Question 1

Do you offer face to face coaching?

Accepted Answer

Not at the minute. This is a second job for me, so logistically getting into the gym with clients every day isn't possible. I'm focusing 100% on online training for now, but this comes with lots of ongoing and regular support from me, as well as exercise guides and videos for those who are new to the gym

Question 2

How long are the plans?

Accepted Answer

Plans can be as long as they need to be for each individual, but are a minimum of 3 monhs to begin. Any less than that is unlikely to be enough time to get noticeable results or to develop new habits

Question 3

How much does coaching cost?

Accepted Answer

Coaching costs £99 per month which works out at £3.50 per day or just under £25 per week. The first payment will be taken when you sign up and then a direct debit will be takeneach month afterwards until you're finished (minimum 3 months)
 
Payments can be made using debit cards, credit cards or Paypal and I only take payment after you have filled in the initial questionnaires and we've had a follow up consultation call
 
More details can be found on the Coaching page

Question 4

Will I need to exercise every day?

Accepted Answer

No you don’t have to train every day to achieve great results. How often you exercise is mostly down to you and how many workouts you can realistically do week in week out. I will always base the frequency around your experience, routine and lifestyle but most of my clients train between 2 and 4 times every week

Question 5

How long will each workout take?

Accepted Answer

My plans usually include a mixture of weight/resistance training and cardio training. Each resistance workout takes around 45 minutes and cardio workouts take an average of 30 minutes. In total you should be spending less than 4 hours per week in the gym assuming 3-4 workouts per week in total which isn’t much in the grand scheme of things.

Question 6

Can I skip workouts if I have a busy week?

Accepted Answer

Where possible you should aim to do every workout as laid out on the plan if you want the best results, and I’ll work with you at the beginning to set a realistic number of workouts per week. It’s understandable that things come up so where possible I’ll help you work around these or adjust your training schedule as needed.

Question 7

Is there help available if I don’t know how to do the exercises?

Accepted Answer

Yes lots.... each exercise comes with an instruction video and a description of how it should be done. I’ll also provide additional technique videos and am available for any questions as you go. If you are struggling with an exercise at any point you can also take a video of yourself and send it to me and I’ll be able to give you advice.

Question 8

Do I need a gym membership?

Accepted Answer

No, I offer gym or home workout plans and can tailor them based on the equipment you have available. There are lots of benefits to having a gym membership but you can still get good results with a combination of body weight and resistance bands

Question 9

Do I need to buy any equipment?

Accepted Answer

You will need to buy a set of bathroom scales to weigh yourself, and a fabric tape measure or myotape device to take body measurements through the programme.
 
If you are doing a home workout plan then I recommend some additional equipment so that I can build an effective exercise plan for you. As a minimum this would be a good set of resistance bands, but a pull up bar and set of adjustable dumbbells are also particularly useful. I can give recommendations for specific products if helpful.

Question 10

Will I get a meal plan?

Accepted Answer

I don’t use meal plans with any of my clients, for the simple reason that they usually don’t work. There are lots of disadvantages to using meal plans – they create an all or nothing mindset, they aren’t flexible enough to fit around your life, and they don’t educate you on how to make better food choices. Instead, I take a coaching approach where I create a series of nutrition habits based on your initial questionnaire and work with you to implement these one by one

Question 11

Do I need to change what I eat or can I just follow the workouts?

Accepted Answer

Chances are that some changes to your current diet will be required but it’s hard to say exactly how big or small those changes need to be until I understand more about your current diet, lifestyle and relationship with food. Nutrition goes hand in hand with exercise and for anyone trying to achieve a noticeable difference in their body composition, getting this part of the puzzle in place is vital. This isn’t just about how much you eat, it’s also about what you eat (and what you don’t eat). Nutrition can be one of the hardest areas to change your habits, so my approach is to put together a series of nutrition habits specifically tailored to you and then work with you to implement them one by one. If needed we start with small, achievable steps and build them up as you go. I can promise there will be no fad diets or extreme calorie cutting

Question 12

How do the nutrition habits work?

