What Does A Personal Trainer Do?

If you are searching for “what does a personal trainer do?“, this post should help clarify what they do, their responsibilities and scope of work.

What Is a Personal Trainer?

A personal trainer is someone that have knowledge, skills and abilities that are needed to create a safe and effective fitness program. They will also be able to assist and instruct people when it comes to being able to reach their personal health and fitness goals.

What Does A Personal Trainer Do?

A personal trainer helps you reach your fitness goals. Because of the various TV shows as well as celebrity hired trainers, personal training careers have a pretty high profile than ever before. This has made personal trainers quite recognizable as being a real and active part of a person setting goals and being able to achieve them. The main part that trainers play for their clients has really grown. Although, there are a lot of distorted views about what personal trainers should look like and what they do.

Caring, Purpose, Passion and Coaching are the qualities that will make a huge impact instead of the size of the biceps of the trainer. Now, that isn’t saying that there isn’t something about appearance and taking care of yourself. Personal trainers will dig deep into your barriers and motivations for being active.

Personal trainers also have a lot of parts and they are responsible for the overall scope of practicing their profession and doing so within the limits of their certification. A CPT or certified personal trainer will have been assessed for certain sets of skills that will speak directly about their skills.

The Practice Scope for a Personal Trainer

• Has the ability to motivate person in an encouraging and uplifting ways towards improving their health and fitness.
• Has the dedication to self-awareness, continuous learning, personal growth and development, and self-improvement with a regard for health, fitness and mental capacity.
• Has a desire to help clients reach their fitness as well as health goals through the right resistance, flexibility and cardiovascular exercises.
• Has a dedication to maintain client confidentiality, personal integrity, and professional standards for the best practice.
• Has the ability to create and execute small group and individual exercise fitness programs that will be tailored for attainable goals and needs of people in a safe and effective way.
• Has and can maintain working knowledge of anatomy and the concepts of fundamentals of exercise science, basic nutrition, and functional exercise.
• Understands the importance as well as need for client assessment and screenings. Proficient in conducting the evaluations initially and progressively.

Those who are CPT’s will be certified to create and implement a fitness training program for healthy individuals either one on one or in small group settings. A healthy person is someone who has no major disease or physical condition or impairments that will prevent them from engaging in physical activities.

Personal training is a profession that will begin with your heart, motivation, and a love for fitness. But, there is so much more than just lifting weights at a gym.

A great personal trainer will deliver a safe, interesting, fun and effective workout to their clients. The training program that is developed will need to be a variety of exercises and quite progressive as well as being focused on improving the wellness and health of the client. When you are a trainer, you will need to be very supportive as well as very enthusiastic so that the client will remain stimulated and interested, which will help to make sure that they will stick with you and the program.

What a personal trainer should not do

“In every field, there will be a few different ways of doing things. Although other careers will have people doing things differently, all with the end result being positive, there are some things a personal trainer really shouldn’t ever do.” [3]

• Never push preferences for fitness goals on a client who doesn’t have the same goals.
• Never allow your liability insurance, credentials or other business standards lapse.
• Never become intimately involved in a personal client relationship or serve as a psychological counselor to clients.
• Never attempt to make medical diagnosis, give advice about physical therapy, or give any medical advice.
• Never give a body message to a client or a similar service that could be seen as inappropriate touch.
• Never have romantic relationships or interpersonal relationship with a client.

You want to make sure that you check out the code of conduct for a CPT as they are the professional standard that is required for starting the course and maintaining your certification.

Why should you become a personal trainer?

A personal trainer is often driven by a passion and desire to share experiences and knowledge of fitness with other people. They aren’t happy with a desk job and paper pushing.

Below are some common reasons that people become a personal trainer.

• I want to help people to achieve and live a healthy lifestyle.
• I want to turn my lifestyle into a career, or supplement my income doing something that I truly love.
• I want to teach people about their body and what it can be capable of doing.
• I want to love my job.

Personal Trainer Education and other needed Requirements

You can start by learning the basics and know that success will need much more. If you are going to make it, then you will have to be willing to go beyond the basics.

“Education and Certification: Educated trainers will make for a happy and successful client. Certification is going to be the foundation for a long term career. Personal trainer certification, CPR/AED, and specialty certifications are the place to start.” [1]

Experience: In most clubs, it is not expected that you just became a personal trainer to get a job. You are expected to have a have personal history when it comes to personal training. If you are thinking about working a gym, then start working out there.

Enthusiasm: It doesn’t matter if you are super enthusiastic or really soft spoken, show your passion for fitness. Be a true example of what motivation is because you are representing the lifestyle that your client wants. Take care of yourself so that you wake up renewed every day. Enthusiasm and joy will go a really long way.

Growth: Growth comes from continuing your education. It is required for baseline certification, but it is also an opportunity. Take advantage of this and gain wisdom from various successful fitness trainers that you meet. Continuing your education does not cost a lot, and it can be done online. It will keep you fresh and inspired.

Appearance: You do not have to look like a muscle builder or even a supermodel to become a personal trainer, no matter what you may be telling yourself. You are going to have to show the world that you are into fitness. You will need to show that you care about your body and look put together as that will be something that will be noticed.

Where does a personal trainer work?

“Personal trainers aren’t limited to working in a gym. There are an amazing variety of places a trainer can work.” [2] The fitness industry is booming. Options for employment is showing up at every building, home and park. If you are tech savvy, then you can train from home via internet. Business minded people are making jobs for themselves everywhere now. Here are some options:

• Gym or club
• Private training studio
• Phone
• Online Personal Training
• Office building
• Beach
• Client’s home
• Outdoor Bootcamps
• Park
• Sports arena

Because of the growing rate for fitness training, it is going to be on the top 10 for employment. The fitness industry is here to stay. Health and fitness will be a priority for the world and there are always going to be fitness and health buffs.

The thing to ask yourself is where do you fit in? If you want to be a personal trainer, plus you have the needed qualities, then it is all about just how you can focus and execute. Recent surveys stated that 5 million individuals in the United States would use a personal trainer in their club or hire a personal trainer, so the demand is not the issue. The issue is the goods. The question is, do you have them?

Cited Sources

 

1. “What Does A Personal Trainer Do? | Responsibilities.” Body Smith Fitness, 19 Oct. 2017, bodysmithfitnessaz.com/personal-trainer-responsibilities/.
2. “Figure 2f from: Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016) Taxonomic Revision of Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: e7720. https://www.nfpt.com/personal-trainer-workplaces.
3. “5 Things A Good Personal Trainer Would NEVER Do.” Australian Institute of Fitness, fitness.edu.au/the-fitness-zone/article/5-things-a-good-personal-trainer-would-never-do/.