If you are passionate about health and fitness and want a job where you can work for yourself and be flexible, personal training is a great option. Personal trainers are enjoying higher demand than ever before as more people focus on improving their health and wellbeing. Personal trainers are typically hired by individuals who want some extra help and support reaching a certain goal of theirs, whether they are trying to lose weight or want to get ready for running a marathon or another big event. If the idea of working as a personal trainer is appealing to you, here’s what it takes to get there.

Choose a Good Training Course

Before you can start your own personal training business, you’ll need to get qualified. There are several different courses to choose from and you can often find these offered by local colleges, fitness centres and gyms, and even online. You might want to consider choosing a course that allows you to focus on a specialist area, or just go with a general course that covers all the basics. A personal trainer course from Study Active is an ideal choice. Study Active is the leading provider of gym instructor and personal trainer education in the UK, offering internationally recognised qualifications, free business start-up support, and a guaranteed job interview on completion.

Get to Know Your Clients

If you want to attract and retain clients as a personal trainer, the first thing that you will need to do is spend some time getting to know and understand your clients better. As a personal trainer, you are in an expert position with your clients and they will be trusting you to give them the best advice for their health and wellness, while respecting them and tailoring plans to suit them as individuals. You may often have clients who struggle to stay motivated, for example, and a high level of empathy and ability to understand somebody else’s point of view, even if it is different from your own, is key in this profession.

Consider Choosing a Niche

Many personal trainers will focus on a certain niche or specialty that allows them to help a specific type of client. For example, you might be mainly interested in helping people with their weight loss goals, or perhaps you have an interest in helping people with disabilities stay fit. Either way, choosing a niche often allows personal trainers to be more effective and competitive, as it sets you apart from the crowd and makes you more visible to a certain type of client.

Get the Right Insurance

If you are going to be running your own business as a personal trainer, then one of the main things you will need to do is ensure that you have the right insurance. At the very least, you should be covered with public liability insurance that will protect you if anything goes wrong while you are having a session with a client. You can also find insurance cover that is designed specifically for personal trainers.

Market Your Services

The personal training industry is quite saturated and it’s not difficult for potential clients who are interested in getting some sessions to book a trainer. Because of this, it’s important to focus on how you market your services. Along with using popular options like social media to spread the word about what you offer, consider building a professional website, getting a logo designed, and creating or having somebody else create informative content such as videos and written articles that you can post online to offer valuable health and fitness advice and position yourself as an expert in your field.

With more and more people interested in doing more to stay healthy and well, personal trainers are in high demand. Do you have what it takes?