Career Personal Training

If you’re here, it’s probably because you have decided to pursue a career in personal training. Congratulations! Personal training can be a very rewarding career. Here are some initial steps to get started in your new career.

Determine whether you have what it takes
Answer yes or no to each of these questions:

1. I’m a self-starter
2. I’m detail-oriented
3. I can work any time of day
4. I am a people person
5. I enjoy living a fast-paced life
6. I love learning
7. I love helping people
8. I am organized

If you answered yes to at least 7 of those questions, you might have the personality it takes to be a successful trainer.

Decide which certification you want to pursue
There are many organizations which certify personal trainers. Each has their own specialty and areas of emphasis, Learn about each one and decide which one to go for.

1. American College of Sports Medicine
2. National Strength and Conditioning Association
3. National Academy of Sports Medicine
4. International Sports Sciences Association
5. Aerobics and Fitness Association of America

Ask other fitness professionals for their advice on which certification might be right for you.

Intern and apprentice to learn the art
The best way to break into the industry is to shadow a more experienced trainer in their day to day jobs. What do you stand to gain from this? Here are some of the key benefits:

1. You can get a taste before taking on this career full time
2. You can’t get field experience from reading a book
3. You can earn credit towards a certification by interning
4. You will meet lots of great people, and many potential future clients

Decide whether to be independent or join a company
Working as an independent professional can be rewarding, personally and financially. However, here are some risks to consider before doing so:

1. No health or retirement plan
2. You will pay higher taxes as an independent business
3. No regular paycheck
4. No paid sick days
5. No support network. It can get lonely as an independent professional.

Market yourself
Some ideas for marketing your new practice:

1. Give away free seminars. Talk about health issues, weight loss, or any topic you think will be of interest to your audience. You can usually get space at a local college or hospital for free or low fee for this type of event.
2. Issue a press release. Announce yourself to the world
3. Get referrals. Medical professionals, like physical therapists, plastic surgeons, or many other types of doctors can be great sources of referrals. Spas and local health clubs are other great ideas.
4. Create collateral. Brochures, flyers, and newsletters can be great ways to promote yourself locally.

Use these steps to get started. I’d love to hear about how your progress is going, leave a comment on this post to let me know how you’re doing, or if you have any questions!

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For more information about personal trainer education, please visit our website.

The main obstacle to staying on track with a fitness program is losing motivation. People are just starting an exercise program can find themselves quickly tired of the same routine. Keeping exercise appealing and maintaining a good fitness perspective is key to long-term success.

If you have to watch the exact same episode of your favorite television show every day for the rest of your life, you would probably be banging your head against the wall by the end of the week. You would change the channel, pick up a book, or do anything you could to avoid something you once enjoyed.

Yet, many people starting on a fitness program feel compelled to follow the same routine, day after day after day, and consequently fall off the exercise wagon.

Most people would want the services of a fitness trainer in order to provide them the different portions of the fitness program in a livelier style.

Fitness trainers are actually experts in analyzing and creating a fitness program that is right for you. They are the ones who will calculate your appropriateness to a certain program with regards to your "fitness level," create the program according to your specific needs, and keep you stimulated and inspired by giving you activities that will not bore you.

But then again, as with other entities included in the fitness world, not all fitness trainers are created equal. They may vary from the different trainings that they have, the health education they have acquired, and the skills that they have learned.

It is important to consider some factors that will determine if a certain fitness trainer is right for you. Here is how to find the fitness trainer that fits you:

1. The Fitness Trainers Certification. Like any item or product, the quality is sometimes measured and determined through the certification. Before you choose your fitness trainer, it is important to verify if the trainer is duly certified by a highly regarded fitness association.

It is also best to choose a fitness trainer that has a CPR certification or first aid qualifications.

2. The Fitness Trainers Education/Trainings. Be sure to choose a fitness trainer who had acquired an adequate training and education as far as health and physical fitness is concerned.

Even though it is not necessary, fitness trainers who have acquired education connected to physical fitness or any other related field will definitely have an edge over the others.

