What does a fitness trainer do?
The job of a fitness trainer is to instruct and motivate individuals and groups in physical activities, including stretching, cardiovascular exercise, and strength training. The typical duties of a fitness trainer include demonstrating how to perform various exercises, guiding them during the exercise to improve fitness and minimize injuries, and monitoring their progress. As a fitness trainer, you are also responsible for explaining and enforcing safety rules on exercise equipment usage, recreational activities, and sports, and giving clients resources and information about weight control, lifestyle issues, and nutrition.
Fitness trainer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real fitness trainer resumes:
- Provide market research and generate leads using social media (facebook) in order to target prospective clients.
- Monitor the swimming area and CPR certify.
- Certify for CPR and a and always have first aid available.
- Improve the cleanliness of the community recreations centers by implementing an hourly maintenance and cleaning schedule.
- Maintain fitness center cleanliness while assisting members.
- Assist in the cardiac rehabilitation clinic which include implementing progressive rehabilitation methods with education for long term health and wellness.
- Market myself by building TRX classes to a full capacity and gain many personal training clients from those classes.
- Utilize vary techniques including TRX, kettlebell training, plyometrics, Tabata and outdoor training.
- Set up diet plans using BMI rate and diet software.
- Incorporate a monthly fit test and BMI calculation to evaluate individual client growth.
Fitness trainer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 31% of Fitness Trainers are proficient in Customer Service, Front Desk, and CPR. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Communication skills, and Listening skills.
We break down the percentage of Fitness Trainers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 31%
Provided superior customer service and specific technical support through excellence in product knowledge.
- Front Desk, 28%
Front desk answer phone, take payments, enroll new customers, cleaning, giving tours of the facility answering guests questions
- CPR, 24%
Organized outside Member events such as CPR Classes, Bowling Parties, and Charitable Fund Raisers.
- Cleanliness, 6%
Maintained fitness center cleanliness while assisting members.
- Physical Fitness, 2%
Developed and spearheaded pregnant soldier's physical fitness programs for military organizations totaling over 2,000 soldiers
- Fitness Equipment, 1%
Recommended fitness equipment to address customer needs.
Common skills that a fitness trainer uses to do their job include "customer service," "front desk," and "cpr." You can find details on the most important fitness trainer responsibilities below.
Customer-service skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a fitness trainer to have is customer-service skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "many fitness trainers and instructors sell their services, motivating clients to hire them as personal trainers or to sign up for the classes they lead." Fitness trainers often use customer-service skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "prepared and analyzed structured nutrition programs designed to target individualized customer goals based on body type and lifestyle constraints. "
Communication skills. Many fitness trainer duties rely on communication skills. "fitness trainers and instructors must be able to clearly explain exercises that they demonstrate to clients.," so a fitness trainer will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways fitness trainer responsibilities rely on communication skills: "train members to operate the equipment monitor members workouts/ cpr certified computer & communication skills"
Listening skills. This is an important skill for fitness trainers to perform their duties. For an example of how fitness trainer responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "fitness trainers and instructors must listen carefully to what clients tell them in order to determine the clients’ fitness levels and desired fitness goals." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a fitness trainer: "performed 10-15 fitness assessments per week on clients by asking them questions, listening to them, and assessing their movement. ".
