Health Fitness Jobs

There are other careers available in the health and fitness area other than personal fitness trainers. The medical field offers many rewarding opportunities, as do the areas of leisure travel, sport specific training, coaching, and nutrition.

For those who do not want to work at a fitness or health club, the medical field may be a better fit. The area of physical therapy is very much like the personal training field, but with different goals. Clinical exercise specialists work with clients who are, instead of losing weight or training for a marathon, striving to learn to walk again after a serious car accident, or are working on gaining their upper body strength after a heart attack. Other patients can include severely injured professional athletes, the extremely obese, or the elderly.

Trainers are always in high demand by college athletic teams, and those wanting to work with kids can find work as high school coaches, trainers, or medical support staff. These individuals can work with athletes on the training field offering support and advice during practice, on the field during games, and after the game in the locker room tending to injuries.

For the more adventurous, opportunities on cruise ships and in resorts abounds. Both of these outlets in the leisure industry employ personal trainers to lead different types of fitness classes, as well as employing those trained in massage to provide spa services and tend to sports injuries.

Individuals trained in the specialized area of dietary needs and nutrition can provide services in hospitals, health clubs, and as a personal dietary assistant. Their knowledge and experience can help individuals cope with eating disorders, conditions such as diabetes, and post surgery care such as that required by heart patients and others with long-term illnesses. They can counsel individuals with serious food allergies and diabetes to help manage their conditions and develop a healthy relationship with food, as well as help schools teach children to make healthy food choices.

For those who want to strike out on their own, private coaches and trainers can carve out a decent living in many areas. Besides working on cardiovascular-pumping aerobics, or muscle mass building weightlifting, health and fitness professionals can instruct students in yoga and Pilates studios, or work in biofeedback clinics.

Jobs within the health and fitness fields that can help individuals decide which career path is right for them include positions in the field of customer relations.

Receptionists are the front line of a health and fitness establishment, and are often responsible for that all-important first contact with potential or existing clients. This position can help those interested in furthering their fitness career to decide whether they have the personality and temperament to work with clients on an individualized basis every day. Sustaining a positive mood and a bright outlook is vital to working in this field, as it is easy to lose hope and sight of the goal, which is oftentimes very far out.

Another position that can help make the decision more clear is maintenance at the club. Maintaining the machinery and other fitness equipment is vital to the club’s success; a large amount of the company’s invested capital is in it. Having frequent problems with the equipment and being unable to utilize it will create discontent in the clients and cost the business lost fees and more money lost to equipment repairs and replacements. Maintaining the equipment in proper order will keep the business running effectively and provide the one who maintains it with a specialized type of knowledge that could be very high in demand in the future.

Yet another important role of running the club is that of the manager. Running things on the business end and making sure the organization stays financially sound is no simple feat. Cutting costs, maximizing profits, staying in compliance with regulations and laws, paying taxes, retaining employees…it all is important to running a successful health and fitness establishment.

Salary expectations vary widely in this field, depending on how many years of experience the employee has, what types of credentials and accreditations he or she has, what areas of specialization they practice, and where in the country they are working.

Salaries can range from $12 an hour to $15,000 for a six-week training session. There is a spot for virtually anyone who is dedicated to fitness and well-being in the health and fitness fields.