Personal Trainer

For people who love to work out, choosing a career as a Personal Trainer is like a dream come true. What better way to stick to your own fitness routine and make sure that you have time to work out than helping other people with their workouts?

Personal trainers are in great demand, and have lots of flexibility in terms of the type of employment they choose. Jobs are available in workout clubs and gyms and in corporate exercise facilities. However, being a Personal Trainer is also a career that lends itself easily to being self-employed.

Personal Trainers help their clients devise personal fitness goals, and then works with them to help them achieve these goals. Personal trainers select exercises to put into a personalized fitness routine for each client. They work with their clients to ensure that the client performs the exercises correctly, in order to avoid injury. Very often, Personal Trainers work out alongside their clients to ensure correct body positioning and to provide coaching.

One important aspect of the Personal Trainer's job is motivation. Sticking to an exercise routine can be very difficult for many people, and these people often hire a personal trainer to keep them motivated and make them work out consistently. For this reason, a Personal Trainer needs to have exceptional interpersonal skills. Part of their daily routine will include motivating the client who doesn't feel like working out, or who feels discouraged because they gained weight or didn't' see the expected results. It's critical that the Personal Trainer be able to communicate clearly and empathetically with clients so that they can work through these challenges in a positive way.

Personal Trainers must be well educated in exercise physiology. He must be able to evaluate the current fitness level of a client and recommend improvement methods. He must have a wide variety of exercises at his disposal, so that he can devise a plan to meet any fitness goal. In addition, he must be well versed in dealing with injuries and medical conditions, and be capable of substituting exercises for injured clients, so that working out does not exacerbate any medical conditions or injuries.

The Personal Trainer must also be educated in diet and nutrition. Very often, personal trainers may help their clients develop a diet that will facilitate meeting their exercise goals. Therefore, Personal Trainers must be well versed in weight loss methods and nutrition requirements for toning the body and gaining muscle mass.

If you're interested in pursuing a career in Personal Training, you should pursue a certification in Personal Training. Most gyms and corporate exercise facilities will require certification as a pre-requisite for employment, and some will require a bachelor's degree in a fitness field, such as exercise science, sports medicine, physical education or kinesiology. Even if you plan to go into business for yourself as a Personal Trainer, the education and certification is important because it provides necessary coursework, and gives clients a level of confidence in your professionalism. In order to become certified, you will need to complete coursework on exercise physiology, nutrition and motivation. Then you will take an exam to receive your certificate. One excellent source for Personal Training Certification is the National Council on Strength and Fitness, at http://www.ncsf.org/. Another useful website for Personal Trainers is http://www.nestacertified.com/. This site offers information on certification, as well as job listings.

Once you've received your certification, you will need to decide whether you plan to be in business for yourself, or find a job at a gym or corporate facility. Either can be rewarding; it's a matter of personal lifestyle. Gyms and corporate facilities will likely offer better compensation, but being in business for yourself offers flexibility in terms of how many hours you wish to work, and your training philosophy. If you choose to find a job working for someone else, take a look at Fitness Jobs, at http://www.fitnessjobs.com/. They offer comprehensive job listings for Personal Trainers and other fitness professionals.

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