Professional fitness coach from a health club vs an outdoor personal trainer

I remember when I started my fitness career and there was a huge confusion with terminology.

The confusion was between the terms “fitness coach” and “personal trainer”.

Those things are not only terms so let me explain it to you.

There are 3 levels of qualification in personal training: fitness instructor, personal trainer and master trainer.

A fitness instructor is qualified to work in a gym, operate exercise machines and create basic fitness programs.

A personal trainer has also completed the fitness instructor qualification and is qualified to create more elaborate programs. They also have a great knowledge of anatomy and physiology.

A master trainer has completed both fitness instructor and personal trainer qualifications and can create programs for athletes, kids, adults, and the elderly. A master trainer also has a good knowledge of nutrition.

A personal trainer and a master trainer are certified by Fitness Australia and are required to continue studying forever, updating their knowledge. They are required to do a certain number of courses every year to keep their qualifications.

On top of the master trainer qualification, master trainers add other qualifications to their belt like nutrition, yoga, Pilates and so on.

All trainers need to be certified by industry regulators.

There are some cowboy trainers out there that have no qualifications and call themselves personal trainers. So be aware.

So now let’s go to coaching in sports. A coach is not qualified, is not a personal trainer or master trainer. They are basically an average person that trains someone.

Basically a very dangerous situation to say the least.

So the solution is simple. Always look for certified and qualified Master Trainers.