How to Become a Personal Trainer

In 2020, there were over 23,000 personal trainers in the UK: 7,000 more than there were working in the country in 2011. Personal fitness is a big business which is continuing to grow, meaning that good personal trainers are in high demand. Personal trainers care about personal fitness and are passionate about exercise: they work hard to ensure that they achieve optimal fitness levels, and they want to share their knowledge and passion with others. Personal trainers are highly qualified and respected professionals and the best personal trainers are highly sought after, meaning they have the opportunity to work not only around the country but around the world.

Wondering whether becoming a personal trainer is the right career for you? Want to know more about personal trainer jobs or what personal trainer salary you might be able to secure? Here’s everything you need to know about how to become a personal trainer:

What is a Personal Trainer

Personal trainers provide support and guidance to their clients to help them on their journey to better levels of fitness. A personal trainer will create a one-on-one fitness programme for their clients, motivating them to reach their goals: generally, personal trainers work with one healthy or medically fit client at a time, but sometimes personal trainers will also work to provide support and motivation to small groups of individuals.

There are many reasons a client might reach out to a personal trainer; to lose weight, gain muscle, or improve their overall fitness. As a personal trainer it will be your role to assess these needs, help your clients to work out properly, and create an exercise plan that is realistic and achievable, whilst also helping them to reach their goals. Many people assume that personal trainers are the same as fitness instructors or gym instructors, but actually personal trainers possess more qualifications, allowing them to provide tailored health advice, as well as simply following an exercise programme. Many personal trainers choose to qualify as a fitness instructor or gym instructor before they take extra courses to become a personal trainer.

As a personal trainer, your working hours will be very varied depending on where you work and the needs of your clients. If you’re employed by a gym, you’re likely to have more regular working hours than if you’re self-employed, for example, but it’s important to note that many of your clients will prefer to work with you outside of their own office hours. This means that evening and weekend work is quite common for personal trainers.  Expect to be flexible, and whilst you’re building your client base it is not uncommon for personal trainers to work 12-hour days in order to maintain relationships with their existing clients whilst also trying to recruit new ones.

Your local gym is the most common working environment for most personal trainers, but you may also offer home visits in your clients’ home gyms, or you could choose to work outdoors, offering sessions in your local park or a similar green space.

Personal Qualities of a Personal Trainer

If you’re thinking of becoming a personal trainer, then you will need more than a pair of trainers and a passion for fitness. You will also need to possess the following personal qualities:

• Of course, the biggest personal quality you will need to become a personal trainer is a passion for fitness. You can’t be daunted by gym equipment, or nervous about the idea of spending 12 hours a day working out with your clients. If you become a personal trainer, fitness will become the centre of your universe, and this should be something that leaves you feeling excited
• An outgoing personality. You should be enthusiastic, find it easy to communicate with people from a wide range of different social backgrounds, and be able to motivate each of your clients to keep going in the way that you know will work best for them
• You will need effective communication skills so that you can clearly and simply communicate with your clients what you expect them to do and lead an effective workout session
• You will need excellent listening skills and the ability to read and understand your client’s needs, often without verbal cues. This will enable you to adapt to the needs of your clients quickly, changing what you do as those needs change. You will also need your listening skills so that you can handle and respond to any objections your clients may have during their training sessions
• As a personal trainer you will need endless patience to deal with clients who may be reluctant to work out, or to push themselves as hard as you know they are able
• You will need an in-depth understanding of physiology and the human body. You will also need to understand the impact of different diets and other lifestyle factors
• You will need good organisational skills and a keen attention to detail in order to keep detailed records of your client medical needs, training programme, and any progress they have made
• Many personal trainers are self-employed; therefore, you will need good literacy and numeracy skills, and plenty of business savvy, in order to run your own business, promote and advertise it, and complete any necessary paperwork

What a Personal Trainer Does

When you work as a personal trainer no two days are the same, because your role will change depending on the unique needs of each of your clients. This makes personal training a great career path for anyone that doesn’t want to sit around in an office all day, and who thrives in new situations. To give you an idea of what you can expect in your working day-to-day, however, here are some common responsibilities:

• Maintaining a fit and healthy lifestyle to provide an example to your clients
• Helping your clients to set personal goals and then working with them, and motivating them, to achieve those goals. Being flexible and adapting those goals at short notice to meet your clients unique and individual needs
• Monitoring exercise equipment to ensure that it is in good condition, and that it is being used correctly by each of your clients
• Running both one-on-one and small group exercise sessions with your clients
• Providing advice on health, nutrition and lifestyle changes that could benefit your clients
• Building a trusting and professional working relationship with your clients
• Spending time recruiting new clients through traditional advertising, social media, and word of mouth recommendations
• Recording your clients training sessions and updating their paperwork to ensure that their progress is being monitored accurately
• Choosing the work out environment that would work best for each of your clients and making the most of that environment, incorporating it into your work outs where possible
• Providing innovative challenges and exercise programmes to each of your clients, and ensuring your programmes are regularly refreshed to ensure that they don’t become routine or boring
• Building relationships with other fitness professionals in your area, to ensure you have a local network of support
• Keeping up to date with the latest developments and innovations within the fitness industry and ensuring that your clients are always given the best guidance and advice

How Much Does a Personal Trainer Earn?

