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What do I need to do to become a Personal Trainer?

If you fancy a job or career in the fitness industry then we tell you how to become a personal trainer with our simple blog guide about what's needed and whether you have what it takes. 

You will find out what's needed for you to become a personal trainer. From the training certifications to the companies offering them. We also look into the claims that some companies make that are simply not true.

To be a Personal Trainer you will definitely need to have a desire to help people to achieve their goals.  It is not necessary to be loud, but it is going to help you a lot if you can take a compliment.  As clients achieve their goals, they will recognise your work over their own, which is lovely, but takes some skill to accept.

At a certain level you will need to be interested in fitness.  Some Personal Trainers hate gyms, and that is fine, all of them at the worst, see the benefits in being active. 

Finally you need to be non-judgemental, people are coming to you for help and you need to be able to empathise with them, and then work to help them achieve their goal from their starting point.  Not everyone will be a replica of you and want a replica of your journey!

It might sound obvious, but apart from possessing the right characteristics, the most important thing you'll need is the right personal training qualification, one that is from an accredited and recognised UK provider.

To become a personal trainer you would normally be an experienced fitness instructor with a recognised qualification, such as:

AIQ  - Level 2 Certificate in Personal Training
Then you will move on to the:
AIQ  - Level 3 Diploma in Personal Training

These two courses will then allow you to join the register of exercise professionals which is run by CIMPSA it is this membership which is the gateway to the rest of the world, should you want to travel, and your way in to Health Club chains in the UK.  If you are a member of a register of exercise professionals outside of the UK, then you should get in touch with CIMPSA about transferring your membership to the UK.

Some companies claim that by delivering a course that gets you onto CIMPSA, that they are delivering an international course.  This is something that is not true and can lead to problems down the line, should you not register with CIMPSA as you qualify, if you intend to work abroad. 

"It is your membership level that transfers to other countries, not your qualification"

As well as requiring a qualification to become a working Personal Trainer in most settings, then it is also important that you have a place to work and that brings me on to the second big industry lie. The guaranteed job interview.

Personal Trainers job roles can be varied, read this blog post to learn more about that - What does a Personal Trainer do? 

The truth is that the education industry cannot get enough trainers qualified to meet the demand of the health clubs, and that is partly due to the fact that Personal Training Education companies do not do enough after the course to help a Personal Trainer to be successful. Some Personal Training companies in the past have been incentified to send instructors to one specific chain of gyms, which does not help the newly qualified Personal Trainer as much as it perhaps should. 

Once you have a job, you need to know you have the support of a community as well as an instructor, to help you navigate through the initial and most vulnerable 90 days, as well as all the way into the future.  This community needs to be a mixture of  

  • Mentors outside of the industry
  • Mentors inside of the industry
  • Peers with more experience
  • Peers with the same level of experience
  • New trainers who you can help and learn from 

This is the main reason we have our social media platform built into the eLearning site, just to allow you to be friends with and interact with all of our other students, while feeling safe that you are not having to hide those photos from Magaluf from 1997, where you were perhaps a little less refined (sorry, I am over sharing!). 

Once you have your qualification, registration, job and community, then you can relax as you grow your business and your income.

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