Business
Run the whole business on one free system and keep your own money
From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in PT Manager, free with any FASTER course →
In short: The Diploma is right that the business runs on systems. Where trainers lose is assembling five paid tools to do it, then paying for them out of a margin that has not grown.
The short version
There is a unit in the Level 4 Diploma about using IT systems to plan and run a personal training business. You are assessed on it. What the qualification cannot do — because it is awarding-body neutral, and rightly so — is tell you what that looks like in practice. So most trainers assemble it from whatever is advertised at them, and end up paying five companies to run a business that is one person and a diary.
Key Takeaways
- The Diploma is right: the business runs on systems, and you are assessed on using them.
- The default answer is five subscriptions, bought one problem at a time.
- The cost is not just money. It is client data sitting in five places, none of which talk to each other.
What the unit actually asks
Unit F/617/8598 asks you to describe how to use IT systems to support effective business planning and delivery, and then to demonstrate how to utilise appropriate IT systems to support and manage all aspects of a personal training business.
Read that second one again: all aspects. Not booking. Not invoicing. All of it.
That is a fair requirement, because it is what the job needs. It is also where the bill starts.
How the five subscriptions happen
Nobody sets out to buy five tools. It happens one problem at a time, and each purchase is sensible on the day.
You get double-booked, so you buy a booking app. Someone does not pay, so you add a payment tool. You get tired of rewriting programmes in a notes app, so you buy a programme builder. Clients message you across three platforms, so you add something to pull it together. Then you need the paperwork somewhere that is not your laptop, so that is storage.
Five reasonable decisions. One monthly total that nobody ever sits down and adds up, coming out of a margin that has not moved in three years.
The part that costs more than the money
Split systems split your client. Their booking history is in one place, their payments in another, their programme in a third, and the conversation where they told you their shoulder was still bothering them is in a fourth.
So the picture of that client exists nowhere. You hold it in your head, which works until you have thirty of them, or until you take a fortnight off, or until you want to hand one over to another trainer and discover you cannot.
That is the real argument for the unit. Not tidiness — the fact that a business you cannot see is a business you cannot plan, and business planning is the rest of the qualification.
What to do next
PT Manager does the lot in one place: booking and diary, client records, programmes built from the FASTER exercise library, session history, and client messaging. It is free with any FASTER course, and there is no fee for the service.
It was not built as a product to sell. It was built because trainers were paying five companies to do what one thing should do, and that is a trainer problem worth solving rather than another one to charge for.
If you are working through the Diploma, it also happens to be the evidence for 1.5 — a system you can demonstrate managing all aspects of the business, because it is the one you actually run on.
You just read one answer. The course is all of them.
PT Manager, free with any FASTER course: 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.
Also worth a look: .
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
Do I really need software to run personal training?
You need the functions: booking, payment, programmes, records, communication. The Diploma assesses you on using systems to manage them. Whether that is five tools or one is your choice, and it shows up in your margin.
What does PT Manager actually cover?
Booking and diary, client records, programme building from the FASTER exercise library, session history and progress, and client messaging. It is free with any FASTER course.
Is there a catch?
No fee for the service. It exists because trainers were paying five subscriptions out of a margin that had not grown, and that was a problem worth removing.
Reading this for your own training? Every trainer on the FASTER register has been assessed by us — search by town or speciality, free.
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