A Normal Monday of Personal Training at Real World Fitness
Yesterday was a pretty standard Monday for me. Nothing unusual, no extremes, no gimmicks, just a full day of personal training with people who’ve all got different reasons for being here, but broadly want the same thing: to feel better and keep doing the things they enjoy.
This is just me my (Derran) client list for the day. There were another 6 or 7 clients seen by other RWF PTs during the day, so this is just my own schedule.
This is pretty normal for a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday – by far my busiest three days, although I’ll still normally see 3/4 people on a Wednesday, 5/6 people on a Friday and 3 people on a Saturday morning. A standard week is about 35hrs of 1-2-1 training with clients – a quiet week is 30, a busy one can top 40.
I kick off this Monday at 8am, although I normally have a 7am personal training appointment who is away on business this week.
8am – Lisa
Lisa came to me for personal training a few years ago because she was in pain, with ongoing leg and lower back issues that made walking uncomfortable. I already trained her husband, who had been trying to get her to see me for a while.
Personal Training client Lisa wouldn’t have set foot in a gym a few years ago – now she’s here every week without fail
Walking wasn’t just casual exercise for her either. She loves hiking. Long walks in the mountains and day trips in the Lake District. She was close to giving all of that up.
She’d already been down the usual routes. Physios. Osteos. Medication. Painkillers. Nothing really fixed the issue, it just took the edge off for a bit. By the time she came to me, I was very much a last option.
What we did was basic.
Single-leg strength work and lower body strengthening. Slow, controlled exercises. No fancy exercises. Just building strength in the areas most likely to show quick response.
Six to nine months in, everyday walking was much easier. Her pain had reduced significantly and the confidence came back.
A year or so after that, she was back doing three and four-day walking holidays again, something she genuinely thought she might not be able to do anymore.
Lisa would never have called herself a gym person. But she trains once a week with me, and once a week solo, almost every week of the year unless she’s on holiday. That consistency is what’s made the difference.
9am – Mark
Mark originally came to me for kettlebell work to improve his conditioning for jiu-jitsu. That was the initial focus, and it worked. His cardio improved, his strength went up, and it transferred onto the mat.
As often happens, his goals changed over time.
Now in his early forties, the priority is longevity. Staying strong and trying to avoid the slow build-up of aches and niggles most people just accept.
So we added more structured strength training. Nothing extreme. Just sensible progression.
He trains once a week with me, and once or twice a week solo. Holidays and family life aside, he’s been consistent for years, which, boring as it is, makes the difference in training.
10am – James
James has been training with me for seven or eight years.
He started personal training in his early thirties with fairly standard goals. Lose some weight. Get fitter. Get stronger. Learn how to train properly instead of guessing and getting hurt.
That’s pretty much what we’ve done the whole time.
Simple gym training with an emphasis on strength. Over the years we’ve run different phases, including some powerlifting-style programmes, but nothing complicated.
As he’s got older, the focus has shifted. Less about chasing numbers, more about being fit and strong enough to deal with work, stress, and general life without feeling beat up.
I usually see James twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays, and he’ll train outside of that when work allows.
11:30am – Jacquie
Jacquie’s been training with me for around two and a half years. Her husband started first, wanting to, as he put it, “bomb-proof” himself heading into his fifties.
Jacquie learning the box squat as part of a complete introduction to weight training
Jacquie joined a couple of months later, along with both their teenage daughters, once of whom train with me, and the other trains with Sophie.
She wasn’t new to exercise. She runs and is a nutritional scientist. What was new was proper weight training. Barbells, squats, bench pressing. None of that was familiar.
She also had a few running-related niggles. Again, the solution wasn’t complicated. Basic strength work. Big compound lifts. Starting with goblet squats before progressing to the bar.
She trained a couple of times a week for a long time. Now she trains once a week with me and does a couple of sessions on her own.
That step back is deliberate. The aim isn’t to keep people dependent on me. It’s to get them competent and confident enough to train alone – and to make sure the habit stays for life.
