Personal Trainer

• Certificate IV in Fitness
• Diploma of Fitness

Personal trainers develop and supervise training and fitness programs for clients on a one on one basis or in small groups. It's their role to provide others with enough guidance and motivation to establish exercise habits that will last. As the name suggests, personal trainers offer their clients a personalised service, usually at an agreed hourly rate ($15-$50) and their aim is to encourage people to incorporate exercise and healthy eating into their lifestyle. People often have unrealistic expectations when starting a new exercise program. But personal trainers will quickly assure you that no one becomes Arnold Schwarzenegger overnight. What they can promise, is if you're prepared to give 100%, you can expect positive results.

Not quite the career you are looking for? Please try the related course profiles below:

Influencing and Personal Contact

Designers for Theatre, Performance and Events,  Receptionist (Tourism),  Accountant,  Police Officer,  Event Coordinator,  Restaurant and Catering Manager,  Hotel Manager,  Counsellor and Community Worker,  Aboriginal and Torres Islander Health Worker,  Trichologist,  Travel Consultant (Domestic and International),  Child Care Worker,  Film, Stage, TV and Radio Director,  Bank Officer,  Musician,  Butcher,  Nursing (enrolled),  Sports Coach,  Legislators and Government Appointed Officials,  Personal Trainer,  Private Investigator,  Landcare Officer,  Human Resources Manager,  Veterinary Nurse,  Ecotourism Guide,  Park Ranger,  Author/ Book Editor,  Tourist Information Officer,  Beauty Therapist,  Florist,  Actor,  Project and Program Administrator,  Cellar Door Salesperson,  Reflexologist,  School Services Officer,  Youth Worker or Disability Worker,  Conveyancer,  Copywriter,  University - VET Lecturers and Tutors,  Patient Care Assistant,  Aromatherapist,  Fitness Instructor,  Hairdresser,  Occupational Health & Safety Professional,  ICT Network Administrator,  Market Research Analyst,  Sales Consultant (IT),  Credit and Loans Officer,  Marketing and Advertising Specialists,  Retail Sales Supervisors and Assistants,  Management Consultant,  Real Estate Agents & Property Managers

Currently 19% of those employed in the Recreation Industry have Advanced Diploma's or Diploma's, 17% have certificate III or IV, 15% have Bachelor degrees and 9% have Certificate I or II. While 32% of the industry have no post-school qualification to maximise your opportunities in gaining employment further education is recommended. Courses listed on the TAFE SA website under Sport & Recreation will provide you with the necessary education and training information for this and related careers.

TAFE SA offer the following courses to help you find employment in this occupation; Certificate III, IV and Diploma in Fitness and the Double Diploma of Sport and Recreation and Events or Facility Management. Still Unsure! Then enrol in a short course also offered through TAFE SA such as the Fitness Instructor course. For further information about these and related courses go to the TAFE SA website at http://www.tafe.sa.edu.au.

According to several personal trainers, this is a definite growth area. More and more people are becoming immersed in their careers and just don't feel like getting out and exercising, so they come to people like us who can provide them with the motivation they need. And for many of these people it's important to them to have the one on one attention.

One Fitness professional says, ''There is an increased public awareness of the benefits of exercise, and older people are making the most of the specialised programs available. Many of these programs involve aerobic exercise for most age groups. This means that the exercise to music instructor must be multi-skilled and able to offer a range of class styles. This will give you more opportunities to find varied and interesting work. It's been recognised that it's just not physically possible, or recommended that aerobics instructors teach full time, due to burn out and the injuries they can incur, so this creates employment opportunities for others.'' Generally speaking, personal trainers don't work as aerobics instructors, however, exercise to music instructors, with further training, may also work as personal trainers.

People typically work on a casual or part time basis. For some, their duties may be combined with a full time role in gym instruction or centre management or the coordination of aerobics classes.

Health and Community Services

I was working in Hospitality initially, at Paradise Hotel. I was there for just under two years and really wanted to get back into a sporting environment that I had grown up with. I caught up with a friend at basketball and he was telling about the course he was doing, which was Certificate IV in Fitness at TAFE. I looked into it a bit more, applied, got accepted and never looked back.

I worked part-time at the hotel to put me through the course. Then 8 or 9 months into the course I did my second work experience here at “Intensity Fitness” for a week. I was just lucky at the time that the manager was sick. The following week they needed someone to fill in and… I’ve just been here ever since.

I am the gym coordinator part-time. I help manage the ten personal trainers that we have here, do ‘quality control’ and skill development so that one person is not doing something different from another. We do regular meetings and ‘catch ups’ and class developments.

I also write programmes for people so that members are given a safe, balanced and effective workout. We don’t like to leave people uneducated.

I am a personal trainer myself so I have a number of clients that I have fun torturing and then I’m also studying full-time doing my Human Movement degree. I find the uni. study is a little bit more science-based but from a practical sense there is no comparison… TAFE’s a lot better if you want to get into this sort of industry… Certificate 4 is exactly what you need.

I’m using the Human Movement degree to, ideally, get into Physiotherapy. It is what I’ve always wanted to do but I was too slack at school to get straight in to it. I didn’t have my head screwed on straight at an early age to study hard. I “lived the life” for a while … worked in Hospitality… learned the real world pretty quick and then decided that I wanted to go back to study again.

