Personal Trainer Courses

Personal Trainer
A personal trainer assists groups and individuals in their routine exercise and delivers strength training and stretching lessons to them. The trainer may also provide his/her clients with advice on diet and other personal care areas. Personal trainers may provide services for health clubs, resorts, gyms, universities, or simply for home customers. They can also work for retirement communities and organizations in order to train employees on health and fitness.

Online Personal Trainer Course
In order to work, most personal trainers may require a formal degree or certification. There are many colleges that offer online personal trainer course. The online nature of the program means that students can learn in their convenient home based environment. It also provides flexible scheduling while means students can continue to work at the same time. Also, these programs may cost less than the traditional campus based programs.  Various online programs on diploma, associates, and bachelors level are offered in this exciting field.

Diploma In Personal Trainer
The program provides all essential knowledge and skills required to clear the certification exams in health and fitness.

Program Details
The program may not have any specific prerequisite and may be completed in a minimum of 6 months, though the duration may vary depending on various institutes. The program may enable students to:

• Explain how exercise, diet and lifestyle can be modified to achieve enhanced fitness;
• Understand the techniques to be used in order to safely perform in cardio respiratory and strength enhancing programs;
• List the procedures used to design fitness programs which incorporate nutrition, body fitness and lifestyle changes; and
• Have know how about the formation of specific diet plans that meet the requirement of various fitness programs

Curriculum
The course may constitute of about 18 detailed lessons. Following is the list of lessons usually included:

• Health and fitness;
• Preparing for exercise;
• Cardiovascular fitness lesson;
• Building endurance and strength;
• Strength and endurance exercise;
• Measuring and controlling body fat;
• Body mechanics;
• Combating threats to health;
• Skill related fitness;
• Sugar, protein, carbohydrates, and hydration lesson;
• High impact meals for fast performance;
• Weight management for athletes; and
• Losing weight and gaining safely.

The lessons mentioned above focus on concepts needed to effectively help people in achieving physical fitness. They may include learning the following:

• How the heart function is affected by exercise;
• Training and target zones for aerobics;
• Cardiovascular fitness and physical activity;
• Types of aerobic and anaerobic exercises; and
• Principles of strength training

The above mentioned curriculum is common for many courses. However, please note that it may differ by varying amounts from one institute to another.

Career Outlook
According to U.S Bureau of Labor Statistic (BLS), the media annual wage of personal trainers was $31,720 in 2012. Also, according to BLS, the employment of fitness trainers is expected to grow by 24% from 2010 to 2012. Hence the demand for the profession is expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations, according to BLS.