Nobody taught you how to write a program. These are the two days that do.

You qualified. You know your anatomy, your energy systems, your movement patterns. And you still sit there on a Sunday night copying a workout off Instagram, because you can't build one from first principles and defend it.

Every PT course teaches you what the body does. Almost none teach you how to design a program around it.

That gap is why a session takes you an hour to write and you still change half of it on the gym floor. It's why every client ends up on a version of the same template. It's why the coach in your head keeps asking whether you know what you're doing.

You know enough exercises to fill a hundred sessions. What you were never given is a way to decide between them.

Program design is a thinking skill, and thinking skills don't come from watching more content. They come from learning a framework, applying it, getting it pulled apart, and applying it again until it's how your brain works.

That's what these two days are built to do.

How it Works

Two full days in person with Craig Massey, working through the PFCA's program design system, including the Four I's framework.

The format is deliberate. You learn a principle, you apply it to a real client scenario, you reflect on what you got right and wrong, then you go again. By the end of day two you're writing full programs and explaining every choice in them out loud.

This is why it can't be a video course. The learning happens in the room, in the reps, with someone challenging your reasoning as you go.

What happens after?

• Monday morning, back at your gym. A new client consult lands in your inbox. You write their first four weeks in 25 minutes, and you can tell them why every session looks the way it does.
• Mid-session, a client turns up exhausted from a night shift. You adjust the plan on the spot without panic, because you know what the session was for, so you know what can move.
• And when a client asks why they're doing this instead of what their mate does, you have an answer that builds trust instead of a shrug that erodes it.

You'll leave with the frameworks on paper, workshop notes, and a reference pack. The bigger thing you leave with is a way of thinking you can't unlearn.

Who this is for

✅ Coaches who were never taught program design principles and know it. That includes coaches 18 months in who spend too long writing sessions, and coaches ten years in who've been running on instinct and templates the whole time.

❌ It's the wrong room for anyone hoping to collect 50 new exercises. There are no new exercises here. There's a way to choose between the ones you already know, and it only works if you're willing to have your current reasoning taken apart in front of you.

If you're guessing more than you're deciding, book a place.

The details

Day 1, Thursday 30th July, 9am to 5pm. Introductions. Core program design frameworks, including the Four I's. Understanding client levels and needs. Foundations of strength training and movement quality. Group meal in the evening.

Day 2, Friday 31st July, 9am to 5pm. Recap and build. Continued strength work. Conditioning and where it fits. Integrating strength and conditioning. Then the practical: writing real programs and defending them.

Places are capped at 15.