Become a Personal Trainer
Learn How To Find Out Who Will Hire You Before You Spend A Penny On A Gym, And The Level 3 Course Has You Do It Before Your First Client
From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in the from-scratch route to a CIMSPA-recognised qualification, no sales calls →
In short: The Level 3 Personal Training Certificate teaches three research jobs for building a business plan: market research (surveys, focus groups, interviews and online research on your target clients), competitive analysis (what other trainers do well and where you can stand apart) and a SWOT analysis of your own business. You do them on paper before you take a client.
The short version
Lots of people picture the start of a personal training career as a big gamble: pay for the course, pay for insurance, then hope somebody turns up. The good news is that you can swap hope for homework. One of the things you learn on our CIMSPA-recognised personal training course is how to research a business plan, so you know who your clients are and what they want before you take on any costs.
Key Takeaways
- The Level 3 course names three research jobs for a business plan: market research, competitive analysis and a SWOT.
- Market research means surveys, focus groups, interviews and online research on the people you want to train.
- You do all three on paper first, which makes your first client a plan rather than a punt.
Job one: ask the people you want to train
The Level 3 text describes market research as gathering and analysing data about your target market, so you understand their needs, preferences and buying habits. You can do it with surveys, focus groups, interviews and online research. That is friendlier than it sounds. A chat with five people in the group you want to help already counts, and what they say shapes your price, your hours and what you offer.
Job two: look at what other trainers already do
Competitive analysis means finding out what other trainers in your area do well and where they fall short, then spotting where you can stand apart. Nobody gets told off for it. Other trainers are the best free map of your local market you will ever get.
Job three: write your own SWOT
A SWOT lists your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The course has you write one for your own business, using what jobs one and two turned up. Our other post on the SWOT analysis walks through the steps.
Why FASTER teaches it this way
You learn it the way the whole course works: visual, interactive, and in whichever way suits you. Read it, listen to it, write your answers in the browser or dictate them from your phone on a break. Nobody expects you to memorise a textbook chapter on business.
What to do next
Take the Certified PT Bundle, Level 2, Level 3 and Movement Trainer together for £1,500, and the research jobs above become part of your own business plan. PT Manager opens the moment you sign up, so you can learn your way around it from day one. Adding real clients unlocks once you pass and join the Register.
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You just read one answer. The course is all of them.
the from-scratch route to a CIMSPA-recognised qualification, no sales calls — taught by the people who wrote it, with free return access for life. The price is on the page, payment plans at checkout, no sales calls.
Also worth a look: the Certified PT Bundle, Level 2, Level 3 and Movement Trainer together for £1,500.
See what the course covers →Frequently asked
Do I need a business background to do this?
No. The course sets the research out as three named jobs, so you follow a list rather than invent a method.
What counts as market research for a personal trainer?
Surveys, focus groups, interviews and online research that tell you what your target clients need, prefer and buy.
Does the course give me tools for keeping this in one place?
PT Manager opens the moment you sign up with FASTER to learn on. Adding real clients unlocks once you pass a course and join the Register.
Reading this for your own training? Every trainer on the FASTER register has been assessed by us — search by town or speciality, free.
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