A Personal Trainer Blog Strategy
Fitness trainers create personalized exercise plans for their clients, and employment options are highly individual. Do you dream of launching your own personal fitness training practice? Are you hoping to take your current business up a notch? An online fitness blog can help establish you as an expert and boost visibility with prospective clients.
Whether you work with clients as an independent contractor, as a paid staff instructor at a gym, or even as a corporate trainer for a company promoting healthy employee lifestyles—it makes good sense to invest in and maintain your professional profile. After all, trainers commonly bounce from work as an independent coach to staff employee and back several times over the course of a career. That flexibility is one of the perks of the business. As of March 29, 2018, Salary.com reports the median annual personal trainer salary is $58,407, with a range usually between $42,155 to $71,759.
Below, I frame one strategy for a fitness blog that would work for any sport.
Use Layman’s Language for the Blog Headline
Don’t turn people off with a title that is full of sports jargon. For example, an article about building climbing endurance might be titled something like: Why You Poop Out at the Crag. Being a little cheeky or fun will ensure the blog gets read.
Break Up Your Text with Subheads
Use subheads to break up the blog text. This is how people prefer to see online information presented. Big chunks of text make people sigh and wander away to something easier. With subheads, readers can quickly scan the article and see what you have to offer.
A benefit to you as the author is that the blog article becomes easier to write—you don’t have to craft prose that connects the whole piece together in a narrative flow. Subheads take care of the transitions for you.
Here is one content strategy for organizing a fitness blog, and the rationale for each section.
Sub-Head: The Problem
Frame the issue or problem for the climber (or athlete in another sport). Feel free to use humor, if possible, and describe the problem in a way that creates a vivid mental picture for the reader. Bring readers into the sport or workout culture by creating the “setting” for when and where exercisers experience the problem.
Sub-Head: Why It Matters
Develop one to two paragraphs that illustrate health and athletic impact of the problem on the exerciser.
Touch on the consequences of ignoring the problem. Perhaps it will stall fitness progression, or maybe create other technical performance challenges that will have to be faced later on. Or, maybe avoiding the problem makes the athlete more likely to develop a chronic injury.
Sub-Head: Tackle This Problem
Lay out a clear training plan for solving or reducing the problem.
Good things to do:
Use lists. Your list could be steps in an exercise sequence or progression of activity. You could also create a checklist to ensure the athlete exercises correctly.
Teach readers how to judge their progress. Include language such as “After 3 to 4 weeks, you should see improvement in …”
Frame when to switch from “training” for a specific functionality or performance level to “maintaining” it. For example, you may have an athlete doing core exercises 4 to 6 days a week to build up stability and strength, but once she achieves that milestone, she transitions to doing that exercise/training set only 1 to 2 days a week. You should also clarify how to tell if she needs to switch from maintenance mode back into active training if she is not seeing results or performance is slipping.
Highlight what to avoid. Make sure you always articulate safety limits. For example, a caution might be something such as “heavier weights are not always safe or even the point. Sometimes light weights and high repetitions are what is needed…”
Use photos, drawings or videos that show proper exercise form. For many people, it is hard to translate written instructions into real life doing. The combination of text and visuals can really help people with different learning styles.
Avoid overly technical jargon when possible, and define each term on first use. If your reader doesn’t know what a supraspinous ligament is, she is going to be uncertain about following your advice. Define technical terms in commonly used language. Additionally, if you are referring to a specific muscle or tendon, consider explaining what it does functionally. Being thoughtful with this context will help her “stay with you” through your exercise instructions.
Sub-Heading: The Take Home
Sum up the blog's recommendations and give encouragement. Consider reiterating why it’s important to follow through. Ask for reader comments and be sure to respond!
Sub-Heading: References
When possible, include online resources such as journal articles, YouTube videos, or technical reports so readers can review additional information. If you refer to a book, include an Amazon or publisher's link.
I hope this article is inspiration for fitness blogs that help market and grow your personal training business. Reach out if you need help!
Photo credit: Creative Commons, "Climbing" by Laurel Fan
Deborah Hill is an anthropologist and communications strategist who blogs about the ways humans and businesses interact. Her professional work has included science writing and implementing communications strategies for Higher Ed departments and schools. Her consulting work supports the development of small businesses.