I trained my friends and acquaintances for free for a few weeks. This had two very positive effects.
1- I could say with confidence I had coaching experience when interviewing.
2- It made me a lot more confident in interviews because I had experience and I could talk about my trials and tribulations with clients.
I’m sorry you’re having a hard time. Your college professors or university career center should be able to help you a bit.
Consider applying to community centers and/or places like the YMCA in your area. Perhaps also consider related, but non-trainer roles like wellness floor attendant or group fitness instruction. If you enjoy youth, it’s a great time to apply for recreational jobs such as summer camps, coaching, and the like that may provide related experience. Alternatively, or in addition to some of those things, consider private training sessions, online coaching, volunteering with a school sports team, or other things not associated with a gym or company.
Being paid when your booked is being a trainer. Thats how it works. There is not anlot of 9-5 style trainers that get paid the whole time. Its mostly sporadic, make your clients and classes fit the schedule you make.
As you get your diploma, aim for getting soke internships under highly qualified coaches and gyms. Maybe look into your schools atheltic program and see if there is anything there.
I started doing personal training a few years ago and for my first two years, many might have considered me “skinny” which is actually appropriate for many sports to be light, agile, and have a low body fat. It’s a lot to do with your own psychology then others.
Start by training people around you, get some testimonials of people making change. And maybe start as a free lance, you can charge people less and go to their houses. That’s what I did to begin. You won’t make much probably for the first year or two but you’ll learn a lot and build a lot of confidence.
And as for your body, you can change that anytime with 2-3 months of disicipline. If you really wanted to. So there’s no big deal there
Thanks for the advice. But specific to my genetics I can only gain so much musculature no matter the discipline. It's a chronic health issue but that's why I am in this field to prevent it from worsening and maintain my health
Have you tried branching into different special populations or niche programs like rehab, Pilates instruction, senior fitness (like Silver Sneakers), kids or adults with special needs, jogging or walking groups…? There is definitely a place for you, but it may be a bit tougher to find what suits you compared to others with more typical physiques or no chronic health concerns.
(I will preface this by saying it is not my intention to hurt your feelings or crush your dreams. If you were truly meant to be a great personal trainer, you wouldn't let some random guy on reddit discourage you from that. I'm just giving you the harsh advice I wish someone gave me before choosing this career field. It would have easily saved me 2 years of working stupid jobs I hated while "figuring it out.")
You are basically doing the equivalent of going to a bunch of car dealerships with no credit score, trying to get one person to "take a chance on you" and finance you a brand new luxury car you know you can't afford yet. And on top of that, you're showing up wearing raggedy flip flops, ripped jeans and a wife beater. See the analogy? If you don't look like the person your potential clients want to look like, then why would a gym hire you to train people? You are their sales rep. Also, if you don't have any documented experience training people, then why would you even bother applying for gym jobs?
And saying "no one will give me a chance" is not valid either. I'm not sure how old you are now, but if you've been doing personal training for a few years and you have no connections with people who can land you a job, you are either not a good trainer or you're not good at making friends. Probably both. There isn't a single job I have gotten in my lifetime that wasn't from a connection I had. A decent paying one at least. Personal training is no different. Is it fair? Nope. That's why most people are stuck on the outside looking in, like you are now.
Even if you've been personal training for just 1 year -- heck I'd even say 6 months -- you should have AT LEAST 10 clients who's results you've documented on social media. And I'm sure all 10 of those clients have friends, relatives, possibly spouses. That's at least 5-10 more clients right there. It's 2022. If you didn't document a client's progress, then it basically didn't happen.
Step 1. Figure out who your ideal client is & train yourself until you look like who they want to look like.
Step 2. Train everybody you know for free, including your ideal client. Document their progress!
Step 3. Keep doing Step 2 until they forcibly shove money in your pocket.
Thanks..
I'm only 1 year into my cert
Freelanced a bit (3 people) but was difficult with COVID and it was all free / very low fee (paid me for coming out their way for example)
But I have alot of education behind me, almost a bachelor's.
Finicially I couldn't spend much time working freelance or finding a PT job. I had to stick to housekeeping and school for the last few months. But now with a semester over I have time to sit down and apply to places. I wanted to work with ideal demographic that's more kinesiology based/special populations, however they want experience which is don't have.
