What a First Personal Training Session at 212 Fitness Actually Looks Like

By Josiah Schultz, B.S., CSCS | 212 Fitness, Millcreek, Utah

TLDR:

• Knowing what a personal training session looks like makes it easier for you to get started
• Your first step is a free, no-pressure consult where we learn about your goals — not a workout.
• A simple fitness assessment (bodyweight squats, planks, mobility checks) tells us where you’re starting from — no sweating required.
• Your actual first workout is built around functional strength moves, modified to your level, with minimal soreness by design.
• You’ll leave with a personalized, doable action plan — not a generic list you’ll ignore.
• We follow up with you between sessions, because progress happens in the other 23 hours of your day too.

The most important step to reaching your fitness goals is the first- getting started! However, many people procrastinate starting a fitness routine because they have a fear of the unknown. Some people think that exercising will be a lot harder than it actually is. Others think they need to have a certain base level of fitness, or that they need to be “in-shape”, to get started. Neither of these reasons should keep you from beginning an exercise program and starting to make progress on your fitness goals. My goal is to encourage you to start an exercise program by showing you what a first personal training session at 212 Fitness looks like, and removing some of the hesitation you may have that comes with not knowing what starting looks like.

What Happens During the Free Consult?

We start all potential personal training members off with a free fitness consult. We meet you in person at the studio, which allows you to decide if you can see yourself working out here. Gyms and fitness centers can be intimidating, but most people are surprised by how welcoming our organized, open floor layout feels. It’s an added bonus when you see other people training in our studio, as you will see how welcoming and friendly they are, and not at all intimidating!

One of the most important parts of the free consult is learning about your goals. We want to know your ideal end point, so that we can come up with the best plan to get you where you want to go. It may sound obvious, but too many gyms put their members into cookie cutter programs or assume that everyone has the same fitness goals. When considering the importance of your end goal, I’m reminded of the line from Yogi Berra “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else”. We need to know where you want to be, and where you’re at currently (more about this later) to develop a plan that will work and lead to results. We also want to learn as much as we can about why you have the goals that you do. Fitness goals are achieved through consistency- exercising consistently, staying active daily, continuing to make small, yet impactful, nutrition decisions. We help our members learn to leverage the power of habits to achieve this consistency. However, motivation plays a huge role in being consistent before your healthy choices have become habitual. This is why we dig into detail about why you have the goals you do. You can start this important process on your own reading the blog I wrote about why “WHY” matters here or watching my video on motivation and goal accomplishment here.

The final critical component of the fitness consult is collaborating on your plan with you! As fitness professionals, we know exactly what someone needs to do to accomplish their goals. However, everyone has different amounts of time, energy and motivation to put into reaching their goals. Some people are excited to exercise in the gym daily, and can also find the time to do so. Other people may have work and family commitments that only allow them to exercise at the gym 2-3 times per week. Some people are motivated to make big changes to their diet, while others are only willing to make small, incremental changes to how they eat. No one is right and no one is wrong, but we do want to ensure that we come up with a plan that’s actually doable for you. After all, the “perfect plan” that you never act on is much less effective than a “50% effective plan” that you execute consistently.

What Does the Fitness Assessment Actually Involve?

I talked previously about the importance of knowing your ideal end point and how it is necessary to develop a plan to help you reach your goals. It’s a process we call “reverse engineering”- start with where you want to be, and then work backwards to where you’re currently at. This means that in addition to knowing where you want to be, we also need to know where you’re at now. This is the main point of the fitness assessment. It seems like it would make the most sense to do the fitness assessment during the free consult- before we recommend the best plan for you to take. However, we’ve found that coming in for a free consult is already intimidating for some people, without the added pressure of having to perform a fitness assessment. This is why we perform the fitness assessment at the beginning of your first personal training session at 212.

The fitness assessment consists of a few basic movements like bodyweight squats, good mornings and exercises to assess your shoulder range of motion. We also do some very simple core exercises, like planks, birddogs and dead bugs. People rarely break a sweat in the fitness assessment, as the goal is to evaluate your current fitness level, not to give you a full workout. The exercises we have selected for the fitness assessment are also crucial in allowing us to develop a personalized training program that will ensure your safety. The assessment allows us to identify muscular imbalance and mobility limitations that you may have. We can then program specific exercises to address these imbalances or limitations. We’re also able to write an exercise program that will challenge you and help you reach your goals with exercises that are safe based on your imbalances or limitations.

We also identify the strengths you currently have. Depending on your goals, we may want to simply maintain these areas, or we may want to leverage them to help you reach your goals faster. For example, Jeremy wanted to build leg strength to help with his hiking, biking and skiing. He didn’t have experience squatting, but his lunge form was solid from day one. We would still teach him how to back squat, but we would rely heavily on using the lunge exercise to build strength in his legs.

The assessment also allows us to confirm if we’ve recommended the best plan. Susan is a new member whose friend trained in our group strength classes. She met with Stephanie, our onboarding coach and lead women’s personal trainer, to learn more about the group strength program. After going through the assessment with Stephanie, Susan realized that our women’s small group personal training program was the best place for her to start. It’s also common that we have people come in expecting to join our personal training program, that we end up recommending our group training program to after they complete their fitness assessment. The best training plan depends both on where you want to go and where you’re at currently.

What Does Your First Workout Actually Look Like?

As mentioned above, your first workout will start with a fitness assessment. We’ll begin with a simple warm up- typically a few minutes at an easy pace on an exercise bike to get your heart rate up and blood flowing to your extremities. We’ll then go into some simple dynamic stretches to help increase your range of motion and get you ready to exercise. We finish the warm up with exercises to increase your muscle activation- exercises like planks, side planks, squats and banded presses and pulls. Don’t worry, this is a warm up and we’ll have you perform these exercises at a low to moderate level of difficulty.

