Strength Training
With Roar Fitness
Your personal trainer plans every lift, sets the weights and tracks your strength, with every session coached one to one.
Every Lift Planned and Coached
Strength training with a personal trainer means every lift is planned, loaded and monitored. Your Roar trainer teaches you to squat, hinge, press and pull well, then adds weight in steps your body can handle.
Our gyms are built for it, with power racks, heavy barbells and a sled track in London and lifting platforms in Downtown Dubai. Your trainer records every session, so you can see your numbers climb from one phase to the next.
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Strength Results From Roar Clients
Matthew Holder-Bizou
Shoulder press up from 6kg to 17.5kg dumbbells
Lynsey Williams
Stronger and 32kg lighter at 43
Lucy Cleland
Stronger and leaner at 49
Jonathan Fraser
Rebuilt his strength in 12 weeks
Teresa Twigg
Walking taller and stronger at 60
Michael Du
From untrained to a 120kg leg press
How Your Training Works
From your free consultation to your strength retests, this is how your trainer takes you through your programme.
Free Consultation
Meet a Roar personal trainer at our City of London, Kensington or Downtown Dubai gym. You talk through your goal, your training history, any injuries and how many sessions you can fit into your week.
Assessment
Your trainer checks how you move through a squat, hinge, press and pull, takes a body composition reading and works out safe starting weights for the main lifts.
Your Training Plan
Your plan is built around compound lifts and runs in phases, each with a clear focus such as technique, building volume or lifting heavier. Every session is one to one, and your trainer sets the weights, sets and rest.
Nutrition and Recovery
Your trainer plans your food to fuel heavy sessions, with enough protein to recover between them. Lighter weeks are built into the plan, so you keep progressing without burning out.
Weekly Check-Ins
Each week your trainer reviews your lifts, how the sessions felt and how well you are recovering. When a lift stalls, they change the load, volume or exercise before you lose time.
Retest and Next Phase
At the end of each phase you retest your main lifts and compare them with your starting numbers. Your trainer then plans the next phase with you.
Strength Training Exercises
Most strength plans are built from a handful of movement patterns. Your trainer picks the version of each one that suits your body, then loads it week by week.
Squat
Back squats, front squats, goblet squats and split squats build your legs and trunk. Your trainer starts with the version you can hold good depth in and progresses from there.
Hinge
Deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts and hip thrusts train the back of your body, from hamstrings to upper back. Most people have never been taught this pattern, and done well it builds a strong, resilient back.
Press
Bench press, overhead press and their dumbbell versions build pushing strength through your chest, shoulders and arms. Your trainer adjusts grip and range to suit your shoulders.
Pull
Rows, pull-ups and pulldowns balance the pressing and build the upper back that holds your posture under a heavy bar. Matthew Holder-Bizou went from no pull-ups to five.
Carry
Farmer’s carries and suitcase carries train grip and a stable trunk while you walk under load, which transfers straight to lifting and carrying in everyday life.
Push and Drive
Sled pushes on our sled tracks train leg drive and power without the impact of running, and they finish many of our sessions.
How We Build Your Strength
Strength comes from a few things done consistently, session after session. Your trainer manages each one and changes it as you get stronger.
Progressive Overload
Your body gets stronger when the work keeps getting harder. Your trainer adds weight, reps or sets in small steps and records every session, so you always know the number to beat.
The Main Lifts
Squats, deadlifts, presses, rows and pull-ups work several muscles at once and give the biggest return on your time. Your trainer picks the version of each lift that suits your body and experience.
Technique
Good positions let you lift more with less risk. Your trainer watches every rep, corrects your setup and only adds load when the last rep looks like the first.
Planned Phases
Your plan moves through phases rather than repeating the same workout. Technique weeks, building weeks and heavier weeks follow each other, so your body keeps adapting.
Power and Speed
Strength also means producing force quickly. Sled pushes, jumps and Olympic lift variations train that speed, drawing on the way Sarah Lindsay trained as a three-time Olympian.
Recovery
You get stronger between sessions, not during them. Your trainer plans rest days, lighter weeks, sleep and enough food to recover, so each session starts fresh.
Meet Your Personal Trainers
Every Roar trainer holds recognised qualifications in personal training and nutrition, with years of experience teaching clients to lift well and get stronger. Many come from elite sport or strength and conditioning.
Your trainer writes both your training and your nutrition plan, so one person knows your whole programme. Every trainer works to the standards set by our founders, Olympian Sarah Lindsay and Rich Phillipps, considered the UK’s leading expert in body transformations.
Meet the Trainers
“The UK’s leading expert in
body transformations”
Recovery Is Part of the Plan
Strength is built in training and kept through recovery. Sleep, stress, food and lighter weeks decide how much of each session you hold on to, so your trainer plans them as carefully as the lifts. Clients who want more support here add our performance and recovery programme, which covers sleep, recovery and how you train for the long term.
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Choose Your Focus
Other Goals We Train For
Strength training often runs alongside another goal. These are the other programmes our trainers run.
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Free Consultation
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to the questions we hear most about strength training with a personal trainer. Anything else, ask us at your free consultation.
Do I need a personal trainer for strength training?
You do not need one, but a personal trainer makes strength training safer and helps you progress faster. Your trainer teaches technique, picks the right starting weights and adds load at the right time, which is where most people training alone go wrong.
How often should I strength train?
Two or three sessions a week is enough for most people to get steadily stronger. Your trainer sets the number around your schedule and how well you recover, and only adds a session when it helps.
How long does it take to get stronger?
Most people lift noticeably more within the first few weeks, as technique and coordination improve. Steady gains then continue for months while the plan keeps progressing. Matthew Holder-Bizou went from 6kg to 17.5kg dumbbells on the shoulder press in 24 weeks.
What is the difference between strength training and bodybuilding?
Strength training aims to make you lift more, while bodybuilding aims to make your muscles bigger. They overlap, but a strength plan uses heavier weights, fewer reps and more practice on the main lifts. If size is your main goal, see our muscle building personal training.
Is strength training safe with an injury or back pain?
Usually yes, with the right plan. Your trainer works around the injury, starts with lighter versions of each lift and builds load slowly. If a doctor or physiotherapist is treating you, we follow their advice.
Is strength training good for women?
Yes. Strength training builds strength, shape and confidence, and it helps protect bone density, which matters more after the menopause. It will not make you bulky, as Lynsey Williams found when she got stronger and 32kg lighter at 43.
Am I too old to start strength training?
No. Strength responds to training at any age, and it matters more as you get older. Teresa Twigg started with us at 60, and your trainer adapts every lift to what your body can do today.
Do I need gym experience to start?
No. Your first sessions teach the basic movements with light weights, and your trainer only adds load once your technique is consistent.
What happens in my first session?
Your trainer starts with a movement assessment and a body composition reading, then takes you through the main lifts with light weights to find your starting point on each.
How much does strength training with a personal trainer cost?
Pricing depends on how many sessions you book and which gym you train at. Your trainer explains the options after your free consultation, once you have agreed what your programme needs.
Where can I do strength training with Roar?
At our private gyms in the City of London, Kensington and Downtown Dubai. Read more about personal training in London and personal training in Dubai, or train with us remotely through online personal training.
