How To Become A Personal Trainer In Australia: A Complete Guide

Are you a body enthusiast and a fitness freak who lives in Australia? If so, you should consider a career as a personal trainer.

With health and hygiene taking centre stage, the demand for special facilities encouraging a healthy lifestyle has increased exponentially.

For the same reason, an increasing number of people are pursuing professions in health and fitness. If you are interested in health and wellness, personal training can be a rewarding career for you.

But do you know how to become a personal trainer in Australia? Don't worry; we have your back in this; scroll down to learn everything you need to know to become a personal trainer, including qualifications, certifications, courses, salary, and more.

1. What Does A Personal Trainer Do?

A personal trainer works with clients to achieve their health and fitness goals through exercise, movement, dieting and nutrition control, and lifestyle changes. Their clients could be from any age range, from children to the elderly. It could also be within a gym or on their own as an independent personal trainer.

You could lead group exercise and fitness classes in a gym and take them outdoors for other physical activities. They can also be self-employed by working with their clients one-on-one by preparing a proper workout and diet plan according to their needs and lifestyle.

It is essential to create personalised exercises, fitness plans and diets for the patients. Personal trainers must use their knowledge to do this.

However, it is also important to remember that the goals must be achievable and that the program you develop for your client is per those goals.

2. Major Duties and Tasks of a Personal Trainer

• Must understand the client's goals and needs.

• Evaluate the health and fitness of the client.

• Set goals that are realistic and achievable.

• Develop an appropriate fitness and diet plan.

• Explain the plan in an easily understandable way.

• Help clients through the fitness plan by adequately guiding them.

• Monitor the progress at every stage and modify the program according to it. Adjust the plan according to the health of the client.

• Research health and fitness and stay up-to-date on the latest methods.

• Provide detailed feedback to the clients on their progress.

3. Skills Needed To Become A Good Personal Trainer

The following are the skills needed to become a personal trainer:

• Patience: Gaining fitness can be long, depending on the client's health. You need to stay patient throughout the program.

• Communication skills: You must communicate your ideas effectively with your clients for the best result.

• Adaptable: You should be able to adjust and adapt to clients of all backgrounds. It is also essential to change the program according to the progress. If it is too hectic for your client, the chance of a potential injury is very high.

• Organisation: You will deal with a lot of data from different clients. If you are not well organised, you might mix up other clients' data, which would cause many problems.

• Integrity: Never compromise on client confidentiality. The details they share with you are confidential, and you should not share them with anyone outside work.

• Accountability: You should be accountable for your work. The clients are putting their trust in you.

4. Steps To Become A Personal Trainer In Australia

Many people think that becoming a personal trainer or getting admission to a training course is easy. But it isn't. Becoming a personal trainer demands a lot of work. 

Here are the things that you have to do to become a fitness/personal trainer:

Step 1: Join A Personal Trainer Course

No matter how many years of experience you have in Gym training, you need a certificate to become a personal trainer. And for that, the first step is to join a personal trainer course, online or offline. After that, you should get a certificate III or IV in fitness.

• Certificate III Fitness: If you plan to work in a gym or fitness centre, a certificate III for fitness would be perfect. It is one of the best online personal training courses Australia provides in fitness if you want to become a gym instructor or a group exercise instructor. With this certificate alone, you will be able to find entry-level jobs. However, you will need to earn a certificate IV in fitness to become a personal trainer.

• Certificate IV Fitness: Earning this certificate will qualify you to work as a personal trainer in Australia. While certificate III gives you the basic knowledge in the field, this course trains you in skills needed to have a steady and long career as a personal trainer. You should be 16 years and above and be a permanent Australian resident to apply for this certificate. To apply for this course, you must also hold a current first aid and CPR certificate.

• Complete Personal Trainer: This is a popular personal trainer course in Australia. You don't need any prior certifications to join this course as it includes both Certificate III and IV in fitness. So, it starts from the fundamentals and then covers the necessary knowledge and details for you to begin working as a personal trainer.

• Personal Trainer Course TAFE: The Technical and Further Education colleges (TAFE) are an excellent opportunity to fulfil your dream of becoming a personal trainer. Personal Trainer Course offers certificate III and Certificate IV in fitness in one go, enabling you to become an independent personal trainer. This nationally recognised program of TAFE is a great choice to consider among the personal trainer courses in Australia, online and offline. These courses are highly flexible, and you can take them conveniently in on-campus or blended modes.

What To Expect From The Personal Trainer TAFE Course?

