5 Ways to take back your time as a trainer

Personal training is a busy business. Whether you’re on the floor, teaching a group fitness class, or programming for your next workout sessions with clients, you’re on the go – and should be. That’s how we get it done. If you ever feel like you’re just not able to harness and use your time effectively each week, try these 5 time management tips to keep you sane.

Press Pause 

How can taking a minute or two save a minute or two? By giving yourself 15 minutes between clients, you will free up time at the end of your work day. Pause in between sessions with clients to write down notes and reminders for the next session or tackle a nagging a task (calling the bank, sending a quick email, etc.). The end of the day comes swiftly and we don’t always have the energy (or brain power) to deal with the administrative tasks necessary to the day to day business of fitness.

Prioritize

No doubt your to-do list grows by the day. Instead of trying to frantically deal with the growing list of tasks, set priorities each week. What are your “big rocks” you want to move this week? Is it creating three new social media posts? Is it a meeting with a colleague about a referral? Whatever is on the list, scrutinize it and identify the big-ticket items that need your attention.

Monthly Planning 

Invest your time in planning a month ahead. This works well for continuing education and business planning. Utilize a calendar system – electronic or hard copy and write down “Due dates” for the tasks that need to be accomplished. For example, if you know you need to recertify by a certain date, set small monthly goals to tackle continuing education quizzes, distance learning classes, or journal articles. Choose one day a month to plan for the next.

Do a Time Study 

This may sound counterintuitive. Why waste time studying time? That’s precisely the point. To learn where you waste the most time. Evaluate your time usage for a week. What are you doing with that time outside of training and prepping for clients? Ask yourself how productive or results-oriented is each task? Social media is certainly a healthy component of successful business practices, but it can also be a black hole. You go in and you never come out! Don’t get sucked in.

Don’t Multitask  

Multi-tasking, an often over-celebrated “skill”, can lead to multiple messes versus multiple results. Focus on one task at hand with the time you have and complete it before moving on to something else. We only have so many hours in the day and 7-9 of them should be devoted to sleep and another hour or so devoted to our own personal well-being and fitness. To yield results, learn to manage your time effectively. When we know how to manage our time, we can then be the master of our own schedules.