12:30pm – Mike
Mike started personal training with me about two and a half years. He’s late 30s and a computer engineer, so lots of sitting down.
He wanted to get stronger, lose some weight, and look like he actually trained. Nothing dramatic.
Personal Training client Mike learning great form
We started with basic full-body gym work. Learning how to squat, hinge, press, and pull properly. Building habits around turning up and sorting his nutrition out.
From a standing start, he’s lost a significant amount of weight and built a lot of strength. Squatting around 130kg. Deadlifting 130–140kg. Closing in on a 100kg bench.
More important than the numbers is how consistent he is. If I tell Mike to train three times a week, he does it.
He started out seeing me twice a week. Now it’s once a week, always on a Monday, and he’ll train 2/3 times a week on top solo.
1:30pm – Paul
Paul started just over a year ago after his wife walked into the gym and told me he needed to do some exercise!
Paul’s in his early sixties. Naturally stocky and with a decent base of muscle despite not having trained much before.
RWF Personal Training Client Paul learning some prone dumbbell row technique
He had plantar fasciitis, back issues, and was starting to feel like his sporting days were behind him. He loves table tennis but everything was taking longer to recover from. Long walks were uncomfortable and it was starting to limit what he and his wife wanted to do together.
We focused on basic strength training. Learning to squat properly. Building resilience rather than avoiding movement.
They’re retired and travel a lot, so we plan around that. Cruise ship workouts. Hotel gym plans. When they’re back home, Paul and his wife Jeannine both train with me consistently.
3pm – Claire
Claire came to me just over a year ago wanting to lose some weight and sort her health out properly.
She’d trained with PTs before, but despite paying for coaching, nobody had taught her how to squat, bench, or use a barbell properly. It had mostly been high-impact circuits and jumping around.
RWF Personal Training Client Clare learning military push press
We stripped it back to basics and learned how to train properly; most of which was moving away from the notion that everything has to be fast paced and sweaty. We slowly sorted nutrition gradually alongside that.
She’s now down around 15kg. She squats 60–70kg and is closing in on a 50kg bench press. She’s about 5’3″, so that’s solid progress in a year.
4pm – Chris
Chris has personal training with me three times a week and has done for a couple of years. A business owner with two young kids, time is a luxury for him.
He came from a running background and wanted to add muscle. Gym training was completely new to him.
He’s probably the most consistent person I know. Turns up, does the work and never any drama.
Chris hitting a Pendlay row as part of the bicep and back work we do in his sessions
He’s now just shy of a 90kg bench, deadlifts 130kg, and squats 110kg for reps with good form. He weighs around 75–80kg.
None of that came from natural talent. It came from turning up week in and week out, and trusting a process.
5pm – Tom
Tom’s been training with me around three years. Late twenties and 6’3″. He plays a lot of football, which comes with a lot of tightness and a long list of minor injuries.
When he started, he couldn’t squat properly, even with just the bar.
Tom in a trap bar deadlift phase of programming
We spent a long time building things from the ground up, often around injuries flaring up. Three years on, he’s benching 100kg for reps and squatting around 100kg when injuries allow. Deadlifting doesn’t suit his build, so we load him in other ways.
Every Monday evening, without fail.
We usually finish around half six. I give him a lift home, then head off to train myself.
Different gym, different scenery, which is needed after nearly 12hrs in my own gym. Tonight was my fourth session of German Volume Training squats. Ten sets of ten at 120kg, so twelve tonnes of squatting at the end of a long day, followed by some curls and tricep work.
And that’s my Monday.
To be fair, that’s most Mondays.
No beastings, no watching someone for 30 mins on a treadmill. Just people using strength training to make life easier and keep doing the things they enjoy.
As you can see, we work with a huge range of personal training clients at RWF. I haven’t picked a particularly special or interesting day, this is simply what it’s like, and what our client base looks like, more or less.
If you want to train around normal people, with everyday issues and everyday lives, come and visit us. You might be surprised how different we are from any other gym you’ve visited!
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