17 year old wanting a career in PT, need some serious advice!

[rhyscous]

I've been addicted to the gym since about 16 years old and am seriously wanting to go down the personal trainer path, help others to reach there goals and making a difference whilst also doing something you have a passion for, at the moment im studying business at college (I know, wrong course) however wanting to do this has hit me at a late stage. I'm just wondering where i can begin my journey into becoming a Personal Trainer, i don't really know where to begin and don't want to do sport courses at college as i've been at college for 2 years and don't want to start over again, if someone could give me some detailed information on this and other things you might want to tell me about a career as a PT, i know it's not a breeze and is very competitive however i believe i'd be very successful in this.

Thank you all, appreciate it!

[PeteratCastle]

I've been addicted to the gym since about 16 years old and am seriously wanting to go down the personal trainer path, help others to reach there goals and making a difference whilst also doing something you have a passion for, at the moment im studying business at college (I know, wrong course) however wanting to do this has hit me at a late stage. I'm just wondering where i can begin my journey into becoming a Personal Trainer, i don't really know where to begin and don't want to do sport courses at college as i've been at college for 2 years and don't want to start over again, if someone could give me some detailed information on this and other things you might want to tell me about a career as a PT, i know it's not a breeze and is very competitive however i believe i'd be very successful in this.

Thank you all, appreciate it!

I will leave it for one of the American guys to advise on what's best to do there but would say that a business degree will not harm you at all moving forward. It's one area where a lot of up-start PTs really struggle with so I'd do a PT course on the side and get my business degree, if I were you.

BTW..late to the game at 17? Feck me, I didn't get into PT'ing until I was 36 and had had a looooooooong management career in other businesses. You're still young mate.

[rhyscous]

I will leave it for one of the American guys to advise on what's best to do there but would say that a business degree will not harm you at all moving forward. It's one area where a lot of up-start PTs really struggle with so I'd do a PT course on the side and get my business degree, if I were you.

BTW..late to the game at 17? Feck me, I didn't get into PT'ing until I was 36 and had had a looooooooong management career in other businesses. You're still young mate.

Yeah i know, but don't want to make the mistake of chopping and changing careers. Want to establish myself in this industry and progress through it! Im from the UK by the way forgot to mention!!

[jalundah]

You're 17 and have spent 2 years in college?

But a business degree will help tremendously with PT.. It's an aspect that a lot of really knowledgeable PT's lack in, which can really hurt your money making abilities. Start studying for one of the major certifications(NSCA, ACSM, NASM, or ACE), possibly take some kinesiology or physiology classes at your university to help out with that, and you should be good to go.

Edit-just saw where you said you're from the UK. I don't know what the major certifications are across the sea, but find out and pursue the most prestigious one.

[MikeEsp_Fit]

Two things you have to do is start training some people to know and see if it's something you can do 6-8 hours a day, and then sign up for a certification and get studying. Most of the people that purchase cert courses either never finish or don't pass the test. So if you get certified it already puts you ahead of most.

[ExtremistPullup]

PT is all business you have to schedule find clients and network. Training is a small portion.

[PeteratCastle]

Yeah i know, but don't want to make the mistake of chopping and changing careers. Want to establish myself in this industry and progress through it! Im from the UK by the way forgot to mention!!

