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Decide What You'll Trust Before You're Standing In Front Of A Client Who's Read Something You Haven't

From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in Movement Trainer (AFT) — where the full evidence-filtering method is taught →

Decide What You'll Trust Before You're Standing In Front Of A Client Who's Read Something You Haven't

In short: Movement Trainer teaches trainers to fix a consistent standard for what counts as evidence, rather than chasing whatever the best available study happens to be each time a question comes up. The course's own checklist: peer-reviewed only, systematic reviews and meta-analyses ranked above single studies, sample size and study design checked, conflicts of interest checked, and results looked for across more than one study. That bar gets set once, before a client ever asks a question, not invented on the spot. It also means a trainer doesn't need to research everything, every time — the course's own example is having the general research on triggering hypertrophy on file without needing a fresh study for every exercise and every muscle, unless a specific client's goal makes that specific answer worth having. The point isn't ranking every source as good or bad, it's a personal library where everything gets kept, and a fixed filter that decides what gets used when a decision actually has to be made.

The question this answers

Not "is this study good enough," but "what did I decide counted as good enough, before today." Movement Trainer teaches a fixed set of criteria for judging evidence, set once and applied the same way every time, rather than a fresh judgement call made under pressure with a client standing there.

The trap in "find the best available evidence"

That phrase sounds responsible, and it's the one the course actually warns against. Chasing the best available evidence each time means the bar moves: a well-designed study on Monday, a personal testimonial on Tuesday because it was what turned up first. One of the things you learn on Movement Trainer is that the goal isn't finding the single best thing available in the moment, it's staying consistent about what you'll accept, so a decision made in September holds up the same way one made in March does.

The course's own checklist

Five things, applied the same way to everything a trainer reads: only studies published in peer-reviewed journals, systematic reviews and meta-analyses ranked above single studies, the sample size and study design checked, conflicts of interest checked, and results looked for across more than one study rather than trusted off the back of one.

That bar is set once, before a client ever asks a question that needs it.

What this doesn't mean

It doesn't mean a trainer researches everything, every time, before every session. The course is specific: you don't need a fresh study on every exercise for every muscle. What you need is the general research on the thing that actually matters to this client's goal, and the course's own example is exact about where the line moves — general hypertrophy research is worth having on file, but a client whose goal depends on the posterior deltoid fatiguing first in a specific movement is a client worth going one level deeper for.

A personal library, not a rejection list

Nothing gets thrown away in this system. Every level of evidence, from a single testimonial to a systematic review, goes into a trainer's own library, kept rather than dismissed. The filtering happens later, at the point a decision actually has to be made for a client, using the bar that was already set. It's a different discipline to memorising papers for an exam and hoping something useful stuck: build the library as you go, and know your own rule for what you'll stand behind when it counts.

What to do next

Movement Trainer (AFT), £375, teaches this alongside the anatomy, the coaching delivery and the programming skills that make up "HMAC eyes." It's taught in the browser the same way the rest of the course is: read it, watch it, answer by writing or by dictating the answer back, whichever fits the hour you have. PT Manager's exercise generator runs on the same filtering idea inside the software, 1,392 filmed movements sorted by what they actually do rather than by name, and it opens free the moment a trainer signs up with any FASTER course.

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You just read one answer. The course is all of them.
Movement Trainer (AFT) — where the full evidence-filtering method is taught: every answer marked by a real tutor, with free return access for life. The price is on the page, payment plans at checkout, no sales calls.

See what the course covers →

Also worth a look: PT Manager's exercise generator, free with any FASTER course.

See what the course covers →

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  • A real person marks every answerEvery answer is read and marked by a tutor, with written feedback.
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  • 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.
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  • 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.
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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

Does this mean ignoring weaker evidence, like a testimonial or a single study?

No, nothing gets thrown out. Everything goes into the library. What changes is which level of evidence a trainer is willing to act on when a client is actually waiting on a decision.

How much research does a trainer need to do before every session?

Not everything, every time. The course's own example is keeping the general research on something like hypertrophy on file rather than a fresh study for every exercise, and going deeper only when a specific client's goal makes that specific answer worth having.

Does finishing the course get me PT Manager?

Yes. PT Manager opens the moment you sign up with FASTER, and adding real clients unlocks once you pass a course.

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