Why Become A Personal Trainer?

Being a personal trainer is an alluring career path for anyone who has a passion for fitness. But a personal trainer does a lot more than just help people workout. A personal trainer is there to work with an individual to construct a complete fitness plan. Covering all aspects of a person’s life. With the aim to help that individual meet their goals and improve their wellbeing.

It is important to note that a personal trainer isn’t the same as a physical therapist. People often mistakenly assume that these two professions are the same. And there are a lot of similarities between the two fields. But a physical therapist is more concerned with diagnosis and treating physical ailments. Whereas a personal trainer is more focused on improving your health and physical fitness.

One of the main advantages of being a personal trainer is that you are self-employed. You can choose your own clients. Decide your own hours. And build your career around your life. And this is a very alluring prospect to some people. The other main advantage is that you will have a lot of time to focus on your own fitness. If working out is important to you then this is definitely the right career for you.

What You Need To Know

But there is far more to being a personal trainer than just having a passion for working out. And this is where a lot of people get it wrong. They assume they can build a career off the back of their gym skills. But you actually need to know a lot more.

You need to be critically aware of exactly how the human body works. Which muscles are activated by which exercises. Each client will have a different fitness goal. Specific areas of their body they want to work on. And you need to help them build a workout routine that will help them meet that goal. But you also need to be conscious of how different body types mesh with certain exercises. Not everyone’s bodies will be suited to every type of workout. You need to be able to look at one of your clients and know what will help them.

You also need to have a good understanding of a number of different medical conditions. Especially if you one day want to transition into being a physical therapist. You will likely end up having clients who suffer from something that might impact their ability to exercise. Or it might require a specific diet plan. In your initial sessions you will need to discuss this with them. It is worth using transcription services for medical discussions with new clients to ensure you get all the details correct and exact.

We briefly mentioned diet plans above. And this is another huge part of being a personal trainer. And this is often the main area that a lot of aspiring personal trainers fail at. Part of your service should include managing your client’s diet. Because diet is vitally important when it comes to reaching your fitness goals. If you aren’t eating right then you won’t see results from all your working out. And this is something you need to impress upon your clients.

You will work with them to build a diet plan that suits their specific goals. Not only ensuring that they are meeting their caloric intake but also eating the right things. You will help them construct a meal plan, possibly providing them with recipes or helping them with meal prep. And you will also need to motivate them to stick to this meal plan.

Is It Right For You

So far we have discussed all the things you need to know. But even if you do have all this information, being a personal trainer still might not be the right career for you. So what type of person makes a good personal trainer? Firstly, you need to enjoy working with a wide variety of people. While you can pick and choose your clients, you can’t afford to be too picky. Sometimes you will need to pay the bills and take on clients you might not necessarily get on with too well.

Secondly, you need to be a patient person. There will be a lot of times where your clients start to pull back or dip in their progress. Maybe they’re not sticking to the meal plan. Or are flaking on sessions. Patience is super important to ensure you can give them grace and help them get back on track.