Learning Blog
5 key skills you need to be a fitness instructor
Written by Lizzie Learn
On 27th Mar 2022
E
ach job and career demand different traits for the right candidate. Not everyone is cut out for all jobs, each individual has different qualities that deem them ideal for a particular job. The same is true for the job of a fitness instructor.
There are certain traits that an ideal candidate must possess to become a successful fitness instructor. In this article, you will learn about all the qualities that are ideal for a fitness instructor and then learn about the five most important ones.
Qualities that a fitness instructor should possess?
To be a good Fitness Instructor you need to do a self-evaluation of your interests, qualities and skills.
The basic qualities that are important for a career in physical fitness are:
- Excellent communication skills
- Extrovert personality
- Friendly and approachable
- A people person
- Discretion, diplomacy and sensitivity
- Empathy
- Leadership qualities and motivational skills
- Cautious and careful of health and safety of the clients
- Knowledge of diet and nutrition as well as supplements
- Be fit and a walking advertisement of the profession
- Be aware of the target audience
- Create a friendly atmosphere
- First Aid certification
- Be qualified and experienced
- Creativity
There are many more qualities that different people may look for in a fitness instructor, but those listed above are the most important.
5 key skills that a Fitness Instructor must possess
Now that we have listed the most important qualities of a fitness instructor, we can look at the five most important skills that a person must possess to become a successful fitness instructor and teacher who can motivate their clients to greater health and fitness levels.
Passionate about fitness and health
To be a great fitness instructor, one of the most important traits that you need to possess is a passion for your job. If you are not interested in physical exercise yourself, you will never be able to motivate your clients to be physically active and fit. So, to be a physical fitness trainer, you have to be very fit and healthy yourself.
Your clients would likely follow by example and you have to set the example for them to follow. If you are not completely into exercising, fitness and health, then do not become a fitness trainer. No one is going to believe in you or your skills if you are not a living, breathing example of what can be achieved through physical training and a healthy diet.
Knowledge and Experience
You do not necessarily need diplomas, degrees or certificates to become a fitness instructor, though they do come in handy when you first start out. What matters more than these academic qualifications is your knowledge and experience as a fitness instructor. Your knowledge of fitness routines, workouts, diet and nutrition is what will help you stand out as a great fitness instructor. So continue to enhance your knowledge of the field and keep up with the changes that happen regularly in the fitness field.
When you know your job and have experience on the job, you will instinctively know how to handle a client and what they require for optimal benefit. You will be able to deal with all sorts of clients and fitness demands that may be thrown your way. This is what your reputation will be based upon.
Extrovert and engaging personality
One half of an independent fitness instructor's job is to market their service. Unless you can market yourself effectively, it will be hard for you to find clients to sustain yourself in a highly competitive field. You need to have a friendly and outgoing personality to be able to engage your clients and to sell yourself. If you are affable, your existing clients are more likely to sign up with you again and also give you recommendations.
Along with being affable comes a big responsibility of being discreet. Do not gossip about your clients with others no matter how tempting it may be. You could lose your reputation and your clients if you choose to talk about their personal affairs with others.
Cautious and careful about client's health and safety
It may be essential to push a client so that they can meet their fitness goals. Some people need to be cajoled and motivated into sticking to their routine. However, you need to know the limits of your clients and learn when to pull back and stop applying the pressure. Too much pressure could lead to injuries and health issues.
A good instructor should know when a client has reached their limit and give them a break before pushing on again. The health and safety of the client is your responsibility. It will hurt your reputation to have client injuries due to your shortcoming.
Creative and motivated
A fitness instructor has to be creative to be able to devise new exercise routines for their clients. People get bored of doing the same routines over and again. To keep up the motivation, you need to be able to provide a variety of routines and avoid boredom. New routines also help to work out different parts of the body and you need to change them from time to time.
Creativity comes in handy when you are providing a service at your client's location. You may not have all the equipment you need and may need to improvise with what is available. If you are creative and have plenty of ideas, then you will never be short of equipment to exercise with.
Keeping up the level of motivation is another tough job that all fitness trainers have to deal with. You need to be motivated to motivate your clients. Do not let there be a gap in communication with your client. Sometimes there may be a disconnection, you need to recognise the symptoms and overcome them with empathy and understanding.
Your clients are your bread and butter and you need to have a great friendly and mutually respectful relationship with them in order to retain their business. So do evaluate yourself and see if you are fit for the job before embarking on the career path of a fitness instructor.
To see what courses can help you get started in your fitness career, just head to our fitness courses page.
Learn with confidence...
RRP
$100
Get a FREE Course
Tick this box to Sign up for our newsletter, and get access to the Interview Skills and CV Writing Certificate course for free! By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Notice & Cookie Policy and to receive marketing and related emails from academy+ brands. You can unsubscribe at any time.What our students say about us...
Omg im so excited, over joyed and all the good stuff that comes to mind! Wonderful experience doing lessons with New Skills Academy. I look foward to doing more courses with them. I hope this will encourage others to come on board and refresh your minds or to learn something new, it's a win win situation. I want to thank New Skills Academy so much for making this as simple as possible for me.
Shari Anderson
Fantastic course! Well-presented and challenging with frequent assessments. I feel a serious sense of accomplishment having not studied for over 30 years! Videos that accompany each module are carefully thought out and informative. Am so impressed with this course, have now signed up for 3 other courses and recommending New Skills Academy to everyone!
Marva Hudson
I took up this course initially to help me with my own dog, but found that as I worked through the material I actually started thinking that this could be something that I could use to make a second income. From start to finish I found the course engaging and interesting. I am now doing another dog related course and am experiencing the same level of enjoyment. I would recommend New Skills Academy without hesitation.
Keith Smith
It was an eye opening course that was flexible and easy to access. I was able to complete it from the comfort of my own home whilst also having the tasks to complete which enabled me to check my knowledge. I know feel much more confident in my field of work and really enjoyed doing it.
Ellie Clarke
This is a great course for any level of knowledge. Very easy to navigate, great practical tasks and explanations are very clear. You can revise any module with no problem. The test wasn’t too hard if you completed every module. It may be handy to make some notes before you start. Overall I'm very happy with my choice. Thank you New skills for my New skills :)
Julia Bobkova
Very interesting and helpful course. I ve learned a lot of interesting things about make up and the tutorials were very helpful and easy to understand. I really reccomend this course for everyone who is passionate about make up and wish to develop their skills and make a career from their hobby.
Nicoleta Lucaci
Wow what an incredible insight for the start of anyone's journey in property. This course gives you so much information and there are tests and questions on each of the modules. The course is very easy to follow and well laid out. You can actually make notes on the pages of each module using the notes tab! I am very excited to say that I passed and I only spent one week on this course. I will print all the PDF information and keep it in a file with my certificate. I feel very confident for my future plans now I have completed this course.
Nichola Anderson
Lovely course for people who want to know the basics and of sign language. It's has helped me to get more of an understanding and will greatly benefit me in my workplace. So easy to pick up and the videos were easy to understand. Would definitely recommend to anyone.
Chloe Hambly
