What does a health fitness specialist do?
A health fitness specialist's role is to promote fitness through different strategies and health programs. Their responsibilities mostly revolve around researching and developing exercise routines for various people, conducting fitness training sessions for small or large groups, assisting clients in their fitness goals, and ensuring a safe and healthy environment for all clients. Moreover, a health fitness specialist may provide private training sessions at home, to clients who are recovering from ailments or injuries, and even to private institutions such as universities and hospitals.
Health fitness specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real health fitness specialist resumes:
- Provide market research and generate leads using social media (facebook) in order to target prospective clients.
- Conduct fitness evaluations according to ACSM guidelines.
- Maintain the facility according to ACSM facility guidelines
- Assist in the cardiac rehabilitation clinic which include implementing progressive rehabilitation methods with education for long term health and wellness.
- Utilize vary techniques including TRX, kettlebell training, plyometrics, Tabata and outdoor training.
Health fitness specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 16% of Health Fitness Specialists are proficient in Customer Service, Health Fitness, and Administrative Tasks. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Communication skills, and Listening skills.
We break down the percentage of Health Fitness Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 16%
Lunch and learn presentations* Personal training* Implementing wellness programs* Customer service* Writing fitness programs* Group fitness teaching* Opening and closing duties
- Health Fitness, 11%
Assisted health fitness manager with luncheon PowerPoint presentation.
- Administrative Tasks, 9%
Performed administrative tasks associated with program development, payroll, supervising and hiring interns.
- Fitness Assessments, 8%
Conducted fitness assessments and developed individual programs encompassing exercise, nutrition, weight control, behavior modification and stress management.
- ACSM, 7%
Followed ACSM guidelines ensuring safe and healthy exercise technique for strength training and cardiovascular activity.
- Facility Operations, 6%
Monitor and review facility statistics, expenditures, user trends, and analyze facility operations.
Most health fitness specialists use their skills in "customer service," "health fitness," and "administrative tasks" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential health fitness specialist responsibilities here:
Customer-service skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a health fitness specialist 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." Health fitness specialists often use customer-service skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "coordinate fitness programs and monitor fitness facility, members and guests. "
Communication skills. Another essential skill to perform health fitness specialist duties is communication skills. Health fitness specialists responsibilities require that "fitness trainers and instructors must be able to clearly explain exercises that they demonstrate to clients." Health fitness specialists also use communication skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "ensured effective communication of fitness center programs to employees to maximize fitness program participation and to promote overall employee population wellness. "
Listening skills. This is an important skill for health fitness specialists to perform their duties. For an example of how health fitness specialist 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 health fitness specialist: "communicated regularly with staff to design individual rehabilitation and conditioning programs".
Motivational skills. A big part of what health fitness specialists do relies on "motivational skills." You can see how essential it is to health fitness specialist responsibilities because "to keep clients coming back for more classes or to continue personal training, fitness trainers and instructors must keep their clients motivated." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical health fitness specialist tasks: "managed multiple interns, teaching them how to design motivational programs, lead classes, and perform fitness assessments. "
Physical fitness. A commonly-found skill in health fitness specialist job descriptions, "physical fitness" is essential to what health fitness specialists do. Health fitness specialist 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 health fitness specialist duties rely on physical fitness in this resume example: "provide an orientation of the fitness floor and demonstrate the proper use of exercise equipment. "
Problem-solving skills. While "problem-solving skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to health fitness specialist responsibilities. Much of what a health fitness specialist does relies on this skill, seeing as "fitness trainers and instructors must evaluate members’ or client’s fitness levels and create appropriate fitness plans to meet their needs." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of health fitness specialists: "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 health fitness specialists are:
- EXOS80 health fitness specialists jobs
- Trustmark Insurance Co24 health fitness specialists jobs
- HealthFitness22 health fitness specialists jobs
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Compare different health fitness specialists
Health fitness specialist vs. Skills trainer
Skills Trainers are responsible for creating and teaching courses that are specialized for employees of an organization. Their duties include conducting initial analysis through questionnaires, surveys, and focus groups, create program budgeting, design training courses, organize the class schedule, produce study materials, and implement trial run. They track key performance metrics, create progress reports, and continuously improve training methodologies to deliver better results. Skills Trainers also work with outside vendors in using instructional technology to facilitate teaching.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between health fitness specialists and skills trainer. For instance, health fitness specialist responsibilities require skills such as "customer service," "health fitness," "administrative tasks," and "fitness assessments." Whereas a skills trainer is skilled in "money management," "adaptive," "independent living," and "behavior management." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Skills trainers earn the highest salaries when working in the hospitality industry, with an average yearly salary of $34,257. On the other hand, health fitness specialists are paid more in the hospitality industry with an average salary of $36,196.skills trainers tend to reach similar levels of education than health fitness specialists. In fact, skills trainers are 4.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Health fitness specialist vs. Life skills trainer
Life skills trainers are personal health professionals who provide training assistance and supervision to patients, such as personal care, financial management, and social integration. These trainers are required to assist their clients with disabilities with daily living activities while documenting their behaviors and personal hygiene. They can organize therapeutic activities for individuals or groups to maximize their quality of life. Life skills trainers must also assist in meal preparation as well as perform tasks that include glucose monitoring, insulin therapy, and diabetes management.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, health fitness specialist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "customer service," "health fitness," "administrative tasks," and "fitness assessments." Meanwhile, a life skills trainer has duties that require skills in areas such as "medication administration," "therapeutic recreation," "medical appointments," and "direct support." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Life skills trainers earn similar levels of education than health fitness specialists in general. They're 3.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Health fitness specialist 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.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a health fitness specialist is likely to be skilled in "health fitness," "administrative tasks," "fitness assessments," and "acsm," while a typical yoga instructor is skilled in "cpr," "class attendance," "teacher training," and "pilates."
Yoga instructors earn the best pay in the education industry, where they command an average salary of $49,905. Health fitness specialists earn the highest pay from the hospitality industry, with an average salary of $36,196.Most yoga instructors achieve a similar degree level compared to health fitness specialists. For example, they're 0.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Health fitness specialist vs. Life skills instructor
A life skills instructor advises people that are seeking support and coaching. They are responsible for helping them learn and develop skills like doing day-to-day tasks, interacting with other people, caring for themselves, as well as doing basic duties. Also, they can offer to coach for playing sports, learning new things, doing different exercises, and tips for employment.
Types of health fitness specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
