Edinburgh Personal Training Academy

24/08/2026

This week in the Academy, we went deep into coaching cues.

Took students through the framework visual, verbal, demonstration. Then coaching. Not over coaching. One piece of information at a time.

Watching it click was genuinely brilliant. Someone who's been over explaining every cue suddenly giving one clear instruction, and watching the client actually respond to it.

That's why I love this job. Not the exercises. Moments like that.

Over coaching is something we see constantly in this industry.

Too much information, too many cues, all at once. This is exactly why we teach it differently.

20/08/2026

Over-coaching. That's the thing I see most in this industry.

Too much information. Too many cues at once. Talking, instead of actually watching.

So I use a system. DECA.

Demonstrate. Show the exercise, in three different coaching styles — not just one way, done once.

Explain. What you want them to do, and why they're doing it. Both, every time.

Coach. One piece of information. Not five corrections in one breath.

Affirm. What went right, before what needs fixed.

That's the fix. Not more information. Less of it, given better.

19/08/2026

At Edinburgh PT Academy, we're big on assessment.

Meeting your client where they're actually at.

Understanding their level, before anything else.

Then assessing properly — so programme design becomes the easy part, not the guessing game.

Sharpen your axe before you cut down the tree.

That's assessment. Not a box to tick before you start program design.

Comment LOGBOOK and I'll send you the coaching system we use.

19th September our next intake, starting to fill up nicely.

19/08/2026

I've talked to a lot of people who got certified online.

Same story, every time. They passed the modules. Got the certificate.

Then stood in front of their first client and froze. Not because they didn't know the exercise.

Because they'd never actually coached anyone before only revised for it.

That's the identity gap. You can pass every module and still not feel like a PT.

It doesn't close by studying harder. It closes by coaching real people, over and over, until it stops feeling like performing.

That's why every Saturday here is practical, not theory. You build the presence before you ever need it.

17/08/2026

16/08/2026

You will coach in a gym.

Your clients will train in a gym.

Fitness Street, every Saturday. Real members training around you while you learn. Not a studio, not a screen.

13/08/2026

Mistakes I made. Part two.

Certificate in hand. Read the articles. Listened to the bodybuilders. Thought I knew everything thought I could just go and be the personal trainer.

The certification should only ever be the foundation.

For years, I did not think I needed to read another article or book. Took me a long time to realise two things:

1. You have to understand the why behind a client, not just the exercises. And where you actually get your knowledge from matters.

2. Question everything. Beginners mindset. That was the principle.

Problem is, every time I questioned the old way and landed on something new, I stopped questioning that. Whatever I had just learned became gospel until the next thing came along and knocked it down too.

Fitness swings from one extreme to another constantly. Staying camped on one side instead of asking what is the downside of this too is just as much a mistake as knowing nothing at all.

That is exactly why the course does not stop at theory.

Understanding the why,staying balanced, questioning your own certainty that is taught alongside the exercises, not left for students to figure out the hard way, years in.

Ten weeks does not finish this. It starts it. Everything after that is still the job — still learning, still questioning, same as me.

Comment "info" and I will send the prospectus over.

11/08/2026

Saturday, part two.

Lots of pulling in this one. Not the point though. It's about getting students into better positions before they ever coach a client into one.

Press mechanics. Pulling mechanics. Same principle. Feel it yourself first, then you can coach it.

Another student lifted 50% more than they thought they could. Not because the weight got lighter. Because we install belief.

That carries straight over to how they coach.

Don't believe me look at part one. You'll see the improvement.

Ten Saturdays. This is what one of them actually looks like.

Kids are back at school next week. Routines start back. If you've been thinking about becoming a personal trainer and want 40 hours of practical hands-on, confident, competent — now's the time.

Spaces are going quickly.

Course starts 19th September.

11/08/2026

Karine just finished her 10 weeks with us.

It's hard to put into words just how much value you get from the face-to-face teaching, hands-on practice and learning alongside everyone else.

That's the bit that matters most. Not reading about it. Doing it, in the room, with real people around you.

Supportive. Collaborative. Practical. And genuinely good fun too, by her account.