Careers > Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors

Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors

$45.38K Median Salary 69.1K Job Openings (Annual Projection) 39.3% Job Growth

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About This Career

Instruct or coach groups or individuals in exercise activities for the primary purpose of personal fitness. Demonstrate techniques and form, observe participants, and explain to them corrective measures necessary to improve their skills. Develop and implement individualized approaches to exercise.

Reported Job Titles

Aerobics Instructor, Fitness Instructor, Fitness Specialist, Fitness Technician, Fitness Trainer, Group Exercise Instructor, Group Fitness Instructor, Personal Trainer, Private Trainer, Yoga Instructor

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Skills You'll Need

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Abilities

Extent Flexibility

Gross Body Coordination

Oral Expression

Stamina

Speech Clarity

Trunk Strength

Dynamic Strength

Static Strength

Dynamic Flexibility

Oral Comprehension

Far Vision

Information Ordering

Originality

Problem Sensitivity

Speech Recognition

Category Flexibility

Deductive Reasoning

Fluency of Ideas

Gross Body Equilibrium

Inductive Reasoning

Manual Dexterity

Near Vision

Selective Attention

Knowledge

Customer and Personal Service

English Language

Education and Training

Psychology

Skills

Instructing

Service Orientation

Speaking

Active Listening

Learning Strategies

Monitoring

Social Perceptiveness

Active Learning

Coordination

Critical Thinking

Judgment and Decision Making

Persuasion

Technology Skills

Accounting software

Instant messaging software

Data base user interface and query software

Electronic mail software

Project management software

Calendar and scheduling software

Spreadsheet software

Medical software

Enterprise resource planning ERP software

Desktop publishing software

Office suite software

Word processing software

Internet browser software

Presentation software

Tools

Fitness weights

Balance beams or boards or bolsters or rockers for rehabilitation or therapy

Exercise balls

Resistance tubes

Microphones

Mobile medical services first aid kits

Mobile medical services automated external defibrillators AED or hard paddles

Treadmills

Stair climbers

Pedometers

Medical tape measures

Jump ropes

Stationary bicycles

Notebook computers

Lower body resistance machines

Mercury blood pressure units

Exercise trampolines

MP3 players or recorders

Rowing machines

Personal digital assistant PDAs or organizers

Skinfold calipers

Upper body resistance machines

Step aerobic equipment

Cross trainers

Pilates machines

Personal computers

Portable stereo systems

Resistance bands

Abilities

Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.

Knowledge

Customer and Personal Service: Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
English Language: Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Education and Training: Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Psychology: Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

Skills

Instructing: Teaching others how to do something.
Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Learning Strategies: Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Coordination: Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Persuasion: Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.

Technology Skills

Accounting software: Billing software; Bookkeeping software; Intuit QuickBooks; Sage 50 Accounting
Instant messaging software: GroupMe
Data base user interface and query software: Blackboard software; Database software; Microsoft Access; Yardi software
Electronic mail software: IBM Notes; Microsoft Exchange; Microsoft Outlook
Project management software: Mavenlink; Microsoft Project
Calendar and scheduling software: Appointment scheduling software
Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel
Medical software: Henry Schein Dentrix; Medical condition coding software; Medical procedure coding software; MEDITECH software
Enterprise resource planning ERP software: Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne; Oracle PeopleSoft; Oracle PeopleSoft Financials; SAP software
Desktop publishing software: Adobe Systems Adobe InDesign; Microsoft Publisher
Office suite software: Microsoft Office software
Word processing software: 3M Post-it App; Evernote; Google Docs; Microsoft Word
Internet browser software: Web browser software
Presentation software: Microsoft PowerPoint

Tools

Fitness weights: Fitness jog belts; Free weights; Water ankle weights; Weighted swim vests
Balance beams or boards or bolsters or rockers for rehabilitation or therapy: Balance boards
Exercise balls: Medicine balls; Weighted exercise balls
Resistance tubes: Exercise tubing
Microphones: Handheld microphones; Studio microphones; Wireless microphones
Mobile medical services first aid kits: Emergency first aid kits
Mobile medical services automated external defibrillators AED or hard paddles: Automated external defibrillators AED
Treadmills: Physical conditioning treadmill exercisers
Stair climbers:
Pedometers:
Medical tape measures: Medical measuring tapes
Jump ropes:
Stationary bicycles: Stationary exercise bicycles
Notebook computers: Laptop computers
Lower body resistance machines: Lower body weight machines
Mercury blood pressure units: Manual blood pressure cuffs
Exercise trampolines: Fitness trampolines
MP3 players or recorders: MP3 digital voice recorders
Rowing machines:
Personal digital assistant PDAs or organizers: Personal digital assistants PDA
Skinfold calipers: Body fat measurement calipers
Upper body resistance machines: Upper body weight machines
Step aerobic equipment: Exercise steps
Cross trainers: Elliptical trainers
Pilates machines: Pilates training equipment
Personal computers:
Portable stereo systems: Multi-speaker stereo systems
Resistance bands: Exercise bands