Things to Think About If You Want to Become a Personal Trainer

Health and Wellness - General

By: thingsilike 13-Aug-2012

Introduction:

A personal training career can be great, but here are some things to think about.

Certification

One of the first things that you need to know is that a wise person will want you certified. You need to look at the different companies offering certification to see what requirements the basic CPT (certified personal trainer) certificate has and what other specialty certifications they offer. It is always best to choose a nationally accredited company like American College Of Sports Medicine (ACSM), American Counsel On Exercise (ACE) or National Exercise And Fitness Trainers Association (NESTA). There are others as well, just make sure they are nationally accredited and accepted for employment as a trainer in most gyms.

Clients

If you are going to be a personal trainer you will need clients. Some trainers do well independently, but most people will need to get their experience by working in a gym. The gym will not want you to take clients with you if you leave that company, but many of the clients will only want you to train them because of the trust that is already there. If they want to go with you, that is their choice, but don't intentionally "take" the clients.

Schedule

This is the really hard part for most trainers, the schedule. You need to accommodate your clients needs. You may be servicing only three session for the day, but your whole day could be occupied, example: session 1. 6am, session 2. 12pm, session 3. 8pm. I know trainers who have had to work schedules like that for a few weeks in a row. The good news is, when you get more clients, you can start making the schedule fit your time better as well.

Ongoing Learning

Personal training is something you need to constantly learn about. There are always new techniques or ideas for science of the body or exercise concepts. Example: I know many trainers who have multiple certificates but needed to be certified on TRX (a type of suspension exercise) to stay current with what their clients wanted to be trained on. If you don't stay on top of what's new, you will lose the client to the trainers who do.

Pay

Pay is usually very poor in the beginning for a trainer. A trainer needs to build up a client base. If they are not training, they are not being paid. The good news is if you are persistent and have great customer service skills and really know what you are doing, you have a good shot at making a successful personal training career. Note: Customer service is the key. Even if you have all the knowledge in the world about fitness, but no people skills, you will fail. Sharpen your people skills.

Final Thoughts

I suggest checking out different gyms to see what they accept as certifications and check out the certifying companies to see how much it costs for the courses and exam.

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Comments

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SimplyAbundantLife 8/27/2012
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I am a Trainer (thru NESTA) & agree with this list, and got a re-spark for my practice today! Thanks- H5!
LillyP 8/17/2012
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Great list. Thanks!
hummingbirdee 8/16/2012
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Congrats on the front page with your great list.
goodselfme 8/16/2012
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Congratulations on the front page spot.
pamperedpen 8/15/2012
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Back to say Congratulations on a featured list!!
dptstretch 8/15/2012
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congrats on the front page...awesome list as usual! H5
pamperedpen 8/13/2012
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Great list of things to think about if you want to be a personal trainer. H5