To Become A Fitness Trainer
Nishant Baxi
© Nishant Baxi, 2023
ISBN 978-5-0059-7885-1
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How To Become A Fitness Trainer
Nishant Baxi
Table of Contents
Certification Requirements
Educational Requirements
Business Management
Fitness and First Aid
Working with Individual Clients
Working in Groups
How to Assess Client Fitness
How to Train With Little Equipment
Specific Exercises to Melt Pounds
How to Find Inexpensive Facilities
Teaching Nutritional Strategies
Sample Fitness Meal Plans
Fitness Jobs
How to Market your Fitness Business
What Fees to Charge
Certification Requirements
Requirements for Fitness Trainer Certification
Before you can take any of the different certification tests for becoming a fitness trainer, you have to meet certain standards. These standards will sometimes change according to the type of fitness trainer certification you’re applying for, as well as the standards set by the ruling body of the fitness organization from which you’re applying for certification. A good rule of thumb is to make inquiries before applying for a certification test, asking what requirements the organization may have. By and large, however, here are some of the requirements that are common to most, if not all, fitness organizations for certification.
Age Limit and Diploma – most organizations will set the age limit for their certified trainers at around 18 or 21 and will require, at the least, a high school degree. Not every group requires college degrees, though some of the stricter ones require college degrees in sports sciences even for basic fitness trainer positions. If you’re applying for advanced trainer courses though, such college degrees are a hard prerequisite.
First Aid Training, Especially CPR – knowledge of first aid is a must, and the minimum requirement you can expect to see in most organizations is a certification from taking at least a CPR course. These certificates must be at least 1 year up to date, and old or expired certificates are not accepted. Some certification courses require full first aid training, right down to splinting broken bones and dealing with shock and trauma. This is more commonly needed in fitness trainers for sports therapy-related fields. We will be discussing first aid in-depth in an upcoming chapter.
Basic Knowledge of Anatomy – basic knowledge of the parts of the human body is a must. The tests for fitness trainer certification don’t simply deal with muscle groups, but also include knowledge of the cardiovascular, respiratory, and nervous systems, as these are all integral to fitness and health training.
Basic Knowledge of Cardiovascular Exercise – one of the basics of fitness training is cardiovascular work. The certification tests will determine if you have the necessary knowledge of the drills and exercises required to bring overweight and out-of-shape people back up to speed in terms of their endurance and wind. Having some basic training in jogging/running and aerobics will usually be enough to fill this bill.
Basic Knowledge of Resistance Training – this is another field of study that’s basic knowledge for any fitness trainer. Working with weights and isometric machines is a necessary part of any fitness trainer’s regimen. You need to know not only how to pump iron, but how to do so safely, including knowledge of how to work solo, with a spotter, using free weights, resistance machines, and the like.
Basic Knowledge in Nutrition and Sports Nutrition – these two areas of knowledge are important in fitness and health. You have to be able to determine the dietary habits of your clients and recommend necessary changes to keep them fit. Some organizations require that you know only one of the two, but the stricter ones require that you know both the dietary requirements for basic fitness as well as the ones for higher-end dedicated athletes.
Watch for upcoming chapters on nutritional strategies and sample fitness meal plans.
Basic Certification (for advanced courses) – advanced trainer courses will require that you already have passed the basic fitness trainer requirements above, and have a certificate for them. Advanced courses will often have their fields of specialty, kind of like the difference between a heart or brain surgeon as opposed to a general medical practitioner, and they will train you in those specialized fields, like certification as a yoga instructor or children’s sports and fitness instructors.
Specialized Knowledge (for advanced courses) – as stated above, advanced courses usually focus on a specialized field of study. While they often teach most of the necessary skills during the certification course, some fields will require that you have at least a passing knowledge of other areas of study related to the chosen course. For example, an advanced fitness trainer in basketball sports science must, of course, already know the nuances of the game intimately.
Prior Work Experience (for advanced courses) – lastly, advanced fitness trainer course certification requires at least 1 year’s experience working as a certified basic fitness instructor. Some organizations require 2 or even 3 years of experience first, depending on the estimated complexity and difficulty level of the advanced course you’re applying for.
Educational Requirements
Educational Requirements for a Fitness Trainer
Being a fitness trainer in the modern age is more than a matter of having sheer muscularity and knowing how to pump iron. Modern fitness trainers must come armed with a wide variety of knowledge that will allow them to maximize the physical potentials of their clients, as well as skills that will let them help their clients achieve what they need as well as want, be it an improvement in their overall level of health or a marked increase in their performance in sports. To that end, advanced fitness trainers are required to learn more than just the basics of working out. Here are some of the higher educational requirements that are necessary to truly excel as a fitness trainer.
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