If you’re a personal trainer and want to get the best results with clients, there are three areas you need to focus on: 

#1 Nutrition – Making sure your client is eating well: healthy nutritious foods, and ones that support their goals.

#2 Training – the right training plan, using specific exercises, and appropriate gym machines. A training program that suits the current client’s level of fitness, and one that helps them achieve their goals. 

#3 Support – regular contact throughout the week via email, text, Whatsapp, etc. They will also need extra plans to follow outside of their personal training session i.e., a gym program. 

All of the above are essential when it comes to achieving head-turning results with clients. 

Today we’re going to focus on one of the most critical aspects of setting up a client’s training program, which is the machines that you use. There are hundreds of pieces of gym equipment, BUT some are far better than others! Today we’re going to look at:

5 Of The Best Pieces Of Gym Equipment To Use With Your Personal Training Clients 

#1 Sissy Squat

You’ll rarely see the sissy squat machine in action, mainly because not all commercial gyms have them! If your gym does have one, then make sure to utilise this fantastic piece of equipment. A commercial sissy squat machine is excellent to use for helping your clients build their legs. For guys and women who are wanting bigger, stronger, and leaner leg muscles – 2-3 intense sets at the end of their leg workout will see them get fantastic results in a matter of months.  

#2 Preacher Curl

Lots of your personal training clients will struggle to feel their biceps when doing regular dumbbell curls. This is mainly down to too much swinging, and too much work from the front shoulder muscle.

Instead, use the ‘preacher curl pad’. It’s a much better way to activate and isolate the biceps. You can do one-arm preacher curls, which are fantastic for building the arms, but you can also do two-arm preacher curls. Three intense sets of 10-15 reps will get the job done!

#3 Cable Machine 

If you work in a busy commercial gym, it’s not always easy to set up circuits, or to use more than one piece of equipment, without somebody pinching it as soon as you leave the machine! 

Lots of your personal training clients will want weight loss, and one of the best ways to do this is to do supersets or giant sets so that you can do multiple exercises, one after the other, and burn lots of calories. One of the best pieces of kit to do this on is a cable machine. For example, you could do a cable bicep curl and then go straight into a cable tricep extension. This is an effective superset to work the entire arm region (biceps and triceps). You could also do a cable cross over (for the chest) and pair it with a seated cable row (for the mid-back). 

#4 Squat Rack 

You’ll want to spend a vast majority of your time in the squat rack when training clients, especially squat racks that have a pull-up bar, and landmine attachment.

If your gyms squat rack has all of these features, then you can combine lots of different exercises using the same piece of kit. For example, with my LEP Fitness one to one personal training clients, I often do the following circuit: back squat (6-10 reps), straight into chin-ups (8-12 reps), straight into landmine press (12-15 reps). This simple three exercise circuit hits the entire body (thighs, glutes, upper/mid back, biceps, chest, shoulders, triceps, core, you name it! 

There are plenty of highly effective exercises that you can do in a squat rack: lunges, split squats, deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, bench press, military press, to name but a few great exercises for burning fat and building muscle. 

#5 Ski Machine 

The ski machine is very popular at cross fit style gyms, but not all commercial gyms have them (although most are slowly catching up!). The ski machine is an awesome piece of kit for helping your personal training clients to burn a whopping number of calories and get super fit. 

What I like about the ski machine is that it hits multiple muscle groups such as lats, arms, lower back, core, thighs, and glutes.

I prefer cardio machines that use various muscle groups, machines such as the ski machine, rower, and assault bike – because they are better for fat loss than machines such as treadmills and stationary bikes. 

If you want your clients to burn more fat and get more bang for their buck during your personal training session, then get them using the ski machine. Here’s a great workout I use with my clients:

Ski Machine EMOM

Set a timer for 5 minutes (one that beeps every minute – check out such apps here) then do the following:

• Round 1: burn 10 cals every minute for 5 mins. 
• Rest for 2 mins
• Round 2: burn 12 cals every minute for 5 mins.
• Rest for 2 mins
• Round 3: burn 14 cals every minute for 5 mins.
• Rest for 2 mins
• Round 4: burn 16 cals every minute for 5 mins.

ETC, ETC!

And keep going until your client can’t do it anymore! 

You could do this challenge with your PT clients once per month and use it as a fitness test. For example, one of my PT clients at the beginning could only do the first round…BUT them three months later they can go all the way up to burning 16 cals per minute for 5 minutes!