At first glance, you might think that military life and life as a personal trainer (PT) don’t have that much in common. How can life on base be anything like life in a gym, right!?
It turns out that life in the military might have prepared you to be a highly skilled personal trainer without you even realising it.
Here are 5 skills you already have that will give you a head-start in the fitness industry:
All those years getting up bright and early have perfectly prepared you for life as a PT. That’s because for most PTs 6 am until 9 am is one of the busiest times of the day.
Here is an example of what your day could look like:
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 4:15am | Get up |
| 4:30am | Cycle to work |
| 4:45am | Open the gym and set up for the day ahead |
| 5:30am | First PT client/Class |
| 8:00am | Finish morning PT/class session |
| 8:30am | Admin, Reports, Operational Shift |
| 1:00pm | Leave the gym and go home |
| 4:00pm | Back to the gym for Personal Training/classes |
| 10:00pm | Bed |
However, it is definitely worth noting that the day to day of a personal trainer will depend on:
Clients who work typical 9 am to 5 pm jobs love to get in for a quick session before work, so if you’re there to provide it, you’re onto a winner.
Organisation and discipline are hammered home throughout your military career through live-fire training, fitness training, fieldcraft training and teamwork tasks. When you take that level of organisation and discipline over to life as a personal trainer, you’ll absolutely smash it.
And all those things earn you glowing client reviews, long-lasting clients and an increased number of referrals.
What’s more, since you already know how to organise and discipline yourself, you’ll be able to take some of those lessons and help your clients to do the same in their lives.
Life in the military isn’t easy.
You’re held to a high standard and you’re expected to put in the work.
You can get deployed anywhere around the world for months at a time. There are huge highs, camaraderie and a tight-knit unit, but you can also have hours of ‘busy work,’ endless tasks and long hours.
The good news is, that your ability to work hard and get the job done is a huge factor in becoming a successful personal trainer.
But if you’re already used to putting in the hard work then you’ll be able to deal with it.
Let’s be honest, you’d never survive in the military without a sense of humour.
When you spend a huge amount of time with the same few people you become like a family – and that means jokes, banter and winding each other up.
If you’re going to be working full time as a PT, you’ll need that sense of humour.
The hours are not consistent and you’ll meet some interesting personalities along the way, regardless of being a self-employed PT or gym based.
A sense of humour makes the job so much more enjoyable; chatting with and motivating your clients more easily and you’ll also keep yourself in a better mood and raise everyone’s spirits.
In the services, you learn fast that you either succeed or fail as a team.
It means taking personal responsibility for solutions (even if you didn’t cause the problem).
As a personal trainer, that approach is an absolute game-changer, it leads to self-reflection where you review your approach and improve your service to make you well respected and in demand.
Personal responsibility also creeps into your working environment, for example, if you’re employed by a gym and it’s messy you tidy it, if a member is struggling, you help them. Ultimately, through personal responsibility, you’ll have happier clients and generate more clients.
The combination of these 6 skills gives military leaver’s a huge head start when it comes to working successfully as a personal trainer. If you can get up early, work hard, bring a sense of humour, stay organised, be hands-on and take personal responsibility for your coaching business, you’ll be so much more likely to succeed.
Interested in learning more about the courses we can provide to Ex-Military personnel through ELCAS?
Read through our ELCAS courses page and speak to our careers advisors!