Personal Trainer (CA)
Program Overview:
Take Your Passion for Fitness into Everyone’s Workout
Push your client to run three more miles than their last run. Design a running routine for a client who wants to run their first 5K. Inspire someone frustrated from weight gained from a knee injury to persist in activities that increase their stamina and support their healing knee. Help motivate and encourage people to reach their personal fitness goals safely and to completion with a certificate as a Personal Trainer.
Personal Trainers can help energize people accomplish physical goals that often get neglected. They educate their clients on proper form, develop a workout routine to help them reach their fitness objectives, and inform them of the newest technique in fitness training. With a certificate as a Personal Trainer, you’ll have the academic knowledge to take the NASM certification exam allowing you to be a qualified certified personal trainer, boosting your income and your reputation.
Careers in Personal Training
For most Personal Trainers, the gym is their office, though there are often times trainers move workouts outside to enhance a fitness routine. Personal Trainers need to be motivators, have patience, and be encouraging. Often, there is a lot of flexibility in the work schedule that comes with a great variety in what you do every day. It’s a career that has high job satisfaction and job security as you get to help people stay on the move!
Here are some occupations and their salaries you could have with a certificate in Personal Training:
Career information below taken from bls.gov January 2020. Go to bls.gov for most current career information.
Lead, instruct, and motivate individuals or groups in exercise activities. Demonstrate techniques and form, observe participants, and explain to them corrective measures necessary to improve their skills.
Data for Los Angeles/Long Beach/Anaheim
| Typical Education Level: | Salary: | Hourly Median Wage: |
| High School Diploma or Equivalent | $46,290/year | $22.36/hour |
| Work Experience in a Related Occupation: | Job Outlook 2018-2028: | Number of Jobs 2018: |
| None needed | 7% increase (faster than average) | 7,320 |
Specialize in preventing, diagnosing, and treating muscle and bone injuries and illnesses.
Data for Los Angeles/Long Beach/Anaheim
| Typical Education Level: | Salary: | Hourly Median Wage: |
| Bachelor’s Degree | $53,930/year | N/A |
| Work Experience in a Related Occupation: | Job Outlook 2018-2028: | Number of Jobs 2018: |
| None needed | 1% increase (little or no change) | 600 |
Recreation workers design and lead activities to help people stay active, improve fitness, and have fun.
National data
| Typical Education Level: | Salary: | Hourly Median Wage: |
| High School Diploma or Equivalent | $25,060/year | $12.05/hour |
| Work Experience in a Related Occupation: | Job Outlook 2018-2028: | Number of Jobs 2018: |
| Short-term on-the-job training | 8% increase (as fast as average) | 408,300 |
What You’ll Learn at LASC taking Personal Trainer courses
You can get a Certificate of Achievement in Personal Trainer, as well as an Associate in Arts in Kinesiology for Transfer (AAT) degree where you will develop critical-thinking skills to create effective practices for your future patients to ensure they have access to a life of physical activity:
- Understanding how the body functions helps you to know what the correct techniques are for coaching people on weight machines and with free weights so they don’t injure themselves.
- Learn how to create environments in both work and home that promote healthier living by incorporating more physical activity into one’s daily routine to counteract sedentary lifestyles.
- Discover how to help others to live their best life in informing those around you on the finer points of exercise, nutrition, as well as health and safety standards.
- Want to get an associate degree? Visit your academic counselor to find out how you can benefit from getting your associate degree to help you reach your academic and career goals. LASC offers online, evening, afternoon, and even some weekend courses to help you reach your goals on your schedule!
Degrees & Courses You Will Take
Review LASC’s Certificate of Achievement in Personal Trainer and our suggested course of study for this program. Classes are located in School of Science and Lakin Fitness Wellness Center. Go to LASC’s current Course Catalog for specific course information:
Major Code: 1270
Total Units Required: 30
This certificate is designed to give you the knowledge and understanding necessary to prepare for the NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine) Certification Exam and become effective personal trainers. This is a certificate for designing individualized programs based on each client’s unique health, fitness, and goals.
The information covered by the courses required for this certificate will help you learn how to facilitate rapport, adherence, self-efficacy, and behavior change in clients, as well as design programs that help clients to improve posture, movement, flexibility, balance, core function, cardiorespiratory fitness, and muscular endurance and strength.
| Required Courses: | |
|---|---|
| KIN MAJ 100 Introduction to Kinesiology | 3 |
| KIN MAJ 117 Personal Trainer Instructor | 3 |
| ANAT 1 Introduction to Human Anatomy | 4 |
| HEALTH 2 Health and Fitness | 4 |
| Select Any (4) of the following courses: | |
| KIN 217 Self-Defense Skills | 1 |
| KIN 229 Body Conditioning Skills | 1 |
| KIN 245 Body Dynamics Skills | 1 |
| KIN 250 Weight Training Skills | 1 |
| KIN 251 Yoga Skills | 1 |
| KIN 303 Aqua Aerobics I | 1 |
| KIN 336-1 Zumba Fitness I | 1 |
| KIN 345 Body Dynamics Activity | 1 |
| TOTAL UNITS | 18 |
Get Ready Before You Start
Interested in a career as a personal trainer? Before your first class starts at LASC, you can start preparing for your career in fitness:
- Make an appointment with your LASC academic counselor to review LASC’s program, begin your Student Education Plan (SEP), and discuss what additional support services and opportunities you can be a part of. Let your counselor know about your career goals so they can ensure you get the most out of your time at LASC!
- Still in high school? Contact local fitness centers to see if they have positions as a student athletic trainer, internships, or if you can volunteer for the summer. Talk with your high school coaches to see if you could shadow them as they coach their team to learn what they do, what their process is and why they have that process. Contact local professional sports teams to see if they have internships, scholarships, or volunteer opportunities with their sports trainers so you can gain awareness of the position, while also having more experiences to put in your college applications and work resumes.
- Once you’re at LASC, make sure to get involved with off - and on - campus clubs, sports teams, and organizations, such as Toastmasters to build your public speaking skills, or become a student ambassador, or run for student body government. These create new relationships and show potential employers your commitment to building leadership skills, willing to find new opportunities, and eager to learn from new experiences.
Program Learning Outcomes
As a student, once you successfully complete the program, you should be able to:
- Learn how to facilitate rapport, adherence, self-efficacy and behavior change in clients.
- Design programs that help clients to improve posture, movement, flexibility, balance, core function, cardiorespiratory fitness, and muscular endurance and strength.