Personal Trainer

A personal trainer is a specialist in a particular form of exercise who helps others achieve their fitness or performance goals. The job typically involves providing clients with targeted guidance or advice, supervision, physical demonstrations, and encouragement.

Many personal trainers work with a range of clients who have different goals to improve their strength or cardio, lose weight, or alter their body composition. Others narrow in on a specialty, such as prenatal or postnatal fitness, senior fitness, high intensity interval training (HIIT), cycling, kettlebells, and more.

As a personal trainer, you may work in a gym or fitness center, open your own studio, or offer virtual or online personal training sessions. You also have the option to work one-on-one with individual clients or offer group training or fitness classes.

Personal training is a career choice that generally attracts people who already have some knowledge or experience from exercising on their own and who want to share their knowledge with others. While it can be an incredibly rewarding job if you’re passionate about fitness, it’s also a pretty big commitment since you generally need to invest a lot of time and money into getting certified.

Becoming a successful personal trainer requires time, dedication, and preparation. Here’s a rundown of what you’ll need.

Personal training certification

These days, you’ll find it pretty difficult (if not impossible) to get hired as a personal trainer without a certification. Getting certified is crucial for ensuring you have all the knowledge and skills required to protect the safety of your clients and help them achieve their goals.

Generic personal training certifications usually cost a few hundred dollars and take 3–6 months to complete. Alternatively, you can get a specialized certification in a particular fitness niche in a matter of hours to weeks at a fraction of that cost.

Good marketing

Many personal trainers use social media to advertise their services, especially if they’re running their own business. Having an online presence is crucial for attracting the attention of new clients and showcasing positive reviews and testimonials. For gym-based jobs, you’ll want to at least have a solid resume showing experience related to physical fitness, training, coaching, teaching, or mentoring.

Well-defined training style

Some personal trainers are results-driven, offering intense training support for clients with specific goals. Others are more support-driven, focusing on helping sensitive or beginner clients build up confidence and foundational knowledge.

Think about your training style and target clients, and lead with that when promoting your services. This will help you avoid managing clients who aren’t a good fit and make the whole process more enjoyable for everyone involved.

Being a personal trainer isn’t easy. Here are a few aspects of the job that you’ll need to be prepared to deal with:

• Spending time and money on getting certified
• Managing marketing and admin tasks (if running your own studio)
• Creating and tracking client-specific training plans
• Maintaining good client relationships

There are several reasons why so many people want to become a personal trainer:

• Getting paid to do what you love
• Helping others achieve their fitness goals
• Having the choice to work from home or in person
• Choosing from a wide range of specialties
• Potentially achieving high earnings

Here’s a snapshot of current trends in the personal training industry:

• The employment of fitness trainers and instructors is expected to increase by 14% from 2022 to 2032, much faster than the average across all occupations.
• The average personal trainer stays at their job for 1–2 years.
• The majority (54%) of fitness trainers and instructors were employed at fitness and recreational sports centers in 2022, compared to only 19% that were self-employed.

These statistics show that personal training is a job with growing demand. They also show that you’ll likely find more job opportunities at gyms and fitness centers than you would working independently as a self-employed personal trainer.