Become a Personal Trainer
The Eight-Step System For Showing A Client Their First Exercise
From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in the honest route from scratch to qualified, no sales calls and free lifetime return access →
In short: Level 2/3's A/617/8597 1.1 lays out eight steps for showing a client an exercise for the first time: introduce it and why they're doing it, demonstrate the set-up, demonstrate it while talking through the coaching points, demonstrate it again in silence so they can watch from other angles, ask if they've got questions, get them to try it, watch their version from several angles, then write down what you saw. It's a system, not a personality trait, taught on our CIMSPA-recognised personal training course before anyone's first real client walks in.
The short version
Somebody weighing up whether to become a personal trainer can picture the programme design and the anatomy revision well enough. What's harder to picture is the actual moment: a real person, waiting, while you show them an exercise for the first time. Level 2/3 doesn't leave that to whatever happens to come out in the room. It gives you a system, eight steps, in order, and every one of them earns its place.
Key Takeaways
- Level 2/3 breaks the first demonstration of an exercise into eight steps, from the introduction to the notes you write afterwards.
- One step is deliberately silent, so the client reads your movement instead of listening to your voice.
- This is on our CIMSPA-recognised personal training course, taught before anyone's first real client walks through the door.
The eight steps, in order
- Introduce the exercise. What it is and why they're about to do it, before a single rep happens.
- Demonstrate the set-up. How the equipment and their body get into position.
- Demonstrate it with the coaching points spoken. At least five reps for a resistance exercise, talking through what matters as you go.
- Demonstrate it again, in silence. The client watches from a few different angles with no voice competing for their attention.
- Ask if they've got questions. Before they attempt it, not after they've already got it wrong.
- Get them to try their own version.
- Watch from several angles. Not just face on.
- Write down what you saw. So the next session starts from what happened, not from memory.
Why the silent step is in there at all
Step four looks like the odd one out, a demonstration with nothing said over the top of it. It's there because a first-time client is taking in two things at once, what you're saying and what your body is doing, and asking them to process both together slows the whole thing down. Drop the talking for one rep and their attention goes straight to the movement. Level 2/3 frames this as non-verbal communication, and it's a real, teachable skill rather than something a trainer either has or doesn't.
Why the order matters
Skip step five and a client tries the exercise carrying a question they never asked. Skip step eight and next week's session starts from a rough memory of how it went rather than what you watched happen. Each step is doing a specific job, and doing them out of order costs you information you'll want later.
Where this comes from
This is straight out of the delivery unit of our CIMSPA-recognised personal training course, the part built around running a session with a real person in front of you, not just designing one on paper.
What to do next
The whole route from no qualification to working trainer, including the delivery unit this comes from, is set out at become a personal trainer. The price is on the page, there are no sales calls, and free lifetime return access means this system is still there the week you need to look it up again before a first session.
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Also worth a look: Level 3 Personal Trainer, the delivery unit this comes from.
See what the course covers →Frequently asked
Is this only for people with no coaching experience yet?
It's aimed at exactly that moment, the first time you ever show someone an exercise, but the same eight steps hold up for a brand new client on any trainer's books.
Do I need to talk through every step out loud?
Only some of them. Step three is talked through. Step four is deliberately silent, so the client is reading your movement instead of listening to you.
Where does this sit in the course?
Inside the delivery unit of our CIMSPA-recognised personal training course, the part that covers actually running a session, not just planning one.
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