Job Overview for Personal Trainers

Many personal trainers work through local fitness centers aka personal training studios and health clubs, assisting clients within the facility. Others may be available for sessions in a client’s home, or serve as instructors for fitness classes. Trainers are generally needed to demonstrate various exercises and help clients improve their exercise techniques. Due to the more interpersonal contact between a trainer and a client versus a general gym setting, a trainer is more readily able to provide motivation and support to an individual in an exercise program, in addition to proper technical instruction. A trainer can keep records of their clients’ exercise sessions to help monitor progress, and may also advise their clients on how to modify their lifestyle outside of the gym to improve their fitness.

In the United States, stats show that by 2006 fitness workers in general were employed in about 235,000 jobs, with a portion of those being trainers. Almost all personal trainers and group exercise instructors worked in physical fitness facilities, health clubs, and fitness centers, mainly in the amusement and recreation industry or in civic and social organizations. One of the fastest-growing fields of fitness training is corporate fitness. Many large companies are beginning to offer corporate fitness packages for employees wishing to create or maintain a healthy exercise program. Personal trainers are now often going into offices to train office staff at their desks in their lunch breaks using tables and chairs as gym equipment.