How to become a certified personal trainer – Business tips

When it comes to personal training as a career, you probably have a few of the following questions:

Let’s discuss these topics per my experience in the industry for almost a decade.

Personal trainer description

I’m not the most successful trainer in the world, but I’ve been able to develop and loyal following of the people I train. As a personal trainer, you must first understand your responsibility. What is it that you are trying to do and what is required of you?

Become an expert of your craft:

Learn to explain to your clients the ins and outs of training. Help them understand the muscle failure concept vs different applications of muscle fatigue. Why is it important and what does it really mean? Explain to your clients as easily as possible exactly how to develop the body of their dreams. How to build muscle, the benefits of cardio, the importance of rest, etc.

Your clients are not you:

A personal trainer must also be empathetic. You have to understand that clients hire you because they have no clue what they are doing. They may know what a lunge is, but they have no idea how to do it properly. Also, just because you can barbell squat 405 lbs with perfect technique doesn’t mean your client can even do a body weight squat.

Take the entire role of a fitness professional:

As a personal trainer, you have the responsibility to stay in shape. You are in fact a fitness professional! You must be the example that your client’s are going to follow. You must be their inspiration. All too often I see out of shape trainers running a client through a session and it just doesn’t look good. You can be good and knowledgeable, but it doesn’t look right.

Requirements for personal trainer

As a personal trainer or athletic trainer, you are trying to help people get healthy and in shape. You don’t need to know everything about nutrition and weight lifting to achieve that. You just need to know the basics of health and fitness.

What are the basics of health fitness?

  • To lose weight you need to burn more calories then you consume and to gain weight you need to eat more calories then you consume.
  • Building muscle, strength, power, and increasing muscular endurance are 4 completely different sciences. Weight training goals should be achieved thorugh phases.

That’s pretty much it! The reality is that that is all your clients need to know. You on the other hand, are the one in charge to develop programs for them that achieve those goals. You need to know what your client’s goals are and you need to wipe their brain’s clean of all the nonsense that they hear on social media or have read about on facebook.

How much does a personal trainer make and what is the average salary?

Here’s the thing. When it comes to salaries the range can be enormous so I rather explain different scenarios.

Working for a school or institution:

If you work for a school as a P.E. Teacher or you become a trainer for a high school or university, you’re going to make a salary based on the size of the school, the prestige, and your education and experience. This is where your resume plays an enormous role. Expect to make somewhere in the range of $30,000 per year to upwards of over $100,000.

If you work for a professional team as in the NFL, NBA, MLB, your salary can be significant greater.

Independent Contractor

As a independent contractor, working for a gym in most cases, you are paid on commission and sessions served. Most gyms pay based on what type of package you sell. Many gyms nowadays require trainers to sell packages based on their education and expertise. The higher cost per session package you sell the more you make on an hourly basis. Other gyms pay a flat fee depending on your title. When you sell packages based on your expertise, you can make from $20 an hour up to $75 an hour plus commission.

If you based commissions on a 40 hour week, that’s a salary of $3,466 per month on the low end and up to $13,000 per month on the high end. On average I’d say you’ll end up around $6000 per month if you are a good seller. If you are lucky and end up training a professional athlete or celebrity, that number can be much higher.

One thing about working for a gym, you have to develop your clientele. Gyms usually give you the opportunity to be under the clock while you grow your business and even give you great potential clients, but in the end, it’s up to you to close those deals.

If personal training is your passion then your ability to make a decent living is very high. You must put in the work. It’s not an easy business but can be lucrative.

Which personal training certification is best?

Recommended personal training online courses:

When I first started my journey into becoming a personal trainer I was recommended to join an career school. This career school had the best instructors I could ever ask for and all were NASM Certified. I also become NASM Certified. I ended up not only getting the Certified Personal Trainer certification but Performance Enhancement, Corrective Exercise, and Fitness Nutrition specialist. To this day I believe those to be of the highest quality just with the experience and new knowledge I’ve acquired on my own in the last 10 years.

