6 Things to Consider Before Becoming a Fitness Pro
Top experts set the record straight on some common misconceptions
A fitness career can be very rewarding (and often comes with great perks like a free gym membership), but there's much more to becoming a successful trainer than most people know. To help you decide if you should get certified, we asked top experts what they wish they'd known as a budding trainer or group fitness instructor.
It might look like your Zumba instructor is having the time of her life (and she probably is!), but that doesn’t mean her job is all fun and games. Before she even showed up at the gym, she likely spent hours compiling the perfect playlist, attending conferences to learn new moves, and practicing choreography cues in front of the mirror. It's easy to forget that being a group fitness instructor (or a personal trainer) is a job, says Caroline Dawson, managing director of Instructor Toolbox in New York City. “That often means arriving early for class (and staying late to help students or clean up studios), and hours of preparation to research music, choreography, the science of what you're teaching, etc,” she says.
