Not everyone is the right kind of person to be a personal trainer. You can take all the courses in the world, and pass your tests with flying colors, but if you don’t have a certain nature, you will not make a successful personal trainer. A personal trainer must be a people person; one who feels comfortable going up to a perfect stranger in the gym and introducing themselves. And not only that, you must also be good at encouraging and challenging people and even telling them what they need to do.
And since no one really likes bossy people, you have to do all this in a way that makes the person feel it is all their own idea. Most people like to feel in control of their own actions and destiny. If they have someone constantly ordering them about, they will rebel and not even attend gym. But if their personal trainer makes them feel that they are really important, and shows them that getting fit can be a whole load of fun, then they will come as often as they can. That will certainly please your boss, but just as importantly it will help your customers enjoy themselves as they get fit.
So being a personal trainer is really all about making friends and developing leadership skills. If you can be the kind of person that others admire and try to emulate, then that is half the battle. If you are not that sort of person, but still have a caring nature and like to help people, then those other skills can be learned. Just remember when you go out to your work each day, that you really are going to help people live longer and have better lives and that is certainly a worthwhile career. And it will be such fun for you that it won’t even feel like you are working.
Portuguese
Spanish
French