What Can You Do After Being A Personal Trainer?

If you’ve been a PT for some time and are looking for a career change, you may be wondering, ‘what can you do after being a personal trainer?’

With so many options out there it can seem overwhelming. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the top 8 things you can do after personal training!

Before we get started, why not take the next step in your fitness career by finding out more about our nutritionist course here. Enquire today, or download our free course prospectus to browse the full range of courses we offer. 

What To Do After Personal Training Idea #1- Become A Gym Manager

One of the most popular answers to the question, ‘what can you do after being a personal trainer?’, is to become a gym manager. 

A gym manager is essentially someone who is in charge of running a gym or other fitness facility. 

We have a whole article on the roles of a gym manager here. But in summary, here are some of the key things that a gym manager is responsible for:

• Managing staff - e.g. creating a staff rota, managing the payroll  
• Maintaining equipment 
• Managing the gym’s budget and finances
• Managing the gym’s marketing strategy

This is a great career to do after being a personal trainer as it requires lots of transferable skills that you would have already developed, such as:

• Customer service
• Strong communication skills
• Organisational skills 
• Ability to motivate others 
• Marketing skills

The best thing is, if you are already a qualified Level 3 personal trainer, you technically don’t need any other qualifications to become a gym manager. 

Most gym manager job descriptions will simply specify that you need a Level 3 personal trainer qualification for the role, such as the job advert below:

Although not all job adverts will require it, having at least a few years of experience working within the fitness industry will help strengthen your gym manager CV and make you a more desirable applicant. 

If you want to be a manager in a high-end gym, experience is more likely to be a requirement. For example, the job advert below for a premium boutique gym requires experience working in a similar high-end fitness environment:

We have a fitness and gym manager salary guide here, but the average salary for a gym manager is £24,632 a year.

However, this can vary depending on where you work. For example, a budget gym may offer the lower end of this average, whereas a higher end premium gym such as the one below is offering £38-41,00 a year! 

Another benefit of becoming a gym manager after being a personal trainer is that you can use your existing contacts in the fitness industry to find a job. 

For example, if you already work in a gym as a personal trainer, you would be more likely to get a manager position if the role opened up. 

This is a great way to get your first role as a gym manager and gain experience, before progressing on to a higher-end gym with a higher salary!

What To Do After Personal Training Idea #2 Become a Fitness Tutor

If you are wondering what to do after personal training, becoming a fitness tutor is another great next career step!

A fitness tutor is a holistic term given to a qualified teacher and assessor who delivers vocational fitness courses.

They are different to a fitness ‘assessor’, in that a tutor is someone who teaches in a classroom environment, whereas an assessor delivers and marks assessments. 

Some places you can work as a fitness tutor are:

• Private fitness course provider
• Colleges
• Schools
• Universities 

Fitness tutors teach a range of fitness-related vocational courses, such as:

• Level 2 Fitness Instructor
• Level 3 Personal Training
• Level 3 Sports Massage Therapy 
• Specialist Level 4 courses such as Advanced Sports Nutrition
• CPD courses

If you want to become a fitness tutor, you will therefore need to be qualified in the course you want to teach! 

Additionally, you will also need to take a Fitness Teaching and Assessing Course. This will give you the skills and knowledge required for the role, and take on tasks such as:

• Writing lesson plans and creating resources for students
• Teaching to groups
• Teaching students one-on-one
• Marking work and providing feedback on assessments and coursework
• Giving student support outside of the classroom- face to face and via phone and email
• Invigilating exams

As you can see, these tasks are fairly different to the roles and responsibilities of a personal trainer. 

For example, there is a lot more administrative work, such as marking students’ work and giving feedback.

However, some tasks- such as teaching students one-on-one, you will already be familiar with as a personal trainer. You will therefore be able to transfer many of your existing skills to this new role, as well as developing and learning new ones!

There are also some key skills that you will need for the role, such as:

• Strong communication skills
• Time management
• Flexibility 
• Motivational 
• Organisational skills
• Creativity 
• Confident public speaker 

As you can see, these skills are very similar to the skills needed to be a personal trainer, making it an easy career to transition into after being a PT.  

Becoming a fitness tutor after being a PT is also a great way to increase your earnings, with the average salary being £27,000 a year. 

As well as being lucrative, another benefit of being a fitness tutor is that it is a hugely rewarding career, as you will be passing your knowledge and passion for fitness on to the future generation!