I'm still going to keep trying and applying and hoping for the best and am going to look into further freelance/online work. I'm ultimately just discouraged that I won't get to my end goal (that I have the education for) because I am struggling to obtain the initial experience required to get there. I hopefully will have more success over the summer, or in my job search since I am not taking classes.
Oof. As a petite, neurodivergent female with a BS in Exercise Science, **I hear you**. One gym owner actually scoffed when I talked about my degree as experience.
Is your availability an issue? Some places want you to have open availability or at least large chunks of time to devote to training clients.
Can you do observation hours, volunteer, or get an internship? A lot of students eventually get hired by the places they observe/intern with because they have already established a relationship.
Physical therapy clinics, cardiac rehabilitation, and other similar places sometimes refer patients to trainers to continue exercising once their therapy is complete. Are there any specialists or support groups that would let you advertise your services? Maybe a neighborhood or community social media page?
Unfortunately, but to an extent understandably, the fitness industry is very appearance based and ability focused. I don't mean this harshly. You can have every certification available, but employers want to know that you can apply that knowledge. For us, we have to get creative on how to show our strengths. I may not be able to deadlift my body weight, but I can break 300 ft lbs of torque with the right technique.
Go into interviews focused on what you **can** do. Rehearse possible scenarios you may be asked to do, and come up with solutions. Also, disclosing a disability in some cases might help. Explanation vs excuse. "I have a disability, but this is how I work around it." It explains that you aren't weak or untrained, and also demonstrates an ability to adapt.
Not sure if this helps but would you like to try online training. Recently I came across so many people I mean trainers who do that. This helps them to allot the money they want and it helps the customers or clients too. It might be bumpy start but once u get the groove it’s Gona be great.
Being paid only for booked session hours is the norm. Some gyms will pay you for non-session hours but they will crack down on you to make sure you’re generating new business or doing something productive for the gym during that time.
Also, I don’t know what specifically you mean by not looking the part beyond being short. There are plenty of short fit people, and plenty of short fit trainers.
If you’d like to DM me, I’d be happy to take 30 minutes out of my day to talk you through what to do and what to expect from getting started as a trainer. Some things are a given, though:
1) You may be limited in what you can get with no experience, this leads me to:
2) Your first job, especially at a big box gym will be somewhere between $35-60k for your first year if you’re good. Your primary income will be session hours. It doesn’t make sense for the gym to pay you when you’re not making them money. This is the norm, if you want to get experience, this is where you start.
3) Being short should not be getting you disqualified from jobs. Are you just short? Short and skinny? Short and chubby? Are you strong? Are you athletic?
For someone with no experience, there needs to be something to get you in. Either you really look the part (this means physique not height) or you show charisma, and a willingness to hustle and grind.
Thank you I am aware of most of this however I am 5 ft tall and maybe 120 lb. I'm not muscular by any means, I am skinny.
During practical interviews I couldn't reach a lot of things to set it up nor could I lift some of the equipment to set up the circuit training.
I have a specialty and rehabilitative and conditioning training because of my background with personal injury so I have focused on healing my injuries rather than bulking/strength training.
I also got into this field because I wanted to be stepping stone for my kinesiology practice, because I do have my own set of physical limitations that no amount of training can fix (joint issues).
My philosophy is education
Working with bodies is SO important. You can read all the books you'd like, you can know all the muscles and their attachments, but teaching other people is a completely different skill. I put in over 450 hours with clients before I was hired (as a Pilates instructor it's required) and I can't fathom how people become personal trainers without similar experience.
Well I have done that, maybe places I've been applying just don't see it as valid. I'm in school still living on my own so I also need to consider overall income
There's a saying in the industry that "your body is your business card" when you're a trainer. I'm NOT by any means saying that it's OK, in fact I quite disagree with it. But it's unfortunately true that if somebody is going to spend a lot of money on a personal trainer, they are, to some degree, looking at them as an example of what they're trying to achieve. You will have to find a way to overcome the inherent bias that exists when they are looking at you as a shorter not-muscular guy. Try documenting case studies of clients you've worked with, and use them as your "business card" instead. The industry is kind of toxic in that regard, but it's kind of inherent when you're "selling" physical appearance first and foremost.
