advice for other trainers...

1. Get a qualification that covers not only the fundamentals of personal training, but also nutrition, sports therapy, motivation and goal setting, and special populations. And never stop learning once you've become qualified.

2. Invest in good quality equipment for measuring blood pressure and body composition. These are essential statistics for establishing a client's health and monitoring their progress. Have a range of exercise equipment that you bring with you, or encourage the client to buy so they can train between sessions. Bear in mind that some of the best exercises require no equipment at all. If you're a personal trainer in London, there are dozens of excellent retail stores for fitness equipment, such as Powerhouse Fitness at Charing Cross underground station.

3. Train your client to become increasingly self motivated, and increasingly knowledgeable. Encourage the client to exercise between your sessions. Monitor their activity levels and eating habits, and give regular feedback.

4. Ensure your clients don't neglect any aspect of fitness. Encourage them to maintain cardiovascular fitness in particular. If they're not keen on cardiovascular exercise, it is your duty to educate them about the importance of a healthy heart, and then find ways of making cardio exercise more enjoyable. London personal trainers have the advantage of London's many parks to do a personal training session outdoors.

5. Encourage your clients to focus on their objectives. Worthwhile objectives are not achieved overnight, so you need to keep your clients motivated over the long term. This means helping your client to set achievable and measurable goals, with deadlines for reaching progressive levels. Add variety to the training sessions to keep challenging your clients.

6. Make it your goal to delight your clients - don't settle for mere satisfaction. You need to ask for their feedback, comments and suggestions. You need to master the art of communication. A good personal training business is based on exceeding your clients' expectations. An important part of this to explain to your clients at the outset what expectations are realistic and safe.

7. If you're a personal trainer in London, always allow extra travel time to ensure you get to your client on time. If I have a client first thing in the morning, I tend to get there half an hour early and have breakfast in a cafe within 10 minutes walk from the client, to guarantee I'm never late for the session.