The lifespan of a Personal Trainer

At Fitasylum we believe the key to a successful career in fitness, sport or health is education… and let me tell you why.

When I was younger my parents often told me – ‘to be successful you must enjoy what you do and do it well’. In all honesty, I can’t think of another industry which I would find more enjoyment than the fitness industry. What can be more enjoyable than working with different clients, in different locations and always talking about what I enjoy – fitness, nutrition and health? Working a 9-5 job Monday – Friday epitomises normality and in my opinion, the norm is boring. So, going back to my parent’s advice, I found what I enjoy and 11 years ago I started a career in fitness.

Although fitness is something I enjoy and is something that gets me out of bed in the mornings, it is by no means an easy industry to succeed in. In order to ‘do well’ as my parents put it, I need to continually develop and stay afresh with up to date courses, methods, strategies and research. Over the years I have spent in excess of £20,000.00 on education. Although you may think that is a lot of money (and yes it is), I know of only two people who completed the same Personal Trainer Course as I did 11 years ago who are still active and more importantly doing well – myself and a really good friend of mine. Now, this is by no means a coincidence as my friend has almost spent twice as much as I have on education.

As a Training Provider we often highlight the benefits and the pros to becoming a personal trainer – all of which are accurate and include; an uncapped salary, work your own hours, be your own boss, help clients achieve their goals and of course it’s extremely self rewarding. However, we must also highlight the difficulties personal trainers face. Almost 50% of personal trainers leave the industry within the first 12 months and secure a 9-5 job (personally, I can’t think of anything worse). There could be several reasons for this but ultimately it’s down to not earning enough money.

Those of you who know me and have attended one of my courses, you know I don’t sugar-coat things, so here’s my opinion and two reasons why many personal trainers leave the industry within the first 12 months:

  1. They are not good enough! Depending on where they completed their qualification and their background and possibly their enthusiasm to continue learning after their Level 3 Diploma in Personal Training, most don’t have what it takes. To be good at something you must be passionate and willing to learn – unfortunately many personal trainers refuse to make that commitment and eventually drop off. At FLM Training we pride ourselves on providing our learners with experience and often go above and beyond the regular Level 3 Personal Training qualification in terms of content to give our students the best start possible.

  2. No consistency! Consistency is key to almost everything. Quite often we see new personal trainers go all out on social media advertising their services, giving advice and interacting with potential clients, yet after 4-5 weeks they vanish. Why? Possibly because the realise being self-employed and running your own business is hard work

To summarise, in my opinion being a personal trainer is the best job in world. However, in order to be successful you must continue to learn, develop, read, listen to others who have succeeded and be committed.

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