Key Fitness Instructor Skills, Qualities, and Requirements

There are many different gym instructor skills, qualities and requirements that you must possess in order to successfully work within the role. This definitive guide will break down each of these traits in detail, and explain how you can develop them.

If you’re looking to advance your pre-existing skills and qualities, a L2 Fitness Instructor qualification will strengthen your knowledge, and allow you to train individual clients alongside your regular classes.

You can also download our FREE course prospectus for more information on all of OriGym’s qualifications.

Requirements, Qualities, And Skills Needed For A Fitness Instructor Position

If you’re unsure of how exactly requirements, skills and qualities of a fitness instructor  differentiate from each other, let’s break them down:

• Requirement - These can be personal or professional, and will clearly be outlined as key components in order to be considered for a job role. E.g. Employers will only hire you if you hold certain qualifications.
• Skills - Physical traits or theoretical knowledge that can be acquired and developed through training.
• Qualities - Rooted in your personality, qualities define how you act as a fitness instructor. When applying for certain job roles, application processes will stress what kind of instructor they’re looking for through defining key character qualities - e.g. disciplined and empathetic.

With these definitions in mind, this article will focus on key qualities, requirements, and skills needed to be a gym instructor, using job ads to highlight how these traits can be applied in the workplace.

#1 - Fitness Instructor Skills & Qualities Must Be Developed Through Obtaining Further Qualifications 

The health and fitness industry is an incredibly competitive field, and for this reason, employers will only want to hire candidates who possess industry recognised qualifications. To start as a trainee fitness instructor and eventually advance to become a personal trainer, you'll need the best qualifications.

If you’re a UK resident, your Level 2 fitness instructor qualification will be regulated by CIMSPA (The Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity). 

As the professional development body for the sport and physical activity sector in the UK, CIMSPA aims to provide regulation across the entire industry. 

This is achieved through monitoring vocational training providers (such as OriGym) in order to ensure that everyone in the UK is working from the same syllabus.

Every CIMSPA recognised qualification will ensure that students develop an in-depth understanding of the principles of exercise. This will include:

• Creating a varied fitness class programme
• Understanding human anatomy and physiology, in relation to exercise
• Building sessions that include cardiovascular activities, and bodyweight movements. 

Obtaining a CIMSPA regulated qualification is a necessity for many employers, as it certifies the holder is working to the correct industry standard. This can be seen below, where the employer lists it among their employment requirements: 

Becoming a fitness instructor with a CIMSPA recognised qualification will therefore set you up for the rest of your career. 

Without this, employers may be hesitant to offer you a position, as the quality of your training will not be verified to the same standard as other fitness instructors across the UK.

#2 - Communication Skills Needed To Be A Fitness Instructor 

When discussing the requirements, skills and qualities of a fitness instructor, being a strong communicator is an absolute must if you wish to lead your exercise classes with intelligence and authority.

Communication will be an integral part of every class you lead, as you will need to use this skill to perform responsibilities such as:

• Welcoming the class to the class and offering a brief overview of what they can expect from the session.
• Explaining how to execute various exercise routines. 
• Provide valuable feedback and amendments to customers in attendance.

Your fitness instructor communication skills will develop over the course of your career, improving with the more experience you gain. With that being said, employers will still prioritise this trait when viewing candidates for job roles.

This can be seen below, where GRL clearly value good communication skills in their fitness instructors:

Remember, communication is not just about talking either, as you also need to be eagerly listening to fitness class attendees too. 

This can benefit both your sessions and overall performance in your job role, as if you listen to your customers feedback, you will be able to make changes and improvements.

Communication skills will also benefit fitness instructors outside their regular class time too. For example, through taking the time to develop and learn, you’ll be able to sharpen your selling ability as well, knowing exactly what potential customers want out of your sessions. 

#3 - The Importance Of Motivational Qualities In A Fitness Instructor 

Being able to motivate class attendees is arguably one of the most important skills and qualities of a fitness instructor. A good fitness instructor will be able to drive their members forward, with praise and encouragement to achieve their goals. 

When looking through job applications, you will notice that motivational fitness instructor skills are one of the most recurring features across the entire industry. 

This will be worded in a manner that stresses the importance of each individual customer, rather than the class as a whole, as so:

In these instances, the motivational qualities of a fitness instructor will come into play when offering clients personalised feedback. 

For example, if you see a member struggling with a certain aspect of the class you can approach them with modifications that make the exercise more accessible.

The motivational tactic of focusing on individual gym members ensures that no one feels left out or disheartened during the class. Instead, they will be able to continue working at their own pace, whilst still working towards their overall fitness goals. 

Note, not everyone will feel comfortable being ‘singled out’ in front of the entire class. For this reason, when providing feedback it may be worth approaching the customer personally to offer your guidance. 

If you are unable to motivate your customers they will simply associate negative connotations with your class, such as a lack of direction and the inability to hit their goals under your guidance.

