Group fitness and personal training are two of the most in-demand professions in the fitness world. Not just that, but these professions are one of the highest-paid as well. Both of the fields require extensive fitness training to acquire certifications. Even after that, you might need additional certifications to expand your services and build a client list.
Group fitness instructors work with a number of people with similar goals, while personal trainers work with people on the individual level. People can join group classes for weight loss, wellness, yoga, and even muscle building. On the other hand, personal trainers offer services based on the needs of their clients. Here’s a more in-depth analysis of the two professions and how you can choose which one to pick.
What Do Personal Trainers Do?
Here’s a general breakdown of the services offered by personal trainers.
Individual Training
The main reason people seek personal trainers is that they can work with their client’s schedules and offer personalized training that targets their individual needs. Personal trainers usually take into account their client’s mental and physical needs. For example, any underlying health issues, fat count, and even any allergies or physical injuries that could prevent them from working out in groups. A personal trainer can also help clients reach specific goals like building muscles or losing weight in a dedicated time without causing harm to their bodies.
Training Based On The Client’s Interest
Personal trainers can offer general fitness training, or people can hire trainers who have any specific requirements. People can get a personal wellness coach or a weight-loss instructor depending on what they’re looking for. This is the reason why the field of personal training is quite versatile, and trainers from every industry can become personal trainers after finishing a few certifications. Many athletes have personal trainers who can train them to be the in the sports that they play. For example, footballers would require different fitness routines as compared to tennis players.
Can Work In Gyms And Homes
Another great career option for personal trainers is that they can work with clients one-on-one in their homes or offer training at the gym. Many gyms hire personal trainers keeping in mind their client’s needs. They can offer bodybuilding training or weight loss training. Clients going to the gym need to adhere to the gym’s guidelines, and the level of training they receive is based on their membership. On the other hand, at-home trainers are hired based on the requirement of the client, and they charge a fee accordingly. They’re also required to work with the client’s schedule, not the other way around.
What Do Group Instructors Do?
Just like personal trainers, group instructors can offer several services, but instead of an individual approach, these instructors work with groups. Here are some of the descriptions of their jobs.
Generalized Workouts For Groups
As the name suggests, group instructors work with people with similar fitness goals. For example, people can do yoga with a group instructor, join a running group, or take gym classes with a group instructor. The bottom line is that these instructors train many people in the same time frame. This obviously means that people don’t get a lot of individual attention, but that doesn’t mean the trainer doesn’t consider that at all. The trainer monitors individual progress and helps people who need individualized training, but it’s not on the same level as a personal trainer.
Work With Similarly Aged People
The main reason why people opt for group fitness training is to work with people with similar fitness goals. That’s why most of these groups have people from the same age group or demographic. For example, a group may consist of women who want to do yoga or a group of senior citizens who want to achieve better health. To offer this training, the trainers need to develop sessions that target the needs of these groups. The instructor may change the long-term goals of the group depending on the progress of each member.
Specialized Exercises
Say a group of people want to build abs in the next three months, a group fitness instructor can develop workout routines that can help them achieve these goals. The same goes for any other type of goals the clients might have. Some instructors offer their sessions involving yoga, weight loss, or bodybuilding.
Which One Should You Pick?
If you’re interested in pursuing a career in the fitness world but can’t decide which one of the two you should pick, try looking at the following aspects to come to a conclusion.
Where Do You Like Working?
This plays a huge role in picking your career. Would you prefer working in a gym and fitness center, or would you prefer the client’s home or your own studio? If you like working with a lot of people and you think you can pay attention to their individual goals, you should think about pursuing group instructor certifications. On the other hand, if you like to work with clients one-on-one, you should try for personal training certifications.
What Type Of Workouts Do You Like?
This can also influence your decisions. If you like intense one-on-one training, then you should go for personal training. If you’re interested in leading a group workout, then a group exercise instructor is for you. Your preference can also depend on the type of workouts you offer—for example, senior fitness group, youth fitness group, or weight loss group.
Are You Targeting A Specific Demographic?