- - - -

Enjoying this article so far? Here’s 3 more you can check out to see how else you can advance your career:

•  A Complete Guide To Personal Training Over Zoom
• Continuing Education for Personal Trainers
• Train The Trainer Qualifications

What To Do After Personal Training Idea #3- Become A Fitness Business Mentor

If you are wondering, ‘what can you do after being a personal trainer’, how about inspiring upcoming PTs and helping their business succeed? If you have been successful making money as a personal trainer, then becoming a fitness business mentor could be the next career for you! 

Similar to being a fitness tutor, a fitness business mentor is another rewarding career that allows you to pass on your knowledge and skills to others. 

A fitness business mentor is simply someone who is paid to help a newly qualified or less experienced fitness professional with their business. 

Fitness business mentors can offer help in a wide range of areas, including:

• Creating a business plan 
• Budgeting
• Marketing
• Career progression

You could deliver your mentoring through in-person sessions or even online, giving you the opportunity to access a wider range of clients.

So, how do you become a fitness business manager after being a personal trainer?

It is rare that you will find a job listing for a contracted role as a fitness business mentor. Instead, most fitness business mentors will work on a freelance/self-employed basis, running their own business. 

As well as being a qualified personal trainer, it is a good idea to have a business-related qualification, such as OriGym’s personal trainer business CPD course.  

Having this qualification will give you the credibility to be able to then market yourself as a business expert- which will help you attract clients. 

Although qualifications are important, having a strong amount of experience is even more essential if you want to be a fitness business mentor. 

After all, the main benefit of a fitness business mentor is that mentees can learn tips and tricks from your own personal experience, that they may not have otherwise learnt from other sources such as books and websites. 

We would therefore recommend pursuing this career path after you have several years experience as a personal trainer behind you. The more experience you have, the better a mentor you will be!

Fitness business mentoring is a lucrative career to get into, with the average salary for a business mentor being £34,332 a year! However, since most fitnes business mentors work on a freelance basis, this could be more or less depending on your rates. 

Find out more about lucrative career progression with our article on 6 Additional Personal Training Revenue Streams.

What To Do After Personal Training Idea #4- Become A Sales Rep For A Fitness Company

One of the most lucrative career paths to go into after being a personal trainer is becoming a sales rep for a fitness-related company. 

A huge part of your role as a personal trainer is sales. From selling your own products and services to selling membership packages to people in a gym, you may not realise that you already have a lot of the skills required to be a good fitness sales rep, including:

• Confident communication skills
• Ability to build rapport 
• Meeting deadlines and targets
• Strong organisational skills
• In-depth knowledge of and passion for the product you are selling

This final skill is what makes this one of the easiest roles to transition into after being a personal trainer. Through your role as a PT, you will have already acquired an in-depth knowledge of a range of health and fitness topics, putting you in the perfect position to sell a range of products such as:

• Personal training courses
• Gym memberships
• Fitness equipment
• Activewear
• Nutrition products
• Fitness software and programs

In terms of how to become a fitness sales rep, you do not technically need any additional qualifications. However, most employers will ask for some previous experience in sales.

For example, the job advert below asks for 1-2 years experience within sales. 

As we have said, your role as a personal trainer will have given you experience in sales. But other jobs you may have had such as retail or hospitality can also be used as relevant sales experience. 

Whilst you can find a job as a sales rep through job websites such as Indeed, you may also find a position through existing contacts you have made whilst working as a PT. 

For example, you may know someone in the gym you work at who is starting an activewear brand and could help you get a job in their sales department!

As well as being easy to transition into, perhaps the biggest benefit of getting into sales after being a personal trainer is that it has the potential to be a hugely lucrative career. 

This is because as well as an average base salary of £30,000 a year, most sales jobs will also offer a commission scheme. 

For example, the job advert below for a sales rep in a health and fitness company states a base salary of £23-24,000, plus an uncapped commission which can raise your earnings to up to £50,000 a year!

So, if you are a confident communicator, self-motivated and want to increase your earning potential, going into fitness sales could be the perfect next step after being a personal trainer! 

What To Do After Personal Training Idea #5- Become A Wellbeing Coach

If you are wondering what to do after personal training that takes a more holistic approach to health and fitness, you may want to consider becoming a wellbeing coach. 

Where a personal trainer helps clients achieve their goals through specifically exercise and nutrition, a wellbeing or wellness coach is someone who helps clients in more holistic areas of health and fitness. 

