When did you know you were ready to train?

[SFT]

I am ending my sophomore year of college and it's getting about time to look for a job. Currently I am an Exercise Science major and in the future plan on being a strength coach/personal trainer or whatever you choose to call it, most likely in a private facility setting.

Next year (junior year summer) I will have my internship where I will be looking for an athletic based facility to intern at, but right now I am considering training at a commercial type gym.

My question is when did you know that you were ready to train people or did you not even know and just jump into it? I feel like I know quite a bit more than most trainers I talk to and most gym goers, but I still have some doubt.

Any ideas on how current trainers started off and what results you got with your clients from the start? Also in most commercial gyms are you making the programs, or is someone over you handing you templates and you are just a dummy walking around with a clipboard?

Thanks

[John Prophet]

I hate to say it...but I knew I was ready when I saw some of the dumb stuff the existing trainers had people doing. I figured if they were getting paid for that, then let me get in on it.


I had a friend who was a trainer and he sort of got me interested in it. I covered a few clients for him when he went on vacation for a week etc. Then again my situation was different than yours because I already had like 20+ years of gym time under my belt.

Id say when u feel confident you can help people, then u r ready to go.

My gym isnt a chain gym and we r independent trainers...we pay the owner X amount per month and after that we r free to do whatever we want to do and charge whatever and train whomever.

I dont have a clipboard but maybe I should get 1, lol

[SFT]

I hate to say it...but I knew I was ready when I saw some of the dumb stuff the existing trainers had people doing. I figured if they were getting paid for that, then let me get in on it.


I had a friend who was a trainer and he sort of got me interested in it. I covered a few clients for him when he went on vacation for a week etc. Then again my situation was different than yours because I already had like 20+ years of gym time under my belt.

Id say when u feel confident you can help people, then u r ready to go.

My gym isnt a chain gym and we r independent trainers...we pay the owner X amount per month and after that we r free to do whatever we want to do and charge whatever and train whomever.

I dont have a clipboard but maybe I should get 1, lol

Thanks for the response. I feel pretty confident that I could help the majority of people in the gym, especially new lifters my age and younger. I have been lifting for near six years now, I know it's not 20, but I've learned quite a bit in that time regarding what not to do.

My progress has been pretty poor at times and great a times and while this leads to overall not so great results for my own training, I tried out many things and got to see what works, what doesn't work, what is retarded, etc.

I'm considering looking into the NSCA-CPT. The training material (book) is at my library at school, so I'd have to look into how much the material has changed because it's a few years old. But, I can start studying for it and even volunteer at the weight room at school or something if I can't find a training job.

Thanks again.

[naynay30]

i need some help im getting a personal trainer and im about 5'10 209ib im not sure what my diet should be im not fat pretty good size some muscle some fat but i wanna put on more muscle so what should my diet be and also when eating alot of protein do you trim down then come up please let me know

[John Prophet]

I feel pretty confident that I could help the majority of people in the gym, especially new lifters my age and younger.

news flash....thats not even a target market in most cases. Young guys already know it all so they dont need help...plus they r usually broke, lol.

When I first started PTing I sort of had a plan. I looked around and saw that 1 guy had all the old folks...1 guy had all the women, so I figured my niche would be the young guys trying to gain size. Nope, there is absolutely no market there.

for example here is a typical encounter How to stay small, weak, and frustrated.....detailed plans!

[Al Shades]

John's right. It's quite discouraging.

Middle-aged women and seniors pay for training. If you want to work with kids, you have to be running some sort of athletic conditioning program. Don't think I've ever seen college age males doing 1on1 training at my gym.

[Apachhe2]

I just dove into it. I am learning as I go.

And yea...gonna have to agree with the others. There really isn't a market for young athletes..at least not at this level. Like Al said, if you want young athletes you need to be running some type of S&C program. If you live in a fairly wealthy area you might get a serious high school athlete or two on occasion though.

[Be-Be]

If you want to work with young athletes, you might want to look into physical therapy and get attached to a sports program. If you want to make money as a trainer, you have to train the people with excess income - people in their 40s+ most of the time. In order to be successful, you'll have to work on your interpersonal skills with older people.

I knew I was ready to train when I everyone kept telling me I should be training because I was so good at it and knew so much - especially compared to most trainers. And that was before I ever got a cert - completely self-trained at that point.

[Be-Be]

If you want to work with young athletes, you might want to look into physical therapy and get attached to a sports program. If you want to make money as a trainer, you have to train the people with excess income - people in their 40s+ most of the time. In order to be successful, you'll have to work on your interpersonal skills with older people.

I knew I was ready to train when I everyone kept telling me I should be training because I was so good at it and knew so much - especially compared to most trainers. And that was before I ever got a cert - completely self-trained at that point.