The role of a personal trainer is often glamorised, as it seems like a job in which you get to wear comfy clothes to work, shout at people for fun, and get a free gym membership out of it, among other perks.
But just how easy is it to become a personal trainer in the UK and land this sought-after job in the fitness industry?
If you’ve asked yourself this exact question before then you’ve come to the right place!
In this guide, we’ll discuss how you can become a pt, and what it’s like whether you decide to work in a gym or for yourself. We’ll also briefly cover other jobs in the fitness industry so you can see if there’s a better role for you if being a personal trainer doesn’t suit you well.
As with many professions, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the role of a personal trainer to take on a new form.
For a while, in-person training sessions were impossible due to lockdowns, and so many personal trainers took to the internet to give classes and potentially even found larger audiences. Figures such as Joe Wick have paved the way for the online fitness instructor, so perhaps this has created greater potential for finding work in the fitness industry.
But before we discuss specifics about what it’s like to be a personal trainer these days, let’s start by asking the most important question...
How do you become a Personal Trainer?
To become a personal trainer, there are several things you need to work on.
First, there are your reasons for wanting to be a personal trainer. Then, there are the personal trainer qualifications and experience needed to fill the role, and finally, there are the expenses associated with starting out as a PT.
So let’s start at the beginning.
Why do you want to become a personal trainer?
If you can’t answer this basic question, then in all honesty it’s probably not a job you’ll enjoy doing. While it may seem like a walk in the park for those who are already in shape, there’s a lot more to it than telling someone what exercises they need to do.
For example, you’ll come up with detailed workout plans that break down exercises into sets and reps, while factoring in how much time is necessary for rest in order to sustain optimal muscle growth or weight loss. Then there’s nutrition, which can be broken down into meal plans, which is a whole other kettle of fish.
You’ll then also need to know how to manage your time (especially if you’re self-employed) and schedule out meetings and liaisons with various clients, while also knowing how to sell your services so that people want to choose you over the competition.
As you can see, you need to have solid intrinsic motivations for becoming a PT since it’s definitely not a walk in the park.
How much does it cost to become a personal trainer in the UK?
Generally, it should cost somewhere in the region of £500-1000 to land a job as a gym trainer, since you’ll need to get the pt courses.
How long does it take to become a personal trainer?
Really it all depends on how long the personal training courses take you, which should be roughly 3-6 months.
With regards to pt qualifications, aside from fitness and nutrition-related studies, you should try to get the Level 2 fitness instructor and Level 3 personal trainer certificates. Once you have those, you’ll be in a much better position to sell your classes to clients.
These also happen to be some of the more significant expenses associated with the profession, as both can cost north of £500.
How much does a personal trainer make?
On average, a personal trainer in the UK will make somewhere in the region of £15,000 and £60,000 per year.
If you know why you want to be a personal trainer, and you’re willing to work towards the necessary qualifications through academic study, then you’re halfway there to becoming a personal trainer.
Working for a Gym
You have two options as an aspiring personal trainer, which are to either work for a gym in a salaried position or to go solo and work for yourself in a freelance/self-employed capacity.
So what are the benefits of each, and how is the job market for self-employed personal trainers versus those who work for gyms?
For those who decide to work for a gym, the number one benefit is stability.
For the most part, you will have guaranteed hours, a fixed personal trainer salary, and one place of employment. This should make it easy for you to manage your time and your personal finances.
Working as a salaried personal trainer may come with less freedom when it comes to your teaching methodology, but the upside is that you can rely on consistent income, and the onus isn’t on you to go out and source your own clients.
However, there is a caveat here.
While working at a gym may well be the more stable option 90% of the time, there is the chance that you get fired, or something like the recent COVID-19 pandemic comes out of nowhere and throws everything up into the air.
Things are getting back to normal now with most gyms in the UK offering regular hours and services to members, but there were long stretches during lockdowns when many had to close, and as a result, went on to close permanently putting a lot of PTs out of the job.
As such, if you’d prefer a flexible way of working that in theory will always be viable, then perhaps you should consider working for yourself.
Working for Yourself
As a self-employed personal trainer, you would have to figure out how to file taxes for yourself, along with many other skills that aren’t necessary for fixed salary positions.
That being said, the benefits of working for yourself are numerous.
For a start, you can work how you want to work.
If you prefer to start your workday later than usual, you can.
If you want to experiment with your own teaching methodology, you can.
If you want to take some time off to travel, you can.
Of course, it isn’t always that simple, since at the end of the day you do need to earn a living and pay the bills. You might know ways to maximise your fees but what if that drives your clients away? Then, you'd have even more to worry about.
But to a certain extent, you will have freedom over how you spend your time, and with whom.
Your role as a self-employed PT will be to source your own clients, come up with training programs and meal plans, and then teach classes either in-person or online.
Perhaps the best reason to go this route is that you should (in theory) never be short of work.
There are countless people struggling to reach their fitness goals who could use your help, and we’d dare say even more now that COVID-19 has caused many people health scares and limited movement.
Plus, you can tap into the online market which means you can train people from London to Tokyo. All you need to do is learn how to market your services, choose a platform to teach through, and start giving classes.
The most important skill for this is to know how to market yourself so that you stand out from the competition.
Why should the average person want to take classes with you instead of the next personal trainer?
As such, if you can take the time to brush up on your marketing and self-branding skills then you could build up a name for yourself online and draw in a wide audience.
There’s also greater potential to earn a lot of money when you work for yourself since in theory there is no ceiling to what you can earn. After all, it’s you who ultimately decides how much to charge clients, though of course, you can only charge more with experience.
Other Fitness Industry Jobs
If you still feel like the job market is a little overcrowded right now for PTs, there are plenty of other fitness jobs out there that could suit you just as well. The health and fitness industry is constantly expanding, so now’s a good time as any to throw your ring in the hat and become a gym trainer or find a sports education job.
For example, you could decide to go down the sports-based path and become a sports coach. As a sports coach, it would be your responsibility to get the best out of aspiring athletes, through both physical and psychological training.
If you have a passion for a particular sport then this can be a great option to consider.
Then there’s the role of the PE teacher, which can be gratifying if you enjoy working with children and being involved in their physical education.
Aside from the more obvious roles, you could also consider working at a leisure centre or health club.
To quickly find a personal trainer to work with and lend a helping hand, type in ‘personal trainer near me UK’ into your search engine with ‘Superprof’. Working alongside someone in a health and fitness job can help you find your way into the industry, whether you want to become a pt or something else entirely.
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