career advice

[mcpjd]

Obviously I would be ecstatic if Cathe answered my question, but I would appreciate anyone's advice! I have been a "Cathlete" for about 15 years and have recently become a weekend warrior for various reasons. I am considering a career change and am contemplating getting certified in some area of fitness (group instructor, personal trainer, not sure) to combine my love of fitness while filling a void in my community. I live in a small rural Wyoming town which does not offer much in the area of exercise classes, so I think there is a need. I am wondering what questions I should be asking myself before jumping into this idea. I have looked into some of the different organizations (ACE, AFAA, and AFPA), but I feel like I need to have more of a plan before pursuing this further. Any suggestions from those of you that have gone through this similar situation? Thank you!!

[jdimascio]

Not Cathe...clearly, but I am a certified Personal Trainer. I got certified through ACE. In my opinion, you do want to stick with one of the more recognized highly regarded certs, like NASM, ACSM, NSCA, etc...guess it depends if you are thinking group fitness or personal training. You could even do both, start out by getting your PT cert and then move on to Group fitness. Material is somewhat similar, group is not as detailed, but you go over eating up/designing classes more. At least it's not for ACE.

Some thing to think about. Are you looking to get a job at a gym? Or train on your own? If group fitness, what kind of classes would you like to teach? If you do decide to do this on your own, you will need insurance, and then possibly set up a business, LLC, etc...there are plenty of options.

Certifications are usually good for 2 years, and then you need to either re-certify or take continuing education classes to build CECs.

I work at the YMCA, but only about 4 hours a week. I teach 2 classes, a women's boot camp/stretch training class and the TRX. I also train there, but I don't make a lot of money doing it there, so I train more people in my house. I have a home gym. I hope this helps.....

[JT]

A long time ago,I got certified thru ACE as an aerobics instructor and went to level IV with ongoing education in addiction and nutrition. The reason why I did it was because I would have no excuse in the future plus in order to teach in some States and be insurable, you must be certified. I agree with Jenn on it depends on what you want to teach and what is your passion.
Although, once you get certified, I suggest on attending instructor seminars to learn what is happening and new in fitness training. You now can get certified in spinning, kickboxing, etc..
Looking forward to Cathe's input.

[Cathe Friedrich]

Hi MCPDJ!

I wish you the best of luck with making a career change. I know this can be a very anxious time in ones life.

As far as making a full time career in fitness, I don't know of many group fitness instructors that can make teaching classes their sole source of income. Many group fitness instructors do it as a part time job. The main reason is it is near impossible to teach enough classes per week to make a substantial salary from doing it. The pay per hour just isn't enough to cover expenses and wear and tear on your body.

You stand a much stronger chance of making a nice salary as a personal trainer. But even at that, many of the best trainers are those who give up their own personal schedule to accommodate their clients schedules. This means being available anywhere from 6am until 10pm most days of the week. You have to be available to your clients to build your book. Building your book is hard work and takes a lot of referrals from satisfied clients. Even when you have a full book, you will need more newcomers on board ready to take an existing clients spot because most clients do not train for months and months on end (usually because it is too costly). Many clients buy a monthly package plan or session plans. While some renew their packages, many do not, so you have to keep the word of mouth going from your satisfied clients so that your next "fill in" is ready to go when your current client no longer needs/wants one on one training. If you are unable to be super accommodating with your training availability, you will have a much harder time making a steady reliable salary as a personal trainer.

It's also not just the marketing of yourself and your availability that keeps you employed as a trainer. You have to update your knowledge constantly so that your training methods and techniques reflect those that are current in the industry. But above all, all of your training methods need to be highly effective and produce results! Your satisfied clients are your walking billboard!

Where do you go to get these effective training tools? Well, there is always the option of going back to college and majoring in personal training/business. Some schools do offer this now (they didn't when I got started). But if you don't have the time to invest in going back to college you can go a more popularly chosen route and get a primary certification from a respectable certifying group fitness and or personal training organization such as ACE AFAA ACSM or NASM...there are some others too. Then you need to update that certification every two years by attending conventions or workshops that offer continuing education credits.


So to recap.....the greater earning potential to make a career in fitness with the choices you mentioned (personal trainer or group fitness instructor) would be a personal trainer.

To become a trainer you can either go back to college (for a much greater chance of a permanent career choice) or you'll need to get certified by a reliable well established fitness organization. This usually takes a full weekend on site and requires a manual purchase to have been read before attending.

Once certified, you need to market yourself and be available to your clients.

You can also increase your earning potential as a personal trainer by offering group rates to friends wanting to train together. They each get a reduced price from you for this group workout (and a little less one on one interaction from you) and in return you make more in the hour plus it opens your book up to fit more clients in.

There are so many "what ifs" and details that can dictate different directions a career path could go, but in a nutshell this is a popular way many go about starting up a career as a personal trainer.

I hope this helps.

Originally Posted by mcpjd

Obviously I would be ecstatic if Cathe answered my question, but I would appreciate anyone's advice! I have been a "Cathlete" for about 15 years and have recently become a weekend warrior for various reasons. I am considering a career change and am contemplating getting certified in some area of fitness (group instructor, personal trainer, not sure) to combine my love of fitness while filling a void in my community. I live in a small rural Wyoming town which does not offer much in the area of exercise classes, so I think there is a need. I am wondering what questions I should be asking myself before jumping into this idea. I have looked into some of the different organizations (ACE, AFAA, and AFPA), but I feel like I need to have more of a plan before pursuing this further. Any suggestions from those of you that have gone through this similar situation? Thank you!!

[mcpjd]

Thank you for replying to my question...I definitely have many things to think about, but I very much appreciate you taking the time to answer, especially Cathe of course!