Become a Personal Trainer
Track Three Numbers From Your First Month, And A New Personal Training Business Tells You What To Do Next
From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in The honest route from scratch to qualified →
In short: Key performance indicators (KPIs) are the numbers a personal trainer tracks to see whether the business is moving towards its goals. The Level 3 personal training course teaches three places to start: how many new clients arrive each month, how much revenue the training brings in, and what share of clients carry on training after a set period. When a number misses its target, the trainer looks at marketing or pricing and changes one of them. A new trainer who tracks these three from the first month always knows what to do next.
The bit nobody mentions when you decide to train
Say you have made up your mind to become a personal trainer. You can picture the sessions. What sits in the back of your head is the month after you qualify, when the certificate is on the wall and you want to know whether this is going to pay.
It is a fair thing to want to know, and the Level 3 course gives it a proper answer. One of the things you learn on our CIMSPA-recognised personal training course is how to use KPIs, which is short for key performance indicators.
What a KPI is, in plain words
A KPI is a number you keep an eye on because it shows whether the business is heading where you want it to. The course text describes them as metrics that track your business's performance and measure progress towards your goals.
That is all it is. A KPI is a count you already have, written down on the same day each month.
The three the course starts with
The lesson gives three examples, and they suit a brand new trainer well.
- New clients each month. How many people started training with you.
- Revenue. What your personal training brought in.
- Clients who carry on. The percentage still training with you after a set period.
Three numbers, all in your own diary and bank statement. The third one is the one the industry talks about least, and it is the quiet one that decides whether next year looks like this year.
What you do when a number misses
The course gives a worked example. If the number of new clients is under your target, you look into why and change your marketing or your pricing to lift it. You change one thing, then read the same number next month.
A new trainer with no numbers has to guess. One with three numbers has a short list of things to try and a way to tell whether each one helped.
Why this is taught with the course, and not left for later
Most people who train to be a PT expect the exercise science and the client work. The business unit, F/617/8598, sits in the same qualification on purpose, so you qualify able to run the thing as well as deliver it.
It is taught the FASTER way: visual, interactive and in whatever mix suits you. You can read it, listen to it, write your answers or dictate them.
PT Manager, which opens when you sign up with FASTER, keeps the client list and the bookings these numbers come from. Adding real clients unlocks the day you pass a course, and PT Manager is free. Nobody takes a cut of your sessions.
Where to go next
If you are weighing up the route from where you are now to a first paying client, the honest route from scratch to qualified sets it out step by step, and the Level 3 Personal Trainer course shows where the business unit lives.
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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 business unit lives.
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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
What is a KPI for a personal trainer?
A key performance indicator is a number the trainer tracks to see whether the business is moving towards its goals. The Level 3 course gives three examples: new clients per month, revenue from training, and the percentage of clients who keep training after a set period.
Do I need to be good with numbers to become a personal trainer?
No. The three numbers in the course are counts and percentages from your own diary and bank, and PT Manager keeps the client list and bookings they come from.
Is this part of the qualification?
Yes. It sits in the Level 3 unit on business acumen and the use of IT, where learners describe the purpose of KPIs for individual and organisational goals.
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