If you exercise to feel good and feel your best running or doing pushups, you may want to consider a career as a fitness trainer. It isn't enough just to be "in shape". You'll have to have patience and persistance to be a good motivator and a skilled listener. Being nurturing will take you far, and if you love working with all types of people that's another excellent trait. You needn't look like a body builder, but you should be dedicated to a healthy lifestyle so that you can be a good role model. To become a fitness trainer, you'll have to take a certification test.

Before you do that, you may want to study at a personal training fitness school. They offer classes in human anatomy, physiology, (the science of exercise, balancing muscle mass and flexibility, measuring fat mass, and calculating heart rates.), kinesiology, the science of movement, or muscle testing, and business principles. You'll receive information about which foods are healthy, and which are not, how food fuel converts into energy, the usefulness of various supplements, vitamins and minerals. There will also be classes on exercise program design, massage techniques, and energy balancing. They also cover CPR and first-aid as a basic part of the program. The length of the course for fitness training varies with the school, but in general many are about 250 hours long.

When you graduate from a personal fitness school or course, you will be eligible to take a certification test. But since there is no government-endorsed certification available, you will have to pick from a group of schools that offer it. There is AFPA, American Fitness Professionals and Associates, ACE, America's Council on Exercise, NFPT-CPT, The National Federation of Professional Trainers (the most popular), ISSA, International Sports Sciences Association, and NASM, The National Academy of Sports Medicine. You may want to think about a specialty, like working with the elderly, or the chronically sick, working perhaps with children or athletes.

The upside is that with a specialty, you have more to offer, and you can also charge a bit more for your services. Next, it's time to get a job at a health club or set up your own business. Most clubs employ personal trainers, so it's best to start looking right where you live. If your heart is set on being your own boss, you will have to market yourself well. You should create a paper trail with your calling card, flyers, the internet and more. You might even try giving seminars and offering free consultations. Working in a health club may not be what you desire. So, as a personal trainer, you could choose to work in corporate fitness, on cruises, at resorts and spas, maybe even do online training. Or what about writing about fitness, athletic coaching, offering classes on your own, or opening up your own studio?