Want to Become A Fitness Instructor or Trainer

[amanda12485]

I really want to become a fitness instructor, and teach workouts like step and weights. I am having a hard time figuring out how to get into the business. I know you can get certified, but I am looking for something where they train you in routines, like Les Mills but there are not any where I live and you have to be an instructor before you can train with them. Any info on this from anyone would be great. Also, Is this something you could do full time and make a living from??

 

[Shoegal]

This is what I did - I studied to become certified with ACE and w/ AFAA. AFAA offers oh so so many workshops on this - you can take the workshop to become a certified fitness instructor but you don't actually have to take the exam right then if you don't want to - when I was there I just took the class. They taught about what a good workout consisted up - proper form - beats per minute - etc, etc. This costs money though.

Another thing you can too - (I did this too) go to a gym and talk to a group fitness instructor that you like and ask her to give you some lessons. This was really helpful. I had no trouble finding someone to talk to me about it and she was very forthcoming with what she knew - she even allowed me to teach portions of some of her classes as practice.

Kari Anderson did a video a long time ago with IDEA - Health and Fitness Association - it was instructor training - very helpful and had a little workout at the end. If you go to their website and look around you might find something useful.

I have my doubts about doing this and making a living. When I taught at a gym - I was paid per class. (I really don't remember now how much - but it wasn't this amazing amount of money) They have a limited number of classes per week and more than one instructor and you can't teach every single class they offer - so no - can't make a living just doing that. When I worked for a community college I was also paid per class - I did 3 classes a week - for like 8 weeks - still wasn't enough to live on. Some ways to do that is to become the coordinator of all the classes at a gym - which would allow you to teach some classes and would give you a myriad of other responsiblities relating to the gym as well so you can collect a salary. Or you can "own" a gym or - you can become a workshop presenter for an organization like AFAA - travel and teach these workshops yourself - there are instructors who have made a little bit of a name for themselves that way, have made a couple of CIA videos and travel/ speak and teach at a bunch of fitness conventions, expos -things like that.

Other option - become another Cathe.

 

[amanda12485]

Thanks so much for the info, I would love to accomplish what Cathe has. I always wondered how she got to where she is.

 

[hrcfitness]

I became ACE certified 2 years ago. I love fitness and I wanted to finally be able to help everyone who said "tell me what to do"....well I got certified and opened my own business as a trainer. I went to people houses and had folks come to my home gym. This all takes alot of start up money. You have to insure yourself, put a rider on your house in case someone gets hurt, pay the town you live in a fee for operating a business out of a home..and then you start with the all the paperwork stuff like waivers, business cards, client files...it's alot....but I do love it. I only do it part time because to be truthful people want to be trained early am and later afternoon, evenings. This leaves quite a few hours when your not making any money. For me it's not enough of a salary to support myself or my family,but it does add a few dollars to the household. I charge $50/hr and you have to remember tons of people cancel and quit! Even with no refund and late cancelation policies you still have quite a few people who get you to change your policy. There are alot of things to consider. I would think about why you want to do it and exactly how much money you need to make and then think it over carefully.
Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[serene_46]

I became certified as a group fitness instructor through the YMCA 6 years ago. I had been going to a bunch of classes and the co-ordinator asked me if I would be interested in teaching step and kickboxing. My local YMCA paid for my training. I became certified through AFAA 4 years ago as well. I have a day job as a medical professional and I feel the Y's training was a little more in depth. AFAAs workshops are accepted as continuing education credits for the Y certification so it is easy to stay on top of the CEU requirements.

In my neck of the woods, there are VERY FEW full time trainer/ instructors. (I know of 6 in a 75 mile radius... granted I am in a rural area) Two of the gyms in my area (including a YMCA) have gone out of business in the last 18 months. Fitness is a brutal field to make a living. Most of the people I know that are full time employees in fitness live in a bigger city 100 miles away and work at Gold's or Urban Fitness.

I teach 6 classes a week at various gyms and community centers. The money is not significant but it does help the household budget. Think carefully about what you want from the fitness field as far as job/career goals, find someone to mentor you and GOOD LUCK!!

Brenda in ndiana