Career Change

[backn2it]

52 year old male, getting out of the corporate grind, considering personal training in Florida. The University of South Florida has an advanced personal training certification course leading to ACE certification. Cost is $2795 including 60 hours field internship. Feedback from experienced trainers would be greatly appreciated.
http://www.gatlineducation.com/unbra...oursemain.html

[tishtash]

52 year old male, getting out of the corporate grind, considering personal training in Florida. The University of South Florida has an advanced personal training certification course leading to ACE certification. Cost is $2795 including 60 hours field internship. Feedback from experienced trainers would be greatly appreciated.
http://www.gatlineducation.com/unbra...oursemain.html

Wow, that sounds interesting, yet very expensive! I'll be tansferring into the physical therapy doctorate program at USF eventually. I too am considering a pre-career change - career change and gong into personal trianing (in real estate rentals now) while I work on my degree in physical therapy.

I like the idea that this has a field internship which no other certification offers, however both ACE and ACSM (and others, I was ISSA certified several yrs ago) offer hands on workshops, which may be beneficial. It is certainly cheaper, and will probably get you into a PAYING position quicker.

Are you looking to start your own business right off the bat, or to get into a corporate gym?. I guess the benefit of the corporate gym is that you get at least a little bit of training experience under your belt, plus there's benefits if I'm not mistaken. Though the pay isn't so great and I hear they push you very hard to sell. If I do become certified again I'll probably go with the ACSM cert and keep doing their continuing education (since I will be going into PT, they have some PT specific courses), and I probably WILL end up gaining my experience in a corporate gym b/c I'm too scared (and too poor) to lunge right into business for myself.

[backn2it]

I am still in the infantcy stage of doing research. The reason I am looking at the university course is that it's very comprehensive and believe that a cert from a university would carry more weight, in addtion to the ACE cert. Right now, it seems that working for a gym would be the best way to start, gain experience, and then develop my own business. I am going to start contacting gyms and find out their policies on personal training. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks!

[backn2it]

I'd like to know if gyms would typically allow a trainer to come in and train existing members, in return for a cut of my hourly rate. I have contacted some gyms in my area, am waiting for call backs. Do any trainers out there work in this fashion, or is it basically work for the gym, try to push new memberships? Thanks.

[tishtash]

I understand your logic behind doing it at the University, certainly one would think it would carry mroe weight. It sounds interesting, if I wasn't already in school for something else I'd consider it!

I seriously doubt any gyms would allow you to come in and train their members without being a direct employee of the gym. That's why they have trainers, and most of them are paid a minimal hourly wage on top of whatever their commission is, so I'm sure the gym owners would prefer their clients train with them. I'm sure if you were already working with someone who becomes a member of that gym, maybe they'd work out a deal where you pay some sort of membership fee. I don't know that gyms are forcing their trainers to push memberships, rather they are pushing them to sell training packages (which is how they get clientelle anyway, right?).
I do know at places like Bally's however, if a membership salesperson is busy the trainers are expected to take on those clients and try to sell them both a membership and training package. They're expected to do other odd jobs around the gym as well if they have nothing else going on, such as wiping down equipment, checking restrooms, cleaning tanning beds, etc.. Depends on the gym I suppose.

What I am not sure of is, if you do start at a corporate gym and build up a fairly decent client base, then decide to venture out on your own, are you able to take your clients with you? Not sure how that works.