Personal Training: Skills You’ll Learn on the Job

Do you feel like you’re not getting enough out of your current job? Do you want to witness and be the catalyst in someone’s journey to achieving their fitness goals, improve your own fitness levels, and get paid for it? If so, you might want to consider enrolling for personal training courses and pursuing a career as a fitness trainer.

So what does it take to be a good Personal Trainer?

Before you sign up for personal trainer courses, it would be a good idea to do an assessment of yourself to see if you’re a good fit for the job.  A Personal Training job involves interacting with a variety of people, and being a people person helps matters a great deal.

As a coach and an educator, you will have to direct your clients to set their fitness goals and detail an exercise program that enables them to achieve those goals. Being able to keep your clients motivated is one of the most important factors in client retention.

The Skills You’ll Learn Are Transferrable

As a Personal Trainer you will acquire invaluable skills, the benefits of which you will see in your day-to-day life and career, in the case of those taking it up part time. You will hone your skills as a salesperson and learn to sell your skill-sets and experience. As your client base grows, you will become aware of how to make yourself more marketable and acquire business skills that will make you more diplomatic in your regular job.

Looking After Clients

If you don’t take care of your clients, they aren’t going to resign with you. As a hired Personal Trainer, you will have to be genuinely concerned about your client’s progress in and out of sessions. A text message inquiring about their well-being or feedback about the last work out will go a long way in sustaining clients.

This attitude of concern will stand you in good stead especially if you are in a leadership position in your full time job. Your team members will feel appreciated and more involved and the cohesiveness of the team will be higher. Simple concern for others will serve you well in your private life too.

The Art of Conversing

Working with a diverse clientele will teach you how to meet, bond with and entertain almost any personality, whether easy going or difficult. Hours of one-on-one interaction with clients will give you the confidence to walk into almost any business setting armed with the people skills to entertain the group.

The Ability to Sell Intangibles

Personal training isn’t a tangible item. The results of a grueling exercise session are not immediately or visibly apparent. Your client will spend a sizeable amount on a session, and go home “with nothing to show for it.” That’s a rough sale when the typical consumer today is looking for immediate gratification.

To sell personal training, you have to learn how to build value in an intangible item that most individuals aren’t going to have experience with using before. This type of sales training will benefit you down the road regardless of whether you’re in a sales role or not.

Working For Your Pay

Personal training is largely based on commission. The client hours you put in dictate your salary. However, due to the flexibility of their schedule, personal trainers may be working fewer hours than your typical 8AM-5PM employee actually delivering sessions but the time spent around this writing programmes and preparing sessions needs to be taken into consideration.

Trainers don’t get paid for their downtime. If they aren’t facing a client, they aren’t making money. It’s a career path that rewards individuals who are willing to work.

Managing Your Time

Your time is literally your biggest asset as a trainer. Since most trainers are paid by the hour, it’s beneficial to learn how to make the most of that particular timeframe. For many trainers that involves building relationships with clients where all parties understand the repercussions of missing sessions, being late for sessions or not cancelling with due notice.

Personal training comes with its share of challenges. It takes a lot of hard work, but it is an extremely rewarding career option both personally and financially.