Earnings for a personal trainer will vary depending on where you are based, your level of experience, and how many hours you work. A personal trainer salary will also fluctuate depending on the size of your client base and how sought after your training skills are. A sizable percentage of personal trainers in the UK work on a self-employed basis, and therefore their salary is also determined by the hourly rate that they choose to set for each of their clients.

As a freelance or self-employed trainer, you can expect your hourly rate to be between £20 and £40 per hour. If you work in certain locations, or if you are able to work with high-profile clients, then you can expect this figure to rise to between £50 and £100 per hour. If you are employed by a gym, rather than on a self-employed basis, then the average starting salary for a newly qualified personal trainer is between £14,000 pa and £16,000 pa. The personal trainer salary will then increase as you gain experience within your chosen profession, with more experienced personal trainers earning a salary of between £22,000 and £30,000. Holiday parks and cruise ships also frequently hire personal trainers: whilst the salaries for these roles are similar to those offered by regular gyms, they do offer many benefits, including the opportunity to travel, which can be very appealing.

Qualifications Needed for a Personal Trainer

The main qualification you will need to work as a personal trainer is a Level 3 Personal Training Qualification. There are many different ways that you can secure this qualification; you can either work for it independently, through a reputable training provider, complete it whilst undergoing an apprenticeship with a gym or alongside a more experienced personal trainer, or you can complete the qualification as part of your degree studies if you wish to undertake a higher education qualification.

If you do wish to complete higher education before you pursue your chosen career path, then the most relevant degree subjects to your field are:

• Sports science
• Fitness and personal training
• Health and fitness management
• Personal training
• Health and nutrition science

Whilst it is not a legal requirement, all personal trainers are also advised to secure a relevant first aid qualification before they work with clients; this is particularly important if you will be working with clients on a one-to-one basis, and outside of a formalised gym environment with a dedicated personal trainer on site. Look for a first aid qualification that also offers a cardio-pulmonary resuscitation certificate (CPR) or secure this qualification separately.

Although not a qualification, as a personal trainer you will also be required to pass and secure enhanced background checks, as certain elements of your role may involve working with children or with vulnerable adults.

On the Job Training

There is a huge spectrum of on-the-job training possibilities that you could look into once you have secured your Level 3 Personal Training qualification. Some examples of this are that you could take further instructor courses to learn new skills to offer clients, like yoga, Pilates, nutrition or aerobics. There are also additional training courses that you could undertake to gain the qualifications to train and support those who are not considered medically fit to train, such as those recovering from illness or those who have long term medical conditions.

Continuing to develop professionally is key if you are a personal trainer, as the world of fitness is a fast moving and ever changing one: with new techniques, new innovations, and even new types of workouts being released all the time, you need to keep up to date with these changes in order to maintain your client base and provide the best possible services to your clients.

If you are looking for extra opportunities outside of the personal training arena, then a common career progression route for qualified personal trainers is to first become qualified as a professional fitness coach (where average salaries hover around £30,000 per annum) and then move on to become a gym or fitness club manager (a position where average salaries are around £40,000 per annum)

Professional Bodies

Once you have qualified as a personal trainer you might wish to join the Institute for Personal Trainers, also known as The Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMPSA). This is a professional body which offers a code of conduct that both trainers and their clients find reassuring. The organisation is also responsible for setting the standards for professionals to become chartered in the fitness industry. The role of CIMPSA is to determine what personal trainers and other fitness professionals need to do to achieve chartered status. Some of the other benefits of membership to the Institute for Personal Trainers include access to free e-learning and training materials, a members-only area where you can interact with and connect to other personal training professionals, and status within the industry. Showing your clients that you are a member of the professional body for your profession demonstrates that you are committed to your career, and that you are taking what you do (and by association, their health and fitness) as seriously as possible.

The UK National Register of Personal Trainers is also a valuable body worth investigating, as they provide a database of registered personal trainers that members of the public can access to find a qualified personal trainer near them: ensuring that you are registered with this body, and that your name appears on their database, is a wonderful way to secure new clients, therefore.