I still didn’t have the marks to get straight in to physio. when I did my adult entry test (STAT), but I had Human Movement as another option so I’ll complete that and then look at the post-graduate option for physio.

I’m working about 20 -25 hours here a week as a ‘permanent casual’ and then as much personal training on top of that that I want to do.

I’ve been studying full-time this year which was hectic… 25 contact hours a week at Uni…. at least another 20 odd hours of study… and then the work here, so it was plenty of early mornings and late nights… 12-14 hour days without any trouble at all. But with family commitments now… I’ve just bought a house with my partner and she has a baby due … I’ll be dropping back the study commitments next year so I can work more here. So the Physio is a long-term project.

I did all the core subjects at TAFE …anatomy, exercise prescription and the like and various electives as well. To get the qualification you had to go out into industry and for each elective do ten hours of observations and ten hours of practice on the job. When the qualified instructors say you are ready they’ll sign you off and then you take that back to TAFE and do a test or are observed and then you are qualified in that area.

You had to do two electives to get your qualification…I have resistance or weight training, fitness evaluation and Circuit Instructor certificates. I’ve also done ‘Rehab.’ which is a really good extra niche... I’m the Rehab. Therapist here, so if someone comes in with a busted cruciate ligament…has done their shoulder in or has a bad back I can work in conjunction with the doctor or physio to help strengthen that person back up. There is a big step between finishing with a physio and getting back into the gym and training again. There is a greater level of understanding required by the instructor.

Every year we have to do our CPR updates and every three years you have to do your complete Senior First Aid to maintain your accreditation. You have to get your own professional indemnity insurance which is about $100 a year and the gym has public liability cover.

Fitness training is a great lifestyle for anyone who enjoys getting out there and keeping fit. It’s a perfect environment to be working in something that you really enjoy doing. It is a lot less stressful than sitting behind a desk and pushing a pencil all day … you get to move around, it’s easy going and relaxed …it’s a pretty good 'cruisey' job I’d say.

In some ways it’s similar to the hospitality trade… especially the hours…they can be a little bit funny starting from six in the morning and finishing as late as nine at night. That can get a bit painful sometimes but if you are well managed you can, within reason, set your own hours and say ‘I’m going to be a morning person or an evening person’.

The pay can vary depending on your role. You are looking at around $16 an hour for gym instruction and reception and all that sort of stuff. The ‘personal training’ hasn’t got an award rate so it is really up to the individual or up to the management to set the rate. Here our personal training is run through Intensity. We split the fees and so a personal trainer might earn around $30 per hour.

It is pretty non-discriminatory as far as the age of fitness instructors go and we have people working here as young as 18 and 55-60 year olds are fine as well …as long as you are fit and healthy and you ‘walk the walk’ as well as ‘talk the talk’.

If you're a complete novice to exercise, then knowing where to start or trying to work out which piece of equipment will help to sculpt your body is daunting. Even if you are a gym enthusiast, you may need some extra motivation, or feel that you're not getting the desired results soon enough. Personal trainers can help both the novice and the more experienced to achieve their fitness goals.

A personal trainer at a Recreation Centre, says the first thing he does when a client comes to see him is determine the client's fitness goals and assess the client's fitness levels.

Some customers may want to achieve a greater level of fitness, others may want to achieve weight loss, while others may actually want to add body weight. Personal trainers are able to tailor a fitness program to suit their client's needs. A local personal trainer, says a personalised training session usually lasts 55 minutes and involves intensive weight training, and cardiovascular and floor exercises. But this can be altered to meet a client's specific needs. But it's not just personal trainers who can do wonders for your fitness level. You could always opt for aerobics.

Most personal trainers and exercise to music instructors work in gyms and recreation and fitness centres, although some personal trainers are self-employed.

Personal trainers and exercise to music instructors need to have a good level of physical fitness. They also must have an enthusiastic, outgoing personality. A background in fitness activities may be an advantage as well as having good communication skills.

Aerobics instructors provide exercise routines to invigorating music, designed for beginners through to advanced students. Over the years, classes have included HiLo (a combination of high and low intensity exercise routines), Step (exercise routine involving the use of a step) and the latest, Body Combat (a pre-choreographed exercise class, which involves non-contact boxing and martial art movements). A long-time aerobics fan, Tracey has been instructing for four years. ''I run classes to help increase people's fitness, but a big part of the job is getting people to enjoy getting fit. Both personal trainers and exercise to music instructors need to keep up-to-date on the latest in fitness trends. For exercise to music instructors, this includes choreographing interesting exercise routines. Excellent coordination, a good memory for routines, and being a 'people person' are a must for them".

For further information, contact:

Centre for Recreation, Sport and Tourism
TAFE SA Regency Campus
Days Road
Regency Park SA 5010

Phone: +61 8 8348 4335
Fax: +61 8 8348 4531
Email: SportRec@tafesa.edu.au

Personal trainers and exercise to music instructors are usually paid on an hourly or per class basis, and this rate can vary depending on where they are employed. According to some local personal trainers, the rate is between $15 and $20 per hour for people employed at a fitness centre, and may go considerably higher (about $50/hour) for self employed personal trainers. Figures suggest exercise to music instructors may earn between $12 and $50 per class, depending on their experience, qualifications and where they are employed.

For further information about all TAFE SA Courses, phone 1800 882 661 or email tafeinfo@saugov.sa.gov.au