30 secrets to reach your training goals –

We talked to the most sought-after coaches in Brazil and selected 30 personal trainer tips to reach your training goals, it doesn’t matter if you are a beginner, experienced, if you want to lose weight or even if you don’t like the gym.

30 personal trainer tips to reach your goal

Get inspired by these ideas and turn your workout into a successful fitness routine:

Marcio Lui, creator of StarFit28 online training (São Paulo)

1. Practice more than one modality

“To have a balanced and efficient active life, choose three modalities to alternate throughout the week. It is worth varying between dancing, fighting, running, bodybuilding, yoga… The important thing is to give different stimuli to the body and, mainly, to the mind.”

2. Stop when necessary

“When people train for high-performance sports, they often push their limits. But this exaggeration can cause overtraining – read: fatigue, exhaustion, injuries… –, which will force you to rest until you recover. Be careful not to backtrack because of a forced break.”

Cau Saad, creator of functional training Circuito Cau Saad and WorCAUt (São Paulo)

3. Start with the basics

“Before putting load and intensity on, you need to master the exercise. For that, you have to repeat it many times until you automate it. Prioritize a lunge with your own body weight or swap the dumbbell for the elastic during the row, for example.”

4. Don’t settle

“Increasing the degree of difficulty of training is essential to progress. In addition to the weight, vary the angle of the exercises on the TRX, for example, and the speed of execution. It is also worth betting on jumps, such as a plyometric squat, and performing supersets, combining two exercises that focus on the same muscles.”

5. Pay attention to details

“To improve performance in your favorite sport, do educational sessions, with movements specific to the activity in question: if you play tennis, simulate serves and do lateral displacements. This way you perfect your mechanics, which generates more power when competing. Oh! Just don’t forget to strengthen the most requested regions.”

André Hauer, elected one of the ten best trainers by Top Trainer Brasil 2016 (Curitiba)

6. Choose an activity that has to do with you

“Not everyone needs to enjoy running and weight training. Evaluate whether you are a more peaceful, more competitive, more social, more nature person… From there, look for modalities that match your personality.”

7. Trace simple goals

“Those who want to lose weight should run away from miraculous promises and focus on goals that are easy to achieve, such as exercising three times a week, cutting back on sugar or using the stairs more during the day. Behavior change will only be sustainable if it is progressive.”

8. Find a personal trainer

“Depending on your preferences, the physical education professional can create small modifications in training so that you are always motivated. To lower the cost, you can split the sessions with a friend or meet him every 15 fortnights to change the sequence you were doing alone.”

Rafael Lund, creator of the Lund method (Rio de Janeiro)

9. Take an initial assessment

“Before starting an activity, check with a professional if there is any dysfunction in your movement. A lack of ankle mobility or a weak glute, for example, can cause your knee to bulge inward while running, which increases your risk of injury.”

10. Try the new

one more of personal trainer tips: “Try different ways to get out of your comfort zone. Sometimes, you even discover new challenges for the next workout, like a student of mine who realized she needed to strengthen her arms and abs after a circus class – which was actually a lot of fun.”

11. Eat well

“It’s no use spending hundreds of calories at the gym and continuing to eat poorly, because exercise can’t make up for bad meals. Consult a nutritionist to balance your diet with good options that quench post-workout hunger and throughout the day.”

Paulo Junqueira, creator of Superioga (São Paulo)

12. Take it easy to progress

“Even in a crowded room, she doesn’t try to be on the same level as the other students. Ask the teacher to teach adaptations for postures that you still can’t do and evolve little by little, without going beyond your limits. At each session, celebrate achievements, even those that seem like a detail.”

13. Live in the present

“Make the most of the yoga class by paying attention to the movements and forgetting about worries about the past and the future. To empty your mind, the best way is to focus on your own breathing.”

Marcos Paulo Reis, from MPR racing advisory (Sao Paulo)

14. Don’t compare yourself

“You and your marathon runner friend are not as different as you might think… The only detail is that she knows how to run and you still need guidance to take your first steps. But the capacity is the same! Be patient and don’t compare yourself.

