Personal Trainer careers guide and job profile

A personal trainer works with clients, usually one-to-one or in small groups, to help them achieve their fitness goals.

You’ll devise personalised exercise plans, show your clients how to perform each exercise safely and effectively, and give health and fitness advice.

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Useful skills to put in your CV:

• A passion for health and fitness. You’ll need to be physically fit and healthy yourself, and have a good understanding of many different forms of exercise.
• A friendly and approachable personality. Being a PT is a people business first and foremost, and you’ll need to inspire and uplift your clients at every stage of their journey. Communication skills will help you to maintain great client relationships.
• Excellent knowledge of the human body. A good understanding of food and nutrition is also a big advantage.
• A good head for business. Many Personal Trainers are self-employed, either on a freelance basis or as an independent contractor with another organisation such as a gym. This means you will need to manage your own finances, client list, and business expenses. Self-management skills will also help you.
• Attention to detail. You’ll need to monitor each client’s progress carefully and suggest changes that can help them improve.
• Great organisational skills. You’ll be managing a busy roster of clients and might be working in different locations, so staying organised is essential.
• Knowledge of First Aid. A qualification isn’t essential but will be a big advantage.

Top Skills-boosting Tips

Keep on top of the research in your field. New data about health, fitness, and the body is coming out all the time. Make it your mission to ensure you are always aware of the newest developments that will help you to serve your clients even better.

How Do You Get These Skills?

Vocational qualifications and work experience will help you build these skills over time.

Build Your Skills With the FREE Young Professional Programme

School, college and training

You can start working towards becoming a Personal Trainer directly from school. You don’t need any additional qualifications to start out in this career. You will normally need a Level 3 qualification in Personal Training and to be registered with a recognised professional body such as the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA).

Here are a few ways into the profession:

A-Levels

A-Levels are academic qualifications available to learners after GCSEs alongside apprenticeships, BTECs, and T-Levels. If you are interested in becoming a Personal Trainer and want to do A-Levels, Physical Education (PE), Biology, and Nutrition and Food Science are great subjects to consider.

University degrees and graduates

You do not need to go to university to become a Personal Trainer. However, a degree can still be a great springboard into a career in health and fitness. Degree subjects such as Fitness Training and Sports Science are ideal for a career in this industry.

UCAS has more information on degree courses and entry requirements.

BTECs

As an alternative to A-Levels, you can do BTECs from the age of 16. To become a PT, you’ll want to consider BTECs such as:

• Level 3 Diploma in Sport, Fitness, and Personal Training
• Level 3 Specialist Certificate in Personal Training
• Level 1, 2, or 3 Diploma in Sport

You’ll normally need 2 or more GCSEs at grades 9-3 (A*-D) or equivalent for a Level 2 or Level 3 course. If your qualifications are lower than this, you might want to consider starting with a Level 1 course and working your way up.

Apprenticeships

An apprenticeship is a scheme where you train while earning a starting salary. With an apprenticeship (or advanced apprenticeship) you’ll have a paid job with an employer that includes structured training and learning. This training leads to an official qualification that’s recognised by employers as an industry standard.

You can do an apprenticeship as a Personal Trainer, learning on the job and finishing with a recognised qualification that will allow you to work in the industry.

There are many places your career in Personal Training can take you. You might start your own business, coaching clients in gyms, their own homes, or other locations.

You could become a Gym Manager or even open up your own gym, you could work in education teaching future trainers, or you could go into holistic “high-end” training.

Work Experience Tips

It can help you decide if this is the right career for you if you have previously done work experience in a health and fitness environment. Any work experience where you have demonstrated your health and fitness knowledge, client care skills, and attention to detail will help your application.

Examples of relevant work experience include:

• Work shadowing (even if it’s just for a day)
• Work placements in a company
• Work experience placements on a college or university course

Work experience tips

Volunteering Tips

You can build your skills in your own time to enhance your application and help yourself to stand out to employers. There are lots of places to get experience that will help you on your journey towards becoming a personal trainer, but you must be careful that you are not practising unsupervised training without certification (this is dangerous and, if you’re uninsured, can even be illegal).

If you’re still at school, one way to grow and expand your skills is to volunteer as an assistant coach for one of your school’s sports teams. You could volunteer to work with a local amateur team or to do some sessions for another organisation such as a youth group. Community-based health events and large fitness-focused events such as races and marathons are also great places to volunteer.

Volunteering tips

 

A Personal Trainer works with clients one-to-one or sometimes in small groups.

They might work from a gym, in their own or clients’ homes, or in an outdoor space such as a park.

Personal Trainers devise exercise programmes to help their clients meet goals such as losing weight, building muscle, or getting stronger.

Example daily job responsibilities

• Holding one-to-one or group exercise sessions with clients
• Giving clients feedback on their fitness, form, and progress
• Advising clients on health and nutrition
• Building and maintaining positive and friendly relationships with clients
• Creating and modifying exercise programmes for clients
• Recording training sessions and keeping detailed records of progress
• Marketing your training business to attract new clients

Once you have achieved an appropriate Personal Training qualification, search on jobs boards for early career roles and opportunities with these words in the title:

• Personal Trainer
• Fitness Trainer
• Fitness Instructor

These websites might be able to help you find design engineering experience or a role that’s a good fit for you:

• Find an Apprenticeship
• Your Personal Training UK
• Origym Personal Training Courses
• Storm Fitness Academy
• Everyone Active Careers
• CIMSPA

You can also take a look at our database of local opportunities to see if there are any relevant jobs, work placements, or careers events and workshops to help you get started.

These employers all carry our Youth Friendly Employer Mark. We work with them to make sure that they are providing great support and opportunities to young people.

Click on an employer to find out more about them and the youth-friendly opportunities they offer, from work experience and apprenticeships through to graduate schemes.