Nowadays, one of the most stimulating professions is being a personal trainer. If you like sports, health, and interacting with people, you can become an exceptional personal trainer.
In this article, we’ll give you more information about this activity, which may become your vocation, and help you boost your personal brand in this competitive field. Shall we begin?
How to become a personal trainer
To become a great professional, it’s not enough to want to: you must have the necessary preparation and training. In this section, we will guide you through what steps to take and how to start obtaining the right qualifications.
What to study to become a personal trainer
The fact of the matter is you can choose different training paths to reach your goal. The paths are varied but, in all of them, you will have to work hard to become the kind of personal trainer that everyone wants.
Take note. These are the training courses you can choose:
- University studies: Bachelor’s degree in Sporting Activities and Physical Science.
- Degree in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences.
- Double Degree: Physical Activity and Sport Sciences plus Physical Therapy.
- Double Degree: Physical Activity and Sport Sciences plus Primary Education.
- University degree in health sciences completed with a Personal Trainer course.
- Advanced Technical Degree in Teaching and Promotion of Social and Sports Activities.
- Advanced Technical Degree in Promotion of Physical and Sports Activities.
- Diploma in Personal Training and Sports Nutrition (specialized course).
- Professional courses at the Wiemspro academy.
Type of personal trainer qualifications
Nowadays, personal trainers play a very important social role, contributing to the maintenance of individual health and well-being, promoting sports practice and, consequently, improving general living conditions.
It’s logical, as it grows in demand and popularity, that different professional levels are distinguished among specialists in this field. Depending on what yours is, you will be able to reach different audiences and be more or less in demand.
These are the main ones:
- Level III. Basic Instructor.
- Level IV. Advanced personal trainer, with a certified European qualification.
- Level V. Professional with a Higher Degree in Sports Science.
- Level VI. Highly qualified professional with a degree in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences.
Career opportunities for personal trainers
Once you have obtained your qualification as a personal trainer, a number of doors and possible job opportunities will open up for you. In particular, the following:
- Weight training and fitness instructor. As more and more sports centers are offering these services, these professionals are in high demand. The work consists of defining and helping to implement personalized physical and muscular fitness plans in a gym. You will have to ensure routines are correctly executed, prevent injuries while performing them, enhance user satisfaction, and help them achieve their goals. You will also learn a lot about this profession!
- Sports activities instructor. It can be a full-time job or a supplement to other occupations. In this role, you will create class dynamics, apply them, and supervise those present as they perform their routines. The possibilities are endless and, of course, require a certain level of specialization: pilates, stretching, yoga, zumba, or indoor cycling are some examples.
- Physical trainer. This is the most popular goal of many personal trainers, as it involves working with teams and top athletes. Your job is to enable them to reach the physical tone necessary to achieve their sporting goals. Performance, maximum efficiency, high standards, and qualification are essential. Each modality also requires specific knowledge.
- Personal trainer as such. This is a client’s sporting ally, hired to work with them side by side and help them tone muscles and improve their physical condition based on specific parameters and personal goals. The contact with each athlete is intense and, necessarily, productive.
- Online coach. The digital boom has led to the development of this professional figure that works on focusing, supervising, and directing personalized training routines, also oriented towards specific individual goals.
The main characteristic of personal training is that it adapts to each individual, situation, circumstance, and goals. For this reason, these trainers must handle an infinite number of resources and deal creatively and individually with any professional assignment they receive.
A differential aspect of their job is that the sporting practice must cover each client’s global reality. They must take into account their characteristics, motivations, strengths, and weaknesses in order to, in the medium and long term, move as fast as possible in the right direction.
Here are some real-life situations that personal trainers often face:
- Personal training at home for those who need to lose weight due to health problems.
- Individualized activity program for people who have decided to embrace a healthier lifestyle.
- Preparation for candidates who need to pass physical tests: firefighters, police, army, etc.
- Level recovery plans after a sports injury.
- Goal-oriented work for actors and stage professionals who need to prepare for a specific role.
Among the types of training that may be applied, there are no a prior limits or restrictions. Anything that can help to achieve the defined goals will be welcome. However, the key role of the personal trainer is to design a synergistic overall preparation for the individual that is targeted to their goals. Squats, crunches, running, pilates, zumba, CrossFit, martial arts, swimming, strength training, tai chi, aerobic exercise, and any other type of training can be included in these individualized sessions.