3. The Fitness Trainer should know how to give the right attention. A good fitness trainer should know how to provide his or her client an undivided attention whenever their session is going on. In this way, the trainer will be able to focus more on the details that need attention and offer immediate considerations.

4. The Fitness Trainer should know how to track development It is best to choose a fitness trainer that knows how to track his or her client’s progress as far as fitness is concerned. In this way, the trainer will be able to generate new activities and trainings designated for a particular result of the client.

5. Does your Fitness Trainer have a Good Personality? Since you will be dealing most with your fitness trainer, it is best if you will look for somebody with a compatible personality, somebody whom you can be comfortable with.

The services of a fitness program center and the contributions it can give you while working out on those belly fat, are, indeed, one of the best help that you can get from a professional person who knows what he is doing.

It is best to choose the best fitness trainer who can give you the best fitness program services that you need so that you will never get bored again.

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For information about personal trainer certification, please visit our website.

Now more then ever it’s time to be bold and break away from the rest of your competitors in order to capture and keep more business. The honey moon is over. As personal trainers and fitness professionals we have to work much harder to attract new business and bedazzle the clients we already have. Most fitness businesses haven’t taken the time to discover what sets them apart from the rest and suffer because of it. They end up looking, sounding and feeling like everyone else. In the midst of all this sameness, the customer has no choice but to evaluate service on price alone. This is a dangerous road to travel because the consumer will likely choose based on lower cost.

So do your customers a favour and make it easy for them to get a clear understanding of how you differ from everyone else. To start, think about what is special and unique about you. Now before you answer, really take the time to think about it. What is different about what you do or the service you provide that would make a customer notice and want to spend their hard earned money with you? What could you shout from the roof tops to let customers know you are unique? Your first step is to uncover what this is. To assist you in this task finish the statement below. It’s not an easy activity and it may take some time to figure it out but when you do you will know what sets you apart from the rest.

I am the only one that…

Here’s an example to help you along.

At On The Edge Fitness we are the only fitness education provider that can take students from earning their personal training certification right into business start-up.

If you position yourself uniquely in the marketplace you will be able to carve out a special place in the customer’s mind so that loyalty is not only created but also has a long life. As one of only a handful of fitness businesses coaches in Canada I can attest to the value of being different and how it’s helped me grow my own business. When you clearly know where you are positioned in the market, and what unique talents you have to offer, it makes it easy for customers to make the decision to do business with you. That’s the power of differentiation.

As a personal trainer one way to differentiate yourself is to be clear about what target market you serve. Being a generalist doesn’t have the D-factor needed to stand-out. Decide what market you want to go after and then become the expert in serving that market.

Discover as much as you can about the people within that market by becoming a market detective. Get to know every intimate detail of the wants, needs and desires of the customer. Then and only then can you start to create some strategies around serving these customers. How do you find out their needs? It’s simple. Talk to your customers. Take every opportunity to learn as much as you can about them and what they value.

Here’s an example of how a trainer talked to me about a client named Bob.

Bob is a 35 year old account executive. He is married with two children, a dog, a cat and a bird. Bob spends ninety minutes a day commuting to work everyday. He travels a few times a month for business and on weekends and plays hockey with the boys. He enjoys the camaraderie of the boys as they drink beer and eat fried foods. He often talks to this trainer about his games during the session. He complains of being tired from his multitude of responsibilities. The trainer has been with Bob for six months.

Based on the case study above, does it sound like this trainer knows a lot about the client? If you answered yes, then you are incorrect. There is so much more the trainer could know about Bob after six months of training. What is his wife’s name, how about the names of the children and pets? What does he do while he drives to work? What kind of beer does he drink? What does he like to eat? Why is he so tired? What type of house does Bob live in? What kind of car does he drive?

