Where a personal training qualification can take you next
Personal training is a starting point more often than it is a destination. The knowledge you build assessing clients, programming and coaching behaviour transfers into a range of roles, and most of them can run alongside your existing client base rather than replacing it.
Seven routes are covered below, with what each one pays, what you need to qualify, and how honestly it fits around the hours you already work. If you are looking at moving into personal training rather than out of it, the career changer route is the better read.
1
Sports Massage Therapist
The most common switch, and the one that fits around PT hours most easily.
Charged per session
Level 3 required
Fits alongside PT
What the role involves
Preventing injury, overseeing rehabilitation and supporting recovery. Much of the anatomy and assessment knowledge you already have carries straight over.
What you need to qualify
A Level 3 Diploma in Sports Massage Therapy, or a degree in a related subject. Create does not offer this qualification.
What it pays
Charged per session rather than per hour, and rates vary considerably by location and clinic.
How it fits alongside PT
Sessions slot around training hours, so this is usually an addition to a PT business rather than a replacement for it.
2
Nutritionist
Complements coaching well, but the registered title has a higher bar than most people expect.
Per plan or retainer
Degree level
Upsell to existing clients
What the role involves
Building tailored plans, giving dietary advice and supporting clients towards health goals through food rather than training.
What you need to qualify
Registration with the Association for Nutrition generally requires degree level study. A Level 4 nutrition qualification lets you coach nutrition, which is a different thing from being a registered nutritionist.
What it pays
Either a one-off fee for a plan or a monthly retainer for ongoing coaching. The retainer model is what makes it worth doing.
How it fits alongside PT
The strongest upsell on this list. You are selling more to clients you already have rather than finding new ones.
3
Gym Owner or Fitness Studio Manager
The only route on this list that breaks the link between your hours and your income.
Scalable income
No qualification needed
Highest risk
What the role involves
Running a facility, employing coaches, and building revenue streams that do not depend on you being in the building.
What you need to qualify
No further qualification. What it needs is capital, a business model and a tolerance for risk.
What it pays
No ceiling, and no floor. Members pay whether you are coaching or not.
How it fits alongside PT
It does not, really. Upfront cost, premises and employing people make this a change of job rather than an addition to one.
4
Exercise Referral Specialist
Clients arrive referred and often funded, which solves the hardest part of self employment.
Often funded
Level 3 required
Network outside the gym
What the role involves
Designing safe programmes for people referred with conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease or obesity. It sits between fitness and healthcare.
What you need to qualify
A Level 3 exercise referral qualification, then relationships with local healthcare professionals who will refer to you.
What it pays
Frequently funded through insurance or referral schemes, so affordability is less of a barrier than with private clients.
How it fits alongside PT
Well, once the referral network exists. Your gym membership base is unlikely to supply these clients, so the work is outside the building.
5
Fitness Sales Representative
Easier than selling yourself, which is what most trainers find hardest.
Salary plus commission
No qualification needed
Leaves the gym floor
What the role involves
Selling equipment, supplements or fitness software to businesses rather than sessions to individuals.
What you need to qualify
Nothing formal. Gym floor experience and the ability to hold a sales conversation are the qualification.
What it pays
Typically a salary with commission, which is more predictable than a client book.
How it fits alongside PT
Poorly. It is usually full time and off the gym floor, so treat it as an exit rather than an addition.
6
Group Fitness Instructor
More people per hour, which is the simplest way to raise what an hour is worth.
Per class not per client
Level 2 upwards
Fits alongside PT
What the role involves
Leading classes rather than one to one sessions. Different skill, same knowledge base.
What you need to qualify
A Level 2 instructing qualification plus a discipline specific award, depending on what you want to teach.
What it pays
Paid per class, so a full studio pays considerably better per hour than a single client.
How it fits alongside PT
Very well. Classes fill the off peak hours that one to one work leaves empty, and they feed your PT enquiries.
7
Online Fitness Coach
The route with the highest ceiling and the biggest marketing workload.
No location limit
Level 3 required
Mostly a marketing job
What the role involves
Programming and coaching remotely, with check ins rather than sessions. Geography stops being a constraint.
What you need to qualify
A Level 3 personal training qualification, insurance, and a platform to deliver through.
What it pays
Scales with client numbers rather than hours, but the earnings depend far more on marketing than on coaching.
How it fits alongside PT
Easily at first, and then it competes for your attention. Most trainers who go online end up choosing.
Moving abroad is not a career change
Working as a trainer overseas comes up often enough to mention, but it is a change of location rather than a change of role. The qualification requirements, the client acquisition and the day to day are recognisably the same job. If that is what you are considering, the Dubai route covers the practicalities.
For the specialisms Create does qualify you for, including exercise referral, older adults, pre and post natal and business skills, the CPD range is the place to start. The PT Business Accelerator is the closest thing on it to the gym owner route above.
Scalable means income can grow without you working more hours.
Which of these can Create qualify me for?
Exercise referral, group instructing, online coaching and business skills are covered by Create's Level 3 and CPD range. Sports massage and registered nutrition are not.
Do I have to stop personal training to do one of these?
No. Massage, nutrition, group instructing and exercise referral all sit alongside a client book. Gym ownership and fitness sales generally do not.
Which route pays best?
Gym ownership and online coaching have the highest ceilings, because neither is limited by the hours you can bill. Both carry more risk and more unpaid work than the others.
What is the fastest route to a second income stream?
Group instructing, because it uses hours you are probably not billing anyway and needs the least additional qualification.
Is exercise referral work funded?
It is frequently funded through referral schemes or insurance, which removes the affordability barrier that limits private client work.
Ollie Bell
Managing Director · 1 November 2024 · 6 min read
Reviewed by
Adam Rhodes
Owned a gym for eight years before founding Create
