Career paths

A perfect first step would be to look at getting involved in club management…..such a step would enable you to keep your hand in personal training whilst developing other important skills relating to people management…

The first role PT’s normally aspire to is to become a Health and Fitness Manager. In this role you would be responsible for managing and organising the gym and the fitness team…you would oversee the running of the gym….any broken equipment would be your responsibility!!!! And also the management of the personal trainers and gym instructors to ensure that the member’s needs are met at all times and to ensure that PT targets are met…

This is both rewarding and challenging and for some is the first step in to man management….it is great fun as you get to work as a part of a group of like minded people…

From Health and Fitness Manager there are many other steps in management you could progress in to such as:-

- Studio Coordinator: responsible for group exercise and class timetable management

- Membership Service Manager: looking after members and their memberships

- Sales Manager: getting people to join the gym!!!

- Duty Manager: responsible for the day to day running of the club…

To ultimately General Manager where you will be responsible for running the facility, meeting targets, managing staff and ensuring that every member receives the experience in your club that they are paying for!!

The strength part usually consists of working with weights. In particular they will target different muscle areas relevant to that sport. Golfers and tennis professionals will focus on their forearms and rotator cuffs to improve arm and joint strength and focus on developing sport specific power.

The second aspect of strength and conditioning exercises is obviously the conditioning – this can be quite intensive and consist of half-hour non-stop workouts involving sprints, squat thrusts and many other similar exercises to build up stamina.

A strength and conditioning coach will be responsible for helping athletes to get faster, stronger, keep flexible and play for longer so they perform better and stay clear of injuries. They work alongside the main coach and help by designing a programme that will target the physical need as identified by the main coach and the strength and conditioning coach.

Their aim is to identify what the athlete needs to produce a better performance. They will structure a programme that targets both strengths and weaknesses of the athlete. The real skill is to identify the individual needs of each sport and then to apply specific programmes that are tailored to the individual athlete.

Working as a Strength and conditioning coach generally involves helping an athlete or team prepare for a major event. Training programmes are developed and implemented for the individual athletes and then their fitness and training are monitored over time. Observing training, events and touring are key aspects of the Job.

One of the best ways to ‘break the ice’ and interact with members so as to potentially gain them as clients is to teach group exercise classes. Instead of working one-to-one with a member, you have the opportunity showcasing your motivation and interactive skills, together with demonstrating your fitness knowledge and how to have fun whilst exercising in a dynamic class environment, not mention targeting perhaps 25-40 members at once.

One of the best interactive class options is circuit training whereby you encourage members to perform interactive exercises that are both challenging and fun. What better opportunity for the member to see you as a positive influence, helping them to achieve their own personal goals. This is a great way of prospecting or marketing yourself to potential clients. Teaching circuits is one option but to really demonstrate your flair for group exercise, why not take the Exercise to Music course and teach aerobic and/or conditioning classes in the studio.

This is a fantastic way to earn extra money as a regular or cover instructor and also to engage with members (often ladies) who are daunted by the gym and might see the exercise studio as a safer environment. If you can engage with the members who only do exercise classes, it can be a fantastic opportunity to sell yourself and your personality to a whole new membership group who might not realise they need a personal trainer and so a very potential captive audience.

In addition to increasing your income through classes and potential new clients, a natural career progression is to look at becoming a Studio or Group Exercise Co-ordinator. Often these roles are part time and can allow you to cherry pick the best class options and cover whilst still allowing you to personal train as well. Generally this industry has very few personal trainers who cross over into studio classes, so this is one opportunity to really cover as many bases as possible, keeping you options open and earning more money to boot.

Becoming a L4 specialist is a very rewarding role! Often working with clients who have life-threatening or severely debilitating conditions, It can be tremendously enjoyable to be able to help to improve an individual’s health and quality of life; seeing that smile on a client’s face after a few sessions makes the whole world of difference to them and to you as the specialist.

The role also means working much closer with GP’s, nurses, physiotherapists and other clinical staff, which will vastly increase your own knowledge and confidence and could potentially lead to further work.

Taking L4 specialist courses doesn’t mean that you need to be working within an Exercise Referral Programme, they can immensely increase your understanding and confidence when working privately. They can also lead to increased funding for Exercise Referral Programmes or private income generation.

It is a fantastic way of improving and maintaining your own knowledge, and then to be able to pass this knowledge onto other people to start their career in the Health and Fitness Industry…

If you want to become a tutor the first criteria is that you have at least one years experience in the industry…ideally two – think back to your course and remember all the stories that your tutors told you from their personal experience and how real this made the industry to you…

In addition we would strongly recommend that you obtain an assessor qualification before searching for a tutor role as this gives you a head start and enables you to hit the ground running!!!

Some companies do offer internships where you can start from the bottom and work your way up, for this you just need 1 years experience and will receive all the necessary training…

Tutoring is an incredibly rewarding role, you will get to teach people everyday about something that you are passionate about and help them kick start their career in an incredibly dynamic industry…