Well, since you're from the UK I can offer some advice.
A PT course will set you back approx £3.5k (reps L3) the reps system works in a way that means you'll continuously have to do various courses to keep your REPS membership active. The REPS membership costs £31 a year from april. However, to be a member of REPS you have to take enough courses each year to earn REPS points. All, of course, courses that make REPS and companies they work with plenty of money and most are not useful at all. This will cost you about £500 a year in courses. You'll need the reps membership if you want to work in a gym. Unfortunately most, if not all, gyms in the UK have signed up to this ridiculous scheme. if you don't work in a gym you'll still need the qualification but don't need the REPS membership.
You'll probably find that, once you've qualified, you'll be offered jobs at places like Puregym, Thegymgroup etc. Those places have 14-15 PTs per gym, all working 15 hrs a week for free..scrubbing toilets and vacuuming the gym etc. This is instead of you paying them a license fee, although some Puregyms do charge you £240 as a one off for your uniform etc. (which is retarded IMO). As a new start PT without any nous I wouldn't expect you to be very successful there. Most PTs in those places quit within a year, quite a few within 6 months.
If you're lucky you could get a job at a good gym like David Lloyd where they offer you a set wage and guaranteed nr of hours per month. The guaranteed nr of hours declines per month but that gives you time to settle in to the business and guarantees you an income. The downside to this is that all the booking have to be done through the gym and they take a cut off whatever the client pays. The DL clients in Edinburgh pay somewhere around £45 a pop and you get approx £22 out of this. This is by far the best deal out there for an upstart PT but these jobs are like gold dust and are not likely to be offered to you if you don't have any experience.

What I would do, if I were you, is get a Level 2 gym instructor cert. this will set you back about £500 and will allow you to do classes in gyms and bootcamps outside of gyms. Bootcamps are a great way to gain experience in how to market yourself, how to train people etc.

Later, when you move into PT proper, you can get a cheaper course as you'd go from level 2 to 3 rather than start from scratch. And this would also allow you to at least claim experience in marketing, training etc.

I still have to say, stick with your degree. Just do the level 2 course on the side, it doesn't take that long to get it and your business edge will stop you making mistakes other PTs without any business education/experience have.

Edit; with regards to chopping and changing of your career. Moving into PT'ing when you have some outside experience is a massive bonus. I am doing OK because I have business experience and I can relate to people in my target group. Your training experience won't count for squat, it's your life experience people will relate to. The needs of a 40 year old who has had a stressful desk job for the past12 years is different from a 18 year old who just wants to be big. And the 18yo is not going to be your client as he has to ask his parents for money so he can afford his gym membership and thinks he knows how to train better than you do anyways so is never going to ask you for your help let alone give you money to win him.

Obv the above only goes for PT'ing, if you were thinking of moving into proper elite coaching I would just go study it at uni...but you still need to take the Level 3 course if you ever want to move not personal training.

[JohnSmeton]

hands on experience is more important than reading reading reading. Of course you have to read and learn business, experience is where it is at

dont be one of these booksmart guys that has no hands on experience , be both, there are guys that have a lot fo hands on and no booksmarts -its a balance

if I had to lean to one side Id lean more to hands on than booksmart and I know I can balance both =) cheers mate

[rhyscous]

Well, since you're from the UK I can offer some advice.
A PT course will set you back approx £3.5k (reps L3) the reps system works in a way that means you'll continuously have to do various courses to keep your REPS membership active. The REPS membership costs £31 a year from april. However, to be a member of REPS you have to take enough courses each year to earn REPS points. All, of course, courses that make REPS and companies they work with plenty of money and most are not useful at all. This will cost you about £500 a year in courses. You'll need the reps membership if you want to work in a gym. Unfortunately most, if not all, gyms in the UK have signed up to this ridiculous scheme. if you don't work in a gym you'll still need the qualification but don't need the REPS membership.
You'll probably find that, once you've qualified, you'll be offered jobs at places like Puregym, Thegymgroup etc. Those places have 14-15 PTs per gym, all working 15 hrs a week for free..scrubbing toilets and vacuuming the gym etc. This is instead of you paying them a license fee, although some Puregyms do charge you £240 as a one off for your uniform etc. (which is retarded IMO). As a new start PT without any nous I wouldn't expect you to be very successful there. Most PTs in those places quit within a year, quite a few within 6 months.
If you're lucky you could get a job at a good gym like David Lloyd where they offer you a set wage and guaranteed nr of hours per month. The guaranteed nr of hours declines per month but that gives you time to settle in to the business and guarantees you an income. The downside to this is that all the booking have to be done through the gym and they take a cut off whatever the client pays. The DL clients in Edinburgh pay somewhere around £45 a pop and you get approx £22 out of this. This is by far the best deal out there for an upstart PT but these jobs are like gold dust and are not likely to be offered to you if you don't have any experience.

