The PT Roadmap

A weekly newsletter for personal trainers to guide you to become a better coach and build a better business.

Hey!

Thanks for opening up today's newsletter. I appreciate you being here.

Has anyone else watched The Deepest Breath recently? What a documentary that is!

Before we begin, here are some small updates:

• we’ve got a new layout. As my headline is often about the business section, I’ve put this first.

• I’ve signed up with a business mentor who has encouraged me to reduce the number of sections I have in the PTR. I don’t want to do this as I love them all and feel they all add value, but I will do it this way: For each issue, I’ll select at least 3 of the 5 sections. It’ll be driven by the quality of what I feel I have to say. If I feel I’ve got something helpful for each, we’ll do all 5. If I’m lacking, I’ll do 3 🙂 

In today’s issue:

✅ One business tip

✅ One coaching cue

✅ One exercise recommendation

✅ One social post worth your time

❌ One coaching tip

Let's get into it!

Better Business

What should you put in your Instagram bio?

As I’ve moved on from Lift the Bar, I’ve been thinking about what to put in my bio on Instagram.

Instagram will be one of the main ways I market a PT mentoring service I’m about to launch.  It’s also one of the best ways for me to get more people onto this newsletter list.

So, I’ve been researching what to put in my bio.

Here are a few things I’ve learned:

• Get a short title in your name - Your name and the accompanying title are searchable. This means you have an opportunity to add in some keywords. For example, if you’re an in-person PT based in Dundee, Scotland, you’ll want to have "Dundee Personal Trainer” in your title. If you’re a weight loss coach, you’ll want to have “fat loss” or “weight loss” in yours.

• Get a good profile photo - If your profile photo is of your logo, please change it. The only businesses using their logo should be bigger companies with 3+ employees. For most PTs, a headshot is perfect. You can add in a colour background if you’d like, but the main thing is to have a friendly headshot so I know you’re a real human.

• Who do you help? And what will I achieve? - Answer these two questions in your bio, and you’re 95% there. Let’s say you help women get out of the yoyo dieting trap and into an exercise plan they enjoy. Your bio could read: “I help women get away from yoyo dieting and into a way of exercising they enjoy.” This is your chance to tell the people who land on your page why they need to follow and (hopefully) consider working with you.

• Use emojis (but not too many) - they add personality to your profile and help break up text.

• Get a good call-to-action in there - it needs to be clear, and it needs to be simple. I’m not a big fan of using Linktree because I don’t think most PTs have enough going on to have multiple links. Think about the start of your funnel. Where do you want people to go? Scheduling a call is a simple and effective one. As is getting people to subscribe to an email list. I’ve also seen good results getting people to DM you for more info or a free PDF/ training.

Here are a few pages that have a well-written bio ⬇️ Note the friendly face, use of emojis and the word “help” in each.

ESG Fitness

Adam Boyd Brown

Aaron Davies

One Coaching Cue

What's it for?

I posted about this cue in issue 4, but I used it yesterday, and it worked perfectly.

It’s a nice visual cue when teaching clients about their arm position during a push-up.

A common error you see is elbows flared. This helps with that. Although I’m way less bothered by flared elbows than I used to be (I used to think it’d destroy people’s shoulders, which isn’t true), I still encourage my clients to go for more of a 45-degree angle as it is usually more comfortable.

One Exercise Variation

Recommended Exercise: The Nordic Curl

Ah, everyone’s favourite hamstring exercise…

Nordics are brutal—no two ways about it.

I was about to buy a £400 piece of equipment to train them in my garage, but then I found the Nordstick on Amazon for £15.

They aren’t perfect, but they do the job well for that price point.

You're good to go as long as you have a door to anchor underneath and something for your knees. They take a minute to adjust to the correct length but are comfortable and trustworthy.

One Social Media Post Worth Your Time

This a helpful reminder from Farnam Street on the importance of planning your days.

I’ve been suffering with this a bit since leaving Lift the Bar.

I was so used to having a set structure each week. I’ve now got much more open space where I’m finding myself going, “what should I work on now?”

Here’s my plan for dealing with this: spend the first 3-5 minutes of each morning planning my day in 30-60 minute slots. This leaves me with less guesswork and less negotiation. I use Trello to capture all my tasks. This gives me a place to see my most important priorities, allowing me to turn them into blocks of time.

Thanks so much for reading.

Until next Friday, Stuart.