Now you might be thinking, "Do I really need to know all this to train him?" No, but if you want to differentiate yourself you may want to use customer service as a way of standing out from the crowd. How can you use the information you learn about Bob to do that? Since his commute is so long maybe you can make him a mixed CD of his favourite music or suggest he listen to podcasts while he drives. You could offer a package of pet grooming services with training so he can get his workout done while the pets get cleaned up saving him time in his day. There are many mobile pet spaws available. You could create a workout for the family where everyone gets to play together. I’m sure he doesn’t have a lot of time to spend with his family so this would be a bonus to him and his wife. Be creative and step outside of what is traditionally done into the unconventional.

In order to be different you have to think differently. If you go down the same road where everyone else travels you have less chance of getting noticed. The secret to differentiate or die is to grab people’s attention, be different and take a risk. Otherwise you are just the same.

In the movie Madagascar 2, Escape from Africa the eclectic group of New York zoo animals find themselves crash landed in Africa. They roam the plains of Africa and soon stumble upon herds of other animals just like them. Marty, the zebra sees hundreds of other zebras. He discovers that once he was among the crowd he was no different from everyone else. Even his best friend Alex the Lion couldn’t pick him out from the other zebras. Obviously, Marty was extremely distraught by this because he thought he was special and unlike everyone else. However, as the movie progresses we learn that Marty really is special because he was willing to do something the others in the herd wouldn’t do which was take a risk, break away from the herd in order to be brave and help others. The other zebras were content to remain where they were.

Which zebra do you want to be, the one that steps out, takes a risk and dares to be different or just another member of the herd?

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Becoming a personal trainer is fairly easy, but becoming the best personal trainer takes time, efforts, dedication and most important of all, to think out of the box, about how you can be different from the others and attract more clients.

Why interval training helps you get fitter, healthier, faster

Get fitter, healthier, faster. High intensity interval training or low intensity interval exercise offers benefits traditional exercise can’t.
Whatever your exercise inclinations, consider adding interval training to you week for maximum fitness benefits.
Whether high intensity interval training or lower intensity intervals, “burst training” can help almost anyone reach health & fitness levels, in a short time, that traditional exercise can’t.

What is interval training?

Interval training is a strategy that alternates intense bursts of activity with periods of less intensity or rest.

This is in contrast to much of the traditional aerobic exercise which mainly consists of steady activity over 20 to 60 minutes.

With high intensity interval training, what the particular exercise you choose, how long & intense the bursts are, & what & how long the less intense periods are, depends on individual preference, goals & fitness level.

Most people should simply choose the appropriate intensity of each interval by rating exertions on a scale of 0 (rest) to 10 (almost maximum effort). Less fit persons should alternate between 2 or 3 (low - moderate effort) & 5 or 6 (between strong - very strong).

However, if you are very heavy & out of shape, interval may consist of a few minutes of walking & rest, for 10 to 30 minutes.

But if you are very fit, you might be able to alternate fast runs with jogs. The jogs would constitute the easy parts of your workout.

By the way, one reason why playing sports is so healthy is that many of them are vehicles within which you are doing interval activity.

For example, many sports demand bursts of activity followed by relative or absolute rest. Take basketball, for instance. Players might sprint, rest, jog, rest, jump, rest, sprint, etc. So the whole game is a series of hard/soft intervals.

The special benefits of interval training

But what are the specific physical benefits of interval exercise, especially high intensity interval training?

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For information about personal trainer course please visit our website.

When the weather gets cold, it can seem like a chore to go outside for a workout. However, before you lock yourself inside all season, take a cue from the kids. Remember how much fun it was to play in the snow when you were young? Well, there is no reason to stop now. Just walking around on snowy ground requires extra energy and burns calories. Here are a few other ideas to get you fit while enjoying the white stuff this winter.

Anyone who has ever gone sledding knows how exciting it can be to fly down a hill and slip and slide to the bottom. What you may not realize, though, is that this youthful activity is actually quite the workout. The average adult can burn more than 350 calories in an hour of sledding. How? Well, every time you reach the bottom you need to lug that sled back up. The steeper the hill, the more you burn and the more fun you’ll have on the ride back down.

