10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Personal Training Industry
There are many things about the personal training industry that aren’t well known to outsiders. Behind the scenes, there are some beautiful and not so beautiful things industry insiders get to experience – things that are often not acknowledged or noticed by others.
Here are the 10 things you probably don’t know about the personal training industry:
#1 - The emphasis is often on salesmanship rather than knowledge
You may have the impression that the best personal trainers out there are the most knowledgeable, those who are the best at what they do.
But the embarrassing truth is that the most successful people in this industry are not necessarily the most knowledgeable, neither are they the most passionate about helping their clients. Rather, the stars of the personal training industry, more often than not have risen to the top through exceptional salesmanship more than anything else!
#2 - Unrealistic Expectations
A personal trainer is often expected to work literal miracles! The pressure to accomplish fabulous transformations with clients can sometimes get unbearable for a personal trainer.
#3 - Failure due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control
Due to certain uncontrollable factors, there will be clients with whom a personal trainer can’t achieve much. Whether the goal is to lose weight, gain strength or feel better, factors such as genetics and health conditions could severely limit the results a personal trainer can achieve with a particular client.
Experiences like that can make a personal trainer seem incompetent for no fault of theirs.
#4 - Odd and Inconvenient Working Hours
Due to the need to fit sessions with clients around their schedule, personal trainers may find themselves having to work at very odd hours. This could be very early in the morning, or very late at night.
Training sessions are always scheduled according to what a client finds convenient. No one would care to know if that timing is convenient for the personal trainer.
#5 - Some clients can be nasty
Not all clients will turn out to be sweet characters. Every personal trainer who has been in the industry for a while would have met his or her own share of the good, the bad, and the ugly!
#6 - Low Wages for Beginners
Many personal trainers who work for gyms are only paid minimum wage (or a little above that). This is especially the case for beginners.
So, if you have dreams of becoming a personal trainer, you’d better be prepared to bootstrap your way through the first few years in the industry!
#7 - Poor Working Conditions
For many personal trainers, the hours spent at work can be very long and gruelling. This is the case even with those working for some high-end gyms, with the best equipment.
In some cases, personal trainers attached to some gyms are required to spend as much as 12 hours a day at work!
#8 - The road to the top is exceptionally tough
Most personal trainers quit the profession after a few years and move on to something else. This is one industry that has one of the highest rates of people switching careers away from it.
This is due to a combination of many of the factors mentioned here.
#9 - The journey to the top takes time
Success in the personal training industry has a lot to do with building a client base. And this is true even if a personal trainer works at a fitness centre as part of a team, rather than working solo.
But then, the job of building a client base takes plenty of time, and it can take years before any appreciable progress is made.
#10 - A Relatively Short and Insecure Career Path
A serious injury or chronic illness would most likely end a personal trainer’s career! The same would happen when he or she begins to get old.
One could meet an engineer that walks with a limp, an accountant that’s battling with cancer, or an old doctor; but for a personal trainer, any of these conditions would leave them without a job.
So, these are some of the things you need to know about the industry if you desire to become a personal trainer. Hopefully, knowing some of these insider secrets will help prepare you for what you would likely face, if you choose to pursue this career path – a career path that can be both rewarding and challenging.
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