It’s easier to deal with a specific demographic if they’re in a group. Personal trainers target a wide audience, while group fitness instructors can pick an age group and develop different workouts for them based on their requirements.
If you’re looking to become a certified personal trainer or a group fitness instructor, you can check the courses offered by W.I.T.S. Education. W.I.T.S. is a fitness training institute that offers several courses. Some other courses offered include youth fitness instructor, medical fitness instructor, and senior fitness instructor. W.I.T.S is also the only institute that is accredited by the NCAA and offers college credits to its students.
They also offer in-person and online hybrid courses that ensure that their students have the relevant practical skills. Their training centers are located all over North America and W.I.T.S. is the only institute that offers hands-on in-person practical labs. Take a look at their courses or get in touch with them today.
The fitness industry is becoming quite dynamic and is constantly changing. As a result, trainers need to keep up with the new trends in order to maintain their clients. At the same time, new trainers can use these changing trends and jump-start their careers. In the past few years, the gap between the fitness industry and the wellness industry has shrunk, and many fitness specializations are mingled with the wellness industry.
Fitness trainers with a background in the medical field can take advantage of this unique position in the fitness industry and become medical fitness trainers or fitness nutritionists. Similarly, certified personal trainers can become wellness coaches or weight loss specialists.
With institutes such as W.I.T.S Education, it has become quite easy for trainers to get additional accredited specializations that’ll help them broaden their career prospects. Whether they want to work for a gym or start their own business, these specializations can help them achieve their goals.
Job Perspectives In The Fitness World
Despite the pandemic, the fitness industry has remained afloat and is constantly thriving. This happened mainly due to the industry’s fast adaption to the changes caused by the pandemic, such as online learning and certifications. A major part of the fitness industry has been occupied by wellness and lifestyle coaching as a lot of people needed to get back on track after the extensive lockdowns.
Not just that, but many new career paths have opened up for fitness trainers. They are no longer constrained by the options of working at the gym or becoming personal trainers. Today many established and new fitness trainers can further their careers in different fields related to fitness, such as group fitness, senior fitness, and even youth fitness. Not just that, but many fitness training centers and gyms have started offering these pieces of training to their clients.
As a result, fitness trainers get a lot more options to work than before. Their changes are increased when their certifications are accredited, and they can also get higher paychecks. So, in terms of job perspective, now is the best time to enter the fitness world, make a name for yourself, and advance your career.
Why Should You Take Special Specializations?
Specializations help you further your career prospects as well as let you offer diverse services to your customers. Your clients can get a higher level of service that considers their health and fitness. Instead of basic exercises and weight loss, your clients can now opt for wellness coaching that takes care of their fitness and health needs.
Besides that, specialization plays an important role in setting yourself apart from the rest of the trainers, which means lesser competition and a chance to reach more clients. General trainers are good for the gym, but when people pay extra for their fitness, they demand special services. You can only deliver these if you have the relevant certifications. In addition to that, you can combine your extensive knowledge from different specializations to deliver a truly unique workout and wellness routines to your clients.
Last but not least, specializations allow you to generate more income. When you offer special services, it’s given that you’ll charge more for them. The attitude of people towards fitness has changed drastically in the past few years. They are willing to pay extra for special services that can help them reach their fitness as well as health goals.
Which Specializations Can You Take?
The fitness and wellness industries are quite broad and therefore offer many options to prospective fitness trainers to work with clients on a more personal level. Specializations offer in-depth knowledge of specific areas, and you can combine this knowledge with your knowledge of fitness training. This combination allows you to offer a wider range of services that can tackle different problem areas of your clients.
Some certifications require a medical or nutritional background, such as medical fitness trainers and nutritional trainers. As a personal trainer, these certifications allow you to turn your fitness training into full-fledged wellness coaching. Here are some of the top specializations you can take today!
Medical Fitness Specialist
Medical fitness is an emerging field in fitness work that skillfully combines physical movements and exercises for people that suffer from chronic health issues and disabilities. As a medical fitness instructor, you’ll be responsible for analyzing each client and developing a fitness plan based on their individual needs. The plan would include physical exercise as well as a diet that can help people suffering from such conditions to improve their health.
