Fitness Career

S

saia11

Cathlete
Hi educated crowd.
Those of you who make fitness your career, either as personal trainers or fitness instructors (or some similar area) I need some quick advice.
1. Do I need a degree in Exercise Science or the equivalent or can I take a nationally accredited exam?

2. Does it matter which exam I take so long as it's through a well known and respected institution (which one did you take?)

3. Is fitness your fulltime career and does it support you comfortably (I'm not asking for exact figures, although if you're willing to offer that I'd appreciate it)?

I'm very seriously considering a huge career shift (currently I'm getting my PhD in English Lit. and planning to teach college, but I'm fairly miserable and I've decided that I really can't go through with it. I love teaching, but I'm passionate about exercise and fitness, so my goal is to successfully combine the two.)

Any help, information, or advice would be a beacon right now.
Thank you, thank you, thank you in advance
:) :)
Mattea
 
I'm bumping this since it seems Mattea has read my mind!! I would love to hear any kind of information about fitness AND nutrition careers as well.

Angie
 
Mattea,



I'm in the same boat-- I'm completing my PhD in History. I too have been contemplating a career-shift into fitness. I've been so impressed with the people I've met (esp. here!), and it seems to be a job that could really impact people positively, something I don't feel that I'm doing now.

Best,
L
 
Hi again, and thanks for the support from some of the other ladies on the site. I understand how very busy we all are and if you don't have the time to answer my questions. I'd be very willing to accept a recommendation on what you feel are some good sources to go to in order to get the information I need.
Thanks again,
Mattea
 
Hi, Mattea ~

People may not be answering because they may not have much information to give you. :( I used to teach aerobics at our local community center, and I have taught them before at the YMCA. Neither place required any sort of certification at all to teach group classes. Keep in mind, however, that I live in a very rural area, so I'm sure that organizations are a little more strict in urban areas. I just didn't feel comfortable teaching these classes without some sort of certificate, though. My master's degree is English, and I teach high school, so those degrees offered little in the area of fitness! I completed the coursework for personal trainer through the National Council on Strength and Fitness just because I felt like I needed that piece of paper. I would have MUCH preferred to actually have gone and attended seminars somewhere, like with ACE or some other respected organization. However, being a mother of two small children, along with a teacher, living in a rural area, that just wasn't possible, so I went the online route.

As far as money goes, I could never make a living out of fitness where I live. I make roughly $350 per class for a ten week period through our community center. I usually taught two classes twice a week, so that totalled $700 that I received after 10 weeks for a total of four one-hour sessions per week. Through the YMCA, I got $10 a class.

I guess it really all depends on where you live. While I loved teaching aerobics, I had to quit this past year because my youngest child became eligible for sports (he just turned 5). Before, when I only had my 9 year old daughter in gymnastics,softball, and swimming, I could handle teaching 4-5 classes per week after teaching school, but now that he's participating too, my husband has to go one way with him and I go the other with our daughter. I really miss teaching the classes, but I had to get my priorities straight and realize that my children's involvement in sports was way more important than my aerobics schedule. So, now it's just me and Cathe at 4:30 am! :D

This probably went into way more detail than you wanted, but that's the fitness scenario in small-town Virginia! Hope it helps!

Sarah
 
Hi, Mattea - this is a fly-by between deposition summaries, so here it is in a nutshell:

1. Legally you don't need a bachelor's degree in exercise science to become a fulltime fitness professional, but it helps especially if you plan on training individual clients on a fulltime basis;

2. Yes it does matter which certification you hold; some are useless and some are gold. The Gold Standard of exercise science certifications is the Americal College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) where I believe you do need a bachelor's degree. Two other highly regarded certs for personal trainers are: National Strength Conditioning (Association?) (NSCA) and National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). The most widely held certs are from the Americal Council on Exercise (ACE) and they have certs for group fitness instructors, and personal trainers (both introductory cert AND Clinical Exercise Specialist). There are a few others that are valuable but not many.

3. I teach two aqua classes a week, so it's a very part-time thing. I'd suggest checking out the Turnstep (www.turnstep.com) and Fit-Pro (www.fit-pro.com) websites for some great feedback on fitness as a fulltime career.

4. Being passionate about exercise is all well and good, but you must remember that fitness is a business - and all businesses can be really, really crappy if you're not prepared for them. There's a lot of charlatanism in the commercial fitness industry. AND - never make the mistake that the general population is like the Cathe Crowd, either in terms of enthusiasm, sense of personal responsibility, and manners.

A-Jock
 
Thanks for the information and feedback Sarah and Annette,
I really appreciate the time, effort, and expertise.
Sarah, what kind of classes did you teach and about how much prep time did you put into them?

I understand that there are a lot of problems in any field, but try staring at a lecture hall full of freshman who are only there b/c they are "required", I have no illusions about a sense of manners or personal responsibility. ;-)

Or listening to professor after professor tell you that you must be this in order to publish, in order to get a job, in an already saturated field of candidates who (for the huge majority are unpleasant and egotistical). There's charlatanism (and a great deal more) in academia, at least in fitness I'll get to be doing what I love about my field (teaching and interacting, helping people)while putting up with a different version of the same "stuff."

