Are you passionate about fitness and helping others achieve their health goals? Becoming a personal trainer might just be the perfect fit for you! South Africa offers a vibrant fitness industry with a growing demand for qualified professionals. In this guide, we’ll take you through the steps on how to become a personal trainer in South Africa, combining your love for fitness with a rewarding career.
Career Overview
As a personal trainer, your job is to help people reach their health and fitness goals. You motivate, encourage and inspire people to work hard for what they want in their health and fitness. You help them set goals, and stick to them. Usually, personal training is a one-on-one session with unique clients.
Required School Subjects
You will need to have taken the following subjects at high school:
- Life Sciences
Recommended subjects:
- Pure Mathematics
Institution and APS
The following institutions are highly recommended for further studies:
- Trifocus Fitness Academy – No specific APS required
- ETA College – No specific APS required
- Physical I.Q. – No specific APS required
Required Qualifications for Personal Trainer
It is not necessary to get a degree in order to become a personal trainer. However, a certification from an awesome institution is advised as well as being a healthy and fit person. You can study sports science at the universities in South Africa if you are really interested in the field. However, in order to become a personal trainer in South Africa, you’ll generally need a matric, and a certificate in the field.
Required Skills for Personal Trainer
You will need to have the following skills to succeed as a personal trainer:
- an ability to work with people
- practicality
- problem solving
- motivational skills
- self-motivation
- inter relational skills
- adaptability
- time management
- goal setting
- friendly personality
- organisational skills
- enthusiasm
- healthy and fit
- good communication skills
Where You Can Work as a Personal Trainer
As a Personal Trainer, you will be able to work in one of the following areas:
- Private or commercial gyms
- Health and fitness facilities
- Private health clubs
- Cruise lines
- Hotels
- Self-employed
Working Hours
Personal training provides you with a freedom to schedule appointments with clients as and when they are available, especially if you are self-employed. When working for an organisation, you might have your usual 9 am – 5 pm working hours, with flexibility, due to when clients and appointments are booked in.
Expected Salary
The average salary per year in South Africa as a Personal Trainer starts at around R140 000 per annum.
What to expect
Here are a few things you can expect from a career as a personal trainer:
- As a personal trainer, expect to work unique hours and potentially on weekends – it is all dependant on your clients.
- Have a good knowledge of different muscles and body parts, incase clients need to know.
- Know how to answer questions about how to stretch, warm up or work out in general.
- Gain some knowledge in what a healthy diet looks like.
- Expect to be seen as a positive role model for your clients, and someone they look up to in their training.
- Have a lot of energy and enthusiasm in each unique session.
- Prepare to work with very different people and body shapes.
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