Becoming a personal trainer...

Iv got a mate whos a PT at Lloyds Gym, she LOVES it, sounds like a great time and the pay is pretty good, she went to college doing something about it for 2yrs iirc.
Meet a lot of interesting people and form a lot of friendships with both staff and clients, and get a lot of perks if you're part of a gym, and if you get part of a swanky gym prepare to meet some loaded clients.
Shes working with aload of sportsmen atm.
 
unless you are very good or very lucky the money is crap. be prepared to work in a gym with women with no real motivation and men who are getting into the gym after the doctors told them too.
 
YMCA is possibly the best place to look for PT courses.

I've got a couple of mates who do it and both have done most of their stuff through them, although one also has parallel qualifications which are more recognised in the US since he'll be emigrating there in a few days.

I've acted as guinea pig for both of them when it came to their examinations (although my pulse is notoriously difficult to find in my wrist so I was probably a bad choice).

As well as their training courses you might also want to look at things like sports massage so that you can offer complimentary services.

http://www.ymcafit.org.uk/coursedetail.php?type1=1&courseid=28

The courses are pretty varied though so it depends what how you want to train people. One of my mates swears by 'Exercise to music' because she enjoys running aerobics, body-pump and spinning classes, whereas the other trains martial arts classes as he's got a background in Judo, Krav Maga and Tae-Kwo-Do.

The list is endless but the YMCA is a good place to start.

The bloke going to the states only takes private clients, mainly from large corporations where he lectures on personal security and self defence, whereas the other works in a corporate gym running many of the classes and also takes private clients during her free slots.
 
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I'm a gym instructor, class instructor and Personal Trainer. I did my qualifications in modules with several different organisations including YMCA and Fitness Wales. It can be a great job if you like meeting people and are good at motivating.
 
Roberta said:
I'm a gym instructor, class instructor and Personal Trainer. I did my qualifications in modules with several different organisations including YMCA and Fitness Wales. It can be a great job if you like meeting people and are good at motivating.
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I DO like meeting people and I'm starting to realise a lot of the job would be about motivating.

Having seen your photo I can definately say I'd like to be personally trained by yourself. :D
 
Ever thought of mixing it in with Sports Psychology CBS. thought that shnizzle would be up your street
 
Haha!

I do love my job. I work part time for the local council doing classes in a few of their leisure centres. I enjoy classes far more than being based in the gym as I have more creativity there and it doesn't get boring. I also have my own business where I do Personal Training at people's houses and also do freelance classes. I work when I want to with who I want to which is great.

It's great when you can help people build up their confidence and make them feel better about themselves. It's also good in that you can take extra modules so that you can always teach something new which keeps you motivated yourself.
 
Roberta said:
Haha!

I do love my job. I work part time for the local council doing classes in a few of their leisure centres. I enjoy classes far more than being based in the gym as I have more creativity there and it doesn't get boring. I also have my own business where I do Personal Training at people's houses and also do freelance classes. I work when I want to with who I want to which is great.

It's great when you can help people build up their confidence and make them feel better about themselves. It's also good in that you can take extra modules so that you can always teach something new which keeps you motivated yourself.
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I get the feeling that the market isn't quite as 'free money pie for everyone' as the website make out - did you have nay trouble growing your business? Also, would you have any recommendations on how someone would do the same?
 
I live in Wales so wages are less here than elsewhere anyway. In some centres you can be on minimum wage for what can be hard work. I went in at minimum wage to get my foot in the door and worked up from there.

There is a lot of competition in the field. You have to give yourself an edge to make yourself stand out. Be prepared to be turned down for jobs because you haven't got the look they want, although of course they wouldn't admit to that!

I tried to get in with the council several times by submitting my CV to no acknowledgment at all. Then one day I went to a Boxercise class and took the instructor aside afterwards asking if there were any jobs. She turned out to be the manager and on hearing that I taught Pole Dance Fitness (my edge!) asked for my CV. I started doing classes for them and now have more work than I can handle! I've since been offered full time work there but prefer to be part time to do my own stuff as well. It's all about seeing gaps in the market, planning and going for it.

I started my own business only back at the end of March and my clients have grown steadily. I have to rein back and make sure I'm not overdoing it as it can be a very physical job.

I know of people who have got a Sports Science degree and spent 4 years at uni only to not be able to teach in a gym unless they get a basic Gym Instructor qualification. The Gym Instructor quali doesn't even scratch the surface of what the Degree teaches! It all depends on what you want to achieve really. I toyed with the idea of getting a degree but it's far easier and quicker to go the NVQ way, although you won't have half of the knowledge that the degree brings you.
 
Thanks Roberta - I don't know what my 'edge' would be yet

I'll take a local gym instructor course, then go for a Premier Global PT certificate - see what happens from there.

How do you get clients? Do you find there is a big market for it? Also, what sort of work do you do for the council?
 
look to do online consultation packages and stuff over the phone. anything that can pull more money in the better.
find companies with gyms (eg Shell / friends provident etc), they might not have personal trainers, you could do corporate deals etc.
 
cleanbluesky said:
How do you get clients? Do you find there is a big market for it? Also, what sort of work do you do for the council?
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I have a website which generates enough business for my own classes. I've got my Personal Training clients more from word of mouth. I also do business card drops and hand out my cards at my council lessons - the council stock my cards for me too.

I've found it brings in enough business for me as I only work part time due to having 3 kids. If I wanted more classes I could get them though. I've made sure that I can offer a large variety of stuff (I can teach circuits, Pilates, Fitness Yoga, Pole Fitness, Urban Funk, Dancercise, Boxercise, Kickboxercise, Aerobics and a variety of other things like Legs,Bums and Tums, Body Conditioning, Flex and Tone, Fitball, Abs and Group Training) which means that the council knows they can pretty much give me any class to teach plus I can cover if another instructor is off.

I only do classes with the council by choice. You get paid double the hourly rate than a gym instructor and I much prefer it as it is more hands on and you get instant feedback on how you're doing. If you see the same people appearing in your classes and they ask what else you teach you know you're doing something right!
 
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