The role of a fitness instructor is to develop a special relationship with clients and help them achieve their full potential. The responsibilities vary from job to job but typical coaching roles include providing feedback – both positive and critical – assessing strengths and weaknesses and clearly communicating with clients
As well as the practical side of the job, fitness instructors must be able to plan and have good administration skills to deal with the day to day running of a fitness programme. Typical duties include organising personal training programmes, keeping records of individual progress and maximising time by careful planning
For qualified personal trainers, the entry level pay can be anywhere between £12,000 and £14,000 per year. This can be significantly boosted once established and some fitness instructors working at gyms earn from around £16,000 to £20,000 in their first year. Some gyms ask personal trainers to pay a monthly fee to work as a freelance trainer at their gym.

• Communication and listening
• Diet, nutrition, exercise and health
• Giving clear and precise guidance
• Instruction and training
• Knowing, adhering and teaching safety guidelines
• Mentoring and approachability
• Negotiation and discretion
• Patience and resilience
• Planning and management
• Professionalism and motivation

Having a fitness certification is a great advantage; especially if this is a career in which an individual expects to excel at and reach a wide variety of clients. There are various certifications that offer a specialisation in Fitness Instruction or Exercise. These are:
•    City & Guilds
•    NCFE
•    OCR
•    VTCT
•    EDI
•    CTR
Other areas that should be covered to make an instructor competent are food, diet, nutrition, first aid and life guard training. Those Fitness Instructors who wish to work with children will need a security or background check. The diversity in training will allow instructors to work with sick patients who may suffer from diabetes, hypertension, high levels of stress related illnesses, heart disease or even back or joint pain.