PT Working Conditions

Personal Trainers may find employment in a variety of locations. Some of the environments in which personal trainers will work in include: health and fitness clubs, recreation centers and gyms, country clubs, yoga and Pilates studios, universities, resorts, the homes of clients, hospitals and in corporate organizations.

Hours & Timings

A personal trainer’s hours and working conditions must be adaptable and flexible; to include work in several different settings alongside their clientele. Depending on where a trainer is working, different skills may be required of them.

For example, if the trainer is working in a hospital environment, they may need to be able to deal with people with emotionally and physically challenging health problems/situations.

What Venues?

Most personal trainer’s hours and working conditions include work inside, in a gym, a fitness club, or home environment that is open or available to accommodate the client schedules. These public or private facilities are likely to contain different types of training equipment. The trainer will either work in one or more facilities in which clients are coming to them in order to obtain professional training, or the trainer will go to meet the clients at their homes or other places that are convenient for the client.  

Some trainers will split up their schedules during the day in order to reach a larger number of clients. They may travel to multiple locations in one day and offer their services from morning to evening, with breaks in between. Trainers will have most of their training sessions scheduled in the evenings and on the weekends, and occasionally during holiday times.

During different times of the year, a trainer may find that their schedule is busier than at other times, especially after the Christmas season. Trainers who work both in public facilities and as well as private settings are likely to be effected by busy seasons and changing schedules. A personal trainer's hours and working conditions must have a flexible in order to work with clients wherever and whenever they have time to receive their training sessions.

Looking after Your Body

The work environment and duties of the personal trainer are such that they are vulnerable to sustaining injuries when they are training clients, and during any other training related physical activity. This risk is evident across the various levels of professional personal trainers in the industry. A personal trainer is not only responsible for the safety of themselves during the training session, but also that of their clients. As the nature of the job is very physically demanding, the trainer must also seek to maintain a high level of fitness.

The work environment of the personal trainer is fairly flexible. The trainer has the freedom to create the training programs for their clients, and implement them in the way that they see fit. This aspect of the job can lead to feelings of satisfaction, and it can be very rewarding as they witness the results of their planning and training in the lives of their clients.

The development of training programs can be challenging as the trainer must continually monitor the progress of the client and change the fitness training plan as needed. The work environment may be busy or quieter depending on where the trainer is working and how many clients use the same area of training space.

Working for a training facility does offer more stability in terms of paychecks and benefits; however, the personal trainer’s salary will always be limited by the organization that they are working for. If a trainer is able to work to a high level of establishment for their own business, they will likely be able to make a higher income than those working for a company.

A personal trainer with their own business may also choose to have others employed under them, in order to offer a wider range and level of services; this will also help to substantially increase their income.

References:

https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/advice/planning/jobprofiles/Pages/personaltrainer.aspx