Want to start the path to a career as a personal trainer.
From the outside, personal training often looks like a satisfying career, and it may be so. You help people achieve their goals in your favorite field, it is flexible, and you have many options where you can work. There are some great things about personal training, but it's important to consider all aspects before taking the plunge.
As in any other specialized field, personal trainers must have different skills. Between coaching clients and drawing up individual training plans, a successful personal trainer should be analytical, motivational and caring. To be an effective coach, you have to like working with different people, be purposeful and be able to listen. Organizational skills, patience and a healthy dose of perseverance will also help you rise in this competitive industry.
Problems
Before you dive into this new career, it's also helpful to know what it means to do a day-to-day job. Of course, over time you will be able to improve your customer training skills. Learning the daily routines of personal training is something you can get when you get a certificate, but hands—on experience is always the best teacher. Learning may seem easy, but it's harder than you think.
You will work with clients who:
Are they afraid to try too hard or want to try harder than they should
Don't match the training you give them
Blame you if they don't achieve their fitness or weight loss goals
Cancel training with or without a warning
They have all sorts of excuses why they can't train
Have injuries or other features
Have never trained and need good modeling even for the simplest exercises.
They appear without sports shoes or other necessary sports equipment.
Everyone is different, and you need to determine how much pressure you can put on this client, what he needs and what he wants. You also need to be flexible and ready to change at any moment if the workout goes wrong.
Advantages and disadvantages
Positive:
Flexibility
Sense of duty
Growth potential
Interpersonal relationships
Minuses:
Non-traditional work schedule
Sales stress
Unpredictable payment
The possibility of burnout
A career in personal training has many exciting and enriching benefits. From the job itself to communicating with clients, here are some of the best parts of the personal trainer profession:
She's flexible.
In many cases, you can set your own work schedule. You can even set your fees if you work for yourself.
It's useful.
There is nothing better than the moment when the client can finally see and feel the difference in his body thanks to your help.
There is room to grow.
Personal training can often be a starting point for other pursuits, such as working as a fitness instructor, a health writer, or getting a college degree.
You start building a relationship. If you know how to get along with people, personal training will give you the opportunity to delve into the situation of each client, get to know him better, and then use your knowledge and creativity to create workouts that suit him.
If you decide to become a personal trainer, you should also be prepared for the difficulties that are associated with it. Although travel and work may have pleasant aspects, consider them when choosing the path of a personal trainer:
Rush hours are the hours that are most convenient for the customer. Clients may need to cancel or reschedule an appointment without special notice. And most of them will want to train either before or after work, as well as on weekends, so your busiest hours often fall on weekends and very early in the morning or late at night on weekdays.
You will have to learn how to sell your services. Most people don't do this business because they don't like selling, but it's part of your job, especially if you work in a commercial gym. You need to be half a trainer and half a marketer, selling your training services to potential customers.
There is a wide range of remuneration. Personal trainers can earn anywhere from $15 an hour to over $100 an hour, depending on where they live and work, as well as their level of experience. In addition to your hourly rate, your income will also depend on how many hours you work and can fill each week.
Income can be unstable. Cancellations happen all the time in personal training. One day you may have a full schedule, and the next day you have no one to work with, which often means that you don't get paid.
There is an increased risk of burnout. Personal training requires a lot of energy, both physical and mental. It's easy to burn out, especially if you're constantly exercising.
Get a Personal trainer certificate
If you decide that personal training is right for you, your next step is to get certified. The most important factor when deciding where to get a certificate is whether the certifying organization has been accredited.
Certifying organizations have their own certification procedures and protocols accredited by an independent third party. If there is a specific employer you want to work for, find out what certificates they require or recognize.
Consider a specialty
Over time and with experience, you will understand which types of clients you like most in training. Then you can invest in further education and get a certificate in your specialty. With specialization, you will have more opportunities to offer these customers, and you can usually charge a little more for your services. Most certifying organizations offer several specialized certificates, and you can get a discount if you already have a basic certificate.
Options include:
Athletics and Sports: You can help athletes improve balance, speed, agility and performance.
Lifestyle and Weight Management: You can work with clients to change behaviors to get rid of bad habits and develop healthier ones.
Medicine: Having a medical specialty, you can work with clients after rehabilitation who are recovering from conditions such as heart problems, muscle sprains or orthopedic surgery.
Nutrition: With this additional certification, you can help clients with dieting for their fitness goals by giving them specific tips on how they can eat healthy and lose weight.
Orthopedics : you can work with clients who have knee pain, arthritis or other diseases.
Working with special populations: With this certification, you can work with older people to help them improve their quality of life and maintain muscle mass, or you can work with younger children to develop fitness programs appropriate for their age and goals.
Continue your education
Continuing education is a requirement to keep your certification up to date, regardless of whether you decide to choose a specialty. It also keeps you up to date with the latest news in the field of fitness, weight control and health.
Start a business
After you get the certificate and get some work experience, you can decide to set up your own business as an individual entrepreneur, limited liability company (LLC) or corporation. If you are an independent gym contractor and not an employee, you should also explore the advantages and disadvantages of these forms of business.
Business Management
Many people do personal training because they want to help people, but you need to know the details of business registration, licensing, zoning, budgeting, accounting, tracking your expenses, filing taxes and much more. It's worth taking a small business course if you're not familiar with these things.
Financial investments
In the beginning, you will have to spend money to get your business off the ground. Depending on your business model, you may need:
Business expenses: website, business cards, liability insurance, medical insurance, marketing expenses and advanced training courses to maintain your certification.
Fitness equipment: cardio equipment such as treadmill, dumbbells, expanders, mats, power bench, step, exercise balls, BOSU and other equipment for balance and stability.
Other: high-quality sportswear, shoes, music center, water cooler, towels.
Marketing and promotion
If you decide to start your own business, marketing will probably be the most important thing you will do to build a customer base. There are many different ways of marketing: from acquaintance promotion, free trial lessons, to buying advertising, conducting courses, etc.
Attend conferences and seminars.
It's amazing how much you can learn in one weekend by attending classes with experts. You can also look at new equipment and can usually buy it at a discount. Your customers will appreciate the new training and equipment, as well as your new enthusiasm.
Make regular assessments.
If your clients want to lose weight or get stronger, assign an assessment every few weeks so they can see their progress.
Stay in touch.
Make it so that you can communicate with your client outside of sessions. Send a quick email or text message. Compose and print out the workouts so they can follow them on their own. Give them your favorite recipes or send them interesting articles related to their goals both in and out of the gym. Such little things allow clients to understand that you are interested in their success and your relationship.
Listen up.
Being an active listener is the most important thing you can do for a client. At the beginning of the workout, be sure to go in and see how they feel that day, and adjust the workout accordingly.
Result
Personal trainers have many job opportunities, the need for which is growing due to the growth of obesity and a sedentary lifestyle. The world always needs new enthusiastic trainers who spread information about health and fitness. Take the time to learn what it means to become a coach before choosing your career.
