Employment in the Fitness Industry
Employment in the Fitness Industry: How to Get Hired in Professional Fitness
Health and fitness is your passion, obviously fitness is where you belong as a career to change lives. You may have questions about how to break into the lucrative and rewarding field of professional fitness. So how do you get your foot in an industry where you have no experience?
Just like anything else, you’ll need to put forth some effort to gain the knowledge you’ll need in professional fitness. This will allow you to get acquainted with the resources that are available to you. So if you’re looking for a career as a professional fitness trainer, or specialize in working with a specific demographic such as children, senior citizens, or even professional athletes!
Breaking Into The Fitness Industry
Here are some useful advantages to break into professional fitness:
Know What Your Goals Are
When you are preparing to begin a career in professional fitness, it’s highly recommended that you identify your value to professional fitness and know why you are aiming at a career in personal training. Always identify with the who, what, when, where, and how. who you are, what you bring, when you’re available, where you can be contacted, and how you can be a valuable asset? Describe it is what you are looking to do for others: are you wanting to help people get in shape, improve one’s diet, improve movement, be a better employee, parent, spouse? Are you looking open your own business, work for a health club, be an independent contractor? Or maybe even working in professional fitness working with high school, college, and even professional athletes. When you identify with what you want to do, you can then narrow down the specific contacts within the fitness industry that can assist with reaching your objectives.
Networking and Professional Fitness
There are always fitness professionals wanting to lend a hand to someone who is wanting to break into the fitness industry. Many of these contacts can be found on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram. You can also make useful contacts the old-fashioned way by connecting with health club managers in your area. Walk in and build those relationships and get to know your peers in professional fitness. Be honest, tell them about your passion and what kind of value you bring to the fitness industry. Sometimes it can pay off, but if not, it’s okay, you are out there building relationships and networking, it’s good practice. The only way you fail is if you don’t try. Ask many questions about how THEY got started and use that as your blueprint as well.
Study and Research Fitness
As a passionate member of fitness, you’ve more than likely have researched many articles and blogs about the profession, it’s also helpful to study the profession itself i.e. learn what works best in professional fitness. AASM has customer support available always, you just have to reach out to us. We are always available to you at [email protected] and we can assist you with what you need to know to be successful in professional fitness. Look to AASM if you would like a tailor-made blog pertinent to what you want to do in professional fitness.
Earn Your Certification With AASM
When you discover what it is you want to do in fitness, it is then you want to further your education and earn your certification in professional fitness. When you get your certification, that is assurance to the fitness industry, and most important, your clients, that you have studied the curriculum and academic medium that a professional fitness trainer must have to ensure that your clients will be afforded professional fitness service and knowledge. By getting your certification, you can get your ticket into the fitness field much sooner and assure to a hiring client or manager that you have a professional certification for quality assurance.
Internship or Residency
As you find your way in professional fitness, getting an internship or residency is a great way to pave your way into the industry by getting up close and personal with an on the job approach to the fitness business. When you get your ‘in’ at a health club or fitness studio working a front desk associate, sales, or even assisting personal trainers with organizing their busy work day. Here is where you can cut your teeth and get a hands-on approach to the fitness industry and immerse yourself into this powerful world of life changing experience. All the skills that I mentioned above: associate, sales, assistance, are practiced each day in the professional fitness world. If you’re ready to move forward with professional fitness, consider a certification with All American Sports Medicine® (AASM®). AASM can even show how to get moving in professional fitness by working for yourself! Yes, we can support you in getting your own personal training business started working for yourself. Contact us at 480-469-1988 for details!