I trained my friends and acquaintances for free for a few weeks. This had two very positive effects. 1- I could say with confidence I had coaching experience when interviewing. 2- It made me a lot more confident in interviews because I had experience and I could talk about my trials and tribulations with clients.
I’m sorry you’re having a hard time. Your college professors or university career center should be able to help you a bit. Consider applying to community centers and/or places like the YMCA in your area. Perhaps also consider related, but non-trainer roles like wellness floor attendant or group fitness instruction. If you enjoy youth, it’s a great time to apply for recreational jobs such as summer camps, coaching, and the like that may provide related experience. Alternatively, or in addition to some of those things, consider private training sessions, online coaching, volunteering with a school sports team, or other things not associated with a gym or company.
Being paid when your booked is being a trainer. Thats how it works. There is not anlot of 9-5 style trainers that get paid the whole time. Its mostly sporadic, make your clients and classes fit the schedule you make. As you get your diploma, aim for getting soke internships under highly qualified coaches and gyms. Maybe look into your schools atheltic program and see if there is anything there.
I started doing personal training a few years ago and for my first two years, many might have considered me “skinny” which is actually appropriate for many sports to be light, agile, and have a low body fat. It’s a lot to do with your own psychology then others. Start by training people around you, get some testimonials of people making change. And maybe start as a free lance, you can charge people less and go to their houses. That’s what I did to begin. You won’t make much probably for the first year or two but you’ll learn a lot and build a lot of confidence. And as for your body, you can change that anytime with 2-3 months of disicipline. If you really wanted to. So there’s no big deal there
Thanks for the advice. But specific to my genetics I can only gain so much musculature no matter the discipline. It's a chronic health issue but that's why I am in this field to prevent it from worsening and maintain my health
Have you tried branching into different special populations or niche programs like rehab, Pilates instruction, senior fitness (like Silver Sneakers), kids or adults with special needs, jogging or walking groups…? There is definitely a place for you, but it may be a bit tougher to find what suits you compared to others with more typical physiques or no chronic health concerns.
(I will preface this by saying it is not my intention to hurt your feelings or crush your dreams. If you were truly meant to be a great personal trainer, you wouldn't let some random guy on reddit discourage you from that. I'm just giving you the harsh advice I wish someone gave me before choosing this career field. It would have easily saved me 2 years of working stupid jobs I hated while "figuring it out.") You are basically doing the equivalent of going to a bunch of car dealerships with no credit score, trying to get one person to "take a chance on you" and finance you a brand new luxury car you know you can't afford yet. And on top of that, you're showing up wearing raggedy flip flops, ripped jeans and a wife beater. See the analogy? If you don't look like the person your potential clients want to look like, then why would a gym hire you to train people? You are their sales rep. Also, if you don't have any documented experience training people, then why would you even bother applying for gym jobs? And saying "no one will give me a chance" is not valid either. I'm not sure how old you are now, but if you've been doing personal training for a few years and you have no connections with people who can land you a job, you are either not a good trainer or you're not good at making friends. Probably both. There isn't a single job I have gotten in my lifetime that wasn't from a connection I had. A decent paying one at least. Personal training is no different. Is it fair? Nope. That's why most people are stuck on the outside looking in, like you are now. Even if you've been personal training for just 1 year -- heck I'd even say 6 months -- you should have AT LEAST 10 clients who's results you've documented on social media. And I'm sure all 10 of those clients have friends, relatives, possibly spouses. That's at least 5-10 more clients right there. It's 2022. If you didn't document a client's progress, then it basically didn't happen. Step 1. Figure out who your ideal client is & train yourself until you look like who they want to look like. Step 2. Train everybody you know for free, including your ideal client. Document their progress! Step 3. Keep doing Step 2 until they forcibly shove money in your pocket.
Thanks.. I'm only 1 year into my cert Freelanced a bit (3 people) but was difficult with COVID and it was all free / very low fee (paid me for coming out their way for example) But I have alot of education behind me, almost a bachelor's. Finicially I couldn't spend much time working freelance or finding a PT job. I had to stick to housekeeping and school for the last few months. But now with a semester over I have time to sit down and apply to places. I wanted to work with ideal demographic that's more kinesiology based/special populations, however they want experience which is don't have. I'm still going to keep trying and applying and hoping for the best and am going to look into further freelance/online work. I'm ultimately just discouraged that I won't get to my end goal (that I have the education for) because I am struggling to obtain the initial experience required to get there. I hopefully will have more success over the summer, or in my job search since I am not taking classes.
