Arrive with a body that slept and ate, tell the truth about the week, do the homework and write it down, ask why once per session, keep the same slot, say when a cue does not land, take the deload as seriously as the heavy week, and review the goal at the end of every block. Coaches quietly give the most to clients who do these things, not from favouritism but because those clients make the program work.
This is the client's playbook. The other side, judging whether the coaching itself is any good, is in how to tell if your trainer is good after a month.
The playbook, in order of leverage
- Sleep and eat before you come. A session on five hours and no breakfast is a smaller session, and the coach will program it that way.
- Tell the truth about the week. Missed homework, a bad night, a sore knee: all of it moves the loads, and none of it is a confession.
- Do the homework and log it. Two written lines about a homework day are worth more than a perfect memory of it.
- Ask why once per session. One good question a session teaches you the program; ten turn the hour into a lecture.
- Keep the same slot. The coach plans your block around it, and your week stops negotiating with itself.
- Say when a cue does not land. Coaches have several ways of saying the same thing and cannot tell which reached you unless you say.
- Take the deload seriously. The light week is programmed; skipping it or sneaking in extra undoes the block it protects.
- Review the goal every block. The reason you came in changes, and the program should change with it.
- Ask for more or less when you need it. More coaching while learning, less as you become independent; the coach would rather hear it than guess.
Before the session: the body you bring
The most useful thing you can do for a session happens the night before. A coach can adjust a program for a tired body but cannot make it fresh, and heavy technical work on no sleep is where small injuries come from. Eat something a couple of hours out; for a six a.m. session, a small breakfast beats an empty stomach.
Then tell the truth about what you brought. "Slept four hours, skipped Thursday's homework, knee is fine" is a complete report, and more useful than a cheerful "good, thanks" that turns out false in the second warm-up set. What to tell your personal trainer has the longer list; anything that changes the loads is worth a sentence.
During the session: one why, and honest effort
Ask why once. "Why the pause at the bottom?" gets you a piece of the program's logic, and over a block you understand the whole thing. Ask constantly and the session becomes a seminar.
Report effort honestly. When the coach asks how many reps you had left, the true answer helps, even if it is "none" or "probably five"; next week's loads are set from it.
And say when a cue does not land. "When you say chest up, I arch" is not criticism; it is what the coach needs to choose the second cue.
Between sessions: the homework, the log, the slot
Most of a training week happens without the coach in the room, so the homework matters more than it seems to. A written program for the in-between days, done and logged, is the difference between a session that steers the week and one that just happens. The 20-minute homework day between coached sessions is what that looks like.
Keep the slot. Same day, same time, ideally the same coach; the block is planned around it, and your week stops renegotiating every Sunday night. If travel or a work crunch is coming, say so a block ahead so the program is written around it rather than broken by it.
At the end of a block: deload, review, more or less
Every few weeks the program eases off on purpose. The deload is where the previous weeks' work turns into strength, and the clients who get the most from coaching treat it as part of the plan, not a week off or a week to sneak in extra. Do the light week as written.
Then review. What did the block set out to do, did it, and is the reason you came in still the reason? A goal that shifts from "lose weight" to "get through ski season without the knee" should change the next block, which only happens if you say it. This is also the moment to ask for more or less coaching: more while learning, fewer sessions once you can run a homework day alone. At Coresa that shift often runs from 1-on-1 personal training, where the assessment and first blocks happen, toward small group training, where prepared, progressing programming continues in a room of no more than eight.
Why coaches give the most to clients who do this
It is not favouritism. A coach can only program with the information they have, and a client who sleeps, reports honestly, logs the homework and keeps the slot hands over a complete picture. With that, the coach can be bolder: heavier top sets, a harder block, a variant they would not risk on someone whose week is a mystery. The reward is a better program, and nobody has to decide to give it.
Common questions
Is it okay to ask my trainer to explain the whole program?
Yes, once, ideally at the start of a block. Ask for the shape: what the block is for, the main lifts, when the deload falls. The details are better learned one why at a time; a full walkthrough every session eats the hour.
Should I train hard on my own between sessions?
Train as written. If the program gives you a homework day, do that day at that effort. Extra hard sessions because you feel good are the most common way clients quietly sabotage a block, and invisible to the coach unless logged.
If I skipped the homework, should I admit it or hide it?
Admit it, in one sentence. The coach adjusts today's loads and, if it keeps happening, rewrites the homework to fit your actual week. Hiding it means the next block is built on training that never happened.
How often should I bring up changing the goal?
At the end of each block as a habit, and sooner when life changes it: a new job, an injury, a race entered on a whim. Between those moments let the block run; a goal that changes weekly cannot be programmed for.
Is it rude to tell a coach a cue is not working?
The opposite. A coach's job is to find the words that fix your movement, and the only way they know a cue missed is if you say. Clients who say so early get fixed faster.
