Amelia - Personal Training
Why did you choose to take a Personal Training course?
Before becoming a Personal Trainer I was a teacher, but I really wanted to change career. The turning point for me was when I was training to run a half marathon – I kept telling a friend of mine how much I enjoyed it and they then suggested I should train other people as a job; it was the perfect combination of my passion for fitness and my experience as a teacher. The idea of training other people as a job just sounded like a great idea to me. After some research, I came across The Training Room – I initially looked at the blended course, which was a longer training option, as I thought it would be easier to fit the learning around my commitments and it would give me more time to study and take it all in. After weighing it up, I thought it would be better to be qualified in the quickest way possible - I wanted to start training clients as soon as possible, so I enrolled onto the fast-track course.
What did you enjoy about the course?
My tutor was fantastic! He was excellent at explaining everything and answered our questions thoroughly and clearly. The online platform was also really helpful for when I was studying at home. There was a lot to learn in such a short space of time, so it was key that these materials were available to me online.
What was the biggest challenge you encountered on your course?
I was the oldest in my class by quite a few years, so I was really nervous about that. I quickly realised that I shouldn’t have worried as my tutor was great and managed to help settle my nerves very quickly.
Were you able to fit the course around your commitments/your lifestyle?
I worked part-time as a teacher throughout the course and I managed to fit in my studies with very few problems. However, we were quite lucky with our timetable as it was around the Christmas break – this meant we had an extra 2 weeks to study, and being a teacher I had time off work as well. I’ve always felt if you want something enough you can always make it work.
Tell me about your career since graduating from The Training Room – what have you done and what does your future look like?
For me I was never looking to work in a gym; I always wanted to be self-employed - I already had my business planned out, I had a target market identified and knew exactly what sort of clients I would have. As a result, I had clients lined up really quickly after graduating. In preparation for getting qualified, I set up a web page and social media channels. This meant I already had session enquiries before I had even finished my course! Luckily, I was due to graduate in January which is a great time to be a personal trainer with people’s New Year’s resolutions to get in shape; it also fit it with finishing my job as a teacher.
Your Instagram account is really strong – do you find you get a lot of business off the back of this? How else do you market yourself?
I’m advertising locally with leaflets, I do use Instagram (but not as a tool to gain clients) and I use Facebook - in particular local Facebook groups which has worked well as I have gained a few clients from this source. I now have a regular client base and they are really enjoying training with me.
Have you completed any other training since graduating with us?
I did Metabolic Circuits CPD which was really good fun and I also completed a CPD in Gym Based Boxing which was brilliant! My clients absolutely love it! Having completed the course, what advice would you give people who are considering a PT course themselves?
Just do it! It’s great fun and is a qualification you will always have – so even if you’re working, like I was, and not ready to start your PT career straight away, you can still get qualified and pick it up when you’re ready. My biggest piece of advice: just make sure if you do it, work hard and make sure you study! The sooner you start the sooner you can start earning money and training clients! Inspired by Amelia’s journey? Take a look at her website and social pages for PT inspiration:
https://www.ameliafitness.co.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/ameliafitness.london/
https://www.facebook.com/AmeliaFitnessLondon/ https://www.instagram.com/ameliafitness.london/ https://www.facebook.com/AmeliaFitnessLondon/