Any Personal Trainers here?
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Any Personal Trainers here?
| Thu, 05-05-2005 - 11:00am |
Hi all, I'm currently unemployed and was thinking about getting ACE certified...I love fitness and I was wondering if any of you recommend becoming a personal trainer? I figured that since I have a business degree I could start my own business after becoming certified...It's an idea anyways. What do you think? Should I go for it? I mean the worse that could happen is that I'd become certified and not be able to find a job in which case I'd go back to doing something with my business degree... I'm just trying to brainstorm my future...
Thank you guys!
Thank you guys!

Hi there! As Jean mentioned, I am ACE certified and have been in the business for about a year. The ACE was very difficult to pass but it's well respected. If you decide to take it, give yourself enough time to study. Also, I would highly recommend taking some kind of classes, perhaps at your local community college. Becoming a PT was a career switch for me as well and our local community college offered their own PT certification program. It was a semester long program and I took that while concurrently studying for the ACE. The knowledge I got from the course has been far more useful than what I learned with ACE. ACE requires you to learn a LOT but not much of it is all that useful out in the real world. I don't think I would have been nearly as well prepared for this industry if I'd had *just* the ACE behind me.
I currently work two days a week in a gym, and then do private in-home training the rest of the week. I would strongly suggest starting out by working in a gym. It allows you to meet fellow trainers and also just gives you a feel for the business. I make a lot more money on my own, but stay part time at the gym because I enjoy the atmosphere and the knowledge I get from my colleagues.
Developing a client base takes *time* and I would recommend not relying on it (at least at first) to pay your bills. If I were you, I'd do it on the side just to get yourself going. This industry is so much about establishing relationships. I haven't actually advertised yet and my private clients are actually people who approached me. Word of mouth is obviously pretty powerful.
I hope this helps. If you have more questions, feel free to post them here or you can email me through my profile. :)