New Career

Hi T., I was where you are some 8 years back, hated my job,stressed out, then it was like my prayres were answered! I found an opportunity that I can do from the comfort of my home, set my own time and have true time and financial freedom while making a diffrence for tohers as well. It is a win, win satuation for me, I love what I do. You sound like some one who may be a fit for it as well. You can check my personal web site at http://foryourhealth.reliv.com and let me know if you have questions or have an interest.

Wishing you the very best.

A.

My husband was a personal trainer at Bally's for many years (but it was pre-kids) the one thing that was frustrating was the fluctuation. Meaning if someone flaked on a training session, he didn't get his "trainer" rate. However, we did always talk about how nice it was for a family if one parent is working the regular 9-5 type job. It could be the perfect balance.
He worked very early in the morning and then was "off" from 10:30 - 3 . Mainly becuase that is when his clients scheduled their time, but you can see how these times could line up where you don't really need a lot of child care and you could be spending the bulk of your day with kids if you had a similar schedule.
Best of luck.

I worked at a Fitness Instructor and trainer in college and grad school. I loved it, but the money is highly dependent on the club/group you contract with. In general, you make an hourly rate and I made more for training sessions than for a class. As for the atmosphere- again this depends on where you are working. I used to do group classes for off-season athletes and they were intense- 6:00 am full-out cardio. Later in the afternoon, I taught a low-impact class that was mostly older women who laughed and had a blast. I also worked with a private group who sent us out to people's homes to help them get in shape- many many options all with different "feels".

The hours were fine when I was in school, but imagine that it would be tough with a family. Most of my fitness classes were early morning and in the evening- same with training sessions. Certification process isn't too bad, but involves a lot of reading and understanding of kinesthetics.

Hi T.,

I understand where you're coming from. I was in the same situation several years ago. I'm now in a career that I LOVE and my job has been very flexible with me being a mom. I started in the fitness industry and my degree is in Fitness Promotion. I still love dealing with that field, I just don't do it directly - I'm now in Parks & Recreation. Here are the pros - you are working to help people feel better about themselves, you get to celebrate their successes and see their physical, mental, and emotional transformations, you get paid to stay in shape and workout (what mom doesn't need that opportunity), and its a ton of fun. Cons - you work that hours that "regular" people don't (ie: there are no 9-5 fitness jobs), it's usually EARLY morning and evenings that are peak hours, it can be redundent (see the same people, do the same classes, etc), the pay is not that great (depending on where you work). Certification isn't that difficult to obtain and half the battle is having the right attitude to motivate others - and sounds like you already have that. I started in the YMCA's, Rec. Center at a college, then moved on to corporate fitness. They all paid differently, had different groups of people to serve, but I enjoyed each one the same. Best of luck to you. Feel free to email me if you have any questions: ____@____.com.