I’m thinking about offering small group training to supplement my income. Any advice?

Try to find clients with similar goals; they do not have to be at the same fitness level (that’s where your expertise comes in), but it helps if they are working towards the same thing (run a 5K, lose weight or just feel better). Do everything you can to increase group camaraderie; encourage introductions, do some partner drills, allow time before and after for people to talk. Discuss payment policy upfront (if you have 4 people and 1 does not show up do all 4 still pay or the 3 split the fee?). Keep the personal in; allow modifications for each individual. Enjoy; it is my favorite type of training!

I’m not sure what your current skill set is, but, assuming you have group instructor skills to run group training, you could go a couple of different directions.

1. You could start by determining what you want to lead and find people interested in that as well.

2. You could start a group based on popular wants and needs that you hear during your current work (but still defer to #1).

I love to train groups and you would be offering a valuable service that’s a win for you and your clients. You’ll be able to offer them the same duration of training while charging less (but you’ll actually make more). They will enjoy the group dynamics and will likely push themselves harder. Many people will also see this as a great chance to train with their families and friends.

As a side note, you could also specialize in specific groups of people like families, bridal parties, sports teams, teachers at a school, etc.

Good luck!

Hi Joy. I agree with Janet and Wendy. I think that one of your very first things on your “to do” list is to take a critical look at where your interest lies in terms of small group training (e.g. what is your particular expertise, interest, skill-set) and then try to outline a small group training concept around that. Specificity will be a key I think, since simply calling it “small group training” will not be enough to attract attention from potential clients.

Once you’ve determined what TYPE of class you want to offer based on your assessment, the rest should quickly fall into place for you! Good luck! 🙂

LaRue, CSCS
www.lecfitness.com
[email protected]

The responses given by Janet, Wendy and LaRue are all excellent. The first question that pops into my head is what do you mean by “small group?” 3-4 or 10-12? The number of clients in each session will have a significant impact on the conduct of your session. If you gear it to the most fit, the least fit will quickly burn out. If you gear it to the least fit, the most fit may well become less than interested. So, it’s a challenge to your teaching expertise to make sure that each clients gets a good, effective workout.

The other question is the design of your class. Is it cardiovascular in intent, strength, flexibility or some combination? Depending on your equipment availability you can design a class that will challenge all fitness levels. Consider a circuit class if you have the equipment.

Take care.

I have a small group for one of my bootcamps and it’s great. It’s very personal and everyone is friends and basically have the same fitness goals.

Small group to me means 5-8?. This allows some personal attention for everyone and you can get specific about needs. I determine price by what I need to make per hour.

It’s important to figure out what type of class you’d like to teach, then branch off of it.
The current people in my bootcamp used to come to my indoor group exercise classes, but wanted a change so we took things outside.

Figure out what you’re passionate about teaching and start spreading the work
Sometimes saying “Class Size Limit to 5?” will matter!