Building a snowman is one of the quintessential winter activities. It’s a great way to spend time with family and friends, and also a great accomplishment when you display your finished masterpiece. In addition to all the joy a snowman brings, this wintery figure also helps get you in shape. All that rolling and packing burns roughly 285 calories in an hour. When you’ve finished your snowy friend, continue the fun by picking a snowball fight with your fellow builders. Running and tossing soft snow around can burn another 320 calories an hour. When you finally tire out, why not make some snow angels? Just rolling around in the snow like this can still burn 200 calories an hour. Add all these together and you’ve had quite the winter workout!

Shoveling snow may seem like a chore, but next time you are getting ready to go out and uncover your driveway, put a positive spin on the situation. Skip the snow blower and use this task to earn yourself that extra slice of pie or cup of cocoa later. Shoveling snow by hand can burn more than 400 calories an hour for the average 150 pound person. This is just as much as a casual jog or bike ride! Just make sure you don’t injure yourself. Use proper form and always life the heavy weight of the shovel with your legs, not your back.

Another great winter working gets you out of the neighborhood and in touch with nature. Hiking through the snow burns about as many calories as shoveling, and is a great way to get out on a chilly afternoon. Feeling buff? Go snowshoeing instead. It burns more than 450 calories an hour! For those who prefer more thrilling sports, skiing and snowboarding are also great weekend choices. Each burns around 350 calories an hour and can easily take up a whole day. Just make sure you know what you are doing. If you’re new at these sports, get some basic instruction before you hit the slopes, and stick with the easy trails to start.

Just because there is snow on the ground doesn’t mean you have to lock yourself indoors. Going out in the snow is tons of fun for people of all ages, and is an excellent way to schedule fitness into your holiday season. Besides, you’ll feel a lot better about all those great holiday foods if you burn some extra calories off first.

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Exercising can be fun and helping someone to exercise in a proper manner can be fun and rewarding at the same time. Not to forget the earning potentials. Personal Fitness Training can be a great career and if yo are considering to take up this career you would need some information about personal trainer school. Please visit our website for more details.

Working Out At Home: Exercise Videos Or Personal Trainer?

We all know we should be doing some form of exercise don’t we? But, most of us really don’t want to leave our home and go to a gym.

No matter which way you go, you are going to need exercise equipment and a room in your home to put them. Here are a few choices for the kinds of equipment that you might want to get:

The most popular workout equipment that is sold today is a treadmill. If the weather is cold, or if it’s raining or snowing you don’t have to worry about freezing. Just go into your exercise room (or space) and walk on your treadmill. Treadmills aren’t the heavy, clunky machines that they used to be. Most can now be folded up and stowed away in a closet or behind a screen.

A universal weight set is the next thing that you should think about getting. Universal weight sets can be set up so that you can exercise a wide range of muscles in the body. Pumping iron isn’t like it used to be in the old days. This type of exercise equipment can be set up to exercise just about any part of your body, from your legs, to your arms to you back…you name it.

Using just these two pieces of exercise equipment, you can improve both your cardio and your body’s strength.

The least expensive choice as to learning the correct ways to exercise is by purchasing a fitness video. You don’t even have to use special equipment with some of these videos. Some will be for yoga and others just for dancing and aerobic exercise. Here are some things to be aware of when looking for a fitness video:

1. Decide on what kind of fitness that you want to start with and buy a video for that one kind. Don’t try to start out with twenty different kinds of exercises. You’ll just give up overwhelmed and frustrated.

2. Start slowly by following the video examples one step at a time. Maybe you’ve decided to do an aerobics dance video first. Begin the routine and then stop when you get overly tired. Take a day off and then start again, going as far as you can without overtaxing yourself. Build up your workout routine time gradually.

3. Only when you can easily do the exercise routine in the aerobics video that you purchased, then go for another type of exercise such as Tai Bo.

Fitness videos are great for those who are shy or think that they are to fat to be seen at the gym. (Why is that? That’s what gyms are for!) Once you get a few routines down, you’ll start feeling healthier and have more stamina.

