Profession personal trainer

Personal trainers design, implement and evaluate exercise or physical activity programmes for one or more individual clients by collecting and analysing client information. They strive to ensure the effectiveness of personal exercise programmes. A personal trainer should also actively encourage potential clients to participate in and adhere to regular programmes, employing appropriate motivational strategies.

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Personality Type

• Social / Artistic
• Social / Realistic
• Enterprising / Conventional

Skills

• Inform clients of healthy lifestyle benefits

  Provide accurate information about the role of physical activity and stimulate exercisers with controlled health conditions to adopt and maintain a healthy lifestyle behaviour. Inform clients on principles of nutrition and weight management.

• Ensure safety of exercise environment

  Select the correct training environment and assess risks to ensure it provides a safe, clean and friendly fitness environment and that it will be the best use of the environment in which clients are exercising.

• Prescribe exercises

  Provide a range of exercise programmes in accordance with the needs of the clients by applying principles of exercise programming.

• Prepare exercise session

  Prepare equipment and facilities for the session ensuring compliance with industry and national guidelines for normal operating procedures. Plan timings and sequences for the session.

• Demonstrate professional attitude to clients

  Demonstrate responsibility and professional duty of care to clients which will include communication skills and a focus of customer care orientation.

• Promote healthy lifestyle

  Provide information to clients about the role of physical activity, modes of exercise and related services and the importance of healthy activities for daily living.

• Identify customer objectives

  Identify individual motives resulting in short, medium and long term fitness goals.

• Analyse personal fitness information

  Carry out fitness assessments to establish fitness and skill level and analyse information relating to individual clients.

• Integrate exercise science to the design of the programme

  Design movements and exercises according to the functions of the musculoskeletal system and biomechanical concepts. Develop programme according to physiological concepts, the cardio-respiratory and energy systems.  

• Collect client fitness information

  Collect fitness information relating to individual clients; Identify client information which is to be collected and advise clients of correct procedures, protocols and risks prior to commencing physical assessment and exercising.

• Show professional responsibility

  Ensure that other workers and clients are treated with respect and that appropriate civil liability insurance is in place at all times of instructing.

• Motivate fitness clients

  Positively interact with and motivate fitness clients to participate in regular physical activity and promote fitness exercise as a part of a healthy lifestyle.

• Adapt fitness exercises

  Suggest relevant exercise adaptations or options to allow for individual client differences or needs and provide participants with advice on intensity and how to progress their individual performance and results.

• Integrate principles of training

  Apply components of health related fitness to the design of an individual programme in order to meet client’s abilities, needs and lifestyle and exercise preferences.

Optional knowledge and skills

Source: Sisyphus ODB