15. Change the pace

“Those who are overweight can take advantage of sports to lose weight, but they must be careful. In order not to overload the joints, start with a walk, then introduce small stretches of jogging and only later run. If necessary, stop to catch your breath when you are tired.”

16. Increase the potency

“Only start preparing for a half marathon when you already have a good command of shorter races, that is, when you manage to maintain a strong pace during a 10K race. Knowing how to interpret body signals, such as tiredness and shortness of breath, is also essential to face 21K.”

Rodrigo Ruiz, creator of Soul Fight (Sao Paulo)

17. Experience the fight

“Instead of always doing your HIIT workout on the treadmill, improve your fitness with punches and kicks. Because the chains of strikes are fast and intense, they have the same anaerobic effect as sprinting shots. In the interval between series, it is worth doing sit-ups while resting legs and arms.”

18. Avoid Post-Exercise Soreness

“In the beginning, it is common for you to be sore. Do not panic! Use a roller or tennis ball to massage the area and loosen the fascia, the tissue that lies over the musculature and where tension knots can form.”

19. Practice, practice, practice

“As well as fighters, who tirelessly repeat the same punches and kicks until the strikes are perfect, athletes in other sports also need patience and dedication to achieve the desired performance.”

Rodrigo Sangion, owner of Les Cinq Gym (Sao Paulo)

20. Don’t Skip Weight Training

One more personal trainer tip to reach your goals: “When the goal is to lose weight, people tend to think only about aerobic activities, such as running and spining. Except that strength training guarantees the construction of lean mass to keep the metabolism accelerated, even at rest. Forget the conventional scale and follow your evolution through body composition [porcentagem de gordura].”

21. Get rid of shyness

“Not everyone is comfortable in the gym. If you get lost among the weight machines, try group classes, which tend to be more playful and create a space for interaction between people.”

22. Increase the load

“Instead of doing a long bodybuilding workout at low intensity, prioritize a few exercises with maximum load. So you don’t get bored and you save time.”

Alan Brasil, creator of the HIIT Beat dance class (São Paulo)

23. Be cautious

“For physical activity to ensure health and longevity, it cannot put your body at risk. Avoid exaggerating the intensity of training, especially in exercise loads, which when too heavy tend to hurt the joints.”

24. Bet on dancing

“With dancing, you manage to generate muscle tone – have you thought about the squats in choreography? –, improve your cardiovascular system and burn hundreds of calories. As there are studios with different rhythms (zumba, hip hop, sh’bam, jazz, funk…), it’s easier to find a style that suits you. Oh! Take the opportunity to make new friends.”

Betina Dantas, creator of Ballet Fitness (São Paulo)

25. Get over yourself

“If, in each class, you strive to improve some detail, at the end of the month your evolution will be huge. Try lifting your leg an extra millimeter in the grand battement or doing an extra sit-up.”

26. Take care of your head

“A healthy body requires a balanced mind. Do activities that favor this, such as meditating, reading a good book or even enjoying time with your family.”

27. Go outdoors

“If you don’t like the gym, try an outdoor modality, even casually. On the weekends, walk in the sand, go stand-up paddleboarding, or ride your bike with a friend.”

Subscribe to our newsletter and stay up to date with the latest news from

Bruno Mendes, creator of Burn Dance (Brasília)

28. Don’t Rush

“In dance class, if the choreographies are too complex, the students end up giving up trying to learn. The same goes for the other workouts: start using less load and do simpler exercises so you don’t lose motivation or injure yourself.”

29. Bet on HIIT

“High-intensity interval training optimizes results – such as weight loss and fitness gains – in less time. Add a minute of very vigorous activity between strength training exercises (think jumping rope or sprinting on the treadmill). With that, your body continues to burn calories for hours.”

30. Be persistent

The last of the 30 personal trainer tips to achieve your goals is constancy: “Remember that weight loss happens faster at the beginning of training – so, even if you are surprised by the result in the first few months, avoid relaxing, because in the end the details will difference.”