Your initial Level 2 Fitness Instructor qualification will offer a module on how to motivate your fitness members, but to take this knowledge further, enrol on a Level 3 personal training course, which will teach you how to interact with clients on a one-to-one basis.

#4 - Leadership Skills Needed For A Fitness Instructor Role 

Another example of vital gym instructor skills and qualities you’ll need to possess in order to be considered for a job role is a strong sense of leadership. 

This links closely with motivation, as you’ll need to use both of these traits to successfully guide your class through their workout plan.

Think about it this way. A good leader will always know how they can motivate each class member individually. Likewise, if you engage with your members in this manner they will look to you as someone they can trust.

Strong leadership skills are needed to be a fitness instructor in order to complete the following responsibilities:

• Public speaking in front of large groups.
• Offering explanations on how to perform specific workouts, and the benefits of those workouts.
• Listening to gym member’s feedback in order to make classes accessible for their needs.
• Selling gym members on the idea of signing up for your fitness classes

When analysing the skills and qualities of a fitness instructor, employment experts at Indeed support the claim that leadership skills are essential:

The leadership skills of a fitness instructor will develop over the course of your career, as with time comes additional knowledge and experience. 

The longer you operate in the role, the better you will become at leading classes and offering guidance to class attendees individually.

#5 - Creative Gym Instructor Skills and Qualities 

If you’re wondering ‘what skills do you need to be a fitness instructor?’, one of the most overlooked requirements needed to be successful in this role is creativity. 

This is a necessity, as you will need to consistently create exciting and diverse exercise routines for your customers. Failure to achieve this will result in repetitive classes, and your paying customers feeling bored and unfulfilled.

The importance of planning fun fitness classes is echoed in job vacancies, such as the following example from Kinesis Hub:

There are numerous ways that you can flex your creative group fitness instructor skills, with the most obvious being creating diverse routines that incorporate new workout methods. 

Through the implementation of new features, each class member will remain engaged with your sessions. 

One way you could do this is to focus on one specific body part per session. For example, one class may focus on legs and core, whereas the next will focus on upper body strength.

Creative gym instructor skills and qualities aren’t restricted to the delivery of your session either. You can display creativity in every possible aspect of your class, from the music you play, to the theme of your class.

#6 - Adaptable and Flexible Skills Needed to Be a Gym Instructor 

Throughout the course of this article you may have gathered that, as a fitness instructor, you’ll need to adapt at a moment's notice. In order to be truly flexible, you must be willing to face whatever challenges are thrown at you.

Every gym member will be different, so you will need to be flexible with your approach to leading the sessions, to ensure everyone gets the most out of the class. 

We’ve already touched on this when discussing motivational qualities, but part of being flexible will include offering amendments to members who are struggling.

Adaptable fitness instructor characteristics can come into play when working with a variety of students, remember not everyone will be experts and whilst in this role you may be working with:

• Inexperienced Individuals
• Vulnerable groups - e.g. the elderly or disabled individuals 
• Those suffering from injuries 

When listing gym instructor skills and qualities they value, employers will typically stress the importance of adaptability by focusing on its relation to safety - e.g. the more flexible you are with your clients needs, the safer your class will be. This can be seen below in the following job ad:

Learning how to adapt your class for those with differing needs will happen over time, the more gym members you train the better you will get at creating alternative workouts. 

With that being said, advancing your academic knowledge will also benefit this process, as a Level 3 personal training certificate will specifically cover how to amend your training style to the consideration of those with unique needs. 

--

If you enjoy learning about the skills and qualities needed for a fitness instructor role, these other OriGym articles may also be of interest:

• How To Become A Fitness Instructor
• What Makes a Good Fitness Instructor?
• How To Become A Personal Trainer 

#7 - Organisational Skills for a Fitness Instructor Role

When working in this role, you will likely have a busy day-to-day schedule, especially if you operate on a freelance basis and are required to travel from one location to another.

This is why organisational skills are needed to be a gym instructor, as you will need to ensure your daily routine runs as smoothly as possible.

As stated multiple times throughout this article, fitness instructors will have a variety of other responsibilities. With well-developed organisational skills you will be able to stay on top of each task, completing them to the best of your abilities. 

Most if not all employers will stress the importance of developing organisational skills for a fitness instructor role, like this one from Body Fitness Camp:

Think of it this way, would you want to hire someone who is always running late, or doesn’t make the effort to remember the class attendees names? Simply put, if you’re unorganised and dishevelled you won’t find much success in this job role.

This can be a tricky skill to develop naturally, but thankfully, you can now rely on technology to help maintain organisation throughout your work day. 

#8 - Energy & Commitment Are Fantastic Fitness Instructor Characteristics

Fitness instructor skills like energy and commitment are things your client will feed off for motivation during their classes. Having a positive and optimistic attitude is therefore key to helping the gym members reach their fitness goals.

