Lifestyle Fitness Training

Essential Fitness Equipment for the Freelance Personal Trainer

Okay, the first thing to clear up, is that there is no such thing as essential equipment when it comes to freelance personal training.  You can train anyone using nothing but their own body weight for resistance and achieve an excellent workout.  If you do not feel comfortable doing this, then I strongly recommend that you work out a few routines, try them yourself and try them on friends and family until you do feel comfortable, because I guarantee that at some point in your freelance personal training career you will have to train someone without equipment.

 

 

Maybe your car will breakdown and you won't be able to carry the equipment on your bike. Maybe the client will dislike the equipment you have brought with you.  Perhaps, the equipment you planned to use breaks down.  The point is, don't rely on fitness equipment for a good workout.

 

Having said all that, the right choice of equipment is essential to running a successful personal training business.  Clients and potential clients like to see a personal trainer with a good selection of equipment, and often as part of the sales process at the initial consultation I would take a client out to my van and open up the doors so they could see what I carried to most appointments.

 

But don't make the mistake that many inexperienced fitness trainers make and start buying up everything you see and spending what limited capital they have on the latest fitness gimmicks.  While it is important to have a good selection of fitness equipment it must be:

 

 

 

The following is my recommended list of fitness training equipment for the freelance personal trainer:

 

 

If you intend to do circuit training classes you will need in addition to the above (as a minimum):

 

 

In addition to the fitness training equipment I recommend the following fitness testing equipment for the health and fitness assessment/consultation:

 

 

 

Now the cost of the above will certainly mount up and seem a lot when you cost it up.  But remember you are starting a business and few businesses get started without some capital outlay.  In fact both the start up costs and the ongoing costs of a personal training business are very low compared to many other business types.

 

However, with a view to reducing your initial outlay it is very important to shop around.  Don't be persauded by your training provider to use their in-house supplier without first comparing prices elsewhere, as often this is an expensive option.  There are many online providers of fitness equipment who are very competitive in their pricing. 

 

Another good idea is to visit a few car boot sales. These are great places to pick up little extras for your exercise equipment collection.  Trampettes, ab rollers, dumbell sets, mats are all often seen at the local boot sale.

 

Furthermore, I strongly recommend searching eBay for both new and used fitness training equipment.  As long your equipment is clean and safe it doesn't really matter whether it is new or secondhand.  By it's nature exercise equipment gets bashed around and clients will think it is odd if it all looks unused.  See below for examples of items that are available for purchase right now, or use the search box provided to search for a specific item.

 

 

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