Elena Prokopets
Claire Briggs Webber, CPRW
After a pandemic-prompted slump, the personal training industry is back on the growth track. In 2021, class occupancy has reached 120% of pre-COVID levels in most markets. That’s just the cusp of growth. Between 2022 and 2028, the US fitness industry is projected to grow at a whopping 171% and hit $434.74 billion.
With membership rates crawling up, fitness studios are actively looking to hire more people. That’s where you and your compelling resume come in. To help you secure a coveted and well-paid gig, our team prepared a detailed personal trainer resume sample paired with some extra writing tips. Let’s dig in!
Personal Trainer Resume Example (Word version)
Personal Trainer Resume (text version)
Professional Summary
CPT, specializing in cardio, strength, and barre training. Experienced in leading group classes at boutique studios and providing on-site private training. Former professional triathlon competitor and surfing enthusiast.
Skills
- Weight training
- Cardio
- HIIT
- MMA
- Guided meditation
- Meal planning
- Certified Personal Trainer
- Barre Instructor
Additional Skills
- Customer experience management
- Appointment scheduling software
- Weight loss regiment development
- Empathy
- Conflict resolution
- Group coaching
Work History
Iron Man Gym and Training Center
Class Instructor
December 2019 – Present
Currently working as a fitness instructor and personal trainer at an upscale fitness center, specializing in marathon/triathlon prep and weight training.
Classes taught:
- Triathlon prep
- Aqua aerobics
- Body fitness
- High and low-impact aerobics
- Kickboxing
- Cardio kickboxing
Personal Trainer
Self-employed
March 2017 – present
As a personal trainer, I work with professional athletes and sports enthusiasts, eager to reach specific fitness goals.
- Assisted two clients in training programs that prepared them to complete the City Marathon
- Provide training services to the reigning state MMA champion (lightweight division)
- Empower a morbidly obese client to reach their fitness goals and finish a 5K
- Average client satisfaction rate: 98%.
September 2016 – December 2020
United States Navy
Hospital Corpsman
Served for a period of four years in VA and HI. Responsible for providing medical care to sailors and marines, maintaining medical equipment, and maintaining health and safety standards.
- Assisted certified physical therapist with conducting rehabilitation sessions for post-trauma patients.
- Conducted weight and strength training sessions for the hospital population.
- Assisted clients with severely impaired range of motion achieve an improved quality of life
Education
University of Michigan
Certificate of Physical Therapy
August 2019
Completed a certificate program and passed a stringent series of state-mandated examinations to become a Certified Personal Trainer
Memberships
- Gold Member Personal Trainers of Michigan
- Michigan Association of Contact Sports Trainers
How To Write a Personal Trainer Resume: Quick Tips
Clients’ results and recommendations are personal trainers’ best “bragging rights”. Before you sit down to write your resume, think about the praise you’ve received earlier and the incredible transformation you’ve been part of. Jot these down, alongside your main skills, to use in your resume and cover letter.
Once you have this shortlist of talking points ready, start outlining your resume using the following tips.
Organize Relevant Work Experiences
Start with the basics: Organize your work experience section by an employer. If you have mostly done part-time or freelance work, don’t fret either. Both are seen as a “given” in the industry.
To correctly include freelance work experience on your resume, you can either list the title + employer name + a “freelance/part-time” moniker. Or create a summative “Self-Employed” entry where you list data about a variety of clients/organizations you’ve worked for.
Don’t have much formal personal training experience under your belt? That’s not a deal-breaker either. Think about some non-traditional work experiences that you’ve had.
Perhaps you co-taught a tumbling class of some sort for kids? This gives you experience in working with others, as well as learning how to spot your students in order to avoid them getting hurt. Or maybe you taught a free yoga class at a local community center for some time?
Experiences like this show that you understand how to teach others about physical exercise and understand some of the safety regulations that come with teaching. So be sure to highlight them on your resume.
Don’t Lie on Your Resume
It’s ok to not be the perfect candidate, and the hiring managers will most likely notice if something seems weird about your resume. Just stay calm, and be honest. If you find yourself lacking in any area such as experience, you can just focus on relevant skills or extracurriculars that would likely make you an excellent candidate for the job.
While lying on a resume isn’t illegal, doing so can tarnish your reputation. News travels fast in the fitness community. So the last thing you’d want is being branded as that “PT who likes making up stuff”.
Curate Your Skills
Whether you’re a new or experienced personal trainer, you probably tried a lot of different sports and training regimens yourself. That said: Not all of your experiences and experiments should be brought up on a resume.
Remember that when writing a resume you want to keep everything brief. After all, there will be time to talk about your previous employment during a job interview.
To keep your resume short and sweet, align your training experiences to the employer’s needs. If the studio primarily specializes in yoga training and pilates, don’t mention your love for heavy weight lifting.
After all, if your resume is too long, especially if you only have a few years of experience in the area, your resume will likely be ignored in favor of a shorter one.
To create a short and compelling resume, try one of our free resume templates. Each of our designs provides a reference layout that helps organize information on the page more effectively.
Final Tip: Proofread Before You Submit
The first thing you need to do before submitting any form, whether it’s your taxes or your resume, is to thoroughly read it and make sure everything is correct. It would be a shame to send in your resume only to find out 3 weeks later that your phone number was listed incorrectly. So triple-check everything before you hit send!
