How To Become An Exercise Specialist: What It Is and Career Path

What is an exercise specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Clinton Brawner Ph.D.,

Grayson Lipford Ph.D.

Exercise Specialists create exercise plans for clients to help improve their health, especially those dealing with specific health conditions. They are fitness instructors who also help clients perform fitness techniques to keep fit. They mostly work in healthcare settings analyzing patient's fitness to assist them in achieving their health goals. They assess their lifestyle, physical activity patterns, and eating habits to come up with the best exercise plans.

Exercise specialists also work with amateur and professional athletes who want to boost their performance. Here, they perform cardiorespiratory and metabolic function tests to evaluate their physical fitness and capabilities. In order to succeed in their role, exercise specialists should have experience in patient care, teaching ability, listening skills, attention to detail, and communication skills.

Exercise Specialists work 40 hours a week. Their working hours largely depend on their clients' schedules. They may be required to work additional hours in the evenings past working hours, over the weekends, and on public holidays when they have many clients.

What general advice would you give to an exercise specialist?

Clinton Brawner Ph.D.

Clinical Exercise Physiology Core Laboratory Edith and Benson Ford Heart & Vascular Institute, Henry Ford Hospital

Hopefully, the individual is graduating from a program that had a clinical exercise physiology focus and culminated in a hands-on clinical internship, not just an observation. They should plan to take the Clinical Exercise Physiology certification offered by the American College of Sports Medicine certification. Clinical exercise internships should be treated as a first work experience and should be featured on the resume. Employment opportunities for clinical exercise physiologists (CEPs) vary by regions across the U.S. and between institutions, so employment opportunities will vary. Over the next 10 years, opportunities for CEPs may improve due to an increased focus on prevention and efforts to increase utilization of cardiac rehabilitation link. However, outside of cardiac rehabilitation and clinical exercise testing, the lack of reimbursement for CEP-led services is a barrier today; however, efforts are underway to address this. The new graduate may have to initially settle for a position that they feel is below their training or not their "dream job." The benefits of working in a less desired position that is in a clinical environment outweigh not working in a clinical environment. Similarly, working in a non-clinical exercise position is better than not working in the field (e.g., exercise) at all. Finally, the new graduate should develop a plan to stay up-to-date in the field by becoming a member of one or two professional organizations, registering to receive the electronic table of contents from a few professional journals, and look for continuing education opportunities, such as webinars and conferences.

ScoreExercise SpecialistUS Average

Salary

3.3

Avg. Salary $41,669

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.8

Growth rate 9%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.66%

Asian 5.22%

Black or African American 11.23%

Hispanic or Latino 16.15%

Unknown 4.76%

White 61.99%

Gender

female 56.25%

male 43.75%

Age - 36

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 36

Stress level

6.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.9

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.1

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an exercise specialist

Explore exercise specialist education requirements

Most common exercise specialist degrees

Bachelor's

78.6 %

Master's

12.6 %

Associate

5.9 %

Start to develop specific exercise specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	21.44%
Rehabilitation	10.49%
Patient Care	8.73%
Customer Service	6.52%
Physical Therapy	5.80%

Complete relevant exercise specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New exercise specialists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an exercise specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real exercise specialist resumes.

Research exercise specialist duties and responsibilities

Case manage cardiac rehabilitation participants providing educational support and counseling, smoking cessation, stress management, and exercise safety.
Conduct fitness assessments base on ACSM guidelines and educate clients on results.
Develop and plan individualized exercise programs for fitness members, personal training clients, senior citizens and post-rehab physical therapy patients.
Educate patients on therapeutic exercises prescribe by physical therapists, maintain orderliness of clinic and aid in administrative tasks and documentation.

Prepare your exercise specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your exercise specialist resume.

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