You’ll also be required to coordinate with medical professionals to find the best course of action to improve your client’s health. Aside from that, you’ll need to monitor the client’s progress and modify your exercise and diet plans accordingly. Medical fitness courses teach you how to plan exercise routines, understand chronic conditions, and treat them properly using fitness.
Lifestyle Wellness Coach
Wellness coaching is considered vital to the overall long-term health goals of your clients. The basis of this certification is to create an exercise program that is geared towards mental and emotional wellbeing in addition to physical. As a wellness coach, it’s your job to create innovative ways to help your clients reach their goals while staying on top of their health.
Wellness coaching can be taken by medical professionals, occupational therapists, massage therapists, and health coaches. Your diverse background will aid in strengthening your career as a wellness coach. You’ll be able to make exercise plans, diet plans, and other activities that help your clients reach a peaceful state of mind.
Senior Fitness Specialist
Fitness is not the same for everyone; health, age, and physical limitations play a huge role in changing the fitness requirements for each individual. Among such are senior citizens that struggle the most to reach their fitness goals because of the lack of options for trainers. This is where senior fitness comes into play. As a senior fitness instructor, it will be your responsibility to identify age-related changes in the bodies of your clients and adjust their fitness routines accordingly.
The specialization will teach you how to assess the fitness of each individual client and design exercise programs for each of them. You’ll also be responsible for developing short and long-term fitness goals for them, keeping in mind their health and fitness. You’ll also need to take into consideration the behavioral changes that can affect the older population and devise strategies to overcome them. This will help you keep your clients on track.
Youth Fitness Specialists
Youth fitness is extremely important to help the kids improve their cardiorespiratory fitness, strengthen their bones and muscles, and avoid obesity and other health issues from a young age. These fitness techniques keep in mind their mental health as well and prevent or reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression. As a youth fitness instructor, you’ll be required to develop age-appropriate exercises for the kids, check their daily diet, and modify these exercises based on their progress. Due to the different growth levels of kids, it’s impossible to make a single plan that’ll work for everyone. The exercises and subsequent diet need to match the growth rate of each individual.
Group Fitness Instructor
In simple terms, group fitness instructor specialization allows you to conduct group fitness classes. The common exercises included in group fitness are aerobics, yoga, stretching, muscle conditioning, and exercising. In this type of fitness, you’re responsible for developing an exercise routine that will be followed by the entire group. The important thing to keep in mind is that this routine should be developed based on the needs and fitness level of each client. You’ll also be responsible for creating programs that include different exercise formats such as cycling, kickboxing, sports training, and gym classes.
You’re supposed to lead these group exercises as well as monitor the progress of each member of the group. You’ll need to make changes to the routines to ensure everyone is on the same page fitness-wise.
Nutrition Coach
A fitness nutrition coach is different from a fitness instructor because they help people overcome their health issues through diet and nutrition. They are responsible for developing healthy diet plans for people, keeping their health and fitness level in mind.
As a fitness instructor, a nutrition coach certification will allow you to monitor the physical as well as the dietary requirements of your clients. Instead of targeting exercises, you’ll be using nutrition as well as exercises to help your clients live a healthier lifestyle. Not just that, you can expand your expertise to different age groups and deliver age-appropriate health plans to your clients.
Fitness Management Specialization
If you have all the necessary certifications and want to start your own fitness business, you’ll need to learn how to manage it. Fitness management training allows trainers to tackle key issues related to business. These issues include membership purchase and client retention, offering trial memberships, developing programs to capture a wider range of clients, recruiting staff and purchasing equipment, and managing risk and legal liabilities.
All of these things are hard to come by without any proper knowledge of running a fitness business. This is why a fitness management course will help you understand the legal and management related aspects of your fitness business
How To Pick Your Specializations?
