word for word, so you can put it in your own words.
- The skeleton and muscle labsTap any bone on the skeleton, and see the muscles light up on the model.
- Print the notesPrint the lessons and go old school.
- Case studies on your phoneBuilt into the site, saved as you go, there on your laptop when you sit down.
- Pin it to your home screenNo App Store and no Google Play. It is just there.
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- Return access for lifeQualify once and come back to the content whenever you need it.
- PT Manager from day onePT Manager is yours to learn on from the day you sign up. Using it with real clients comes once you hold your Level 3 and are listed on the FASTER Trainer Register.
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- Your certificates in one placeEvery course and its certificate on one page.
- Ask JohnThe Ask John button on every page, and his WhatsApp.
And PT Manager, free
53 tools to run your business, with no monthly fee and no cut of your money
PT Manager is yours to learn on from the day you sign up. Using it with real clients comes once you hold your Level 3 and are listed on the FASTER Trainer Register.
See all 53 tools
Set-up
- Import clients Bring a whole client list across in one go.
- My quotes Daily lines your clients see — yours, not stock.
- Programme templates The programme shapes you reuse — a session or twelve weeks. Pick one for a client, get your own copy.
- Exercise library Every exercise with FASTER coaching detail.
- Money Products, payments and who owes what.
- Send from your own email Connect your own email service so invites arrive from you, on your domain.
- My brand & client view What your clients see when they walk in — views, header, accent, logo.
- Your enrolment pack What every new client gets the moment you enrol them — your forms, ours, or a mix.
- Products and services What you sell — blocks, packages, memberships and one-offs, with their prices.
- Insurance Your policy on record — provider and expiry. Client features unlock while it is valid.
- My menu Switch any tool on or off — for your menu, your home and your whole account.
- Your website A free website on your own web address, filled from PT Manager. Or just the client sign-in door on your domain.
- Your public page Your verified Trainer Register listing, linking out to your own site and socials.
Business day to day
- Clients Your client list — invite, open a client, manage their space.
- Clubs Group your clients — a board they share, a programme or a monthly price if you want one.
- Challenges A dated push everyone logs against — for everyone you train, or for one club.
- Calendar Sessions, classes, capacity and bookings.
- Reminders The dates your business can't let lapse — insurance and first aid, nagged ahead of time.
- Nudges Who needs a nudge today — opportunities, one tap each.
- Who needs chasing Every conversation about money, in the order to work through them.
- What needs doing Your own list, in your own words — the jobs you keep meaning to get to.
- Till Sell at the desk — cash, card or on their phone — and download the sales sheet.
- What you are making What is coming in every month, what was paid in the last 30 days, and what sells.
Templates and systems
- Forms & interviews PAR-Q, consent, consultations and your own forms.
- Coaching room The coaching tools shelf — wheels, journeys and resources in one place.
- Radar wheels Build a life or performance wheel a client fills in — see change over time.
- Nutrition by FASTER Nutrition sheets and habits without meal-plan pretence.
- Pathways Automated coaching journeys you assign to clients.
- Programmes Start a programme — a session, a month, 12 weeks or a season — and find the ones you have built.
- Games & drills planner Build game-based sessions and drills.
- Sport screens Pick a sport — the shots to film, the analyser, and a ready-made radar of the qualities that matter.
- Movement screen → radar Read joint angles off the analyser — they auto-score and fill a radar wheel.
- Assessment builder Build and run client assessments and re-tests.
- Tag analytics Every tag across your clips, grouped and exportable.
Client
- AI prompts Your reusable prompt library for coaching copy.
- Workout library Short workouts your members put together by how they feel and how long they have.
- Before & after Side-by-side progress comparisons.
Trainer tools
- Exercise generator Fresh exercise ideas from constraints you set.
- FASTER dice & wheel Spin-and-roll session variety for groups and games.
- Movement demonstrator A 3D model of the FASTER movement patterns — body or skeleton view, prime movers lit up, live joint angles.
- Client video analysis Your media library — client folders and your own. Pick a clip to analyse.
- Movement by FASTER (HMAC) Human movement analysis charts — see how a client moves.
- Live analysis Mount your phone and coach live — skeleton, reps, angles and depth in real time.
- Tell a group One thing, to the right people — and you see exactly who it reaches first.
Media centre
- Video builder Reels, stories and client report videos, in your own branding.
- Image builder Branded posts and cards for your socials, at the right size.
- Shot list builder Every shot with its size, angle, lens, location, people, kit and sound; sorted into shooting order, ticked off on the day, printed or sent as a sheet.
- Storyboard builder Plan a video shot by shot: what the camera sees, what is said, the move and the cut.
- Script writer Write what you will say, with the word count and how long it takes to say.
- Teleprompter Read your script off the screen at your speed, and film yourself behind it.
- Content calendar Your hot topics, your series and every post planned by week and year, from idea to posted.
- Video and image organiser Everything you have made and every source you can pull from.
- Ad builder Make your own ads, coached as you go, in your branding. As many as you like, no fee, no cap.
Frequently asked
Is client motivation really part of the Level 3 qualification?
Yes. Unit D/617/8592, criterion 1.8, has you explain the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in exercise adherence.
What is exercise adherence?
It is a client sticking with the programme you prescribe. The course treats helping that happen as part of the trainer's job, next to teaching the exercise.
What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation?
Intrinsic is doing something because you enjoy it and like how it makes you feel. Extrinsic is working towards an outside reward such as money, status or recognition.
Do I need experience to start?
No. The Level 2 and Level 3 course is built for people starting from scratch.
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