Over the last 10 years I have had a number of people inquiry about getting into the personal training industry. One of the first gyms I used to work at had me work with all the new trainers hired. Here’s a little advice if you want to get into this industry.
- Education. Just like any profession, you need to be well educated in your field to ensure that you will be able to help others achieve their goals. Getting a Degree in Exercise Science or something very similar is always a good start but this isn’t necessarily required. A degree gives you more detail into the human body and it makes it easier to get higher level certifications in the field due to the degree requirement to sit for those exams. Getting certified through a well recognized program is very important. The National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) has a number of organizations that they recognize and is something that gyms tend to lean towards when hiring a trainer. Each organization may have a slightly different approach to personal training but they all will give you the required information to work with a variety of clients effectively and more importantly safely. I hold certifications through ACSM and NSCA but I have read a lot of material from NASM and other certifications to help educate myself more.
- Patience. If you want to be a trainer, you need possess a lot of patience. Not every client is the model client. Everyone gets motivated in different ways so it may take some time for people to get on board with your program. Be stern but have some patience, everyone struggles in different ways and your job is to understand those struggles and help them overcome them.
- Flexibility. The job calls for some odd hours at times so be prepared and learn to schedule other things in your life to make sure you are efficient with your time. Grocery shopping at 7:45pm on a Friday might be best for your schedule one week and the next it might be totally different. Each week may change a little bit so try to prepare yourself.
- Confident and Humble. You have to be confident in your abilities but being humble because you will not have the answer to everything. You have to be humble enough to admit that and do your best to find the answer if you are able to. Your job is to help your clients, not stroke your own ego.
- Resilient. You will not close every single sale you try to make with a prospective client. Figure out their objections to your service and learn from them. Some are better at this than others. Just push through, find a system that you can duplicate and you will find your way.
