My First Personal Training Opportunity

Last week my husband called me to talk about an unexpected opportunity. Sgt. P. was talking about how his wife wants to get back in shape, and my husband mentioned that I am pursuing a career in personal training and am looking for hands on experience. This would be a chance for me to become familiar with training clients - I wouldn't be paid obviously since I'm not an official certified PT, just somebody looking to get some practice. I think it's a smashing idea!
(My husband totally set this up without asking me first, and I don't care! I'm eager for this kind of thing.)

So I reached out to her a couple days ago. Let's call her K. I asked her a few questions to get an idea about her history, fitness level, health issues, injuries, and preferences.

• Her goal is to lose weight. She used to be in good shape but has gained some weight, so she's looking to get back to where she was before.
• She is dealing with a few issues which include injuries. I'll have to figure out how to create a program that won't aggravate her injuries. She is also 4'10" and dislikes using machines because she feels she doesn't "fit" in them.
• She doesn't like running and struggles with it due to her injuries, but she does do cardio in the form of elliptical and walking. I advised her to do that on the days we don't meet (2-3 days a week)
• She is interested in lifting because she feels like she's doing something great, as opposed to mindless cardio. 
• We'll be meeting 1-2 times a week around 7, either at the gym on base or I can get her into Gold's as a guest. I'm waiting to hear back on the specifics of when and where she wants to do this. I'll have to finagle my schedule around hers a little bit but I can make it work.

I'm still figuring out the specific exercises but I think the plan will be something like this

Day 1
Legs, Triceps, Shoulders, Chest

Day 2
Biceps, Back, Abs

3 set of 10-12 reps for most exercises, will adjust if necessary
We'll work on the same exercises for 2-3 weeks before changing it up.


I'm excited about this opportunity! But I'm also nervous and there's definitely a fear of failure. This is definitely not a "cut and dry" type of client - she has quite a few issues she is struggling with so it's a bit intimidating for me. But I'm going to go into this with confidence in what I know and I'm going to be as attentive as possible to make sure she gets a good experience out of this. Being able to help her achieve her goals will be such an awesome feeling - I just know it. And who knows, maybe I'll gain a new friend?