Here is a list of all my certifications. They have made me who I am today and I highly recommend you check them out. There are many others out there but these will get you work anywhere and you should be striving to become as educated as possible.

personal-training-certifications
Fitness Adaptations Credentials as a Coach and Trainer.

Other trainers I work or have worked with also have acquired online certifications from the International Sport Science Association (ISSA) and National Council of Strength and Fitness (NCSF).

Personal trainer benefits

The benefits of becoming a personal trainer are as follow:

  • You get free gym memberships.
  • You get free education and training.
  • You have a career that is rewarding emotionally as well as spiritually.
  • You make great connections because people love you and look up to you.
  • Your job is putting together programs that you should be practicing such as staying healthy, working out, and becoming your best self.
  • You can create your own schedule to suit your lifestyle if done right.

Can you get certified as a personal trainer online?

Most personal training certification companies allow you to get certified online. In today’s world you can become certified online for just about any career of your choice. The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) even goes as far as giving payment options. You can become certified in a multiple areas of health and fitness without having to pay it all up front at once.

What personal trainer certificate is most respected?

As I mentioned before, certifications from the National Academ of Sports Medicie (NASM) is one of the most highly respected and required certifications that I’ve seen per my own personal experience.

How hard is it to become a personal trainer?

This depends on whether you have the passion for the business or not. If you love to train and you are always looking for ways to improve not only through research but through workshops and seminars, then it isn’t going to be hard. If you truly have a passion for helping people then it won’t be hard. If you just want to be an athlete however and not interestd in writing programs, training 6-8 clients per day, teaching classes, and on top of that finding time to train and take care of yourself, then it’s probably not for you.

Is it worth becoming a personal trainer?

Do you like helping people? Can you wake up early in the morning to start training clients and then coming back at night to do it again? Do you have the desire to write weight training and nutrition programs for clients durig your off-time? Then yes it may be worth it to you. Trainers work during the time people are off. And many time’s we work even during the time off because we are not just counting reps and telling people what to do on the fly.

How much does it cost to get certified as a personal trainer?

Certifications can range from as little as $50 which I highly discourage you to get to over $150 per certification and up to $1000 if they have workshops. If you can afford it, invest in a well respected and put together workshop. Some companies allow you to get on a payment plan if you can’t pay up front. I wouldn’t just look at price. I’d consider the rating and reviews of the companies.

How to become a personal trainer and a nutritionist?

To become a personal trainer you just need to get certified. To become a nutritionist you need to go to college. However, you can get a fitness nutrition specialist certification from NASM which allows you to give simple advice and guidelines.

Which gyms pay personal trainers the most?

Per my experience, it depends on whether you work for a Corporate gym that is traditional in terms of weight training or if you work for a gym that runs nothing but classes. UFC gym pays one of the highest per session rates I ever worked for. Group class gyms such as Orange Theory can pay very well depending on the location and how many people attend classes. Sometime’s you can negotiate and make a flat cost per class plus an additionally bonus per person that attends your classes. When it comes to pay, most gyms will run a similar structure. You get a minimum hourly wage plus a per session pay whose value is determined by the level of the session. The higher the level of the session the higher the per session pay.

Personal training tips

Engage in activities that promote your hard work. You can’t just go up to people and be like, hey, to look like me let me train you. People stay because of your brand. They stay because you motivate them, because you push them, because you make them better!

You want to be professional, you want to teach the right things, but you have to understand that building a business is that… a business. A business doesn’t build itself. A brand doesn’t build itself.

You must understand that most can’t lift as heavy as you, most can’t work out at your intensity, most have injuries they are recovering from. Your clients have compensations, they have tightness, they have so many problems that it’s scary.

But that’s what you’re there for!

Getting strong is a progression. Getting in shape is a progression. Losing weight is a progression. Your clients have to understand that!

In conclusion, understand that being a personal trainer is about also being a life coach. Your client’s respect you and look up to you. They come to you because they want to feel better about themselves. You are their hope.

Become knowledgeable of your craft. Stay on top of all studies and research. Practice your craft, not only as a competitor and as a person, but as if you were one of your clients. Put yourself in their shoes and think outside the box.

