The Benefits of Working as a Personal Trainer

What could be better than waking up every morning to go to work doing a job you love? Despite my alarm going off at 5am most mornings, that is how I feel as I wake up! So much so, that it prompted me to write this article and hopefully for those of you who are thinking of becoming a Personal Trainer or Fitness Instructor, it might help to encourage you to take the first steps to sign up for the next course and take your career in the fitness industry to the next level.

Many of my friends cannot believe how much I love working as a Personal Trainer as many of them go to work every day to do jobs they don’t enjoy doing – this makes me feel sorry for them. I love working as a PT, and here are some of the reasons why.

The Benefits of Working As A Personal Trainer

Job Satisfaction
First and foremost, there is no greater job satisfaction than seeing your clients achieve their goals whether it’s fitting into that pair of size 10 jeans, completing a 10k for the first time or them simply telling you the increased amount of energy they now have compared to when they first started training. Nothing can beat the look on a client’s face when they achieve their goals and as a personal trainer this brings immense job satisfaction.

Be Your Own Boss
When I first started working as a Personal Trainer I was self-employed. For me this was a real bonus – it meant I had control over how much I worked, how much I earned but the thing I really enjoyed about it was it allowed me to develop my own brand and my own company standards which I still believe are a foundation to why motive8 North is so successful.

Manage Your Own Diary
Whilst I’m now the Director of a Personal Training company who employs other Personal Trainers, the PT’s who work for us are still paid per session. This means that, just like self-employed Personal Trainers, they can manage their own diaries. I know that working as a Personal Trainer means we have to work unsociable hours, such as early mornings and evenings, but I think that being able to manage your own diary is a perk which counter-balances this as it allows you to free up time during the day to do other things such as your own workouts, study other fitness courses or have a treat like meeting your friends for a coffee!

Good Earning Potential
When I first starting working in the Fitness Industry it was hard to earn a decent living as a Fitness Instructor, and whilst Fitness Instructors probably do still earn a lower wage I think you can earn a good salary as a Personal Trainer. There was a time when only the rich and famous had Personal Trainers and therefore it was a little harder to establish a solid base of clients. However, from experience, in the past 5 years this has massively changed and more people are prioritising their own health and fitness and are therefore more inclined to hire a personal trainer giving you more scope to earn more.

It probably goes without saying that you can only earn a decent living as a Personal Trainer if you are an AMAZING personal trainer, just being a ‘good’ Personal Trainer may earn you an ok living but if you want to earn more you must be prepared to be the BEST that you can be. This means the following:

• You must be prepared to study further CPD courses for Personal Trainers to make sure you keep your knowledge up to date and fresh.
• You must be prepared to read on a regular basis – and I don’t just mean magazines you pick up on the supermarket shelf, but Health and Fitness related journals. At motive8 we expect our Personal Trainers to read at least 6-8 hours per week to keep up to date with the latest research.
• You must have the right personality to establish a great rapport and trust with your clients. From experience, whilst knowledge will set you apart from the crowd, if you can’t establish a good relationship with your client you will not achieve results or have a good retention of clients.
• You must portray the right image. Take a look at yourself? What image do you portray to people? Do you look fit, strong, well presented? Would you go get your haircut by someone who looks like they haven’t washed theirs for days, let alone combed it? Probably not! You cannot under estimate how important image is in this industry.
• Have an energetic, pro-active attitude. Not only towards achieving your clients’ goals, but also in what you want to achieve in your career as a Personal Trainer. Your clients will love someone with a bit of drive and ambition.

I hope this blog has encouraged some of you to take the next step in your career in the health and fitness industry. If you have any questions about our courses, please contact us.