Considering A Career Change.

Q: I have always been interested in personal training am currently considering a career change. What type of school and training needs to be done? How easy are jobs to come by? How do they pay? Any advice and information os greatly appreciated.

A: The Best Personal Trainer Courses ISSA CFT @ http://www.issaonline.com NSCA-CPT @ http://www.nsca-lift.org/ ACSM Health/Fitness Director @ http://www.acsm.org/ All other courses are sub par when compared to the above three. It is a good idea to study a related field in college and get one of the above personal trainer courses and the NSCA CSCS @ http://www.nsca-lift.org/. About the NSCA CSCS and NSCA-CPT The NSCA has both a CSCS exam and a NSCA-CPT exam. The CSCS is supposed to be for strength and conditioning coaches while the NSCA-CPT is for personal trainers. However, if you cannot pass the CSCS, I don't think you are anywhere near qualified enough to be a personal trainer. Neither exam is hard if you know the information you should know as a strength and/or conditioning coach or a personal trainer. If someone fails one of these tests they are missing a lot of information that they should have. Buy the recommended study material for one of the exams, learn the material, and you will pass the exam. If you don't know anything about these subjects you might have to study the materials for months. What type of trainers are gyms looking for? Gyms want a trainer with a certification. Usually, for the average gym trainer any certification will do. Some gyms like a trainer to have 2 or 3 certifications. This is why the typical gym trainer makes from $20 (big cities, nice gyms, experienced trainers) to $9 an hour. They also want someone who will train clients the same way the gym trains clients. A trainer needs to be happy and energetic. That is mostly what gyms want. What type of trainers are individual clients looking for? Clients want a trainer with a nice body and good personality. It helps to have a college degree and a lot of useful knowledge. Clients want someone who can motivate them and change their body. Lots of clients find a trainer through a friend who had good results with that trainer. You can expect to make from $25-$55 an hour. You might have fees and other expenses that cost you up to $15 an hour, though, and remember that you will not work full days. Also, if you go into business for yourself remember that 15% of what you make has to pay your social security taxes and you might have to travel from gym to gym or house to house throughout the day. How may I make more money as a personal trainer? Many trainers have trouble making ends meet. The first step is making sure you itemize your tax return and write off everything relating

to your business. Many trainers branch out into related fields. Teaching water aerobics, Jazzercise, cycling classes, working part time as an athletic trainer, occupational therapy assistance, physical therapy assistance, or message therapist are all great ways to help stay in the black. Some trainers find that they need to get in bed with certain supplement companies and sell their clients life-changing supplements at a 'discount'. Other trainers branch off into the fighting arts and also teach boxing, karate, kung fu, ju-jitsu, or another martial art. What you do to supplement you income does not really matter; what matters is that you do supplement your income.