How to be a Personal Trainer

If you have a passion for health and fitness and would like a job with a flexible schedule then you might wonder how to be a personal trainer. As a personal trainer you can turn your passion into your profession while keeping your schedule flexible, the ability to earn quite endless money, and impacting the lives of so many. If this sounds like your dream job, then learning how to be a personal trainer is the right road for you.

Top qualities of a personal trainer

As personal trainer you must have the appropriate knowledge and certifications in health and fitness. Along with that, it is important have the following:

A friendly and outgoing personality
Enthusiasm
Patience
Knowledge
Teaching and listening skill

Knowing how to be a personal trainer is actually just the first step. One has to go through training and certification, first. Why? A personal trainer has to guide people on how to do exercises for maximum benefits without injuring them.

It is very important to know the human physiology, exercise techniques and working with injuries. It is important to get a quality education and certification from a proper and well-established training institute.

Where to get certified?

These certifications can be done through both classroom and home study. Study materials including online tutorials, books and DVDs are available. In India courses and certifications are available from a lot of established institutes like the

Gold’s Gym University
ACE
Reebok and a lot of other places.

National Council on Strength & Fitness (NCSF) an established American institute has plans to set up their centers in India very soon. A typical certification program will include studying physiology, kinesiology, sports injuries, nutrition and weight management. The duration of the program will vary from institute to institute.

The classroom study offered by Gold’s Gym is of 2-month duration. Before you join it is important to do adequate research and talk the counselors to understand the courses you need to take.

Once you are certified it is important to first get some work experience in a gym. This not only helps you to learn through practice under the guidance of other senior trainers but also helps to develop contacts and clientele. At a later stage you may opt to freelance or open your own fitness center.

Typically in popular chains like Gold’s and Talwalkars the charges for a personal trainer working 3-days-a-week for a 3-month package is between 8000 – 12000 rupees.

Fancier and exclusive gyms get even more exorbitant. So, once you have established yourself and made a reputation for yourself the earning can be seemingly limitless. In metros a decent personal trainer charges almost 6000 rupees for an hour, 32-times-a-week for a month. Reputed personal trainers demand 1000 rupees and upwards for just a single session. If you manage to become a celebrity trainer, well . . . you can even look at earning 5000 rupees and upwards for a just one session.

There is a growing demand for personal trainers since the benefits of having a personal trainer is immense. So if you are really passionate about fitness, you like working with people and you want to have a flexible job, then learning how to be a personal trainer is a great idea.