Becoming a Fitness Instructor
Do you enjoy doing workouts? Would you want exercise to be part of your life, and you never have to work a day ever again? Be a Fitness Instructor. Money will follow if you build upon your passion, and you will more likely succeed in it. The demand for Fitness Instructors is ever growing, as more people are getting conscious of their health, and of course, their appearances.
How do you go about becoming a Fitness Instructor? If you are serious about being a Fitness Instructor, follow the guidelines below:
Determine your target market
Do you want to be a Personal Trainer, targeting at professional, people with higher earning power or athletes? Do you want to teach group classes to the general public that wants to get into or stay in shape? Or would your focus be on people that has medical condition, thus needs to shape up due to the recommendations from their doctors? Your target market will affect your choices on the type of classes you choose to teach.
Determine what you want to teach
You need to know your strengths, and weaknesses. Determine if you want to be a Personal Trainer or to teach group classes. If you are uncertain, join a fitness club, and find out if there are a few group classes in which you will be interested in teaching. Focus on the few areas, such as yoga, aerobics or kick boxing. Remember that you will only do your best, if you enjoy what you are teaching.
Attend relevant courses
Find out through fitness clubs or on-line what are the nationally recognised courses you need to attend. The key to building a career in the fitness industry is constant improvement, and upgrading. Therefore, do not stop after getting the relevant certification to kick start your career. You will need continuous learning, and exposures to new techniques, and skills in the industry.
Learn from the veteran
Try to find an experienced instructor in the area of your focus, to learn from, to gradually gain the experience, and confidence to stand before a class or handle customers. It will take time for you to build upon your ability to cue, and your customer management skills. You need to be able to relate to your students, and perform in front of a group class or individuals. Your movements have to be big if you are giving group classes, as majority of the time they may be doing just half of the intensity, or movement you have presented. You need to choose the right music for group exercises, as that will set the mood for the classes.
Shape up!
Besides being able to do repetitive or high impact movements, you need the stamina to cue all the way through your classes. You need to look healthy, but not necessary having a perfect body. Your students will notice if you are not in good shape, and you will not be able to motivate them.
Differentiate yourself
If you want to succeed in your career as a Fitness Instructor, you need to be able to manage your career, differentiate yourself, and reach out to more people. Improve on your programs, as well as your communication skills to better connect with your students. Set up your own blog to share your knowledge, and answer queries. By doing so, you will increase your popularity in the fitness industry, learn more about what your customers wants, which set pace to your personal growth, and development.
Persevere
Do not give up once you have set your mind for it! You need to put in a lot of hard work, and determination is the key to achieving success in this fitness industry.
Your returns will follow, if you focus on what you need to do to be a good Fitness Instructor.
