What's the difference between a Fitness Instructor and Studio Instructor?

Fitness Instructor Courses

This is a perfect place to place to start a new career in the fitness industry. Whether you'd prefer to work in a gym or similar environment, or teach music-based classes to groups, you'll need great enthusiasm and energy to succeed.

Read information about being a typical Fitness Instructor (GYM) and Studio Instructor (ETM)

The fitness industry offer a variety of different companies to work for including:

Private members only gyms

Public leisure facilities such as local authority gyms

Hotel gyms

Sports clubs

Cruise ships

Once you're in a job you'll see that there are many avenues to explore, so you'll never get bored of it!

10 things to get you excited about entering the Fitness Industry:

1. There is a great variety of interesting roles to choose from and have a career in! Let me pick some:

Personal Trainer, Fitness Professional, Studio Professional, Member Relations, Fitness Manager, Retention Manager, General Manager, Sports Masseur, Physiotherapist, Swimming Instructor, Studio Coordinator, Sports Coach (tennis, squash, triathlon etc).

2. Working your way through the Fitness Industry means that you’ll meet all of the above people learning new things and getting ideas along the way. In fact, it’s very common for people to have sampled a few different job roles before focusing on one (or more).

3. By having more skills you’re employability and profitability goes up. For example, a Personal Trainer who can teach studio classes and has a sports massage qualification will be attractive to a potential employer when looking for a job. If already in the job, the money making potential for that PT has gone up too. Sounds obvious but you’d be surprised how many PT’s say ‘I don’t like teaching groups’, or ‘I’ll stick to squats and press ups’. Get more skills and there WILL be a job out there for you!

4. The credit crunch has undoubtedly affected a large amount of people and income levels in certain sectors have dropped. However, the desire to ‘get fit, tone up, lose weight’ has not subsided.  There are many theories to why this is. One obvious reason is that heightened stress and work worries have contributed to the need for stress relief. This is one of the major reasons people go to the gym, to forget about the pressures of life and start to feel good about exercising. This means that for anyone in the Fitness Industry there will always be someone to assist with achieving their goals.

5. New gyms and other types of fitness and exercise centres are opening up on a regular basis to cope with demand. From small independents to large chains, fitness centres opened at a rate of over 2 per week in 2008.

6. For any newly qualified fitness instructors, experienced Personal Trainers, or other skilled people mentioned above, there is no shortage of establishments to choose from.  Of course there will always competition for jobs but you will find one, especially if you can offer more than just one service.

7. Wherever you live (more so in the cities) there will be a gym within 10 minutes distance from you. This is important for various reasons but to focus on one would be time. Being a Personal Trainer can mean having a client at 6am and one at 6pm. Living not too far away means you won’t burn yourself out with 13 hour days. Go home, have a nap, come back!

8. Every day is different! Almost invariably, things come up that need immediate attention and a flexible approach to work.

9. Different types of people come in at different times of day and different days also bring in different people. It means that it’s very difficult to get bored, because there’s always something to do.

10. Finally, and probably the most important thing is that the interesting people make the Fitness Industry unique. Yes work can be stressful, yes members complain, yes clients cancel, but on the whole it’s an exciting environment to work in because people, members and staff, are there to improve their lives.

Fitness Instructor

This is a gym-based job where you'll likely be working around a combination of fixed resistance machines and free weights. You might be asked to teach abs classes and circuits.

Daily routine - A typical busy evening in a gym:

6pm: Prerequisites: Tidy uniform i.e. tucked in t shirt, clean, name badge, big smile, eye contact. Walking around the CV kit asking if anyone would like a cup of water or refill.

6.10pm: Walk around free weights area asking if anyone needs a spot

6.20pm: Recheck CV kit area

6.30pm: Fixed resistance walk around, offer tips and advice, and remind that between sets they must give a chance for others to use the kit.

6.40pm: Recheck CV kit

6.50pm: General tour keeping an eye on things to tidy up/clean

7pm: Take inductions and write programmes for members

8-8.15pm: Pool test

Wages - Really depends on the company but minimum wage is normal

Career prospects - Lots of different avenues to follow, such as exercise to music, personal trainer, fitness management and more.

Hours - You can expect to work in shift patterns that range from 6am to 11pm, 7 days a week.

Exercise to music instructor

This is a studio or hall-based job where you'll likely be a freelancer working at many different venues. This is often done on the side with another main '9 to 5' job

Daily routine - Depends on how many classes you do per day. If it's your main source of income then you'll be travelling a fair amount, showering in between classes and preparing tracks.

Wages - Really depends on the company, but a typical London rate is about £25 per 45-60 minutes class

Career prospects - Lots of different avenues to follow, such as personal trainer, fitness management studio coordinator, presenter at fitness events and more.

Hours - To be doing 20+ classes a week is considered pretty much a full time job