The typical PT client

Physical training can change how you look, feel and perform. However, many people have warped ideas about all this, imagining that only huge amounts of work will make any change at all, or else that huge changes can happen in a short time, sixpack abs by Christmas and all that. 

Most people have poor looks, health and performance. It doesn't take huge changes to push all three to "okay", and one to "good". Let's imagine the sort of person who might become a PT client.

• Jenny, 35yo, professional, boyfriend but no kids
• a bit pudgy but not obese, say 30-35% bodyfat
• some knee pain "I twisted it once", and some knee valgus (knees turning inwards) can be observed, lower back pain probably due to desk job, nothing diagnosed medically; gets colds and flu a lot, and says she is always tired
• was physically active in netball up till 25yo, since then has done occasional bouts of running
• struggles to do 3 knee pushups, plank attempt shows lower back caving in and one hip dropping, meaning abdominal muscle weakness and left-right imbalance, squat attempt shows knee valgus
• eats out a lot, and the PT suspects she has upwards of 12 standard drinks a week
• when she uses a step counter, it turns out she does under 2,000 steps a day, that is she is walking to the toilet and for a coffee and that's it, everything else is seated. 
• goal of "get fit, lose weight, tone up"
• signing up for 2x30' PT sessions a week "for about six weeks, then I'll see how I go." 

It's reasonable to get this woman doing,

• 2x 45' workouts once a week, where she does 15 minutes of intervals and then 30' of strength-based workout with her PT
• more fresh fruit and vegetables, not more than 6 standard drinks a week, no junk food 
• over 6 weeks, work up to 10,000 steps a day
• Before PT session - 15' of cardio doing 1'00" easy and 1'00" hard alternating, like 6.0km/hr on the treadmill at 2% incline and then 8% incline, or on the bike doing 90rpm then 120rpm.

Her first workout is going to be pretty simple, something like,

• PT session begins with - Squat-stretch holding onto rack for support, move bum in figure 8, push knees out, chest up, hold for 10 count, do this 3 times
• Goblet squat, unloaded, 10
• Dumbbell overhead press, 5kg x5
• Seated cable row, 10kg x10
• Cable hip hinge, 10kg x10
• plank 10"
• do this sequence 3 times
• Then stretch glutes, ITB, hamstrings and lower back, and put her on the foam roller for her upper back. 
• With exercise coaching that's 30 minutes

She progresses from there, we build squat reps up to 20 then add a dumbbell, we increase the press to 10 reps then go to the 6kg dumbbell, the plank adds 5" a week, and so on. When she can press a 10kg dumbbell she's ready for a barbell bench press, when she can goblet squat 10kg dumbbell for sets of 20 she's ready for a barbell squat, etc. 

Initially it will be difficult working with her, as she'll expect more exercise variety. This is because many people sign up for PT "for a bit of fun" and because she's been told that good results come from going so hard she throws up in every session, and different exercises every time. However, assuming the trainer knows what they're doing and can explain it, she'll trust them long enough to realise that the most entertaining thing possible is... results. 

In 3 months of this, or 6 months allowing for holidays, injuries or being slack, she could reasonably hit 25% bodyfat, be doing several full pushups, squatting for reps 60kg and deadlifting 80kg, and be able to run 5km without stopping, though slowly. Wait, 3 or 6 months? Didn't she say she'd reassess whether she did PT after 6 weeks? She probably forgot because she was too busy enjoying getting stronger and fitter. 

She'll have better posture, her hair and skin will look better (from the better food and circulation), she won't get colds so often, her back won't hurt anymore, and she'll have a lot more energy. She decides to go back to netball, not only enjoying the sport but also the people there. Her greater health, energy and self-esteem will also mean she has sex with her boyfriend a lot more often, which is also going to help her mood - I never ask this, but plenty of clients tell me anyway. 

Without strong goals she'll usually last 3-6 months before losing interest and quitting PT. But that's okay, she now has the knowledge and confidence to train on her own, and there are always more like this for the PT. 

In those 3-6 months she'll have improved how she looks, feels and performs dramatically - from "poor" to "okay". Depending on her native talents, one of her looks, health or performance may actually improve to "good" in this time. If she was pretty at 21 she'll be beautiful now, if she did shotput in school she might be deadlifting 100kg now, or maybe she just feels great. 

Since the day-to-day changes are not great, and since few people look their best during a sweaty workout in crappy gym clothes at 6am, hair is unwashed and so on, a casual gym-goer might not actually have noticed any change in her over the 3-6 months, by the way. But to her these changes are AMAZING, and the chances are she'll stay with the PT after those 3-6 months, quite happy to just maintain what she's got now, maybe push one or two little areas like "I'd like a smaller bum," or "it'd be awesome to do a chinup," etc. 

And that's a pretty typical PT client. It's exactly as my sidebar says - a sports coach gets the last 5% of someone's ability, a PT gets the first 50%. But that first 50% makes a huge difference to someone's quality of life and happiness. Huge.