Without these vital gym instructor skills and qualities, people who attend your class may become unmotivated, and eventually drop your class in favour of a competitor, a factor which could cost you and your employer money.

Employers will often prefer to hire fitness instructors who are passionate and engaged with their role, as evident from this example from Innovate Fitness & Wellbeing: 

It doesn’t matter how many gym members you see during the day - each one deserves your full attention and physical energy. By demonstrating this, they will mimic your behaviour and give the class their all in return.

Likewise, commitment is also one of the necessary skills needed for a gym instructor role, as this indicates to those in attendance how much you really care. 

Would you want to attend a fitness class where the instructor turns up late, and acts as if they don’t care?

Through demonstrating these gym instructor skills and qualities, you’ll be able to find success through the engagement of your class attendees. 

Ultimately, the more committed you are to bettering a customer’s life, the more committed they will be to attending your class.

#9 - A Positive Attitude & Approachable Personality Are Overlooked Fitness Instructing Skills

When discussing the ideal skills and qualities of a gym instructor many choose to prioritise traits that can be taught and learned over the course of their career, such as communication skills.

Whilst this isn’t necessarily a bad thing to do, it can often mean they overlook some of the most basic requirements needed to succeed in this role.

If you have a positive attitude and approachable personality, you will likely attract more gym members into your fitness classes. If you ignore these character traits, you may come across as an unapproachable individual, with attendance in class suffering as a result. 

An employer won’t want to hire a candidate who treats their paying customers negatively, and will thus stress the importance of having a positive attitude, as seen in this GLL add:

This is an example of fitness instructor characteristics that should come naturally to you, as you shouldn’t have to train in order to be positive and friendly to others. 

#10 - Emotional Intelligence Is Among The Key Fitness Instructor Characteristics

Many gym instructor skills and qualities often overlap and connect with one another, in order to make a well rounded instructor. Emotional intelligence is no different, and can relate back to having a positive attitude and approachable personality.

In this profession you will be working with a variety of individuals, each with differing:

• Personalities 
• Insecurities 
• Goals

The best gym instructors realise that not every member of their class is the same, and make an effort to understand their personal circumstances on an individual level. 

This is achieved by showing up to every session with an understanding outlook, and offering a line of communication to anyone who needs it.

Employers place a great deal of importance on empathetic skills and qualities of a fitness instructor, and will often describe it as being a customer-centric trait. 

For example, take a look at this advertisement from Marriott International who describe this skill as so:

Essentially, if you’re questioning ‘what skills does a fitness instructor need?’ emotional intelligence will allow you to understand when a member of your fitness class is feeling frustrated or unmotivated. 

As such, you will be able to approach them with emotional understanding, in order to offer your support. 

#11 - Confidence Is One of The Key Fitness Instructor Qualities Employers Look For

If you’re starting your new career as a gym instructor, it’s normal to feel intimidated by the road ahead. 

But you shouldn’t doubt your own abilities. Remember, you achieved a Level 2 fitness instructor qualification through hard work and determination, and you can succeed in this role with confidence in your own abilities.

Confidence is among this list of vital gym instructor skills and qualities, as without it you may become overwhelmed by the challenges of the day to day life of a fitness instructor.

How you display confidence will differ from person to person. Some may feel more at ease communicating with their class attendees, while others may be better suited to offering demonstrations.

Employers value confidence among employees, as these are individuals who will improve the overall experience for their customers. This is evident from the example below, where Be Military Fit states that they want to hire someone who is a confident communicator. 

Some people are born confident, and you can see this immediately in the way they speak, how they hold themselves, and the way they walk. Others will need to work on this over the course of their career, and while it may take some time but once you familiarise yourself with the position, you will naturally feel the confidence grow in you.

#12 - Resilience Is A Key Skill For A Gym Instructor 

Resilience is the ability to overcome, adjust to, and recover with ease from obstacles and changes. When discussing fitness instructing skills and qualities, resilience will help you triumph over whatever is thrown at you.

As a fitness instructor, your job is not always going to be easy. Each new day will bring a series of challenges, in addition to the entire industry being highly competitive as a whole. 

This is echoed by employers who will stress the need for resilience during job vacancies, signifying that they want a candidate who will always give their all. 

Through clearly demonstrating these gym instructor skills you will be able persevere through any challenge that comes your way, be it a disruptive customer, a busy workload, or just daily personal stresses.

Before You Go! 

Now that you have a clear understanding of core gym instructor skills and qualities, you will be able to pursue each of these examples in order to benefit your career, and understand 

Remember, a Level 2 Fitness Instructor can also help you to strengthen key skills and qualities you’ll need for the role, plus you’ll be fully qualified to train clients 1-on-1, and command a much higher wage.

OriGym’s course prospectus is also available to download, and details all the courses we offer.