What I would do, if I were you, is get a Level 2 gym instructor cert. this will set you back about £500 and will allow you to do classes in gyms and bootcamps outside of gyms. Bootcamps are a great way to gain experience in how to market yourself, how to train people etc.

Later, when you move into PT proper, you can get a cheaper course as you'd go from level 2 to 3 rather than start from scratch. And this would also allow you to at least claim experience in marketing, training etc.

I still have to say, stick with your degree. Just do the level 2 course on the side, it doesn't take that long to get it and your business edge will stop you making mistakes other PTs without any business education/experience have.

Edit; with regards to chopping and changing of your career. Moving into PT'ing when you have some outside experience is a massive bonus. I am doing OK because I have business experience and I can relate to people in my target group. Your training experience won't count for squat, it's your life experience people will relate to. The needs of a 40 year old who has had a stressful desk job for the past12 years is different from a 18 year old who just wants to be big. And the 18yo is not going to be your client as he has to ask his parents for money so he can afford his gym membership and thinks he knows how to train better than you do anyways so is never going to ask you for your help let alone give you money to win him.

Obv the above only goes for PT'ing, if you were thinking of moving into proper elite coaching I would just go study it at uni...but you still need to take the Level 3 course if you ever want to move not personal training.

What a fantastic reply, exactly what i was looking for some detailed information and i thank you all for helping. So a good idea would be for me to finish the business qualification and take level 2 gym instructor on the side and get myself out there, i'm a very familiar face in my gym at the moment which is "Activa" which is a good thing i guess. Is "Fitness Instructing (Gym) Central YMCA Certificate Level 2" the qualification you are talking about, this is done at my local college if so. Thank you very much again for all you're replies!

[PeteratCastle]

What a fantastic reply, exactly what i was looking for some detailed information and i thank you all for helping. So a good idea would be for me to finish the business qualification and take level 2 gym instructor on the side and get myself out there, i'm a very familiar face in my gym at the moment which is "Activa" which is a good thing i guess. Is "Fitness Instructing (Gym) Central YMCA Certificate Level 2" the qualification you are talking about, this is done at my local college if so. Thank you very much again for all you're replies!

Yeah you can take the YMCA one mate, you'll be fine with that.
Any info you need just give me a shout

[jando]

it's very difficult to know at 17 what you want to do. If you're definitely wanting to be a trainer the rest of your life then I say just get certified and started in a gym ASAP. Don't waste time and money with a college degree. The "business side" you can learn as you go and you're not going to learn it in a classroom. By the time you start making great money you'll be about 19 and let's say for 6 years you live at home and save 20,000 a year you'll be in a great position.



Very few trainers will make it full time past 30 so if you think you might have a change of career choice it might make sense to go to college. It's definitely a ton of hours despite what anyone tells you. Most days are split shifts.

[rhyscous]

it's very difficult to know at 17 what you want to do. If you're definitely wanting to be a trainer the rest of your life then I say just get certified and started in a gym ASAP. Don't waste time and money with a college degree. The "business side" you can learn as you go and you're not going to learn it in a classroom. By the time you start making great money you'll be about 19 and let's say for 6 years you live at home and save 20,000 a year you'll be in a great position.



Very few trainers will make it full time past 30 so if you think you might have a change of career choice it might make sense to go to college. It's definitely a ton of hours despite what anyone tells you. Most days are split shifts.

Hi mate,

Thanks for the reply, being a trainer is something i want to do for life, want to eventually have my own business etc in PTing and be successful. im aware for the first few years it won't be great as i need to show clients what i can do and build a good client base, and like some people have said gyms take a cut of your money but its all part of the dance i guess!

Thanks.