To pick a fitness specialization for yourself, you need to consider a few things. The first would be the age group of clients you want to train, the kind of training you want to offer, and the trends in the fitness industry regarding specializations. Once you’ve decided which one you want to go for, it’s time to pick an institute. W.I.T.S. Education has an excellent range of fitness specializations to choose from. The following are the few things you should keep in mind before settling on a specialization.
Your Preferred Age Group?
Age groups play a huge role in fitness specialization. If you are an aerobics instructor, your clients are likely younger. The same thing goes for youth fitness. These days, one of the most overlooked groups, the senior citizens, is taking a keen interest in fitness. That’s why the prospects of senior fitness specializations look great. There’s a shortage of credible trainers, and the market is huge.
On the other hand, youth fitness is an emerging field as well. Because of the pandemic and the new schooling rules, children don’t get to do as many physical activities as they used to. AS a result, parents have turned to trainers to ensure that their children are getting the proper physical training to keep up with their growth rate.
Your Educational Background
If you have a background in the medical field, such as a nutritionist or occupational therapist, medical fitness is perfect for you. This certification has a few prerequisites that are needed before you can begin the course. With your background and qualifications, you can easily take the medical fitness course and expand your expertise. Not just that, but the earning potential in this field is high too because people are willing to pay good money to find great trainers.
Your Preferred Interests
If age and educational background aren’t your main points of focus, then maybe you should select specializations based on your interests. Ask yourself what do you like about the fitness industry and specialize in that. For example, you might like leading groups exercise sessions, and you have the potential to become a good group fitness instructor. Or you might want to manage gyms and fitness training centers; then you should opt for the fitness management specialization.
The Trend In The Fitness Industry
Currently, the fitness industry is merging with the wellness industry. Workouts are no longer about reaching your ideal weight or building muscles rather, a vast majority of people want to get into fitness to improve their health and mind. As a result, there are many specializations you can take that combine the wellness industry with the fitness industry. These courses will help you develop exercise and wellness programs for your clients.
If you’re looking to get a quality education to further your fitness career, take a look at the certification offered by W.I.T.S. Education. W.I.T.S is a fitness training institute that offers general fitness training courses as well as unique specializations that set you apart in the dense market. Some of their special courses include the medical fitness trainer course, senior fitness instructor course, and youth fitness instructor course.
These courses allow you to expand your services as a fitness instructor and make a name for yourself in the industry. Not just that, but these courses also increase your chances for employment. W.I.T.S Education has a unique learning method that involves online lectures as well as hands-on in-person training labs that are not offered by any other institute. Their training centers are located all over North America. Check out their courses or reach out to them today to learn more.
To stay relevant in the fitness industry, one has to keep up with the client’s requirements and the changes in the industry. Personal trainers are at a higher risk of losing clients if they don’t attain the latest qualifications. That’s mainly because a lot of clients like to try the latest fitness trends. When Pilates workout routines went viral on social media, many people jumped on the trend and hired professionals to help them get started.
The same goes for every trend in the fitness industry. Clients want dynamic trainers that can handle all of their needs. While learning complex forms of workouts like Pilates isn’t easy for busy trainers, they can expand their expertise beyond regular fitness training by taking courses and specializations that give them more credibility.
Here are some of the courses you can take as a personal trainer to grow your business and gain more clients.
Who Is a Personal Trainer?
In simple terms, personal trainers are instructors that help people accomplish their health and fitness goals. Trainers are responsible for designing exercises and fitness programs such as workout routines, understand nutritional choices and helping clients set long-term fitness goals. These goals are there to help clients become better versions of themselves physically. These goals can be related to weight loss, muscle gain, toning, strength training, and health management.
The reason people prefer personal trainers is because trainers can pay attention to the individual needs of a client and develop fitness plans based on their strengths and weaknesses. All of this makes it easier for clients to achieve their fitness goals which would not have been possible without trainers. Moreover, trainers plan routines based on their client’s needs.
Some clients are fitness enthusiasts who need extra training, while some need basic exercises to help them get started. Commonly, personal trainers can incorporate different exercises in their planned routines. On the other hand, some trainers are specialists, such as bodybuilding specialists or sports nutritionists, who only work within their field.
