Becoming a Motorsports Racing Fitness Trainer, the Professor gives us an insider’s view

The Boss calls him the Professor, because he is the only member of the band to finish high school. Love it.

Hey Gang,

For this weeks article I wanted to let you guys know exactly what I’m getting into these days. I currently work 2 jobs and enjoy every minute of it. I love hitting the gym 5 times a week, and strive to be the best I can be at everything in life. In my free time I enjoy hanging out with my friends, going to the races, and sometimes just relaxing. An important part of your weekly routine is maintaining a healthy lifestyle and this includes some much needed relaxation. But most recently I’ve taken a jump towards my future in the world of fitness, I found Russ a couple months ago and have been learning more and more about fitness along the way. It’s amazing how far fitness and racing has come within the past couple of years, and I know Russ is all for it as much as I am! Along with writing articles for the site, just this past week I purchased study books to begin studying to go after my personal training certification, and let me tell you something, I can’t wait to get started!

This leads me to the topic we will be discussing today, the steps to becoming a personal trainer, and what it takes to be the best. It takes a lot of time, effort, and patience, but in the long run it’s worth a lifetime of leading yourself and others to a more healthy life. There are five main steps to becoming a personal trainer.

Step 1: Decide whether you have what it takes

Being that you’re going to be around the gym a lot and with people that want to follow in your footsteps to being healthy, it’s probably a good idea that you lead a healthy lifestyle as well. You have to understand that the are people all over the world wanting to be healthy and you have to be willing to put yourself out there for them and sacrificing your time for them. It takes a lot of education, patience, will power, organizational skills, and you have to be able to listen to your client and understand what they are feeling. You are now their backbone and support.

Step 2: Picking your field

There are a wide variety of fields to go into in the world of fitness, from one-on-one personal training, to leading hundreds of individuals in a group workout. You can go into a more clinical atmosphere and work one-on-one with individuals with diseases and injuries, or stick to your basic personal trainer. It’s such a wide and complex industry that sometimes getting more than one certification is a good idea, just to put your self out there for new things and new clients.

Step 3: Choosing where to go

There are many companies out there looking just for you, they want to help you get to where you want to go and who you want to work with. There are hundreds of ways to get personal training certification, and through these companies you have access to many different roads to take, and many times they will even help you find a job and let you know whose hiring and where and where the market is going down the road. It’s a good idea to check each company out they all are very good as well as special in there own differences. I chose ACE, it’s one of the widest known companies for personal trainers, and is very widely accepted. Some others include AFAA, NSCA, ACSM, and ISSA. Just take a look at each, type it in on google.com and see what you find.

Step 4: Finding the right job

After getting your certification it’s time to go job hunting, but where do you go? Well like I said many of the sites of other websites that they are linked to, to find new job postings and opening in all fifty states. You have to be willing to go after it and want it, in order to be successful. Market yourself! Let people know that you are full of knowledge and want to share it with them and helping them lead a better and healthier life. Make it easy for people to get to you and sometimes for the first couple of months you may just be helping random people out in the gym when you go for free. That’s when they start telling there friends about you they tell there friends and just like that your leading the city to a healthier life!!! Just kidding…

You can open up your own business or work at local clubs and fitness centers. Become a source for anyone and everyone. Become more knowledgeable along the way, to be personal trainer though you have to get recertified every year. This helps you learn more, as well as it keeps the less knowledgeable people at home and you on the market.

Step 5: What else can you do?

After accomplishing everything you wanted to be as a personal trainer you might look at becoming an athletic trainer, physical therapist, columnist for a magazine, and even coaching. There are so many different paths to take in fitness. Like my mom told me a few years ago, “as long as there’s people on this earth, there will be sick people and people looking to become healthier”. You have to go where the market is going in this tough economy and this my friends is it.

Well guys that does it for another week. I’m back to the grind, I hope this helps for anyone looking to follow me on the path to becoming a personal trainer. I’ll keep you up to date on the latest and be sure to add me on Facebook if you have any questions, comments, or just want to be my friend! And remember guys if you ain’t first…it’s alright we are on our way faster, stronger, and healthier than ever. Have great week!