Your Passion, Your Career! You love working with people and helping them reach their health, weight loss, performance or general well-being goals. Despite your efforts, however, you’re feeling discouraged by limited success. Perhaps you’re considering alternative careers for personal trainers.
Find out more about alternative careers for personal trainers, alternative careers for former personal trainers, what to do after being a personal trainer, what to do after being a lifeguard, what to do after being an athletic coach, what to do after being a swim instructor on careerkeg.com.
If you’re considering a career change, personal training is one of the most popular options. This lucrative and rewarding field is expected to grow at a rapid rate over the next decade. So what’s stopping you from making the move?
With so many options available, it can be difficult to figure out which direction will be best for your future. Here are some alternative careers for personal trainers:
-Pilates instructor
-Fitness blogger
-Personal organizer (personal fitness coach)
-Accredited online trainer
What to do after being a personal trainer
Sports psychologist
You can find jobs as a sports psychologist in two main areas:
- As a therapist for athletes. This is what most people think of when they think of sports psychology, and it’s the area that most personal trainers will probably want to go into if they want to keep their fitness skills up while working toward their new career.
- As an educator or researcher who works with athletes on general mental health issues. This is more common among those who have already completed their clinical training and are looking for jobs in academia or research settings.
Health coach
As a health coach, you’ll help people make long-term changes to their diet and exercise patterns. You will be expected to motivate clients, show them new ways of exercising, and provide support through difficult times. This can be challenging at times, but it is also rewarding because your work can have a positive impact on someone else’s life.
Health coaching is a great alternative career for personal trainers who are interested in helping others but don’t want to teach or be an instructor at the gym. If you enjoy helping people change their lives for the better, then this might be a good fit for you!
Skills & Education Required:
- Good communication skills
- A high level of empathy
- An understanding of how food affects people physically
Athletic trainer
Athletic trainers are medical professionals who help athletes prevent, treat, and rehabilitate injuries. The majority of athletic trainers have a bachelor’s degree in an area like physical therapy or exercise science. Athletic trainers work with a variety of clients at all levels, from youth sports to professional teams and leagues.
Because athletic trainers work so closely with their clients, it’s important for them to be personable and friendly. They should also have excellent communication skills—they need to listen carefully when athletes describe their symptoms as well as explain how they’re feeling after an injury. In addition to their clinical knowledge base, athletic trainers should also possess good research skills; they’ll often need access to published studies in order to diagnose or treat athletes effectively (and legally).
Physical therapist
Physical therapists are the people that help you recover from injuries and get your body back in shape. They work with people of all ages, from babies to seniors, helping them recover from injuries or manage chronic illnesses. Like personal trainers, physical therapists must go through four years of schooling followed by a yearlong residency at their university or teaching hospital. Physical therapy programs require a bachelor’s degree along with science classes like biology and chemistry as prerequisites for admission.
If you’re interested in becoming a physical therapist but don’t know where to start, here are some helpful resources:
- American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) – This group offers information on becoming a PT and links to schools offering accredited programs across the country. APTA also provides resources for students looking for scholarships and information on internships so they can gain practical experience during their final year before graduation.
- Allied Health Education Central – This database connects students with state-specific requirements related to licensure as well as community colleges offering accredited programs in various health care fields including physical therapy (PT).
Strength coach
If you’re a personal trainer and want to work with athletes, consider becoming a strength coach. As a strength coach, you’ll work with athletes (mainly football players) to improve their performance in training and on the field. You’ll design programs for strength and conditioning that target each player’s individual needs and goals. In addition to working with teams, you can also provide private instruction for any athlete looking to improve their performance through weightlifting or plyometrics (high-intensity exercises).
As an independent contractor, strength coaches have the flexibility to choose where they work—from professional teams all the way down to high schools and colleges.
Corporate wellness director
As a corporate wellness director, you would assist companies in implementing programs and policies to help employees increase their health and wellness. You could help companies save money on healthcare costs, as well as increase productivity by bringing the best out of their employees.
- Programs: For example, you might create a program that offers financial incentives for employees who meet certain health goals (like lowering blood pressure or body fat percentage).
- Policies: For example, if your company has an unlimited vacation policy but no sick days, you might suggest creating some sick days so that people aren’t using up all their vacation time when they’re sick.
There are multiple career paths available to PTs besides working with clients individually
There are multiple career paths available to PTs besides working with clients individually.
You may want to branch out into the field of sports psychology, where you can help athletes and coaches improve their performance by utilizing psychological tools. You can also transition into becoming a health coach or an athletic trainer. The former helps people lose weight and get healthy while the latter works with athletes on improving their physical performance. If you have more clinical experience and training, you might be able to become a physical therapist (PT). This is one of the most popular careers for personal trainers because it allows them to use their knowledge about exercise physiology in order to help patients recover from injuries or illnesses that affect their mobility or motor skills. PTs work directly with patients but also collaborate with doctors and other healthcare professionals who specialize in treating specific conditions caused by injury or illness. Trainers can also transition into strength coaching, which involves training professional athletes as well as recreational fitness enthusiasts who want to improve their strength through weightlifting programs designed specifically for them based on their goals and current fitness level