The Benefits Of Getting Specializations
Getting specializations in new fields of personal training opens many doors of opportunities for personal trainers. You’ll be able to offer various services to your clients, turning first-time clients into loyal customers.
For example, if you specialize in nutrition, you can assist clients with specific dietary requirements. This makes it easier for you to cater to clients with different medical and nutritional needs. Apart from that, you’ll also get a better salary, because people generally pay more for specialized services.
Knowing multiple forms of workouts enables you to create routines for your clients, mixing different forms of exercises. This is especially helpful for senior clients and those with special medical needs. Similarly, you may be approached by athletes to either train them to help them maintain their strength through nutrition or performance enhancement workout routines.
Some Popular Courses and Specializations
The fitness industry is quite broad and diverse, meaning there’s a specialization course for everything. Depending on your background, you can go for medical fitness and nutrition, or if you’re into weight loss, you can specialize in training and toning programs designed to help clients lose weight healthily. Or you can help bodybuilders and enthusiasts with weight training and core strengthening exercises.
In a nutshell, there are countless specializations and specializations within them to help you move forward in your career. Here’s a list of some of the most common and general courses you can enroll in.
Group Fitness Instructor Course
For some clients, the idea of working with a group of people with similar goals seem to be more appealing. It helps them interact with others and feel less insecure about their current fitness state. As a result, these clients hire group exercise trainers. This is because they monitor individual progress and performance and plan exercises that fit each member’s needs. Group exercises can include regular fitness workouts to yoga, and Pilates.
You may ask why you need certification to train a group when you already know the exercise? Managing a personal trainer group is different from simply getting a few people to exercise together. Trainers need to learn how to monitor individual members’ health, progress and figure out how to incorporate new exercises that help everyone.
Weight Loss Specialization Course
Social media and influencer culture motivate people to lead a healthier lifestyle. This includes losing weight and slimming down, but most people don’t know how to lose weight healthily and resort to poor dietary and eating habits that harm their health and do nothing to help them lose weight. Connecting with Registered Dieticians with a degree speciality can help these clients lose weight while staying healthy.
These trainers are educated on different aspects of weight loss, such as the client’s health, diet, B.M.I. ratio, and ideal body weight. These aspects help them design nutritional plans while considering the medications and such for their clients. The result is that helps them lose fat and build their muscles.
Health and Nutrition Course
Health and nutrition courses use a holistic approach to help different clients attain a better lifestyle. The course teaches trainers how to improve and change their client’s nutritional habits and compel them to make better and healthier choices. These training lessons are also great for trainers dealing with clients with chronic health issues or allergies. These trainers ensure that their clients incorporate healthy eating and workout habits into their lifestyles. Sometimes, they work in the capacity of wellness coaches to help their clients achieve a healthier body and mind.
Corrective Exercise Specialization Course
Injuries that result in bad body and muscle movements require trainers that can help correct these defects. These trainers need a deep understanding of anatomy to apply the right techniques to fix their client’s movements and imbalances. As a trainer, you’ll need to assess the health and extent of movement of your client and develop exercises and stretching techniques that help them relieve pain and improve their condition.
These exercises improve the client’s mobility and posture.
Bodybuilding Specialization Course
Bodybuilding is one of the most popular fields in the fitness industry after weight loss. In the past, bodybuilding was mainly preferred by males, but women have taken a keen interest in the mainstream bodybuilding industry. A lot of trainers get female clients, but the problem is that they need different training and diet to build muscles.
As a result, many institutes have developed courses that help trainers give the best training to male and female bodybuilders, keeping in mind their physical requirements. Bodybuilding specialists are in high demand because there are a lot of risks involved in achieving the desired muscle mass.
Youth Fitness Specialization
If you like working out with kids or are interested in improving children’s health, then this specialization might be for you. Children are at a higher risk of developing health and fitness issues that stop them from living their lives to the fullest. The number one emerging issue with today’s youth is obesity. Early-stage obesity in children can cause many lifelong adverse effects on their health.
