Most personal training sessions last 60 minutes, but is this right? It’s something i’ve toyed with over the last 7 years since starting LEP Fitness (my personal training business in Sheffield). As well as doing 60 minute sessions, i’ve also done 45 mins, 30 mins and very briefly 15 minute sessions!

This post is good for both clients (who train with a personal trainer) and also for personal trainers themselves – how long should you train each client? 

In this post let’s dive into…

How long should your personal training session last? 

60 Minute PT Sessions  

1 hour is the standard time for most personal training sessions. In fact, id say 90% of personal trainers do 60 minute sessions!

I think 1 hour is a good amount of time, however I also think it’s too much for lots of people. With my clients, only 25% of them train with me for 1 hour! 

The people that train with me for 1 hour are either very fit and have been training for a while, or are training for strength/muscle building, in which case more rest is needed in between sets, therefore the sessions take longer. 

45 Minute Personal Training Sessions 

This is what most of my clients will do with myself, 45 mins! It’s plenty of time. I typically get my clients to do a 2 minute warm up on the row machine or ski machine, then they do 1-2 mins mobility… then were good to go after 3/4 mins. Once the client is warmed up, it’s none stop action (unless the client is new and unfit, where I will slowly build them up). 

I find 45 mins to be the perfect length of time for most people, if you take off the warm up and cool down (approx 5 mins) then you have 40 mins to kick butt! As most of my clients are trying to lose weight and burn fat, I like to do circuits, using big muscle groups that burn lots of calories and build lean muscle, for example one of my circuits looks like this…

• 200m row (as fast as possible)
• Deadlifts x 10-15 reps
• Incline DB press x 10-15 reps
• Split squats x 10-15 reps each leg
• Incline DB row x 10-15 reps
• DB squat press x 10-15 reps
• Sit ups x 1-2 mins 

The client will do one exercise after the other, then rest for 1 minute, before going again. After 3 rounds most clients are done! If this becomes too easy, I will increase the weight, or reps, or reduce the rest time. The point is 45 mins is enough if you use the time wisely. 

PT sessions that are 30 mins or less

Not enough time! I’ve done it in the past, but would say that it’s too short. Unless your client is seriously unfit, or old, injured, etc. 30 mins goes far too quickly for most people. Like I’ve said… I think 45 mins is perfect, and in some cases 1 hour sessions – depending on your clients level of fitness and goal. 

My Own Training Sessions…

When I look at how long I workout for… it’s often no more than 1 hour, and 20 mins is spent foam rolling, mobilising and stretching, so i’m only actually doing 40 mins total work. I’ve been training for over 15 years and 45 mins is enough! Also, most people don’t have much free time, so 45 mins can fit neatly into a persons schedule. 

Just because most PT’s do 1 hour sessions doesn’t mean you have too! Do what you think is best. If you’re a client and want to do 45 mins… ask your coach if this is possible. If you’re a coach and do 1 hour sessions, then the next client you take on, try 45 minute sessions, and see if you can still do what you’d do in an hour but over a shorter period of time. I think most PT’s would be surprised at what you can do!  

Thanks for reading, please check out my other health and fitness blogs – there are over 800 articles on my site and that number keeps growing!

Nick 🙂

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