Motivational skills. fitness trainer responsibilities often require "motivational skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "to keep clients coming back for more classes or to continue personal training, fitness trainers and instructors must keep their clients motivated." This resume example shows what fitness trainers do with motivational skills on a typical day: "instructed clients on compound exercises and workouts sold membership programs motivational coaching techniques engaged in small group training"
Physical fitness. A commonly-found skill in fitness trainer job descriptions, "physical fitness" is essential to what fitness trainers do. Fitness trainer responsibilities rely on this skill because "fitness trainers and instructors must be able to lead classes and to demonstrate exercises to participants or their clients." You can also see how fitness trainer duties rely on physical fitness in this resume example: "group fitness instructor for several formats including step, pilates, fitness yoga and strength classes. "
Problem-solving skills. Another skill commonly found on fitness trainer job descriptions is "problem-solving skills." It can come up quite often in fitness trainer duties, since "fitness trainers and instructors must evaluate members’ or client’s fitness levels and create appropriate fitness plans to meet their needs." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day fitness trainer responsibilities: "establish new organizational memberships provided solution to members in the front desk established new clientele and delivered individualized personal fitness training"
The three companies that hire the most fitness trainers are:
- Planet Fitness1,052 fitness trainers jobs
- Massage Envy33 fitness trainers jobs
- Xponential Fitness24 fitness trainers jobs
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Compare different fitness trainers
Fitness trainer vs. Group exercise instructor
A group exercise instructor is responsible for leading fitness training and programs for different class groups. Group exercise instructors develop correct conditioning techniques, as well as observing the proper form of the student from their movements and exercises. A group exercise instructor also recommends nutritional foods and beverages that would help the students maintain a healthy lifestyle and development. They identify each student's strengths and weaknesses and develop comprehensive training programs to address their needs.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a fitness trainer are more likely to require skills like "group training," "program design," "fitness training," and "workout programs." On the other hand, a job as a group exercise instructor requires skills like "yoga," "kids," "afaa," and "zumba." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Group exercise instructors really shine in the education industry with an average salary of $41,459. Comparatively, fitness trainers tend to make the most money in the hospitality industry with an average salary of $30,324.The education levels that group exercise instructors earn slightly differ from fitness trainers. In particular, group exercise instructors are 3.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a fitness trainer. Additionally, they're 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Fitness trainer vs. Yoga instructor
A yoga teacher or instructor is an individual who teaches yoga lessons and works at yoga studios, gyms, or fitness centers. Yoga teachers are wellness and fitness professionals who lead yoga classes. They teach their students a variety of practice meditation, promote mindfulness, and stretching poses. It is expected of them to know about mindful meditation and Chakra system implementation. They should be equipped with energy, inspiration, authenticity, attention to detail, and diligence.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that fitness trainer responsibilities requires skills like "cleanliness," "physical fitness," "fitness equipment," and "blood pressure." But a yoga instructor might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "class attendance," "teacher training," "yoga," and "ryt."
Yoga instructors may earn a higher salary than fitness trainers, but yoga instructors earn the most pay in the education industry with an average salary of $49,905. On the other hand, fitness trainers receive higher pay in the hospitality industry, where they earn an average salary of $30,324.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Yoga instructors tend to reach higher levels of education than fitness trainers. In fact, they're 5.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Fitness trainer vs. Head instructor
Strength and conditioning interns are students, under an internship scheme, who provide assistance to staff in a comprehensive strength and conditioning programs' teaching and implementation. The programs integrate diverse curriculum focusing on the science and techniques associated with strength and conditioning. The interns supervise the rehabilitation sessions and workouts of varsity student-athletes. They execute motivational tasks in program implementation with the student-athletes. The skills necessary for the job include weight training, proper technique, and program design.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a fitness trainer is likely to be skilled in "customer service," "cleanliness," "fitness equipment," and "healthy lifestyle," while a typical head instructor is skilled in "classroom management," "curriculum development," "water safety," and "resuscitation."
When it comes to education, head instructors tend to earn similar degree levels compared to fitness trainers. In fact, they're 2.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.6% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Fitness trainer vs. Strength and conditioning internship
Even though a few skill sets overlap between fitness trainers and strength and conditioning interns, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a fitness trainer might have more use for skills like "customer service," "front desk," "cpr," and "cleanliness." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of strength and conditioning interns require skills like "student athletes," "program implementation," "softball," and "soccer. "
The average resume of strength and conditioning interns showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to fitness trainers. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 0.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.4%.Types of fitness trainer
Updated January 8, 2025
