Become a Personal Trainer
How To Write A Client Goal That Is Measurable, From Our Level 3 Course
From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in Level 2 and Level 3 Personal Training, from scratch →
In short: FASTER's Level 2/3 personal training course (unit T/617/8569, criterion 9.2) teaches that once a goal is agreed with a client it is framed as SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound. "Get fitter" gives a trainer nothing to plan against, while "run 5k continuously in under 35 minutes within ten weeks" gives a start, a finish line and a date to review. The goal must also be safe, ethical and evidence-based. A new trainer does not need to be a natural at this; it is a five-part checklist that anyone can learn and use in the first consultation.
How To Write A Client Goal That Is Measurable
The short version
If you are leaving another job to become a personal trainer, one worry sits near the top: what do I actually do in the first meeting? A big part of the answer is a goal. One of the things you learn on our CIMSPA-recognised personal training course is how to turn a client's wish into a SMART goal, a target you can plan around and check later.
Key Takeaways
- SMART means specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.
- "Get fitter" cannot be planned or measured; "run 5k in under 35 minutes within ten weeks" can.
- The goal also has to be safe, ethical and evidence-based.
Five parts, one sentence
The course gives each part a plain job:
- Specific. The goal says exactly what is to be achieved. "Lose 5kg" beats "lose some weight."
- Measurable. There is an objective way to know it has been met: a weight, a distance, a time, a number of sessions.
- Achievable. It sits within the client's capability from where they start.
- Realistic. It fits their lifestyle, time and commitments, at a safe and sustainable rate of progress.
- Time-bound. A deadline gives focus and a date to review, for example "within twelve weeks."
The course's own example puts all five in one line: "Run 5k continuously in under 35 minutes within ten weeks."
Why a vague aim is the hard one
A client who says "get fitter" has told you something true, and nothing you can write a programme against. The course says as much: the vague aim gives you nothing to plan or measure against. Your job in the consultation is to agree the sentence that has a number and a date in it. Once it exists, session one has a purpose and week ten has a test.
Good practice sits underneath
The last line of the criterion matters as much as the five letters. Goals must be consistent with industry good practice, meaning safe, ethical and evidence-based. A tidy SMART goal that asks a client to lose weight at an unsafe rate is still a poor goal. The checklist gives you the shape; your training gives you the judgement about what goes inside it.
You can learn this one by doing it
Nobody is born knowing how to phrase a goal. You learn the five parts, write a few, and the habit arrives. PT Manager opens the moment you sign up with FASTER, so you can set up your own practice goals and see how a plan and a review date sit around them. Adding real clients unlocks once you pass a course and join the register.
What to do next
The Level 2 and Level 3 Personal Training course covers goal setting in the unit on planning and delivering programmes, alongside the anatomy, programming and business skills that get you hired and insured. Learning is visual and interactive: read it, listen to it, write your answers or dictate them.
FASTER Daily News sends you each day's blog links, the latest on new courses and live opportunities, and updates to PT Manager, free for students. Sign up at /newsletter.
You just read one answer. The course is all of them.
Level 2 and Level 3 Personal Training, 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.
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.
- Marked as you goEach teaching point is marked as you answer it, not at the end of the module.
- 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.
- Streaks that never punish youYou set how many days a week you want to study. Miss a day and your streak pauses; it is never lost.
- Accessible to WCAG AA, with an AAA optionEvery page measured against the WCAG accessibility standard: no faults at level A or AA, with a skip link, screen-reader labels and pages that hold together zoomed to 400%. A high-contrast option takes it to AAA.
- 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.
- No resit feesWork sent back is a chance to add more, with no resit fee.
- 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.
- The FASTER Trainer RegisterA free listing on the Register once you qualify.
- 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
52 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 52 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.
- 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
What does SMART stand for in personal training?
Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound. The Level 3 course teaches all five as the way to turn a client's aim into a target you can plan and review.
Is a goal like get fitter good enough?
It gives a trainer nothing to plan or measure against. Naming what, how it will be measured and by when turns it into something usable.
Do I need a science background to write goals?
No. It is a five-part checklist taught step by step, and PT Manager opens the moment you sign up so you can practise on it.
Reading this for your own training? Every trainer on the FASTER register has been assessed by us — search by town or speciality, free.
Find a FASTER trainer →