However, the main issue with kids is that they need a dynamic approach. The one size fits all formula doesn’t apply to them. Their growth and health are different from each other, and that’s why youth fitness instructors are trained to understand these things and improve children’s health.
Senior Fitness Specialization
Just like kids, seniors also need customized fitness and health care depending on their unique needs. Senior fitness is an emerging market dedicated to keeping the aging population healthier and more active. Many senior people have started to join gyms to remain healthy.
However, the problem is that most gyms are not equipped with the proper tools to help them. Senior fitness trainers can help the older population remain fit by assigning them modified exercises that benefit their health. They need to make sure that the exercise doesn’t cause heart or blood pressure issues in seniors or any further health problems.
Strength Conditioning Specialization
This area of specialization is mostly preferred by athletes and serious sports and fitness enthusiasts, the kind of people that want to improve their strength and performance. While the market for this specialization is still developing, the trainers get a handsome payout for their services. A lot of pro sports companies hire these trainers to train their athletes and help them deliver peak performance through constant exercising and training.
That’s not all! Many personal trainers serve as strength conditioning coaches for people as well. These are the people who want to increase their mass muscle ratio without considering bodybuilding and weight training. So endurance and strength conditioning is their next best option.
Fitness Management Course
A fitness management course like the one offered by W.I.T.S. Education is a great way for a trainer to expand their business and manage their employees. This course is for those who don’t want to do all the training by themselves, but rather by hiring fitness specialists.
Other than that, lots of gyms and fitness institutes have many branches that need management. Fitness managers can work at those places as well. They work behind the scenes to ensure that all the operations run smoothly and their clients are satisfied with the services. These managers also deal with any mishaps and issues between the clients and trainers. Fitness managers are also responsible for hiring new trainers and handling client registrations.
Sports and Exercise Nutritionist Course
Sports nutrition is a field that has gained a lot of traction in the past few years. Sports nutritionists are in great demand, especially by agencies managing pro sports athletes. Each athlete needs a specialized diet to fulfill their calorie requirements. But the issue is that each type of sport has different dietary requirements, and nutritionists must understand them and then devise diet plans.
As a sports nutritionist, you’ll get a chance to work with and train many top and upcoming athletes to ensure that they stay in their best shape and form for their tournaments. Since this is a relatively new field, the pay for being a nutritionist is quite high.
Work Opportunities For a Personal Trainer After Specialization
Personal trainers with multiple specializations can work in different settings to train their clients. The more specializations a trainer has, the more diverse their line of work becomes. Normally, beginner trainers start out as apprentices to already established trainers. They work in their institutes and gyms to train their clients and gain further experience.
Once they have a bit of experience, they can start taking up bigger responsibilities or can start working on their own. These days, personal trainers are taking advantage of the internet and offering online and in-person lessons to their clients all over the world.
Sometimes, personal trainers can work as specialists and coaches depending on their specializations. For example, there’s a dire need for medical fitness to keep athletes in top shape, and senior fitness experts are also high in demand to help keep them active.
Recently, youth fitness has become an emerging field for trainers as well. Due to the popularity of social media and the influencer culture, lots of people are hiring personal trainers to help them attain toned bodies like their favorite influencers. All of these things give trainers many opportunities to make their mark in the fitness world and generate a steady source of income.
Are you struggling to find reliable courses to further your career in the fitness industry? Check out W.I.T.S. Education.
We are a fitness training institute that offers a number of courses related to health, fitness, and management. Our courses include Certified Personal Trainer Course, Youth Fitness Course, Group Exercise Instructor Course, and Fitness Management course. Each course is specifically designed to give you the necessary skills as well as to keep you updated with the latest developments in the fitness world.
The best thing about our courses is that they are hybrid in nature. You can take virtual ‘LIVE’ lessons as well as in-personal training labs. For college students, our N.C.C.A. accreditation system allows them to transfer credits from the course to their degree program.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us.