Next up are the strength exercises. These will be different for each person, based on their goals and their fitness assessment results. However, there are a few guidelines we follow in all sessions. First, we want to have you perform exercises that will build functional, full body strength. These are exercises like squats, lunges, bridges, planks, bird dogs, push ups and rows. If any of these exercises intimidate you, don’t be! We can make a squat easier by simply having you sit down on a bench and stand up. Push ups can be modified by elevating your hands to the height of a table, or higher if needed. We want to make the exercises just hard enough to prompt your body to build itself up stronger. It turns out that for people just getting started with strength training, this doesn’t need to be very hard at all. We also want to limit how sore you get after your first workout. Yes, muscle soreness is a part of strength training, but there are a lot of things we can do as personal trainers to ensure that the soreness you experience is minimal and limited.

Next we’ll get into the exercises designed to address any muscular imbalances or mobility limitations you may have. These exercises tend to involve resistance bands, light weights and lots of focused movements. Don’t let their simple appearance fool you- these are some of the most important exercises you can do. They will allow you to move more freely and allow you to perform more traditional strength exercises- like squats and push ups- safely. I especially love how so many of these exercises feel easy, but leave you with a great burn in the muscle and you can really feel how they are working!

Depending on your goals, we may do some cardio. Most people beginning an exercise program will benefit from building an aerobic base. You may be familiar with the term “Zone 2” which means that you are working at a moderate intensity- you can talk to someone, it just takes a bit of effort. The great thing about Zone 2 cardio is that it’s relatively comfortable and it has great health benefits when you perform it for 20 minutes or more, which isn’t a huge time commitment. It’s also something you can do easily on your own without a trainer. However, we will add this into the first session for people who can’t, or won’t, do it on their own, or who want to learn more about how they should pace themselves in this type of cardio.

Finally we have the cool down. Without getting too technical, when you exercise you are breaking the body down and putting it into “fight or flight mode”. After working out, we want the body to build itself back stronger, and this is best accomplished by helping the body get into “rest and digest mode” as soon as possible. The great thing is, static strength and soft tissue work (like foam rolling) are great ways to get the body into recovery mode and are great at addressing any mobility restrictions you may have. Your cool down will consist of specific static stretches chosen by your personal trainer to help with your specific fitness goals and needs. If you hate stretching or if it sounds uncomfortable, don’t worry! Our personal trainers are great at keeping the cool down engaging and enjoyable, and our personal training members always feel great after their cool down!

What Happens After Your First Session?

Surprisingly, your first personal training session isn’t over once you finish your cool down. There is so much that goes into achieving your fitness goals outside of your training sessions. After all, there are 23 other hours in the day and there is so much to be done in those hours! Once you have finished your workout, your personal trainer will go over the action steps they want you to take before they see you again. The action steps are personalized for you and your goals- again, we want to make sure they not only support where you are trying to go, but that they are doable for you. Two of the most common action steps we assign here at 212 are a walking, or steps, goal and mobility work. Most people find a steps goal between sessions very doable, and walking is surprisingly beneficial for many fitness goals- whether your goal is to lose body fat or improve your overall health and strength. We have found that some personal training members have a harder time motivating themselves to do mobility work (which can include stretching) between workouts. However, as you will experience during your cool down, once people experience how much better they feel after their mobility work, they are much more likely to spend 5 to 10 minutes daily on their own on this work.

Finally, our personal trainers are here to support you between your sessions. Before you finish your first session, your trainer will schedule a follow-up check-in with you. It can be text or email, but we will ask you which check-in method you prefer, and we’ll let you know when you can expect to hear from us. Again, there are 23 hours in a day outside of your actual workout, and we’re here to support you during those other 23 hours as well.

Getting started is the first, and biggest, step toward reaching your fitness goals. There is no perfect time to start and if you’re wanting to make a change in your health and fitness, I would encourage you to take the first step today. I understand that the fear of the unknown can be a giant barrier for people, and I hope that by describing what a first personal training session at 212 Fitness is like I have removed that barrier for you. If you’re interested in learning more about how we can help you achieve your fitness goals, I’d love to meet with you — book your free intro session here.

FAQ:

Do I need to be in shape before starting personal training?
No. Your first session is designed to meet you exactly where you are — the fitness assessment exists to build your plan around your current level, not a level you think you need to hit first.

What happens during the free consult?
We talk through your goals, what’s realistic for your schedule and energy, and whether personal training or another program is the right fit — before you commit to anything.

Will my first workout be really hard or make me really sore?
No. The goal of a first session is to introduce movement patterns safely, not to push you to your limit. Soreness is minimized intentionally.

How long is a first personal training session at 212 Fitness?
Your first session runs about 50 minutes, which covers the fitness assessment, your first workout, and time to go over your action steps together.

What happens after my first session?
You’ll get a personalized action plan (usually a steps goal and mobility work) and your trainer will schedule a check-in with you before you leave.

References

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Physical Activity Basics: adults need at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week, such as 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.
2. Harvard Health Publishing. Understanding the stress response — the parasympathetic nervous system promotes the “rest and digest” response that calms the body after a stress response has passed.
3. National Library of Medicine (PubMed). Research on exercise habit formation shows that trainers who prioritize simplicity and consistency in the first weeks of training can support habit formation within a matter of weeks.

Disclaimer: The information provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider before making any changes to your diet, exercise, or nutrition regimen.