Saying ‘there’s never been a better time to do XYZ’ is a much-used phrase that seldom actually turns out to be true… with a few exceptions. One of which that holds its fair share of water is that there’s never been a better time to be involved with the fitness industry. For many its seen as the promised land and it’s not hard to understand why. In the UK alone, 1 in 7 adults is a member of a gym and the number of fitness facilities currently operating well exceeds 7,00. On top of that, the industry itself is worth over £5bn.
Perhaps you’re a frequent gym-goer yourself and have been thinking about a career change for a while now, the great news is that getting into fitness and turning it into a career doesn’t require years of retraining or university-levels of financial commitment. You do need to apply yourself, certainly, and put the work in, but if you have an interest in fitness and a burn. Maybe they’re looking to improve core strength, rid themselves of back pain or supplement other forms of exercise they do such as endurance sports, you’ll need to be as flexible and adaptable as the Pilates exercise themselves using desire to help others achieve their goals, read on as we’ll explore three of the most popular jobs in fitness right now.
Personal trainer
Not to start the show with a show-stopper, but in the world of fitness, there are jobs more popular or sought-after than being a personal trainer. PTs are seen as the fitness elite because of their expertise and what they’re able to achieve. It goes far beyond helping people set a new deadlift personal best or lose weight in time for summer. They are motivators, confidants, goal-setters and much, much more. Within reason, whatever the client needs, the personal trainer provides.
Every client is going to differ so the sheer variety of duties is immense. One day you could be designing an exercise programme to help someone improve their overall fitness, another leading a group boot camp, maybe offering valuable nutrition advice for a client who struggles to eat right, the list really does go on.
If this seems like the perfect fit for then the next stage is to get qualified and you can take those first tentative steps and learn more about the exciting world of personal training by browsing a range of personal trainer courses.
Yoga teacher
Yoga is one of those special forms of exercise that has true universal appeal and as a result, in the UK, it’s the single most popular form of group exercise there is. As a yoga teacher or instructor, you have free rein over what types of classes you want to teach. It could be a more holistic, spiritual approach, drawing on yoga’s rich 5,000 history or it could be more functional, keeping things solely on the mat and focusing on physical postures, or any kind of blend you wanted.
To embark on your yoga journey, you’ll need to complete your Level 3 Diploma in Teaching Yoga. There are no entry requirements so if you’ve already been practising at home or attending weekly classes, it’s the perfect starting point.
Pilates instructor
There are many similarities between Pilates and yoga but they are two distinct forms of exercise and they aren’t always used for the same purposes. On the whole, many prefer Pilates as a way of rooting out dysfunction in the body and strengthening. Pilates exercises are performed with control, awareness and precision and as an instructor, you’ll need these qualities in abundance. Participants in your classes are going to vary in terms of the help they need. Maybe they’re looking to improve core strength, rid themselves of back pain or supplement other forms of exercise they do such as endurance sports, you’ll be as flexible and adaptable as the Pilates exercise themselves.
Mat-based Pilates isn’t the only form of Pilates that’s popular either, there’s an increasing appetite for a more dynamic workout and that can be achieved with reformer Pilates. If either of those routes appeals to you, you should take a look at a range of Pilates instructor courses.
Article written by Josh Douglas-Walton, a writer for HFE, the UK’s leading provider of personal training courses and fitness qualifications.