Strategies to help you attract more customers
Once you have become an excellent professional, after passing the required training and accumulating enough experience to offer your services in the market, comes the most complicated and demanding part: attracting clients.
This is a commercial and strategic battle that you must face with determination, confidence, and good strategies. Here we’ll share with you five that are currently extremely productive.
1. Specialization:
In all facets of life, specialists are more highly regarded than professionals who are generalists. This does not mean that you should forgo providing general personal training services. But it is important that you differentiate yourself from your competitors with specific attributes and approaches. In this way, you will gain visibility, reputation, and clientele in specific market segments and, from there, you will be able to grow in the right direction.
In countries such as Germany, Brazil, or Costa Rica, specialists in electrical muscle stimulation for fitness are increasingly in demand. This is due to 3 reasons:
- The higher average rate for the personal trainer’s services. It is a very specialized service that few companies certify, so it has a very important value and feeling of exclusivity, which gives it a different kind of appeal. Luckily, through the Wiemspro e-learning platform, you may obtain your certification as a Professional Electrical Muscle Stimulation Technician. We have different levels of specialization. For more information visit Academy by Wiemspro.
- It is the way professional athletes train. Being fit in a lasting and visible way over time seems like a fairytale, but this is nothing more than the electrostimulation work bearing fruit. Elite athletes such as Daniel Carvajal or Olympic athlete Fátima Gálvez use Wiemspro electrical muscle stimulation training to stay in shape year round.
- Satisfied customers. Electrostimulation training is more effective and visible than conventional training. The Wiemspro electro stimulation suit generates muscle contractions in those strategic areas that we want to work, so the work is very focused, intense, and visible. What’s more, it’s not necessary to have very long sessions; 2 sessions of 20 minutes per week are enough to start noticing the effects of electrostimulation training.
2. Digitalization:
We live in the age of the Internet and the immediacy of information. After the COVID-19 pandemic, many people became familiar with sport through tutorials, videos, or streaming.
Online services allows you to reach audiences far from your place of residence and also to optimize your work schedule to get the most out of it. You save on travel and can give more sessions in less time!
Even if you especially value personal contact with your customers, you can incorporate digital technology resources to improve your services and your customer acquisition processes. Do you have a website where anyone can hire you? Start there.
3. Organization and flexibility:
Self-employed people don’t have timetables. At the same time, we must prevent our professional and personal lives from descending into chaos. On the other hand, there is a great business opportunity in the demand for 100% personalized services. Here’s an example: a bouncer at a club. He works at night and sleeps during the day. You may be able to set up a convenient time to help him get in shape and do his job better.
You will have to be flexible and organize your other sessions to provide the service he needs. If you do it right, who knows if he’ll end up recommending you to other colleagues in the same situation. Without realizing it, you will be moving towards a specialization that can be very positive. Don’t close yourself off to anything before thinking about it.
4. Choose the right playlist:
A good playlist that motivates us can increase performance by 15%.
Having fun and releasing tension is essential to achieve your sporting goals. Sport must be regenerative and, despite the fatigue and effort made, the mind must feel great at the end. Likewise, coming to the training session motivated is the best way to start.
Most sports routines are performed to music. And choosing the right music is essential for each user’s total satisfaction. Take into account the type of training to be done and its technical contributions, but also your personal tastes and your trainees’ preferences. They are the main protagonists of every training session!
5. Electrostimulation:
Do you know the applications of electrostimulation in physical fitness? EMS training is proving to be increasingly effective. It is an excellent complement that advances the achievement of the goals set and reduces the level of effort required. What’s more, it also offers great results in the treatment and recovery from sports injuries.
Incorporating these training styles into your catalogue of services is relatively simple: all you have to do is acquire the necessary electrical muscle stimulation equipment and train yourself in its use. If you want to know how, you can write to us here.Apply everything in this article and in a very short time you will take a giant leap forward in your career. You will be a personal trainer with the highest qualifications and prestige! And if you are interested in this and related content, don’t forget to subscribe to our blog.
