A personal trainer can be a lucrative career option. With more number of consumers becoming health conscious, the need for specialists is growing consistently. But to become a successful trainer, you must take the correct steps.
The journey is going to be long. So be well prepared for it. In this article, we share some valuable tips on how to become a professional personal trainer.
Select a Niche
The first tip we have for aspiring personal trainers is to find a niche for themselves. When you're just getting started, you obviously wouldn't be specializing in every type of training. Selecting a niche will also determine the people you'll be serving.
Do you want to specialize in sprint training? Then you'll be high-level training athletes who want to run at a faster pace.
Do you see yourself working with obese people who want to reduce weight? Then you should specialize in weight loss training.
There are other areas you can specialize in like bodybuilding, physically impaired training, strength training, conditioning, etc.
So before you start your career as a personal trainer, you have to select your niche to be successful. You can be a jack of all trades, but you have to be a master in one.
If you're unsure of which one to proceed with, you can do some market research. Find which type of personal trainers are in high demand and where there's a shortage. This will ensure your specialty will be highly sought after.
Have the Correct Mindset
People often enter the field of personal training with an erroneous mindset. They aren't sure whether to own a fitness studio, work in a studio, or serve as a freelancer. Both of these areas require different skill sets other than your knowledge of fitness.
For example, if you’re going to work in a fitness studio as a personal trainer, then you should prepare yourself to attend interviews. You should be ready to compete with other fitness trainers who apply for the job.
Opening a studio of your own is a different ball game. You’d need to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and work in multiple areas other than training people. Many people open a studio and do not spend on marketing or sales. Thus, they end up shutting shop within a year.
Freelancing requires a different work approach too. So before becoming a personal trainer, you should develop a correct mindset.
Train Under a Personal Trainer
Before you start to train anyone, why not get trained by a seasoned personal trainer? After all, the best person to learn from is someone who has been there, done that.
A personal trainer can sort of act as a mentor for you. You'll get to learn the basics of personal training along with some advanced concepts. By observing his/her style of fitness delivery, you can get real-life lessons that perhaps no classroom or online course can teach you.
With this kind of experience, you can fast-track your learning. What would have taken six months to learn, you can learn in 3-4 months.
Therefore, before getting started on your own, it’s worth training under an experienced personal trainer.
Learn Effective Communication and Soft Skills
A major mistake almost all personal trainers tend to make is not learning effective communication. They put all of their efforts into physiotherapy, dieting, and other hard skills. But without effective communication, the training will always be incomplete. Perhaps the person won't be able to open up to you if you make him feel uncomfortable.
As a trainer, it should be your responsibility to facilitate open-ended communication.
To get started with soft skills, you must first become a good observer and listener. This allows you to have a deeper understanding of the person you're training.
Soft skills also include nonverbal communication and empathy. To gain these skills, you can join a soft skill training institute or take up a course online.
Get Certified and Maintain your Certification
Many states and regulatory bodies around the world require personal trainers to be certified. When choosing your certifications, you should look at accreditation. Is the certificate you’re about to pursue accredited with regulatory bodies? If so, then it’s worth pursuing.
In the United States, one of the major influential accreditation agencies is NCCA or National Commission for Certifying Agencies. Other countries will have similar bodies to regulate accreditation.
Most trainers do a good job of getting certified. But what they miss out on is maintaining their certification. Besides getting certified, you're also required to maintain your certification. These come with a validity of several months to several years. You should get the certificates renewed before the validity expires.
Many top-level clients, including celebrities, athletes, and high-profile personalities, only work with trainers who are certified. So get yourself that certification and maintain it to stand out.
Comply with the Local Laws
Personal training is still an unregulated market. Although certifications exist, there are no limitations on who can identify and advertise themselves as a "personal trainer."
In the US, the certificate does not mean all legal requirements are met. The certificate is provided by a private firm. To protect the end consumers, state legislatures are stepping up and imposing strict requirements for personal trainers.
Therefore, to operate successfully and legally, you must meet these local laws. These keep evolving and changing from time to time. You are supposed to keep pace with the changes.
Get a Personal Liability Insurance for Financial Protection
Fitness professionals work with numerous people on a daily basis. And given the work environment (surrounded by heavy bars and dumbbells), there’s a chance of sustaining injuries to the person. In such cases, some states allow those people to file for personal liability compensation.
And because he/she got injured on your premises and because of your guidance, you must pay for the damages. This is even if the personal trainers have done very little wrong. If the court rules in their favor, then you’d have to compensate the plaintiff.
To protect yourself and your business against such lawsuits, you must get personal liability insurance coverage. These are designed to pay for personal liability insurance claims.
Just like other insurance policies, you pay the premium. And when such lawsuits arise, the policy will cover the cost on your behalf. Thus, you can save yourself from sudden, unexpected financial losses.
Many personal fitness trainers aren't prepared for such events. So if you're starting independently, do get yourself personal liability insurance coverage.
To Sum Up
With the proliferation of technology, many personal trainers are delivering their training sessions over the internet. This can create an additional income source for you. But like other things, you must plan and execute.
All of these things mean the personal training industry is growing and here to stay. The flexibility of 1-on-1 coaching and longing for a fit lifestyle is the driving force behind it. The above tips will help you become a personal trainer. But you should be aware of what is needed and work your way through accordingly.