I'm ranting:+ , I know, it feels too good!

I really do want to thank you for the advice and time, I've got several books coming about the career, and I've been researching on the internet, but it's reassuring to get some real feedback from those I trust. (Annette, can we take what you said about the general public as a reverse compliment for Catheites?)
Thanks again!
Mattea
 
You might also try a search on this subject of past posts, every so often people ask a similar question. You might get some additional information from some of the folks in the business who don't post here anymore

Jen
 
Hi Mattea, You have read my mind also. I have been contemplating a career change for a while now but I'm a bit afraid to take that flying leap off the cliff. I am very frustrated in my current job.

That being said, I have looked into jobs in the fitness industry quite extensively. I'm not sure if we're allowed to post links here so I'll just tell you that there is a website called Turnstep that has resources for fitness instructors (including a very informative message board). The people there are very helpful.

I worked at a gym part-time for a year or so when I was in college and based on my experience, you probably aren't going to get rich in the fitness industry as a group fitness instructor ($15/hr starting pay in my area in 2001). Trainer pay is much better of course, but you have to have clients to make money. In the area I worked in (population 300,000), there wasn't an extremely high demand for trainers. Not enough to make a full time job of it, in my opinion, considering the time and effort and financial obligation it takes to keep certifications current.

I personally think the way to go in this industry is to own your own business. I have no hard evidence to support this but I know the owner of the gym I worked for (not a chain) was doing quite well. There are many innovative ideas out there in fitness - I think you just have to find a niche and cater to it. I have some ideas of my own but I'm not going to broadcast them on this message board. :)

If you'd like to talk more, you can email me at [email protected].
 
Mattea, I almost did an apple-spit (oops, I know - tmi) at your rant about the perils of academe. My father retired in 2001 after 39 years at Florida State University, 34 of those as full professor, and that was the happiest day of his life. Ironically, it was his colleagues that he found La Grande Paine Dans L'Asse, but I'm sure a few students chapped his hide as well.

Do check out as well the IDEA website - www.ideafit.com. It is a member organization for fitness professionals, and is a real treasure trove of motivational information as well as an ideafest (pardon the pun) for various niches that might be available to you.

I do agree that the real dough for individual practitioners is personal training, either running your own studio or home training. There are many booming niches, including senior training, training for various "special populations" and their various conditions such as metabolic syndrome, arthritis, MS, Parkinson's disease, physically challenged (including paraplegics and amputees), what have you. One of the pleasant things about the fitness industry outside of the video/DVD market is that it focuses on . . . well, fitness rather than body-image aesthetics. If you go into it with that focus, you'll do well.

And yes, you can take my comment about the Cathe Crowd for the "praising with a faint damn" that it was. We're nice here. Other forums and organizations, not so much sometimes.

A-Jock
 
Mattea,

I taught step, kickboxing, and a hi/low circuit class with weights. I probably spent 5 hours a week preparing different routines. If I had the time, I would definitely want some sort of degree or certification in the area of youth fitness. That seems to be the biggest need in my area. So many children are overweight and have no self-esteem at all to participate in group sports. In the past, I have kicked around the idea to begin some sort of class for that type of child, but I really didn't have any great ideas on how to market it without it causing stigma. For instance, I know how 10 year olds can be, and I'd hate for the rumor to be spread around that so and so goes to "fat camp" every Tuesday night.

Anyway, that's where my passion lies, but I just can't seem to find the time to develop it! Good luck on your venture!

Sarah
 
Annette,
Oh, my colleagues? Didn't I mangage to squeeze in something about "see how smart I am mommy" and don't you want to stroke my intellectual ego? I must have been currently trying to Vaseline over that chaffage;-)

Thanks for all three links, I found them very helpful as both financial and content based resources! Definitely my focus in on health and not aesthetics, actually I love Sarah's posts about getting into fitness and children. There's a great program I heard about a few weeks ago called "Girls on the Run International" a program about health and self esteem for young/adolescent girls which really got me thinking about why fitness interests me so much and how much it could have helped me to have people like Cathe and crowd earlier.
I've been "training" (with all the legal disclaimers of course:) ) my husband and 53 year old mother since the summer, and for one it is all about the aesthetics and for the other it's just about health. I won't out them, just leave it to you to guess.:*

I appreciate you taking the time to offer this feedback, and for the future, my best advice is to not read/andor/perform a rant while eating or drinking. Choking hazard, for both you and your keyboard:D

Thanks,
Mattea
 
Sarah,
I love your idea regarding youth and fitness. I responded to Annette and mentioned Girls on the Run International as well as Girls on Track (for teenage/older girls) and how I found both groups really inspirational for what I love about fitness (and the women here!:) )
I know what you mean about overweight children, and I applaud your thinking. Maybe you could simply gear it towards kids and a mixed group of sizes/shapes would defray any "fat camp" attitudes? If you got some recommendations through the local schools they might be able to help you get in touch w/ some kids who really need it and others who might just enjoy it.
Thanks for the advice and the well-wishes,
Mattea
 
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