Some people may do better with a personal trainer. After all, you can’t "cheat" on your exercises if you have someone telling you exactly what, how and why you should do your exercising. A personal trainer will create an exercise routine that matches your fitness level. They are there to push you a bit but not to make you do more than your body will tolerate.

Here are some tips on hiring a personal trainer:

You should be able to find a personal trainer at your local gym. You can hire one of them or ask them for a referral for one for you to use in your home.

This could get a bit expensive. You might just decide that it would be less expensive for you to work out at the gym just to get you started. You could join for just a short time. Some gyms even have a "trial period" so you can test them out. The trainer would show you how to use the exercise equipment and you’ll go and apply the same methods at home.

It would probably be better to splurge on a personal trainer to begin with so that he (or she) can start you on the routine that will be best for you level of physical fitness. They are the experts and will guide you in the right direction.

Which ever way you decide to go, fitness video or personal trainer, you must get started. The longer you wait, the more difficult it will be. Just do it!

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To know more about personal trainer education, please visit our website.

Our industry, much like our world, is transforming at an accelerated pace.

The unthinkable and impossible soon becomes the inevitable and forgotten.

The fitness industry, as you know, is relatively unregulated, which is an advantage and a disadvantage. There are so many certifications out there, so many experts, so many things we can learn to help transform our clients’ bodies and minds, but how does one go about choosing the best educational path?

Is there even a thing such as the one best personal training certification, or is it possible that some certifications excel at teaching one specific area, while some excel at teaching a different area, while others only excel at building their own business and following?

We all know how important education
is for our industries credibility, our client’s success, and our career stability. Our client’s come to us looking for leadership; we wield great power over them, and with great power comes the need for responsibility. Of course, they are ultimately responsible for their own success, but we are responsible for providing them with the best shot at realizing their full potential, while also being responsible for their safety and joint integrity.

And in order to give our client’s the best shot possible, we must be passionate about learning and dedicate ourselves to the study of many topics.

“Those who love wisdom must investigate many things.” Heraclitus

I have personally, in 9 years of being a trainer, been to numerous courses and conferences across the country, including Florida, California, and Oklahoma, taken 8 certifications, several all day workshops, 2 internships, and read numerous books, textbooks, and research studies.

If I could point to one thing, it is my passion for knowledge that has allowed me to create a very successful career in the fitness industry.

A wise man once said “A better question will lead to a better answer?” This is absolutely true. Think about it. If you ask “Why am I so fat?” you may come up with the answer “Because I am lazy or stupid”. But if you ask yourself “How can I lose weight while having fun” you will come up with a much better answer. Right?

So how does this idea apply to the question at hand? What is the best personal trainer certification?

Honestly, I have learned important things from each and every certification. I think a much better question is “What area am I passionate about learning about?” If it is biomechanics, RTS is the best certification. If it is the heart and cardiac rehab, ACSM is the best. If it is about sports performance, you may want to go with an Athlete’s Performance Internship or get you C.S.C.S from the NSCA or look into the Charles Poliquin certification program. Want to teach Olympic lifts? No one does it better than USAW.

So ask yourself, what are you excited to learn about? Just as importantly, what kinds of people do you want to train? If you are focused on the elderly and post rehab, MES makes a lot more sense than USAW.

One very cool certification that I just learned about is PTA Global. They are unifying some of the best teachers and trainers in our industry under one certification system.

Asking yourself “What knowledge and clients am I excited about” is an important first step in laying the foundation for a successful fitness business. Based on your answers, you can begin to identify a career path that will allow you to realize the business and lifestyle you deserve, while enjoying what your life’s work and client’s successes.

I encourage you to continue learning about all the different certifications out there, and pursuing the ones that make the most sense for your market and passion. It is very important to not only continue learning, as you already know, but learning from multiple sources. Our job as elite fitness professionals is to empower our clients and provide them with real world practical solutions to their health and fitness needs; having the ability to shift perspective is incredibly important for us in this capacity.

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Find out more about personal trainer certification from our website.