Becoming a personal trainer offers you the freedom to be your own boss, to control your schedule and help others achieve their personal dreams of losing weight and improved health.
By applying your expertise to help your clients become happier and healthier, you’ll see first hand results of your fitness and training expertise.
To ensure the success and growth of your business, the following are 3 boxes you should check for your future success and the success of your clients.
1. Professional Certification for Personal Trainers
If you are just starting out as a personal trainer, or are preparing to start your practice, you will want to earn a professional certification through an industry organization for your specific area of expertise.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employers and clients prefer to hire personal trainers and instructors who are certified by an accredited organization. Specialty certifications are available for CrossFit, yoga, pilates, martial arts, personal training and weight training.
The National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) offers a list of organizations that are accredited. To find a fitness instruction program that is accredited by NCCA, do the following:
- Visit: http://www.credentialingexcellence.org/nccadirectory
- Choose “Fitness and Wellness” from the industry menu
- Leave the other boxes blank
- Click “search”
The following are accredited or accepted industry organizations you should consider to earn your certification in the areas of your expertise:
- Pilates: Pilates Method Alliance https://www.pilatesmethodalliance.org/
- Yoga: https://www.yogaalliance.org/
- Personal Trainers: American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) https://certification.acsm.org/personal-trainer-comparison-chart
- Weight Training: AFPA Fitness https://www.afpafitness.com/
- CrossFit: https://certifications.crossfit.com/
2. Personal Trainer Insurance
Your clients see you as the expert on personal fitness… And they are relying on your expertise and knowledge to help them achieve their goals. However, if one of your clients injures himself or herself while being trained, you open yourself up to a potential lawsuit.
Whether you train your clients in a gym, provide training out of your home, or go to clients’ homes, you will want to have a personal trainer liability insurance policy as a critical safety net.
Here are just a few of the situations where you could find yourself in need of insurance or being blamed (falsely or otherwise) for problems in the course of your personal training:
- Client using poorly maintained equipment is injured by the equipment while in a workout session.
- Client has a high propensity to injure himself, but doesn’t disclose it, and hurts himself during a workout session with you.
- Client falsely accuses you of inappropriate or sexual misconduct.
- A facility or client requires you to hold a certain amount of insurance coverage.
It's standard practice for your gym to require you to hold a personal trainer general liability (GL) policy.
General liability insurance is considered third party insurance because it protects the you and the gym from claims by your clients (who are third parties) in the event that they are injured at the location where you are training them.
Your personal trainer insurance should include professional liability coverage as well. Personal trainer professional liability, also called errors and omissions, or malpractice insurance, is first party insurance meaning that it protects YOU from liability in the event that your client is injured because of an exercise or advice that you provide to them while guiding their training.
Should I Forgo Insurance and Self-Insure?
Self insuring means that you are holding enough financial reserves on your own balance sheet to pay for medical, health or other damages to an injured party or to defend yourself in the event of a lawsuit. Most personal trainers do not have this type of cash.
As an independent fitness professional, you don’t have time to worry about defending yourself from potential lawsuits. The cost of a lawsuit can run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. And the peace of mind that insurance brings can be had for a relatively small cost, often only pennies per day.
Your insurance policy allows you to focus on what you do best, while not having to worry about being exposed to unnecessary liability.
Coverage for your personal trainer business can be had for only pennies per day, including professional liability insurance, as described above.
3. How to Save a Life - Know CPR and First Aid
By partnering with a local gym where you can meet your clients, you can gain referrals as well as increase your visibility for other potential new clients who work out there. Great personal trainers are often hired by their local gyms to help with exercise classes.
You can be a major asset to your local gym by having training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and/or First Aid. This can literally be a lifesaver for clients and for your reputation as a personal trainer.
Just ask local Maryland spinning instructor, Kevin Owens, who saved the life of Sergey Orekov, one of his class participants, by performing CPR on him.
In the middle of the spinning class a man who was participating, and probably overdoing it... suddenly collapsed, falling off of his spinning bike.
By knowing CPR and First Aid, Kevin was able to resuscitate the man, ultimately saving his life. The gym where he worked was lucky to have him and to have insurance in the case of such an occurrence.
Knowing CPR is not only an incredibly useful skill, but even if you never have to use it, it can look great on your resume, and knowing it may even be required by your gym.
You can learn CPR by visiting Red Cross website and finding a local class: http://www.redcross.org/get-help/prepare-for-emergencies/be-red-cross-ready/hands-only-cpr
Summary
Each client success story creates personal happiness and opportunities for you in the form of referrals, and chances to grow your clientele.
The three recommendations above, can put your career as a personal trainer on the right track. Becoming a personal trainer is an excellent business opportunity for those who are truly committed to it.