Personal trainer
Personal trainers work with clients to improve their health and fitness.
What you'll do
Day-to-day tasks
As a personal trainer you could:
- help clients set short and long-term fitness goals
- plan a fitness programme to help clients achieve their goals
- teach, motivate and coach clients in how to follow their programmes safely and effectively
- give advice on health, nutrition and lifestyle changes
- help clients with their workouts
- check and record clients' progress, like measuring heart rate and levels of body fat
- promote your services and do business admin tasks if you are self-employed
Working environment
You could work at a fitness centre or at a client's home.
Your working environment may be outdoors some of the time.
Career path and progression
You could take further instructor courses to learn new skills to offer clients, like:
- yoga
- pilates
- nutrition
- group training
With further training, you could also work with people recovering from illness or who have certain medical conditions.
What it takes
Skills and knowledge
You'll need:
- customer service skills
- the ability to teach people how to do something
- the ability to work on your own
- physical skills like movement, coordination, dexterity and grace
- knowledge of psychology like theories of motivation
- knowledge of teaching and the ability to design fitness programmes
- patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
- sensitivity and understanding
- to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device
Restrictions and Requirements
You'll need to:
- pass enhanced background checks as you may work with children and vulnerable adults
How to become
You can get into this job through:
- a college course
- an apprenticeship
- applying directly
- specialist courses run by private training organisations
- the armed forces
You could take a college course in personal training or gym instructing.
Entry requirements
Entry requirements for these courses vary.
More Information
You could do a Personal Trainer Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship.
Entry requirements
Employers will set their own entry requirements.
More Information
You can apply to become a personal trainer or set up your business, if you've got qualifications and experience as a fitness coach or gym instructor.
You can do qualifications through private training companies who offer specialist courses in gym instructing and personal training.
You could train in a similar role as a physical training instructor in the armed forces.
You can find out more through the:
Career tips
It's usual to have a certificate in first aid that includes cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Further information
You can find out more about careers in exercise and fitness from UK Coaching or the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA).
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This page contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.