Careers are an important step in the life of any person young or old. You’ve just finished your college degree, and now you need to decide what you want to do with your life. You may have known this for years. Or you may still have no idea. But you should at least consider things you enjoy and that you’re good at.
It’s important to enjoy what you do. You don’t want to get years into a career and realise that you hate it. Choose wisely. Part of doing this is to gravitate towards areas that you enjoy and excel at. A good career move these days is to select a career in the health and fitness industry.
People are so health conscious nowadays that the demand for professionals in this sector is huge. There are so many careers you could enter into in the health and fitness sector. But one of the most popular and attractive is a fitness trainer. Not only do you ensure that you keep yourself fit and healthy, but you keep others fit and healthy too. By pursuing a career as a fitness instructor, you will help to make a big difference in the lives of your clients.
If this is a career you want to consider, then you may want some idea of the process. Here’s are some steps as guidelines for how to get into a career as a fitness instructor.
Get Training
The first step on your path toward a career as a fitness trainer will be to get training. There will be courses available that you can take. Learn the basics. You won’t be able to progress if you don’t learn the basic elements and principles involved. Look online as there are bound to be a lot of courses and training modules available.
Another approach you could take would be to take a class run by a current fitness instructor. This would show you the key elements that they focus on. It will also teach you the importance of interacting with clients. Showing you the importance of giving them personal time and supervision.
You might even want to go a step further and speak to working personal trainers. You might be able to convince them to agree to train you. At the least you could pick up some nuggets of advice and wisdom.
Get Qualified
In any career, you want to go into it’s important to make sure that you’re qualified. Qualifications validate you. They give you authenticity and professionalism. People will always pick a qualified fitness instructor over an unqualified one. Even if you have a lot of experiences you should still make sure you’re qualified. This will improve your chances of getting employed and attracting a client base.
You could take classes online or in person. You might also consider taking advanced classes to get further qualifications. You might also decide that you would like to specialise in a particular area of fitness training. You should take steps to make sure that you gain as many qualifications in this area as possible.
Another approach you could consider might be to get qualified in a separate discipline. You can then begin teaching this while training to become a personal trainer and work your way up. This will give you diverse experience and also ensure that you’re working at the same time.
Get Insurance
The next stage in your budding career will be to make sure that you’re insured. This is important for several reasons. For a start, fitness trainer insurance protects you in the event of a client getting injured. Injury while under your supervision can be a problem if the client blames you. With the insurance, it means they will receive compensation by way of your insurance policy. This then does not affect you in a personal or financial sense, and that is important. Insurance also protects your equipment and supplies against theft, loss or damage.
Again insurance, like qualifications, is important because it makes you authentic. In the eyes of clients and customers it makes you seem more professional. As a result, you are a more attractive prospect than a trainer who has no insurance.
Get Experience
Once you’ve sorted all the other aspects involved it’s time for the next step, experience. This can be a tricky step to negotiate when you’re starting out. There may not be too many jobs available for someone who has limited experience. But don’t worry, there are some ways around this. To begin with you can start working at a gym. You may not get work as a fitness trainer yet, but get a job in your local gym. Start taking classes in other areas like pilates. Get to know the clients and customers. Ask to help out any of the current fitness trainers in the gym.
All this will provide you with experience and help establish familiarity among customers. The experience you pick up will be vital, and you can start to think about working your way up. After a bit make enquiries about doing some fitness trainer classes yourself. Once you’ve been doing this for a while, you might want to think about leaving the gym and going into business for yourself. This is where your good rapport with clients and customers comes into effect. You may be able to take some with you as you start your enterprise.
Get Clients
If you do go into business for yourself then you’ll want to think about building a client base. Now, you may be able to do some of this by using people from the gym in addition to friends and family. But you should think about other ways that you’re going to get clients. You may want to consider some kind of advertising – perhaps at the gym?
You could also network and befriend other freelancers in areas that compliment yours. Like nutritionists, etc. They can recommend you to their clients, friends and families. It’s important that you treat every client in the best way possible. You want to keep them coming back. But you also want them to tell their friends about you.