So you want to be a personal trainer?

October

23

Post Category: For Coaches

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So, you want to become a personal trainer, and you want to know how to do it?

That’s a fair question, but is it the right question?

Most people starting down this path will give a resounding “YES,” but it’s inaccurate. 

How to become a personal trainer isn’t the question you need to be asking right now. 

The question you need to ask AND answer is, what does personal training give me that nothing else can?

Put more simply, what’s in it for me?

That might feel repulsive at first, but you need to work through it. 

You’ll likely start answering with things like:

  • I get to be paid for doing what I love
  • I can help people achieve their goals
  • I can help people who are struggling to get healthy 
  • I get to spend time with colleagues and clients who share my values
  • I can justify spending more time and money learning about things I enjoy

That’s the highlight reel; what about everything else?

  • Working hours opposite of your loved ones (clients train before and after work)
  • The average pay for trainers in the US is $19/hour, hardly a career salary
  • Even in a commercial environment, you’ll likely be responsible for client acquisition 
  • Managing the emotions of clients struggling with setbacks and life challenges
  • Dealing with the stigma of not having a “real job.”

It sounds less appealing than it did on the website of the personal training accreditors, right?

So, how do you get the benefits without having to deal with so many of the downsides?

Ask yourself another question,

What kinds of problems do I want to solve?

The more valuable the problem, the less downside you have to stomach. 

For example, a group fitness instructor doesn’t solve an exceptionally valuable problem. Their job is to get people together, help them have a good time, and keep them relatively safe. 

There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just not something that people are willing to make significant sacrifices to have, so group fitness instructors end up with more downside than any other “class” of trainer. 

At the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the trainer who helps people get out of pain and regain their physical freedom. That’s a problem people are willing to pay quality dollars for and make significant sacrifices. 

What does that look like?

It looks like a parent who’s spent years devoting every ounce of bandwidth to work and raising kids who’s now in so much pain they can’t go hiking with their family anymore and is afraid their diabetes will kill them before they meet their grandkids. 

That’s a problem set that can be solved by a great trainer, a problem that’s fulfilling, challenging, and meaningful. 

A problem that, when solved, will extend a life and add more living to it. 

That’s the kind of problem set you can solve to make well beyond $19/hour and get much closer to 6 figures. 

It’s the kind of problem set that we teach you how to solve in the Active Life Professional certification, where you learn to:

  • Assess movement and strength
  • Program to help people get out of pain
  • Identify red/yellow flags to refer to medical professionals
  • Navigate and interface with the healthcare system
  • Sell ethically so you never have to feel sleazy asking for money
  • Reliably connect and build trust with every client you have 

If you’re interested in gaining those types of skills and solving problems like that, book a call below.

Schedule your discovery call

Book a call with our team to discuss how you can start your journey with Active Life 

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