Whilst a lot of this is through exercise and nutrition, there is also more of a focus on other areas of general wellbeing such as:

• Mental health 
• Lifestyle choices
• Habits 
• Work-life balance
• Managing stress
• Relationships
• Sleep patterns 

The goals of personal training and wellbeing coach clients may also vary. For example, as a personal trainer, you may be used to clients with goals such as losing weight or gaining muscle. 

However, clients will come to a wellbeing coach with more holistic goals to do with developing more healthy lifestyle habits in general. 

For example, someone may want to simply want to learn how to lead a more overall healthy lifestyle. As a wellbeing coach, you would then provide motivation, education and support to help them achieve this. 

Given the similarities between the roles, a lot of the skills required are similar to those of a personal trainer. 

However, you will need particularly strong people skills, including:

• Strong listening skills
• Empathy 
• Be approachable and friendly 
• Problem-solving skills
• Passion for helping others

So, if this sounds like the career for you, how do you become a wellbeing coach after being a personal trainer?

There are technically no set qualifications needed to become a wellbeing coach. However, some employers may ask for a qualification from bodies such as the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) or the American Fitness Professionals and Associates (AFPA), both of which endorse wellness coaching qualifications. 

It can also be beneficial to have some experience working within a healthcare environment, or working with patients. For example, the job advert below states that 1 years experience in health and nutrition work with patients is ‘preferred’:

Much like being a personal trainer, you can work as a wellbeing coach as a contracted employee, or on a freelance/self-employed basis.

Wellbeing coaches can work in a variety of places, including:

• Gyms and fitness centres
• Spas
• Hospitals and medical centres
• Mental health clinics
• Schools 

The average annual salary for a wellbeing coach is £25,505, with the possibility to go up to £30K with more experience, making it a lucrative career path!

However, one of the biggest benefits of being a wellbeing coach is that it is a hugely rewarding career, as you have the potential to help someone change their overall wellbeing, mental health and lifestyle for the better.

What To Do After Personal Training Idea #6- Learn About Neuro-Linguistic Programing (NLP)

Similar to being a wellbeing coach, next on our list of what to do after personal training is also to do with helping clients improve their overall lifestyle and mindset. 

Neurolinguistic Programming (or NLP) is a form of pseudoscience created in the 1970s in America. It claims that there is a connection between neurological processes (or thoughts), language and behavioural patterns. 

This school of thought believes that you can take the thought patterns and behaviours of successful individuals and teach those same behaviours to others.

It can be used as a form of therapy to treat issues such as:

• Anxiety
• Depression 
• Phobias
• PTSD
• Addiction

In the context of personal training, elements of NLP can be applied to help clients:

• Change their mindset
• Change their behaviours 
• Be more motivated
• Break bad habits
• Improve their mental health

For example, say your client struggles with snacking and eating sweets, which is hindering their weight loss efforts. An NLP approach to this would be to find out and address the root cause of this behaviour- such as boredom, low self-esteem etc.

Along with a training program, this can then help them change their behaviours and make healthier habits that they are more likely to stick to in the long-term. 

In other words, NLP is not a replacement for the other aspects of personal training- such as creating an exercise program and providing nutrition guidance and meal plans for clients. It is simply another tool to add to your skill set that will help your clients achieve their goals. 

NLP is more of a ‘way of thinking’ or ‘school of thought’, rather than a proven scientific method. In fact, there has been a lot of criticism of NLP, claiming that it is an outdated view of how the brain works. 

With this in mind, there are no set qualifications or accreditation required to practice NLP, and you will not find a job title such as a ‘neurolinguistic programmer’. Instead, NLP is more so something you can educate yourself about in order to enhance your existing role as a personal trainer. 

As such, there is no average salary for NLP practising personal trainers. However, it can be a skill that helps you stand out as a personal trainer, adding value to your service and therefore allowing you to charge more for your services!

So, if you are interested in NLP, we would recommend simply reading about it online, through books or even by taking an online course such as this one. 

What To Do After Personal Training Idea #7- Become A Fitness Writer

If you’re wondering ‘what can you do after being a personal trainer’, you may not have thought about a career in writing. But if you love fitness and love writing, then why not combine the two and become a fitness writer? 

A fitness writer is someone who writes about health and fitness-related topics, usually for digital mediums such as blogs, online magazines, websites or even on social media.  