[MrGuin]

Well, since you're from the UK I can offer some advice.
A PT course will set you back approx £3.5k (reps L3) the reps system works in a way that means you'll continuously have to do various courses to keep your REPS membership active. The REPS membership costs £31 a year from april. However, to be a member of REPS you have to take enough courses each year to earn REPS points. All, of course, courses that make REPS and companies they work with plenty of money and most are not useful at all. This will cost you about £500 a year in courses. You'll need the reps membership if you want to work in a gym. Unfortunately most, if not all, gyms in the UK have signed up to this ridiculous scheme. if you don't work in a gym you'll still need the qualification but don't need the REPS membership.
You'll probably find that, once you've qualified, you'll be offered jobs at places like Puregym, Thegymgroup etc. Those places have 14-15 PTs per gym, all working 15 hrs a week for free..scrubbing toilets and vacuuming the gym etc. This is instead of you paying them a license fee, although some Puregyms do charge you £240 as a one off for your uniform etc. (which is retarded IMO). As a new start PT without any nous I wouldn't expect you to be very successful there. Most PTs in those places quit within a year, quite a few within 6 months.
If you're lucky you could get a job at a good gym like David Lloyd where they offer you a set wage and guaranteed nr of hours per month. The guaranteed nr of hours declines per month but that gives you time to settle in to the business and guarantees you an income. The downside to this is that all the booking have to be done through the gym and they take a cut off whatever the client pays. The DL clients in Edinburgh pay somewhere around £45 a pop and you get approx £22 out of this. This is by far the best deal out there for an upstart PT but these jobs are like gold dust and are not likely to be offered to you if you don't have any experience.

What I would do, if I were you, is get a Level 2 gym instructor cert. this will set you back about £500 and will allow you to do classes in gyms and bootcamps outside of gyms. Bootcamps are a great way to gain experience in how to market yourself, how to train people etc.

Later, when you move into PT proper, you can get a cheaper course as you'd go from level 2 to 3 rather than start from scratch. And this would also allow you to at least claim experience in marketing, training etc.

I still have to say, stick with your degree. Just do the level 2 course on the side, it doesn't take that long to get it and your business edge will stop you making mistakes other PTs without any business education/experience have.

Edit; with regards to chopping and changing of your career. Moving into PT'ing when you have some outside experience is a massive bonus. I am doing OK because I have business experience and I can relate to people in my target group. Your training experience won't count for squat, it's your life experience people will relate to. The needs of a 40 year old who has had a stressful desk job for the past12 years is different from a 18 year old who just wants to be big. And the 18yo is not going to be your client as he has to ask his parents for money so he can afford his gym membership and thinks he knows how to train better than you do anyways so is never going to ask you for your help let alone give you money to win him.

Obv the above only goes for PT'ing, if you were thinking of moving into proper elite coaching I would just go study it at uni...but you still need to take the Level 3 course if you ever want to move not personal training.

Thanks for this really helpful post!

[SonnYondaMoneY]

I've been addicted to the gym since about 16 years old and am seriously wanting to go down the personal trainer path, help others to reach there goals and making a difference whilst also doing something you have a passion for, at the moment im studying business at college (I know, wrong course) however wanting to do this has hit me at a late stage. I'm just wondering where i can begin my journey into becoming a Personal Trainer, i don't really know where to begin and don't want to do sport courses at college as i've been at college for 2 years and don't want to start over again, if someone could give me some detailed information on this and other things you might want to tell me about a career as a PT, i know it's not a breeze and is very competitive however i believe i'd be very successful in this.

Thank you all, appreciate it!

A lot of advice posted here...

OK I work as a PT in the UK as you already know bruv, got ur message.
Firstly, studying business at college is not at all the wrong course, if anything I would say work hard at it and get your A-Level/NVQ. This will benefit you tremendously not only in improving your employabiliy (more gyms will be willing to sign you up) but of course in helping you run your Personal Training business. Most gyms in the UK hire Freelance/Self-Employed trainers, the earning potential is more this way since you are your own boss. You will however have to pay a rent fee to the gym (at LA Fitness is £800/month), or a cut off the top of each sessions earnings. I have worked at 7 different gyms in total, I am currently working at two gyms as a Personal Trainer.

