There are many career opportunities in personal fitness you can choose from if you like staying in shape, studying nutrition, sports medicine, exercise physiology, fitness, and conditioning, and working one-on-one with customers, athletes, and patients.
If you want to make the most money and have the most freedom and flexibility in your personal life, you may also need to learn how to run a small business so you can set your own hours and rates.
As the wellness industry grows and the fitness field grows (for example, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that jobs for fitness instructors will grow by 19% between 2021 and 2031), more people are looking for careers in exercise, fitness, and sports medicine.
In this blog, we will discuss ten incredible career opportunities in personal fitness which you can pursue if you are a fitness nut. Keep Reading!
Table of Contents
Detailing of the Career Opportunities in Personal Fitness
All fitness jobs, whether they are clinical or not, have one thing in common: they all have to do with improving or restoring physical ability or health through exercise and/or nutrition. If you’ve found that fitness is your passion and you want to work in this field, you might want to look at the best career opportunities in personal fitness and how much they pay:
1. Exercise physiologist
It is one of the leading career opportunities in personal fitness. An exercise physiologist’s main job is to look at a patient’s vital signs at rest and when they are doing something. To make the best fitness plan, they measure the heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, metabolic rate, and overall response of the heart and lungs.
Exercise physiologists use stress tests to find out how healthy a person is. They also make exercise plans for clients to improve their overall health, fitness, strength, endurance, and energy.
National average salary: $39,0316 per year
2. Health and wellness coach
A health coach looks at the health of their clients and helps them improve it. Health coaches do initial assessments of a person’s health and make suggestions that encourage them to choose and do things that are good for their health. A health coach helps clients make and follow their own personal health plans. They also meet with clients again to make sure they stay on track and reach their goals.
National average salary: $42,136 per year
3. Kinesiologist
A kinesiologist tests muscles and comes up with ways to help them work better. They might be able to find sources of stress in the body, which are also called imbalances in structural, chemical, and emotional energy, and treat them to get rid of them. Kinesiologists can work in many different places, such as offices, labs, recreation centers, hospitals, schools, and places where people live. They work for groups that come up with and carry out fitness plans for people or that study how people move.
National average salary: $46,048 per year
4. Sports medicine medical assistant
A medical assistant who works in sports medicine usually helps people who have broken bones, swollen muscles, sprains and strains, dislocations, and shin splints. They talk to the patient about their injuries, get them ready for diagnostic tests, help take care of wounds, and help the head doctor with anything else that has to do with the patient’s care.
National average salary: $41,836 per year
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5. Lifeguard
A lifeguard watches over swimmers and swimming activities at pools, lakes, beaches, ponds, and other aquatic facilities to keep everyone safe. They make sure people follow safety rules and procedures and check the water to see if it’s safe or dangerous for swimmers. Lifeguards use their knowledge of CPR and first aid to keep people from getting hurt and look for signs of trouble in the water.
National average salary: $33,192 per year
6. Dietitian
A dietitian knows what a person who puts a lot of effort into staying fit needs to eat. They can tell clients how many calories they burn and help them make meal plans based on that information. They can also suggest vitamins and supplements. Their work helps their clients improve their performance and keep their weight in check so they can live in a way that helps them reach their fitness goals.
National average salary: $52,729 per year
7. Group fitness instructor
Most of the time, a group fitness instructor works in a gym to teach groups of people how to work out. They come up with fitness plans for classes like Zumba, yoga, and strength training, and they motivate the people in the classes. Group fitness teachers could also give each class a different level of difficulty and change the programs to match.
National average salary: $53,315 per year
8. Health club manager
A health club manager can be in charge of a gym or another place to work out. They buy the equipment and make sure the business stays open. They are in charge of hiring and scheduling the right people to work at the gym. Most of the time, health club managers report directly to the owner of the facility and may be asked to give them reports on income and membership.
National average salary: $58,701 per year
9. Fitness apparel designer
A fitness apparel designer has a lot to do every day, like plan and attend meetings with cross-functional teams, keep an eye on market trends, do research, sketch new designs, and work out to learn about new technological trends for making fitness clothes. They are in charge of making prototypes that help solve different problems with the sportswear their clients want.
National average salary: $61,366 per year
10. Physical therapist assistant
A physical therapist assistant helps a physical therapist treat patients who are hurt or recovering from surgery. They help people get their muscles and limbs to work and move again. They also help patients do exercises, massage them, and make sure they follow their care plan. In a physical therapy office, physical therapy assistants may also clean, set up equipment, make appointments, and answer the phone.
National average salary: $74,302 per year
How do you get certified to be a trainer in a gym?
Gym trainers, who are also called fitness instructors, show people how to do exercises and encourage them to do them, either on their own or in groups. They are not the same as athletic trainers, who are trained health professionals who help keep athletes from getting hurt and treat those who do. Most employers want gym trainers to have at least a bachelor’s degree and certification.
Different kinds of licenses
How long it takes to get certified depends on your specialty. Just a few hours can be enough time to train for an exercise like the deadlift. A full program can take up to two years. The National Commission for Certifying Agencies has a list of all the organizations that have been approved to give certifications. Most certification tests have both a written and a hands-on part.
Courses You Do Yourself
Some groups, like the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America and the American Council on Exercise, offer personal trainer certification through self-study online or in combination with workshops and written and practical exams.
Income Comparisons
In 2020, the BLS said that the median income for fitness trainers and instructors was $40,510. But what you can make will vary a lot depending on whether you work for a fitness center or on your own, whether you train people in general fitness or specialize, and where you live.
The perspective of a Personal Fitness
The BLS says that fitness trainers with professional certifications or more education will have the best job prospects. It said that the demand for personal trainers would grow by 15% from 2019 to 2029. Then there was a pandemic.
Permanent memberships will go down at many gyms as people buy home exercise equipment or try other ways to lose weight. If you want to make the most money as a personal trainer, you’ll need to set up a business that encourages safety between people and/or goes to your client’s homes to give workouts.
Wrap Up
These are some of the best career opportunities in personal fitness. There can be more career opportunities in personal fitness. But these are the best one and you can try one of these as per your interest.