Certificate IV fitness courses teach you the responsibilities of a personal trainer and prepare you well for it. Here is what you can expect from your training course:

• The ability to arrange fitness programs with the consultation of professionals.

• Developing a fitness training model for each client according to their requirements.

• Deliver, demonstrate and teach fitness training activities to clients.

• Monitor and set up fitness training equipment.

• Be an instructor and train clients with physical fitness training activities.

• Add the principles of science and physique to your training sessions.

• Formulate healthy and fitness-assuring diet plans for clients according to individual needs.

• Enable yourself to set up a business model and create your fitness training centre.

You are becoming your boss; isn't that amazing?

How To Get Admission To The TAFE Certificate IV Fitness Program?

The basic requirements to become a TAFE IV certified trainee are:

• Basic computer skills.

• Physical fitness.

• CPR and First Aid certification.

The prerequisites to get admission to the certificate IV fitness program is:

• Completion of the Certificate III

Suppose you do not want to waste time on two different courses. In that case, you can also enrol in the Complete Personal Trainer or Personal Trainer Course to become a personal trainer by studying only one course.

Step 2: Work And Gain Experience as A Personal Trainer

After completing the course, the next step is to build a reputation for yourself as a trainer. However, it won't happen overnight; you must be very careful and build your career slowly.

One way to gain experience is through the trainee program that comes with your trainer. During this program, you will be a trainee/assistant instructor in a Gym or a private facility for a certain period. It is one of the most critical steps in your career path, as you will only get clients with experience in the field.

It teaches you how to train your clients, manages a gym, and schedule training sessions. It is also an opportunity to meet professional trainers and build connections to be an independent trainer shortly.

You can do your vocation training in any of the following institutions:

• Gym.

• Fitness and recreational centres.

• Aquatic recreational and training facilities.

• Other fitness centres.

This training session provides you with all the necessary vocational training to become a personal trainer.

It gives you an insight into your future career and what mistakes you should avoid. It will also help in the job search process, as you already have a network to back you up.

Step 3: Register Yourself as a Personal Trainer

To practice as a professional trainer, you should register yourself as a trainer.

Ensure that you register with a well-recognised organisation so your career as a personal trainer will be smooth. It will help you increase your reputation among other training professionals and client confidence.

If you are looking for a safe and reputed organisation for registration, our suggestion is AUSactive. It is one of the most trusted health and fitness associations in Australia. That means your registration will have validity and the same reputation all over the country.

The best part about Fitness Australia is that you will get insurance along with the registration. That way, you can remain safe and secure and focus on your business.

To register in Fitness Australia, all you need is to have the specific qualifications of a personal trainer and the skills required for the job.

Step 4: Apply as a Personal Instructor

The last step of becoming a personal instructor is to apply for the role and get a job.

You can apply for the position in any physical training institution, such as a gym, aerobic training centre, or fitness facility. These are the places for a beginner to start their career and work up to a professional trainers.

However, if you want to work outside the board of a pre-existing institution, you can start training yourself. Start by taking small steps and train one to five clients first in the beginning. And if the session goes well, you can create your fitness facility easily.

5. Personal Trainer Salary

The salary of a personal trainer depends upon various factors like experience, reputation and location.

According to Payscale, it is AU$50,663 per year. The Seek website lists the average annual salary of personal trainers in Australia as between AU$50,000 to AU$70,000.

6. How Much Does It Cost To Become A Personal Trainer In Australia?

According to fiteducation.edu.au, a personal trainer course in Australia costs AU$ 4815 on average. It is for a Certificate IV in Fitness.

7. Career Opportunities For Personal Trainers in Australia

Personal trainers generally have a very successful career in Australia; according to the seek website, the projected job growth in 5 years in this field is 8.5%. There are different work opportunities for personal trainers. Some of them are:

• Running a gym

• Group training activities 

• One-on-one training with clients

• Health and fitness coach

• Fitness class instruction

• Fitness influencer

8. How Long Does it Take To Become A Personal Trainer?

The main factor that affects the duration of the personal trainer course is the mode of education.

To complete the course, personal trainer courses online and face-to-face learning take different durations. 

It usually takes nine months to two years to become a personal trainer in Australia. It is way less than compared to many other careers, but it takes just as much effort to achieve it.

9. Closing Words

Becoming a personal trainer is easy if you are ready to work hard and put your best efforts into it.

You can become a personal trainer in nearly a year with dedication and focus. However, you will need to continue to work hard to gain experience and a reputation to find good clients.

Hopefully, this guide on becoming a personal trainer in Australia has helped you understand the educational qualifications and requirements needed to be a personal trainer.

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