Become a Personal Trainer
A New Personal Trainer's First Business Goal Has Five Parts, And The Level 3 Course Has You Write It Before You Take A Client
From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in The honest route from scratch to qualified →
In short: Criterion F/617/8598 3.3 on the Level 2/3 personal training course asks a learner to create business SMART objectives for launch and short-term growth. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. The course's own example is a goal to increase the client base by 25% within three months, tracked by recording how many new clients sign up each month and reached through social media and networking events. A new trainer can write it before the first paying client.
A first goal that fits on a page
Plenty of people finish a personal training qualification with the skills and no plan for the first three months. The Level 3 course closes that gap early. Criterion 3.3 of the business unit has you create SMART objectives for launch and short-term growth, so the plan exists before the first paying client does.
One of the things you learn on our CIMSPA-recognised personal training course is how to turn "I hope this pays" into a goal with five parts you can check.
The five parts
The course says SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. Each part has a job.
Specific. Say what you want in plain numbers. The course's example is "I want to increase my client base by 25% within the next three months."
Measurable. Decide how you will count. The course suggests keeping a record of how many new clients sign up each month. A tally in a notebook counts.
Achievable. Name how you will do it. The course's answer is reaching out to new potential clients through social media and networking events. A goal with a route attached is easier to start on a Monday morning.
Relevant. Check it fits the rest of the business plan. A goal about clients belongs beside the rest of what you are building.
Time-bound. Give it an end date. Three months is the course's example, long enough to get somewhere and short enough to look at again.
Why it works for someone just starting
A new trainer may have no clients to grow by 25%, and that is fine. The same five parts work from zero: a number of first clients, a monthly tally, a route to find them, a date. The point is a goal that tells you what to do this week.
The course's example route, social media, also connects to another Level 3 task, creating a professional social media profile.
How the course teaches it
The FASTER course is visual and interactive. You read the lesson, listen to it, and answer in writing or by dictating your answers if typing is not your thing. The SMART task is one where you write your own goal and keep it.
Where to go next
PT Manager is free with any FASTER course and opens when you sign up. Its Clients room holds your client list, which gives your monthly tally a home once you start taking people on.
The honest route from scratch to qualified is on the become a personal trainer page. The task itself sits in the Level 3 Personal Trainer course.
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You just read one answer. The course is all of them.
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Also worth a look: Level 3 Personal Trainer, where the goal task lives.
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
51 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 51 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.
- 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 criterion 3.3 ask for?
To create business SMART objectives for launch and short-term growth. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.
Do I need clients before I write one?
No. The goal is about launching, so a new trainer can write it while still studying and use it as the plan for the first three months.
What is the course's example?
Increase the client base by 25% within the next three months, tracked by recording how many new clients sign up each month.
Is this only for self-employed trainers?
The course writes it for a trainer planning their own business, so it suits anyone who expects to build their own client list, including inside a gym.
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