One of these is a small school gym and the second is a hardcore underground gym. I charge £25 at the small gym, since the membership is as little as £17/month,, whereas at Maximums I charge £75. I give the gyms a 5 or 10 pound cut respectively. At the small gym the members are far less advanced, and so are more likely to hire a Personal Trainer who will show them the ropes (as well as pushing them to achieve more). On the underground I have only a few regular clients, you must note that these members are more advanced and have been training for a number of years,, there are a lot of steroids about might i say. This is where the money is, since these members are prepared to pay more for their gym membership, and more committed to the cause.

I am qualified to REPs Level 3 and can train ANYONE who wants to build muscle, or lose fat, or tone-up, condition & shape, improve athletic performance, etc. This sounds bold for someone who currently only weighs around 75kg, but believe me I'm foreal.
Bodybuilding is what I specialize in. I have trained on routines that old-school hero's like Arnold and Tom Platz have followed (training weights 6x per week, and 15-25 min HIIT [a bit newer, and imho more effective than traditional cardio] after the session 3x a week). This was on a cutting diet, with a lot of protein from shakes, eggs, tuna, chicken, beef, salmon,, relatively low carbs (though not drastically low - it's needed for maintaining muscle mass due to replenishing glycogen stores after an [extremely] tough workout), and healthy fats from cooking in olive oil, nuts (macadamias, cashews mmmmmm..), peanut butter (lol,, high calorie so used minimally), you get my drift. 8 hours a sleep at night, go 2 Uni doin Sports, Health and Exercise Science 3 mornings and one afternoon a week, then take a protein shake (48g protein) and/or have a tuna/egg sandwich then hit the gym hard about an hour later. U think that's hectic?? On the weekend I was working at a gym as a Fitness Consultant, earning about £8/hour. It was really difficult to find the motivation to train on a Saturday after 8 hours on the gym floor. I would make sure I took my lunchbreak about an hour to 1 1/2 hours (if I was really hungry lol) before the end of my shift, then at 2PM get changed and hit the gym hard.

So as you can see I did everything pretty much perfect - nutrition, diet, training, psychology (more on this later), supplementation (protein shakes). Except for the fact that I simply had too much on my plate.

Because I have trained with weights consistently and hard since the age of 14, I have developed the ability to recover from these workouts and stay motivated to hit the gym the next life. day (sorry not life!). The next living day..

By the end of my 8 week cutting phase (which followed a bulking phase may I add)) I weighed-in at 85kg with 4.6% bodyfat. I had the look and condition of a pro-bodybuilder (serious!).

I went to an interview later that year at one of the top gyms in the country (Fitness First at Highbury, Arsenal Football Clubs old stadium,, c'mon u Gunners), and I was a bit out of my depth. At this point I had worked at three different gyms, but only as a Fitness Instructor (Level 2,, despite the fact I had Active IQ Level 3 Personal Training qualification). The manager was impressed when he looked at my folder with the 20 or so different routines I had written, tailored to particular goals,, from Beginner to High Intermediate to Advanced to Contest Level, off-season (bulking) or pre-contest (cutting), 3 days a week, up to 6 days/wk. Also diet plans and general knowledge that a lot of Personal Trainers (at least the ones I've worked with) simply don't have. Again I will emphasize that my main area was bodybuilding.

I had used a lot of these templates for members at the two gyms I was now working at (both by the same company, they were impressed by my work and so hired me 2-3 days/wk at the bigger Montem Gym),, part of my job was to write training routines for members. I was the man to ask when it came to bodybuilding, I gained a lot of rep at these two gyms, particularly the second one. I loved it. It was the best job in the world, I remember saying to my Manager Sean Miles that I could live in the gym.. !

Anyway I no I'm gettin a bit carried away so I'll get to the point. Although the job I was doing pretty much covered all the bases a Personal Trainer would cover, these plans and a one hour session with me was generally all the members needed to reach their goals. In other words I gave them all the knowledge and techniques (good form, work the muscle not just move the weight, etc.) that they needed to reach their prospective goals. I was referred to as a 'Diamond geezer' by one member, which may have got me some attention from Montem Gym.