How would they feel doing certain exercises? If you had back problems, what exercises and what positions may hurt you? If you haven’t trained in ages, how do you get back as quickly as possible without risking injury?

Just remember, you are not only a trainer… you’re a business man, a life coach, a teacher, and a test dummy. You’re also inspiration and motivation.

With that said, get to work!

How to become a personal trainer in 7 steps:

Step 1: Get your certfications:

Get certified either online or attend a hands on course that also helps you get certified (preferably).

Step 2: Learn how to program for weight training programs.

There is a big difference between strength training, power training, and muscle building. There is also a sigfnificant different between a muscular endurance program for performance and a circuit training type program for weight loss. Start with yourself, friends, and family while you are getting certified.

Step 3: Familiarize yourself with the basics of nutrition and supplementation.

Even though you are not a nutritionist, most places of employment have companies they work with. Even though you can’t give out nutrition plans you can provide guidance and use a companies system which may provide nutritional information. Even though you aren’t a nutritionist you should be able to provide general guidelines in terms of how to use a nutrition plan to lose, maintain, or gain weight.

Step 4: Get in shape and lead by example:

Start applying what you learn on yourself. You will be your client’s inspiration. If people want to look like you, train like you, and perform like you they will hire you. Even though you have to do some selling and marketing to get business at most gyms, your body and work ethic is your best marketing tool.

Step 5: Take some courses in personal development, sales, and marketing.

Even though you probably don’t think it has anything to do with personal training it has everything to do with getting clientele. Some people will hire you for a specific health reason. Others will hire you as a psychologist. They just want someone to talk to and inspire them as they get a good workout in. Be personable and likeble. Be a professional. Go to work groomed and well dressed.

Step 6: Create a resume specifically tailored to your experience and education as a personal trainer.

Use any previous sports participation as experience. Though it’s not relevant to actually programming for a client you have experience in terms of effort and results. Add hobbies as well such as competitions you may have partiipated in the past or currently take part in.

Step 7: Find a gym near you that you enjoy working out at.

Even though it is recommended that you apply at several gyms, working at a gym where you are comfortable in and whose enviroment you enjoy would be the best place to get started in.

Useful training posts to maximize your results:

gymming-at-home-schedule

Come train with me live on Youtube:

All you need are dumbbells and kettlbells:

The ultimate and most complete Health and Fitness Resources:

Fitness for Life 5 day articles:

Need a coach? Check out free and paid online personal trainer packages. If you thinking of competing, see my contest prep articles that includes information about how to go about a bodybuilding contest prep diet, amount of cardio, programming, and more.

Build your body step by step with the Perfect Body Shape Formula. First figure out, how much should I weigh for my height? and use these other sub steps included in the process:

Related steps:

Step 2, find your body fat by using this how to calculate body fat percentage article (this will be used to calculate current body fat mass and current lean mass).

Learn to control your calories, hunger, and making nutrition a lifestyle by learning about intermittent fasting benefits, low carb diets such as ketogenic, what is keto for beginners, and mix that up with carbs using the Fat Cycling Method, Fat Cycling Diet? Keto ish Weight loss system.

Once your nutrition is programmed, then learn to workout. How should you be working out to get your ideal body type? How heavy? How many reps? How much rest? If you want to workout from home check out Gymming at Home – Essential Equipment to get my recommendations for tools, equipment, and workout schedule for my YouTube workouts. Make sure you check out my profrom treadmill reviews if you are interested in starting off your journey by walking or jogging the weight off. I give you tips and guidelines to get the best results.

Make sure you compliment your nutrition plan with a full supplementation guide:

Order your overall health, performance, fat burners, and protein powder from here: dotFit Customized Supplementation Program

One of the most important tools to help you on your journey are tools that will help you track your daily goals, best fitness tracker with heart rate monitor, whether it’s the Fitbit Charge 4, Whoop Strap 3.0, or calorie intake app. After your workout, make sure you clean up. Want to make it easy? Check out the Microfiber Duster Mop Slippers Review.

Check out these other topics and books that I highly recommend: (My article and purchase)

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