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Why
Do You Want To Be A Personal Fitness Trainer?
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By Jim
Bell, PhDc
President,
IFPA (International Fitness Professionals Association)
If you answer: “I heard I can
make a lot of money as a Personal Fitness Trainer, $50, $75, $100…up to
$150 an hour.” You’re right! The IFPA has Personal Fitness Trainers (PFTs) making that much and more.
If you answer: “I have read in
various magazines and newspapers that the Personal Training industry is
one of the fasting growing career fields in the United States.” You’re
right! Numerous magazines and newspapers have listed Personal Training as
one of the fastest growing careers for the 21st century
(that’s now - by the way, we are in the 21st century, just in
case you forgot).
If you answer: “I spend
several hours a day in the gym working-out. Fitness is my passion and my
hobby; it only makes sense to me that I turn my passion into my career.”
You’re right! Every self-help, self-development and career counselor
always advises people to make their hobby their job and their passion
their career.
But there is a much deeper, much
more important, much more serious reason why you should want to be a
Personal Fitness Trainer (PFT). If you will take the time to read the
following, you will discover if you are truly qualified to become a
Personal Fitness Trainer and more importantly, if you take the time to
understand the following, you will open up an opportunity to have a much
more rewarding Personal Fitness Trainer career.
Many people have come to an
intelligent and factually correct determination that among all the
businesses available to Americans, Personal Fitness Trainer has
potentially the greatest return on investment (ROI) than virtually any
other business opportunity available today – anywhere in the world. You
may have already figured it out – for a simple investment in education
and certification fees of approximately $400 (IFPA Personal Fitness
Trainer Certification fees vary from $399.00 to $459.00), you can start a
business that can make you in excess of $100,000/year. It would cost you
many times that amount ($1,000,000) to buy a SubwayTM
franchise and many, many times that amount to
buy a McDonald’sTM
franchise.
Add to that the fact that
helping people achieve their health and fitness goals is far more fun and
rewarding than flipping burgers at McDonald’s (helping to make them
unhealthier and fatter), it would seem that becoming a Personal Fitness
Trainer would be the perfect career.
But I’m about to do something
right here, right now that you will NEVER see from another certification
organization or fitness, health and nutrition education organization (the
IFPA does both: educate and certify). I’m going to give you the down side
– I’m going to tell you the BAD NEWS.
The first item of bad news you
should know is that not all Personal Fitness Trainers make over $100/hour
or $100,000/year. Those Personal Fitness Trainers that I know personally,
that are making that kind of money, are among the most dedicated and
hardest working professionals that I know of – in any profession!
The second item of bad news is
that not one of those exceptional professionals became a Personal Fitness
Trainer because they where looking for “BIG MONEY!” Each and every one of
them dedicated their lives to becoming “the best they could be!” They
dedicated themselves “to do best job they could, for everyone they
could.” They dedicated themselves to becoming a “Fitness Professional.”
And now for even more BAD
NEWS! To earn the distinction of “Fitness Professional” is going to take
time, effort and energy. It’s going to take hard work!
I have had many careers in my
life: NCAA Gymnastics Coach, Air Force Officer and Fighter Pilot, Stock
Broker, Investment Banker, Health Club Manager, Personal Trainer and
President of the IFPA, but the one constant in my life has
always been my passion for fitness. I picked up my first book on fitness
(the Marine Corp Book on Physical Fitness) when I was 9 years old and I
have been teaching people to exercise ever since. I have always had a
thirst for knowledge, always wanting to know more, always wanting to know
everything there was to know on fitness, health and nutrition.
If you are going to qualify to
be a successful Personal Fitness Trainer, you are going to need that same
thirst. I and the IFPA have spent enormous amounts of time, effort and
energy to synthesize the IFPA Personal Fitness Trainer Manual and Study
Guide down to slightly over 400 pages of very concise, very practical,
very useful information. The study materials were painstakingly designed
to teach you everything you need to know to train healthy people safely
and effectively (obviously, as your career grows and you branch out into
specialized populations the IFPA will be there to help you with over 27
certification courses and 30 continuing education credit courses).
More BAD NEWS: many of the
students going through IFPA Certification Courses FAIL! That’s right
FAIL!
I can not tell you how
dismayed I am by the students that fail IFPA Certification tests. Every
one of the Certification Programs is designed to teach you everything you
need to be a success, but I can’t make you LEARN IT! You have to make
yourself learn it!
Everything the IFPA teaches
you, you need to know and therefore everything the IFPA tests is what the
IFPA teaches – so if YOU FAIL – shame on you for not APPLYING YOURSELF!
So, here’s the deal: In order
to qualify to become an IFPA Fitness Professional you are going to need
dedication to the fitness lifestyle, passion toward helping others and
hard work.
In order to become successful
in all aspects of your life I suggest you learn the following:
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“This is the true joy in life; the being used for a purpose!
Recognized by yourself as a mighty one! The
being – a force of nature, instead of a feverish, selfish little clod
of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote
itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to
the whole community, that as long as I live it is my privilege to do
for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for
the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake.
Life is no brief candle to me; it is sort of a splendid torch which I
have got a hold of for the moment. And I want to make it burn as
brightly as possible before passing it on to future generations”
- George
Bernard Shaw
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This has become my personal
mission statement on my life’s goals and it has become the MANTRA for the
IFPA. If you are serious about a career as fitness professional then I
suggest it also become your mantra.
Please, if you are a “selfish
little clod,” find another career, but if you have come to recognize the
“force of nature” within you and you want to use a career as a Personal
Fitness Trainer to become a “mighty one” then I welcome you to our team,
I welcome you to our cause of improving the lives of every man, woman and
child throughout the world community.
Good luck in all your endeavors!
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Related
Articles:
Letter to Future
Personal Trainers from IFPA President, Jim Bell, PhDc.
Why do Fitness
Professionals choose IFPA?
How
the IFPA Compares to Other Fitness Certifications?
Testimonials
by the World’s Finest Fitness Trainers and Fitness Professionals
Why
you need IFPA Courses?
IFPA Success Stories
Read
the first chapter of the Personal Fitness Trainer FREE
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