Your First Steps To Become a Personal Trainer

​Personal trainers are on the front line of health and fitness. It is a highly rewarding career because of the high level of contact with clients and the impact excellent personal trainers can have on people’s lives.

The prospect of running your own business is attractive, but it can feel overwhelming to get started. In this article, we will go through the first steps in how to become a personal trainer.

1. Getting Qualified

There are two main types of fitness qualification. The level 2 gym instructor qualification, which qualifies you to take group fitness classes and the level 3 personal trainer qualification, which qualifies you to provide one on one support for clients. You’ll need to have passed level two in order to qualify for level three. 

These are a starting point in order to get the necessary insurance in place and to be considered for a position in a gym. It’s important that as a personal trainer with high standards of professional service that you keep learning and developing. As you progress in your career, it’s likely that your training interests will develop too, and you may want to be able to offer particular areas of expertise for your clients.

2. Setting Up Your Business

As a personal trainer, you have two main options to work with clients. You can be employed by a gym or become a self employed personal trainer.

Employed trainers are salaried, meaning they will have a set income, and they will have to work a set number of hours every week at their gym. The trainer will likely be provided with a uniform, insurance and has the benefits of being an employed member of staff. They may also have a quota to hit in selling gym memberships or personal training packages.

Self-employed personal trainers are responsible for their own expenses, such as uniforms required by the gym. They set their own hours and are paid directly by their clients. If they do not work, they do not get paid but there is scope for them to potentially earn more than employed trainers. They may also be responsible for paying rent to the gym in order to work there or be required to work a set number of hours in lieu of rent. This is a particularly common model in the UK, where 62% of personal trainers are self-employed. 

If you choose to run your own personal training business, you’ll eventually need a name and a logo. This can be one of the most difficult parts of the process for some trainers who are keen to get their branding just right. Having your unique brand is a way for you to stand out and communicate your values as a trainer effectively. You can also use your brand to attract the right sort of clients into your business that you’re eager to work with.

3. Getting Insurance

Personal trainers and group fitness instructors need to have insurance in place before they start working with the public. Gyms will insist on it. In order to get insurance, you must be able to produce evidence that you are properly qualified. There are 6 types of insurance that are available:

1. Public liability insurance will protect you if you get hurt, a client gets hurt, or if gym equipment gets damaged during a session. It’s the absolute least you’ll need.
2. Professional indemnity insurance protects you against legal action if your clients get injured based on the advice you've given them. 
3. Sports equipment cover allows you to claim if your equipment is lost, stolen or damaged which may be relevant if you run boot camps or need to use your own equipment.
4. Personal accident cover is for you as the trainer. If you get hurt and can't work, this can pay for physio or rehab.
5. Loss of earnings cover is used if you were to become sick or injured and unable to earn money. This would help to cover your expenses until you're well enough to go back to work.
6. Employers liability insurance is relevant if you employ other trainers, and would cover any claims made against your business by them.

There are different levels of insurance available depending on what you may want to be clear on what it is that you’re buying when you start shopping around. There are different levels of cover and different insurance providers available depending on where you’re training clients in the world.

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4. Getting Your First Clients

Once you have a position in a gym, most of your clients will come from building relationships in person. Being visible in the gym, friendly and approachable - remembering people’s names, and saying hello - are all really basic, free methods that you can use to pick up clients.

If you are taking fitness classes, remember to tell people your name at the start and end of the class, and that you are a personal trainer as well as a group fitness instructor and invite people to stay behind if they are interested in the personal training options that you have available. This is such a simple way to let people know what you do and how you can help them with their fitness goals and it takes almost no skill or effort at all.

Online, you can use free social media to promote your business and highlight your clients and the results they get. This is a brilliant way to become known for what you can do for people and start conversations online with people who want similar results. In time, you might want to think about creating a professional website which brings you leads. Trainers who are new to the industry don't have to have a website straight away, but eventually you'll find there will be a need for a more professional representation of your brand than a Facebook or Instagram profile or a few lead pages.

5. Become a Business Owner

The last step, and probably the most important step, is to learn how to become a personal trainer business owner. This means understanding that personal training is a service and  you'll need many more skills to build a successful fitness business.

These skills include:

• Business Mindset
  
• Money & Finance
  
• Marketing
  
• Fitness Branding
  
• Hiring and Managing a Team
  
• And many more...
  

Wrapping Up

Personal training is a rewarding and potentially lucrative career. Whether you want to be employed by a gym or self-employed is up to you, with advantages and disadvantages of both. There’s no right or wrong path once you’re qualified, and there’s a lot of freedom to make choices that suit you - and your particular circumstances.