Let us now sidestep over to weight room where dumbbells are kept, and once again get in start position for a standing bicep curl with dumbbells. Notice term "standing". You know, like you DIDN'T do all day at work, and hopefully also did not do in your car on way to gym. So before we even start exercise, we are using more muscles than we did on machine - namely leg muscles.

Now let's pick up a 10 lb dumbbell in each hand. We've just added 20 lbs to our body weight. What is keeping us from losing our center of balance and falling clean over? The abdominal muscles and muscles of lower back and spine. Now we are using our legs, our abs, and our back. Flex those elbows and start to raise dumbbells. Now our center of gravity has become a fluid state, and our legs, back, and abs all have to constantly compensate to maintain posture. Oh, and biceps are also in on action by this point, as are forearms, fingers, and shoulder girdle.

We now have dumbbells all way up and it's time to start lowering them again, via an eccentric contraction of biceps (also know as extending elbow). What muscle group controls extension of elbow? The triceps on back of arm.

Did you lose track yet? It's okay if you did because you have illustrated point:

Machine Bicep Curl: Uses biceps, forearms, and fingers

Cost: Thousands of dollars

Standing Dumbbell Bicep Curl: Uses biceps, forearms, fingers, legs, abs, back, triceps, and shoulders.

Cost: $40 for a good set of dumbbells that can be used for dozens of other exercises

In a nutshell, free weight exercises simply USE MORE MUSCLES than machines do, which make them more effective. Does that mean that machines are a complete waste? Absolutely not! In some circumstances it is BETTER to stabilize muscles being used in any given movement. However, those circumstances are exception, rather than rule.

So what do you do? Change up your routine, and incorporate free weights as well as machine exercises. However, keep machine work to a minimum - say 20% of your total time spent working with weights. Spend other 80% developing your stabilizer muscles, your sense of balance and coordination, and if nothing else - just standing up!

After all, you can go home and sit down on couch to enjoy your post-workout snack. The bicep machine already brought kids home from soccer practice, remember?

If you are going to take your clients through an aerobic workout during their session, you can either incorporate "heart rate maintenance" exercises into workout itself, or you can get anaerobic exercises out of way, and then move into an aerobic workout for second half of session. Just remember that if your goal is to keep your clients inside their target heart rate zone, there will be very little rest time in between exercises.

However, before you blindly go forcing all of your clients to stay inside their target heart rate zone for entire session, consider fitness goal of client, and metabolically intense benefits of structured strength training compared to a session when you just make sure they are sweating whole time!

Another option for your client's cardio is to have them do it on their own after end of training session. Obviously they still need your guidance on what to do, how to track their heart rate, and how long they should perform activity, but not all clients will actually need you to stay there and guide them during activity.

Also, it is not uncommon for people to own a piece of cardiovascular training equipment such as a treadmill, elliptical trainer, stair-stepper, etc. Nonetheless, most clients will still need some specific guidance on how to maximize benefits from type of equipment that they have access to. Things like interval training, cross training, and training at different heart rate levels are all things that you should educate your clients on, especially if they are going to be doing cardio on their own.

Business Resources

You must also consider business resources that you will need access to when training clients in their homes. The time factor has already been discussed, and you should also consider daily expenses involved in this type of training model. These include equipment expenses, "on road" expenses, and auto expenses.

Equipment expenses should be minimal. You may have an initial cost, but after your initial purchases, all of those assets are reusable. Basic items for home training include an adjustable set of dumbbells and an exercise ball at a bare minimum. It would also be a good idea to have a roll-up exercise mat, a jump rope, and any other items needed for type of activities that your clients will be engaging in. A great cardio idea for clients training at home is boxing drills. If you were to utilize that type of training, then a decent set of protective gloves for clients would be in order, as well as target mats that you hold for them to strike during their drills.

In all cases, items that you own stay with you, and they are simply taken from one client's house to next. It is a great idea to have your clients eventually buy their own gear, however, which keeps you from having to tote arm loads of equipment into and out of their houses day after day. Also, depending on type of program you put them on, they may use some of their own equipment in between training sessions.

"On Road" expenses include food and drinks while you are traveling. Depending on your schedule, you will be on road anywhere from 2 to 12 hours at a time! In those cases, you will obviously need to plan healthy places to eat along way, or keep portable meals in your vehicle each day. In any event, make sure that you consider cost of eating away from home as part of your business expenses.

Auto expenses are potentially biggest expense that you will have to face in order to train people at home. The wear and tear on your vehicle - although accountable on your taxes - can still be a drain on your financial resources. You have to keep your vehicle insured, fueled up, and in good working order at all times. The last thing that you want to do is be late for a client session because your car broke down, or you ran out of gas! Also, at anywhere from $1.50 to $2.50 per gallon, gas can get expensive if you put in a lot of miles every day.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many considerations when deciding whether or not to train clients in their homes, and you must weigh those considerations against benefit of being "free" from gym trainer's normal boundaries, and instead being in charge of your own day to day business. In return, you can command higher per session fees for home training. Since you are saving your clients a lot of driving time and gym expenses, as well as giving them an opportunity to get healthy in privacy of their own homes, it is not unheard of for a home trainer to charge $75 to $100 or more per session. Figure in scheduling issues, exercise program that you will have your clients on, and resources needed, and decide for yourself if this type of training program will work for your business!