How To Turn Your Passion For Fitness Into A Career As A Personal Trainer

Many fitness fans who want to enjoy a job that lets them do the things they love have considered becoming a personal trainer.

Becoming a personal trainer is a lifetime ambition for many driven fitness fans, but as anyone in the industry will tell you, it’s not an easy career choice.

Just being passionate about fitness, nutrition and exercise isn’t enough; you’ve also got to have a variety of interpersonal, communication and leadership skills if you want to enjoy a long and successful career as a personal trainer.

For those fitness fans who want to move into personal training and turn their love of exercise into a career, here are some of the ways you can launch yourself into an enjoyable life as a personal trainer who is respected and valued by their clients.

Do Your Research

The first thing you need to do when you’re considering becoming a personal trainer is to research the profession in detail. Learn about the average salary for a personal trainer, the work you have to put in to earn the qualifications you need and the options you have locally for working in your own business or for an organisation like a gym or fitness centre. Being prepared will ensure that you enter into your new career with your eyes open.

Consider What Kind Of Personal Trainer You Want To Become

Personal training is a very broad spectrum of individuals working throughout the fitness industry. Consider your skills and the kinds of clients you’d want to work with. For example, if your skills are primarily focused on one particular sport, then you might want to focus on clients from that market. Alternatively, you might want to work with clients who are new to exercise. In addition, you need to consider whether you want to work for an organisation or be self-employed. All of these decisions need to be made before you start your journey to becoming a personal trainer.  

Earn The Qualifications You Need

Personal trainers have an important part to play in the health and wellbeing of their clients, and as such it’s important that you are fully qualified before you start your role. HFE offers a selection of personal trainer courses, which are designed to suit potential personal trainers who want to qualify for anything from the most basic of diplomas through to senior qualifications. The courses take between 10 and 20 weeks, depending on the level you choose to take and the amount of work you’re prepared to put in. Select the option that will take you to the career heights you aspire to and consider adding to your portfolio of qualifications as you grow and flourish in your new profession.

Make A Plan

Once you’ve found yourself a job as a personal trainer for a gym or a fitness organisation, or you’ve decided to become a self-employed personal trainer, you need to make a plan for your career. Set yourself personal goals, and also find a way to track the achievements of your clients so that you can accurately assess how well your career is going and what can be improved. This will ensure that you don’t become complacent, and instead enjoy a long and prosperous career.

Take Out A Comprehensive Insurance Policy

As a personal trainer, it’s important that you have insurance to cover public liability, accidents and more. Being a healthcare professional who is working with athletes, new entrants into the fitness market and those recovering from injuries, you need to make sure that you’re covered if an accident occurs. Whilst your training and knowledge should help you to avoid problems, incidents may still arise. Without insurance many gyms won’t let you work as a personal trainer, and you may find it hard to attract clients. As such, it’s important that you find the insurance policy that meets your needs and will keep you and your clients safe.

Promote Your Services

Once you’ve qualified and got yourself insured, you can start promoting your services. Even if you decide to work in-house for a while to build up a following, you still need to push clients to come and work with you. Create a website and consider using paid adverts online to push clients to visit it and view the services you offer. You should also advertise in the physical realm, by putting up posters in your chosen gym and using word of mouth to get people talking about you and the results you can help them to achieve.

Build A Social Media Following

A key part of promoting yourself and your services is building a social media following. This can be done using paid services such as by buying TokMatik TikTok likes as well as by producing plenty of organic content. Show off your own personal results, and those of your existing clients, to highlight your skills. Earning a strong social media following will help you to get more clients and quickly establish yourself as a thought leader in the competitive personal trainer and fitness markets. It will also help you to share tips and insight into your work with potential clients.

Learn From Every Experience

Throughout your time as a personal trainer, there will be many successes, and equally as many failures. It’s important that you learn from every experience, be it positive or negative, to ensure that you keep driving yourself forward and improving as a personal trainer and an individual. Keep detailed records of every client and the progress they make throughout their time working with you, so that you can review which aspects of your training regime are working and which ones aren’t.

Keep Up To Date With The Latest Fitness Trends

The health, nutrition and fitness markets are all constantly evolving and developing, so it’s important that you do too. You need to make sure that you’re up to date with the latest insight so that you can use new techniques, equipment and ideas in your service offering. Follow a selection of fitness websites, blogs and news sites to keep you ahead of the latest market developments and ready to give your clients the cutting-edge services and support they expect. Starting any new career is an exciting experience, but in the competitive fitness market it’s important that you start as you mean to go on and work towards becoming a skilful, productive personal trainer. Use these tips to enjoy an auspicious start to your new career.