I want to become a personal trainer

Jibbyreal

I'm 16years of age in 5th year and I turn 17 next year March 19th.
I have a really devout passion for fitness and health and I want to be a 1on1, 1on2 personal trainer. Basically, my question is, where do I start and what can I do right now? What course should I take, can I even start a course now at this age? What can I do in preparation for my course and exams because I am basically clueless as to what to do. I have a decent amount of fitness experience and I partake in activities daily.

GiftofGab

IMO also have a back up plan for other areas of work. The majority of personal trainers don't make a lot of money. Its a tough market with a lot of people doing it with very little clients.

Transform

GiftofGab wrote: »

IMO also have a back up plan for other areas of work. The majority of personal trainers don't make a lot of money. Its a tough market with a lot of people doing it with very little clients.

this so much ^^^^

There are a ton of existing threads already on this so you might not get many answers here, search within this section or maybe someone will post a link

Overall, you're looking to work in a market thats extremely saturated with only the ones at the very top making a decent wage so "I have a decent amount of fitness experience and I partake in activities daily", is a bit like saying you can drive your car yet you want to be a F1 driver

Ive seen more people leave the industry and get a non-fitness related job in the last year than any of the previous years i can remember. The banks, landlords etc dont accept sponsorship for free gymshark and myprotein products when you need to get a loan or pay your rent.

COH

Jibbyreal wrote: »

I'm 16years of age in 5th year and I turn 17 next year March 19th.
I have a really devout passion for fitness and health and I want to be a 1on1, 1on2 personal trainer. Basically, my question is, where do I start

I genuinely don't mean for this ti sound smart... but but start by finishing your second level education. A good leaving cert will open more doors than a PT cert. That being said...

and what can I do right now?

Talk to local gyms/clubs about internships/work experience. We take on tonnes of transition year students each year, they get a sense of the commercial side of the industry without having to run classes or do much in the way of fitness.

What course should I take, can I even start a course now at this age?

You'll probably need to contact the course operators on this. My guess is that you *might* need to be 18 for their own insurance reasons but it could be lower, I haven't a clue.

What can I do in preparation for my course and exams because I am basically clueless as to what to do.

Worry about that once you identify a course you can/will do. They will offer you all the guidance needed to complete it successfully.

I have a decent amount of fitness experience and I partake in activities daily.

Exercise experience and coaching experience are two vastly different things. If you love to train and can afford it then I would say that working with a good coach yourself will help you in the long run because A) if you learn the basics really well you'll put yourself in a great position to push your own training by going through the process of being coached you'll start to get a feel for what that service is/looks like.

Anyway - at 16 I wouldn't worry too much about PTing as a career. Finish school, get a degree in a related field if you are still interested in that sector in a year or two (I can tell you now that that is far from guaranteed!), train hard, try new things, keep the exercise related stuff as hobby, get a full time job that allows you to coach people in your spare time, move out of home, phase out the full time job for full time coaching, then spend the rest of your life basking in the wonders of self employment

Dixie Chick

I don't know if you follow Brian Keane Fitness on any social media but he has posted advice about how/when to go about these things

manonboard

Many Personal trainers I've met quit after a while. There are many good reasons for that. May I suggest something to you that seems to be help many of them. Become qualified in sports massage therapy too. It will allow you to accomplish many of the goals you stated above, allows you to not be fully dependent on one income stream, and is a great synergy that works together with PT and client referral. It offers a lot of self employed and paye work too.

JayRoc

At your stage in life, things like buying a house or how you'll survive if you're sick/injured and can't work are probably not huge factors in your decision-making process.

But making a living from being a trainer/coach realistically means you are going to be self-employed (you probably have more fingers and toes than there are professional strength and conditioning coaches in Ireland who are someone else's full-time employee). It also means the odds are you will not make a good living. There are very few people who coach full time and make a decent living at it in this country...there's a reason most PTs have other jobs or don't last more than a few years. Even if you are one of the few who earns a good wage, the kind of work you do will make getting credit very tough.

There are lots of great things about being a coach, and I personally wouldn't change what I do for the world. But if my future son or daughter said they wanted to be a coach/trainer for a living (or worse, become a gym owner!) I would try and talk them out of it to be perfectly honest.

If you would like to one day walk into a bank manager's office and not have them wet themselves laughing at the idea of giving you a mortgage, there are probably better industries to work in .

Transform

Dixie Chick wrote: »

I don't know if you follow Brian Keane Fitness on any social media but he has posted advice about how/when to go about these things

might be better to take advice from a trainer that actually works directly with clients face to face IMO

Transform

manonboard wrote: »

Many Personal trainers I've met quit after a while. There are many good reasons for that. May I suggest something to you that seems to be help many of them. Become qualified in sports massage therapy too. It will allow you to accomplish many of the goals you stated above, allows you to not be fully dependent on one income stream, and is a great synergy that works together with PT and client referral. It offers a lot of self employed and paye work too.

or maybe they were just very good, had zero business skills and got into it for the wrong reasons

Transform

JayRoc wrote: »

At your stage in life, things like buying a house or how you'll survive if you're sick/injured and can't work are probably not huge factors in your decision-making process.

But making a living from being a trainer/coach realistically means you are going to be self-employed (you probably have more fingers and toes than there are professional strength and conditioning coaches in Ireland who are someone else's full-time employee). It also means the odds are you will not make a good living. There are very few people who coach full time and make a decent living at it in this country...there's a reason most PTs have other jobs or don't last more than a few years. Even if you are one of the few who earns a good wage, the kind of work you do will make getting credit very tough.

There are lots of great things about being a coach, and I personally wouldn't change what I do for the world. But if my future son or daughter said they wanted to be a coach/trainer for a living (or worse, become a gym owner!) I would try and talk them out of it to be perfectly honest.

If you would like to one day walk into a bank manager's office and not have them wet themselves laughing at the idea of giving you a mortgage, there are probably better industries to work in .

^^^^^^^^^ nail on head, but hey theres still the hope of becoming a youtuber, lol

unfortunately the banks dont take myprotein codes, followers and free gym clothing as indication of your ability to repay a loan, oh and im sitting here taking a break from doing a vat return

Berserker

I'm a fully qualified PT myself, completed the course out of personal interest a little over three years ago, with no desire to have a full time career in the sector. I only know of one person who works full time as a PT out of my group. It's an extremely difficult and demanding sector to make a living in. The lady in questions runs classes early in the morning at 7am, mother and baby classes in the afternoon and sessions (one-to-one and/or groups) in the evening. That's a very long day and it is going to be very hard on your body over time. In agreement with others, I would advise you to finish your leaving cert and build a backup career before you look at PT.

manonboard wrote: »

Many Personal trainers I've met quit after a while. There are many good reasons for that. May I suggest something to you that seems to be help many of them. Become qualified in sports massage therapy too. It will allow you to accomplish many of the goals you stated above, allows you to not be fully dependent on one income stream, and is a great synergy that works together with PT and client referral. It offers a lot of self employed and paye work too.

I am thinking about doing a sport therapist course/degree and working in the area part time after that. Find the whole area really interesting. Any idea what the salary expectations and the employment opportunities are like in the sector? I've spoken to some course providers about this but I'd really like to get some feedback from people working in the area. The providers kept going on about the number of candidates who find employment and the numbers who go on to further education, physiotherapy in particular.