Accepted Answer

When I create your exercise plan I also create a series of tried and tested nutrition habits based on your initial questionnaire. These habits are set out and prioritised in a way that will have the biggest impact for you, starting with a few base habits and then building more advanced ones on top. For example a habit might be to eat 5 portions of fruit and veg every day, or to eat good fats with each meal. I’ll send across an email with your 1st habit at the very start of your programme and then another new one every 2 weeks until you finish. This way you get 2 weeks to practice each new habit and get good at it before layering another new one on top. 
This approach has been shown to be much more effective at changing behaviour than a fad diet or trying to ompeltely overhaul your diet in 1 go. I’ll work with you through the check ins to help you keep on track and get feedback from you on how well you are impementing the habits. Approaching it like this also means you don’t get bombarded with an overwhelming amount of information too soon which is likely to overwhelm you.

Question 13

Will I need to count calories and track what I eat?

Accepted Answer

Not necessarily. While this approach is helpful for some, many people who want to reduce their body fat levels don't need this level of detail. They will get some great results just by making tweaks to their diet and then implementing these consistently. If you do feel like you'd like to track results more closely then along with the nutrition habits I can calculate your optimum calorie intake and macro breakdown and we'll track this regularly along with all the other metrics.
 
For some clients I do recommend tracking things much more closely, for example if your doet is already very good and you are implementing the majority of nutrition habits we may want more detailed tracking to fine-tune your diet. For those who want to build muscle I usually also recommend tracking calories and protein to make sure that gains are coming from muscle growth while minimising any increase in body fat.

Question 14

How will I know if the plan is working?

Accepted Answer

Tracking is a very important part of the coaching process and helps us both know that you are making progress. Each week you’ll keep a log of every workout you do as well as your energy levels, stress, sleep, bodyweight, how well you are following the nutrition practices and any additional thoughts, comments or notes you have. Then every 4 weeks you’ll take body circumference measures and photos which will allow me to get a good idea of how your body composition is changing and based on all of this I can advise on what to do next.
I'll check your progress each week and every 4 weeks we’ll also have a more in depth coaching style conversation to discuss what is going well, and any areas where you are struggling. Based on this we work together to come up with a plan for the next 4 weeks and discuss any barriers that could get in the way.

Question 15

What if I have questions during the week?

Accepted Answer

As well as the weekly email check ins and 4 weekly skype calls you’ll have my phone number (for WhatsApp) and email address, and can contact me with questions at any time

Question 16

What commitment is required from me?

Accepted Answer

The plan options are 12 weeks, 16 weeks or 24 weeks. The longer plans work out cheaper per month and also mean we have plenty of time to help you develop new habits and see changes to your body. I won’t work with anyone for less than 12 weeks as it isn’t long enough to get noticeable results for most people. At the end of every week you’ll need to make sure your tracker is completely up to date, including logging your workouts, body weight measures and other metrics like energy levels, stress levels and quality of sleep. Every 4 weeks you’ll need to take body circumference measures and send updated photos. Constant communication is key throughout the process so I have built this into all of the programmes

Question 17

Privacy Policy

Accepted Answer

We receive, collect and store any information you enter on our website or provide us in any other way. In addition, we collect the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet. We may use software tools to measure and collect session information, including page response times, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information, and methods used to browse away from the page. We also collect personally identifiable information where you have provided it eg when signing up to recieve blog posts or filling in a contact form (name and email address).
 
Our company is hosted on the Wix.com platform. Wix.com provides us with the online platform that allows us to sell our products and services to you. Your data may be stored through Wix.com’s data storage, databases and the general Wix.com applications. They store your data on secure servers behind a firewall. All direct payment gateways offered by Wix.com and used by our company adhere to the standards set by PCI-DSS as managed by the PCI Security Standards Council, which is a joint effort of brands like Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. PCI-DSS requirements help ensure the secure handling of credit card information by our store and its service providers.
 
If you sign up for a programme we collect additonal personal information via an online questionnaire, which is stored on Google Forms, and password protected. Throughout your programme I will ask you to track information such as your weight and body measurements. These are stored on Google Sheets which is password protected, and are only accessible by me and you. if you would prefer to track your progress via an excel sheet/email please let me know and that can be set up.
 
If you would like your details removed at any time please contact stephen@step1fitness.com

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If you have any questions about online training, fitness or nutrition, check out the FAQs below or send me a message

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