The field of personal training has a bright outlook, with a 39-percent growth estimated between 2020 and 2030 by the BLS. You’re interested in becoming a personal trainer not only for career longevity but to help people make healthy decisions that can improve their lives. How do you choose the best personal trainer school?
When looking for a personal training school, here are some characteristics to focus on:
You have countless schools to become a personal trainer to select from. The sheer availability of options can be overwhelming. This list of characteristics will help you narrow down your options to eventually select the best school for personal trainers.
Are you moving right on to higher education after high school, or have you started doing part-time or even full-time work?
Depending on how much time you have in an average day, you need your personal trainer education to easily fit into your life.
A personal trainer school online could be just the solution you’re looking for. Through video lessons, collaborative peer networking, and webcam interactions with your instructors, you can still get the full breadth of your personal trainer education but from the comfort of your own home.
You wouldn’t have to worry about commuting to and from the college campus each day, which can add significant time back to your schedule. You can also skip the campus living fees to put more money back in your pocket.
Another facet to focus on when selecting a personal training school is the breadth of skills you’ll learn along the way.
You want personal training skills that will put you in demand when you graduate and as you advance up the career ladder.
Those skills should entail all areas of body science, from kinesiology to physiology and anatomy.
You’ll need a strong business background too so you can obtain and retain clients while boosting sales.
You’ll have to learn healthy habits yourself, as modeling a healthy lifestyle is critical in inspiring others to do the same. A personal training school should teach you how to set attainable goals as well as how to stay motivated even in the face of adversity.
You must be well-versed in client screening, including fitness screenings and assessments to understand the health of your clients and how you can improve their lives.
The personal training school you select should even teach you skills you didn’t know you needed to become an efficient personal trainer. For instance, it helps to have communication skills, problem-solving skills, and writing skills.
In embodying these skills in job interviews, you will shine as a very viable candidate. If you’re more interested in opening your own gym than joining a personal training facility, you’ll have the roadmap to guide you through these skills.
Employers generally expect personal trainer job candidates to be at least NASM-certified, as this is among the most popular and sought-after personal training certifications. Other top options include ACSM or NSCA.
As you consider your options for a personal training school, the opportunity to obtain certifications should be included in part of your educational experience. For a more detailed understanding of certification options, please see this article.
Everyone learns differently. In searching for the ideal personal training school for you, the means of instruction must match the ways that you learn the best.
This will allow you to glean more information so you can be well on your way to working as a personal trainer.
Some online colleges such as Bryan University offer adaptive learning environments that benefit students. The interactive engine learning model is designed to enhance learning and improve information retention.
As you advance in your personal training education, you’ll receive performance reports along the way. In the reports is an overview of your current progress. You can review the reports as a series to see how far you’ve come.
Personalized coaching and feedback also feel tailor-made for you. If you’re struggling in a certain area of your education or need more help, the feedback will spotlight how to improve.
For those aspiring personal trainers who dream of opening their own gyms or schools as a post-grad, finances are more important to you than ever. A college education is an investment, but you’d ideally like to enroll in a personal training school that fits within your budget.
At Bryan University, our Associate Degree in Applied Exercise and Fitness or AFIT program could be just what you’re looking for.
The AFIT program includes all the material in the Personal Trainer Undergraduate Certificate or PTUC program plus sales fundamentals, motivational techniques, design of fitness programs for specialty populations, and additional exercise and personal training cert preparation.
The NASM certification costs are included in your program tuition, as are the prices for courseware, technology, and books. If you’re enrolling and you already have your NASM credential, then you’ll get course credit that can reduce your tuition.
If you’ve chosen an online personal training school such as Bryan University for your personal training education, then upon graduating from the AFIT associate degree program, you may decide to continue your time in academia.
If so, then you can pursue a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science, Fitness, and Nutrition Management.
You’ll gain the skills to take your NASM Certified Nutrition Coach or CNC and deepen your abilities in writing, communication, sales, customer service, nutrition, anatomy, and fitness.
Both the PTUC program and the AFIT programs transition into the bachelor program seamlessly. With a bachelor’s degree and your personal training, exercise, and nutrition certifications, you’d be an even more valuable candidate to hiring managers.
Speaking of degrees, is a bachelor’s required to become a personal trainer? What about an associate degree?
While the requirements to work as a personal trainer vary, aspiring personal trainers are usually required to at the very least have a GED or high school diploma, plus a certification from NASM and/or the American Council on Exercise or ACE is also typically obligatory, as mentioned.
Pursuing higher education in the form of an associate or bachelor’s degree improves your job candidacy, competitiveness in the marketplace, your credibility, and the skills that employers value. You can add your schooling and certificates to your resume, not to mention you’ll have a variety of applicable skills to include in your CV as well.
The skills that you’ve learned in a personal training school will make you a better communicator and businessperson. Your breadth of nutrition, anatomy and fitness skills will allow you to tailor solutions for your clients that keep them coming back for more. Further, you could even get referrals to drive business.
You’ve decided that enrolling in a personal training school is the best step for your future personal training and fitness career.
At Bryan University, our supportive, personalized online learning environment will help you work your way towards achieving your goals.
As a Bryan University graduate, you can audit any personal training, fitness, or nutrition course you learned to brush up on your skills. You’re also afforded career services to get you on the road to working as a personal trainer!
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