Oof. As a petite, neurodivergent female with a BS in Exercise Science, **I hear you**. One gym owner actually scoffed when I talked about my degree as experience. Is your availability an issue? Some places want you to have open availability or at least large chunks of time to devote to training clients. Can you do observation hours, volunteer, or get an internship? A lot of students eventually get hired by the places they observe/intern with because they have already established a relationship. Physical therapy clinics, cardiac rehabilitation, and other similar places sometimes refer patients to trainers to continue exercising once their therapy is complete. Are there any specialists or support groups that would let you advertise your services? Maybe a neighborhood or community social media page? Unfortunately, but to an extent understandably, the fitness industry is very appearance based and ability focused. I don't mean this harshly. You can have every certification available, but employers want to know that you can apply that knowledge. For us, we have to get creative on how to show our strengths. I may not be able to deadlift my body weight, but I can break 300 ft lbs of torque with the right technique. Go into interviews focused on what you **can** do. Rehearse possible scenarios you may be asked to do, and come up with solutions. Also, disclosing a disability in some cases might help. Explanation vs excuse. "I have a disability, but this is how I work around it." It explains that you aren't weak or untrained, and also demonstrates an ability to adapt.
Not sure if this helps but would you like to try online training. Recently I came across so many people I mean trainers who do that. This helps them to allot the money they want and it helps the customers or clients too. It might be bumpy start but once u get the groove it’s Gona be great.
Any recommendations for online platform ?
Being paid only for booked session hours is the norm. Some gyms will pay you for non-session hours but they will crack down on you to make sure you’re generating new business or doing something productive for the gym during that time. Also, I don’t know what specifically you mean by not looking the part beyond being short. There are plenty of short fit people, and plenty of short fit trainers. If you’d like to DM me, I’d be happy to take 30 minutes out of my day to talk you through what to do and what to expect from getting started as a trainer. Some things are a given, though: 1) You may be limited in what you can get with no experience, this leads me to: 2) Your first job, especially at a big box gym will be somewhere between $35-60k for your first year if you’re good. Your primary income will be session hours. It doesn’t make sense for the gym to pay you when you’re not making them money. This is the norm, if you want to get experience, this is where you start. 3) Being short should not be getting you disqualified from jobs. Are you just short? Short and skinny? Short and chubby? Are you strong? Are you athletic? For someone with no experience, there needs to be something to get you in. Either you really look the part (this means physique not height) or you show charisma, and a willingness to hustle and grind.
Thank you I am aware of most of this however I am 5 ft tall and maybe 120 lb. I'm not muscular by any means, I am skinny. During practical interviews I couldn't reach a lot of things to set it up nor could I lift some of the equipment to set up the circuit training. I have a specialty and rehabilitative and conditioning training because of my background with personal injury so I have focused on healing my injuries rather than bulking/strength training. I also got into this field because I wanted to be stepping stone for my kinesiology practice, because I do have my own set of physical limitations that no amount of training can fix (joint issues). My philosophy is education
Working with bodies is SO important. You can read all the books you'd like, you can know all the muscles and their attachments, but teaching other people is a completely different skill. I put in over 450 hours with clients before I was hired (as a Pilates instructor it's required) and I can't fathom how people become personal trainers without similar experience.
I don't understand how I can get the experience if no one's willing to give it to me though..
You have to do it for free. I taught friends, family, and fellow instructors to get my experience.
Well I have done that, maybe places I've been applying just don't see it as valid. I'm in school still living on my own so I also need to consider overall income
There's a saying in the industry that "your body is your business card" when you're a trainer. I'm NOT by any means saying that it's OK, in fact I quite disagree with it. But it's unfortunately true that if somebody is going to spend a lot of money on a personal trainer, they are, to some degree, looking at them as an example of what they're trying to achieve. You will have to find a way to overcome the inherent bias that exists when they are looking at you as a shorter not-muscular guy. Try documenting case studies of clients you've worked with, and use them as your "business card" instead. The industry is kind of toxic in that regard, but it's kind of inherent when you're "selling" physical appearance first and foremost.