You’re familiar with personal training by appointment at your business, but now that COVID-19 has driven you to shut down your physical facility for the time being, you have had to navigate a new order of operations. So, can you be a virtual personal trainer, and provide your clients the same exceptional service they’ve come to expect even when you are apart?

The good news is that personal training at home is an approachable, accessible way to reach your clients which removes many of the barriers typically presented with setting up personal training sessions.

First, virtual personal training is easier to book because it allows clients more available times. No more worrying about the buffer time between home life, work, and sessions, and getting from point A to point B or C. Next, virtual personal training is more private than training in a shared facility. Some people feel self-conscious in their fitness journey around others, so being able to provide this service from the comfort of home is a game changer. Finally, virtual personal training allows you to focus all of your time and energy entirely on your client. Gyms can get crowded or distracting, but virtual sessions eliminate those interruptions completely. There may be the odd disruption from children or pets, but these can be controlled.

So how do you get started acing your virtual training game? Here are a few tips to keep in mind.

Figure out a schedule that works for your clients

Virtual training allows a wonderful opportunity to make it more convenient for your clients, so use that revised schedule to your advantage. Ask your clients if their availability has changed, and when the best times for a session with them would be. Even if they are at home more often now, they may still be busy during the day working from home or helping their children with schoolwork.

If their schedule is static, ask if they want to have the same time each week, or if they need to vary up the times depending on what is going on that week. Most of us have had changes to their daily routines due to the ongoing pandemic, so be mindful and flexible of ongoing changes.

Do what you can to make it more comfortable

While many of us are more relaxed and at ease at home, working out at home may not be where someone feels most comfortable. This can be for a number of reasons: perhaps your clients feel self-conscious working out in front of family or roommates. Or, perhaps they don’t have a big enough space to complete all the workouts they want to. Whatever the reason, sometimes clients opt to separate their fitness from their home life for good reasons.

If this is the case for your client, take time and care to make them more relaxed during the session. Don’t rush into it! Ask them about what’s going on in their life, and get to know their goals, routine, and lifestyle. If they are new to personal training, take time to explain each part of the process to them so that they know what to expect.

Be prepared to pivot when the setting changes

Say you have a client who typically has one full spare room for working out in their home, and knowing this, you have prepared full-body workouts that can take advantage of all this room. But what happens if that room isn’t available anymore? Perhaps their roommate or spouse needs the room for a conference call at that time, and they now have to have their session in the crowded living room.

Instead of rescheduling, being able to pivot when this happens will save time and effort on everyone’s part. Not every client has the same resources—space, equipment, time—and not every session with each of your clients will be the same from week to week. Create an inventory of workout plans for large spaces, small spaces, plans that require equipment and ones that done, and plans that vary in length. When you are learning more about your client’s goals, ask about their resources and develop the plan from there.