So I wasn't training the members after the first session. In one session I had given them the basics and more of how to build the physique they want (in a written plan as well as what I said). Fitness First told me that I didn't have enough experience to work for them yet, as I hadn't worked as a Personal Trainer prior to this. When they saw my photos from about 2 years before (in 2008, aged 19), their reaction kinda softened the blow. They said that I could have been an amateur or even semi-pro bodybuilder at the time of these photos, and that I would have done well in my weight class (under 67kg,, v. low bodyfat, had never actually measured bf percentage-wise, but instead by how lean my abs looked - I had an 8-pack.)

In some ways this motivated me, it was a big compliment, but after a short while (as they continued talking to me) I realised I had missed a great chance. I would have earnt doe from competing and more importantly would have gained a lot of rep which would help me be a successful Personal Trainer. Personally at the time I thought my physique was great, but never really realized that I could compete. So I missed out there.

[Today, 3 years later]
I now have 4 years experience of working in gyms, 2 years as a Personal Trainer, and am doing quite successfully, consistently earning £1100+ per month doing something that I love. I don't think I'm ready for Fitness First yet, I need to get my physique to a better condition and tweak some of the programs with new knowledge I have gained from reading on forums and in magazines such as Muscle & Fitness and Flex.

OK, back to your questions (huh)
I would strongly recommend continuing with your college course, and then taking an intensive course in Personal Training (and other related areas such as Sports Nutrition, Spinning and/or Circuits, etc.). Of course they will teach you First Aid. One lady I trained when I first started PTing nearly passed out after a hard High Intensity Interval Training session, I got her to sit down ("I feel dizzy. I feel siiick"), and got her a glass of water and a banana from the cafe. I had failed to mention to her before the session that she must have breakfast before coming to the gym. We trained at 10.30, and by 10.50 she thought she was gonna black out and couldn't stand up (!).
What this shows is that any knowledge you have, no matter how obvious it may seem, can help the client in their quest.

Finally I need to say the Academy I went to in Bournemouth was superb, plus during the seven weeks I was living there. I got to train with Atlas from the new Gladiators (tv show). This was the first time had trained for all-out strength. Sam Bond (his real name) taught me how to use lifting straps on Deadlifts and Stiff-Legged Deadlifts, and I saw myself lifting weights I had never thought possible for someone my size. Weighing-in at 63kg I could Bench 95kg for 3 reps, Squat (with good form) 120kg X 5 and Deadlift 140kg X 5. He was a real inspiration to me.

He took his vest off for a photoshoot (he's sponsored by Maximuscle) and everyone in the free weights section was glaring. Of course there were quite a few big boys at this superb gym (Fitness First in Poole), but the way he trained was perfect. Every rep executed to perfection with full range of motion. "Work the muscle, not move the weight."

We did pyramids on the main compound movements, increasing the weight and lowering the number of reps on each succeeding set. I would stop at 5 sets, he would continue to increase the weight (quite a lot) and would manage 8-10 sets, finishing on around double the weight what I was able to lift.
For example he would Deadlift 300kg for 4-5 reps.
My last set would be my 5 rep max for 5 reps, whereas he would go heavier than this level on some sets, lifting weights he could only manange 2-3 or even 1 rep of.

What made me talk to this geeza was that I thought he was Hunter (from the original Gladiators!) and I asked him 4 an autograph! He looks exactly like him, same hairstyle, same face, similar physique (although not quite as big I suppose - I wonder if steroids are Hunter's edge - was Atlas on steroids?? I wouldn't know, I wasn't rude enough to ask him). Anyway what amazed me was he wasn't some ****in roid junkie who's all aggressive n that, he was really friendly and cool,, I had the balls to approach him, n he respected that.

He is a good friend of the teacher we had on the PT course, n as soon as I mentioned Lou Court's name, I could tell he wouldn't mind training me. All in all Bournemouth was an awesome experience, the best in my life so far (other than the first time I got laid). Ha

So that's all the knowledge I can give you at present, hope this helps, if you need more info holla back/send me a message I'll b happy 2 help. Jus wanna c an aspiring PT achieving big time. So I take him under my wing.

Oh yh Psychology: read my signature after this (veerrrrrryyyy long) post.
Peace.