The fitness industry is one of the most diverse, versatile, and fulfilling work areas. However, you’re not only restricted to being a certified personal trainer or group fitness instructor–you can also work as a fitness management professional.
Working as a fitness manager is a unique position, and there’s a lot of room for growth and innovation in this field. If you’re not sure about wanting to work as a fitness management expert, here are some factors to think about and help you decide on this career path:
Who exactly is a fitness manager?
A fitness manager is a fitness professional who works in an administrative position. They are at the mid-tier of the gym leadership hierarchy and work as supervisors to personal trainers; however, they still work under senior management.
It’s a comprehensive role with a lot of training and educational opportunities, where you get to work directly with clients and trainers while also overseeing day-to-day administrative activities and tasks.
Most fitness managers work at gyms, studios, health clubs, resorts, and other fitness facilities where various kinds of health services are offered to clients. Some of these spaces and job opportunities are more specialized than others, and it can be difficult to secure a job as a fitness manager without the specific qualifications and certifications that allow you to fill that position.
The work that most fitness managers do is quite expansive and comes with many responsibilities that are specialized and focused on improving efficiency and running the business in ways that other management professionals, trainers, and even gym owners may not be able to.
The role of a fitness manager is crucial to any successful business and has great prospects for growth, payment, and ranking in the overall hierarchy.
What are some of their roles and responsibilities?
Most fitness managers are in charge of various responsibilities, filling multiple roles as part of their job description. Some of the many things you’d be expected to do in this job include the following:
- Fitness managers train certified personal and group fitness trainers and supervise staff in delivering the highest quality services to their clients.
- You will share a close relationship with clients at the fitness facility to better understand their needs and experience. You will then use this feedback and knowledge to improve fitness services.
- Given the prerequisites to work as a fitness management official, you will have the skills and often responds to assess clients, design exercise plans, and offer them specialized fitness training. In other instances, you may use the assessment you perform to place them with personal trainers who can help them best.
- Maintenance and upkeep are other major responsibilities of a fitness management expert. Your job is to ensure that your facility is functioning optimally, safely, and at par with regulations for your staff and clients.
- Recruitment is a big part of this job; you must bring certified personal trainers, coaches, group fitness instructors,yoga teachers, and other fitness professionals to work for your facility.
- As a part of your job, you will also share progress reports and focus on ways to improve business growth and performance for your gym, presenting those reports to senior management for feedback and review.
- As a mid-tier administrative professional, you will also be designing and deciding work schedules for the staff, scheduling and approving their leaves, and setting up class schedules for your different fitness staff members and trainers.
- You will be using your training as a fitness professional to design workout programs and classes that your trainers will follow. This may not be a consistent duty, but it’s likely to come up at several points.
How do you become a fitness management professional?
Becoming a fitness manager requires professional investment and development, and you must obtain certifications in this field before you qualify. As such, the complete steps and requirements include:
- Having a Bachelor’s degree in a fitness-related field or otherwise. Certain facilities may hire you on the basis of a high school diploma or GED. However, it’s increasingly getting harder to land a role with this much responsibility without an undergraduate degree.
- Ideally, you should have certifications as a personal or group fitness trainer since this is directly related to that field of work, which is a step above.
- It helps to have a specialization or niche as a fitness professional and trainer, too, given how competitive this industry is. Your niche can be a stackable skill related to health and wellness, such as rehabilitation, sports training, senior training, nutrition, fitness marketing, business, etc.
- You will need to develop specific skills such as better communication, organization, and management to successfully work in this position, and quite possibly even need sales and marketing experience.
The role is demanding and requires a lot of professional training, experience, and dedication, but that makes it such a rewarding position.
How can you become a fitness manager?
Sign up for some of the top fitness trainer programs at W.I.T.S., where they also offer incredibly well-designed fitness management certifications too. You can enhance your skill set, build up your resume, and gain a lot of valuable knowledge and education through their personal fitness trainer certification and educational courses.
About the Author
Jamie K. is a fitness manager and gym owner who has been working in the industry for over a decade. He has been helping his fitness clients achieve their goals while training other coaches and pursuing his passion as a business owner simultaneously.