The roles and responsibilities of a fitness writer are generally the same as any type of content writer, which include:

• Researching topics
• Following a style guide/brief 
• Working to deadlines
• Keyword research and SEO

To meet these demands, you will therefore need the following skills:

• In-depth knowledge of health and fitness topics
• Excellent written skills
• Reliable 
• Punctual 
• Excellent organisational skills

Fitness writers usually work on a freelance basis, meaning that they may write for several different outlets. 

Fitness writer jobs can be listed on general job websites like Indeed, but you may also find work on dedicated freelance writing websites such as Upwork. 

This is therefore a great career option if you are currently a freelance personal trainer, as you could take on freelance fitness writing work whilst continuing with personal training. This gives you more financial security than completely switching careers, and allows you to see if the role is right for you before you commit!

You can find more information about aspects of this role here - Where Do Freelance Personal Trainers Work?

Plus, just like freelance personal training, being a freelance fitness writer comes with perks such as:

• Setting your own rates
• Control over your own working hours
• Fitting work around your existing commitment
• Choosing the type of work you take on
• Freedom to work anywhere in the world!

Fitness writing is also a great career to pursue after personal training, as you can use the knowledge, skills and expertise you have built over the years as a PT to inform your writing.

It is also a lucrative career, with an average salary of £25,455 a year. However, since it is a freelance role, this largely depends on your rates and how much work you choose to take on.

So, how do you become a fitness writer?

There are technically no set qualifications required to become a fitness writer. However, if you are already a qualified Level 3 personal trainer, we highly recommend being qualified in the topic you want to write about- if you’re not already!

For example, if you want to specialise in writing about nutrition, taking a Level 4 qualification in Sports Nutrition will give you more authority and back up your claims of being an expert. Find out more about offering nutrition guidance with our article 'Can Personal Trainers Give Nutritional Advice?' 

Another thing that can help you become a successful fitness writer is to establish your niche. 

In other words, find an area of fitness that you are particularly passionate and knowledgeable about to specialise your writing in.

If you are already a personal trainer, it is likely that you will already have found your personal trainer niche. It is therefore only logical that this is what you specialise your fitness writing in! 

Establishing your niche means that you can then market yourself as an ‘expert writer’ on that particular topic. This not only gives your writing more credibility, but can also help increase your freelance rates, since you are offering a higher level of writing. 

What To Do After Personal Training Idea #8- Become A PE Teacher

Our final idea in answer to the question ‘what can you do after being a personal trainer?’ is to become a PE teacher. 

A PE teacher is simply someone responsible for teaching Physical Education (PE) to school children. This could be in a primary school, secondary school or college.

Some of the roles and responsibilities of a PE teacher include:

• Planning and delivering practical PE lessons
• Evaluating children’s sporting performance
• Training school sports teams
• Administrative work and lesson planning
• Adhering to the UK’s teaching curriculum

This is a great career to pursue after personal training as you will already have many of the skills required to be a PE teacher, such as:

• Ability to motivate others 
• Coaching and teaching skills
• Confidence and excellent communication skills
• Strong organisation skills
• In-depth knowledge of health and fitness

It is also a good option if you want to focus more on working with children and work more with groups, rather than just individual clients.

To become a PE teacher after being a personal trainer, there are 3 main routes you can take:

• Take a university degree in Physical Education with a Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)
• Take a sports-related degree followed by a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE)
• A postgraduate teaching apprenticeship

Given the time that these qualifications take (from a year to several years), this is not a career change that you can make overnight! 

With this in mind, if you are currently a personal trainer, you should be completely committed to becoming a PE teacher, as it takes a lot of hard work and determination to achieve the qualifications to get there!

As well as qualifications, many job adverts will also ask for some previous relevant experience working with children. For example, the job adverts below ask for experience working in education. 

Once you are a qualified PE teacher, you can then find PE teacher job openings on job websites such as Indeed, or specific teacher job boards such as TES and eTeach. 

The average salary for a PE teacher in the UK is £34,455, making it a great career progression from personal training. 

As well as an impressive salary, being a PE teacher is also a hugely rewarding job, as you are helping inspire children to be more active and lead a healthier lifestyle. You could even inspire a future athlete! 

Before You Go! 

So, if you’re looking for a career change, we hope we have given you some ideas for what you can do after personal training!

If you’re not quite ready for a complete career change, getting a Level 4 Sports Nutrition qualification is an easy way to learn new skills, take on more clients and ultimately increase your earnings! 

Enquire today, or browse the full range of courses we offer by downloading our free course prospectus here.