Personal trainers in demand as obesity epidemic grows

A nationwide obesity epidemic combined with an ageing and more health-conscious population have combined to make careers in health and fitness a booming industry.

Image: Trainer Michelle Bridges, who shot to fame in The Biggest Loser. Picture: Supplied

While these factors have been developing over the past decade, the industry is also riding a wave of popularity, thanks to such reality TV shows as The Biggest Loser and Excess Baggage turning fitness trainers into the new celebrity chefs.

The number of fitness instructors has exploded since 1999, when there were 8000 instructors around the country, according to the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. There are now 22,888, with those numbers likely to increase by 252 per cent to an extra 57,592 instructors by 2020.

Working in a gym, running an outdoor training group or operating your own personal training business are the most common forms of work within the fitness industry.

A walk through any public park before or after business hours will attest to this, with people running up and down hills, boxing and sweating out a few extra leg squats.

Also driving growth is the mining boom. Many mining companies build gyms on-site to provide staff who are on a fly-in-fly-out roster with the opportunity to stay fit.

Rick Munn, from The Australian Institute of Fitness, says they have grown from four campuses with five classrooms in 2007, to this year having six campuses and 14 classrooms.

Munn says the fitness course attracts people from a diverse range of backgrounds.

"In one week I have had a lawyer, garbologist, fruit picker, Year 12 student, AFL player, somebody who was retrenched and an office worker," Munn says.

According to a study by Deakin University, 45.1 per cent of men and 30.2 per cent of women are overweight. A further 20.2 per cent of men and 28.6 per cent of women are obese.

The other driving force behind the increase in fitness professionals is the baby boomers. In their retirement years they have more time to work on their fitness and many believe that being fit will enable them to better enjoy their retirement.

And the industry is big business. According to a survey by the Australian Fitness and Health Expo, approximately 99 per cent of consumer visitors said they would purchase fitness and health products over the next 12 months, and they spend an average of $2153.

The same survey found that more than half of Australians want to improve their health and be fitter.

The enormous growth in online learning is making it easier for people to study for their new career in fitness while not giving up their job.

"Online learning is very popular because it is flexible," careers adviser Warren Frehse says.

Womens' fitness instructor Belinda Evans is the owner of a health and fitness company. After completing a Certificate III and IV in Fitness, Evans decided to build up her clientele with younger women, mums and businesswomen who want to feel good about themselves and keep fit.

"It's a fulfilling job and, if you have good people skills and know how to make people feel good about themselves, then you will do well," she says. "You need to combine results with motivation."

Evans adds that she updates her skills through Fitness Australia every two years.

YOUNG AND HEALTHY

- The median age for fitness instructors is 33 years. The median age across all occupations is 39 years
19.2 per cent of instructors have no post-school qualifications
- The number of instructors has grown 36.7 per cent in the past five years compared to 13.1 per cent for all other occupations
- Females working part time make up 45 per cent of all fitness instructors

By Daniel Hoy and Ben Pike CareerOne

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