University Fitness Instructor Report: Job Sector and Employability

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the employability and job sector for fitness instructors. It begins by identifying predicted job roles, including personalized and virtual fitness instructors, as well as those in therapeutic settings. The report then differentiates the variations in roles and responsibilities based on specialization, such as gym instructors, personal trainers, virtual instructors, and those in healthcare or sports. It outlines the necessary skills and qualifications, emphasizing basic educational requirements, physiological knowledge, technical skills, and communication abilities. The report also highlights the importance of nutritional knowledge. The report includes several references to support the analysis.

Running head: EMPLOYABILITY AND JOB SECTOR
EMPLOYABILITY AND JOB SECTOR: FITNESS INSTRUCTOR
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
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1EMPLOYABILITY AND JOB SECTOR: FITNESS INSTRUCTOR
Topic 3: Different Jobs in the Sector
Predicted Job Roles
The role of a fitness instructor lie in the ability and knowledge to not only provide
instructions on exercise and fitness to individuals but also in the skill to teach and educate
individuals on the importance and strategies with which the concerned client can adhere to
exercise unique to his or her needs. Traditionally, the role of the fitness instructor was limited
to merely fitness organizations like gyms or sports clubs hence, not only being restrictive in
terms of job profiles but also in terms of public opinion on the importance of such personnel
(Engeln, Shavlik and Daly 2018). However, increased globalisation, technology and mass
media usage has lighted up novel avenues in the job sector of fitness instructors. Personalised
fitness instructors are now predicted as a novel and rapidly growing job role in terms of
employability for clients who would wish to acquire fitness in the comfort of their home.
Such instructors are unique considering their ability to provide fitness plans tailor-made to
the client’s time, space and personal or professional commitments (Fernández-Balboa and
González-Calvo 2018). Further, with the emergence of fitness monitoring applications and
software, virtual fitness instructors are the next predicted innovative job role, popularly
known as ‘health coaches’ available at the touch of a button (Modupeola et al. 2018). Novel
avenues in research and knowledge accessibility have resulted in emerging awareness on the
multifaceted role of exercise and fitness even in the treatment of difficult health conditions.
This has led to the addition of a therapeutic role in this sector, where fitness instructors need
to work collaboratively with clinicians to design clinical exercise plans in conditions where
exercise has proven to be beneficial, such as in bone and metabolic diseases and
psychological deficits like stress and depression (Yang et al. 2015).

2EMPLOYABILITY AND JOB SECTOR: FITNESS INSTRUCTOR
Variation in Roles and Responsibilities
Despite being grouped under the umbrella term of fitness instructors, the above
identified predicted novelties in job roles, necessitate the need to consider variations in job
roles and responsibilities. Based on the specialization he or she is employed in, fitness
instructors must be in possession of a varied set of skills, roles and responsibilities, which are
both similar as well as diverse (Richardson, Smith and Papathomas 2017). Fitness instructors
in gyms must not only be adept at coordinating multiple clients and cater to their needs at
once, but must also play a key role in ensuring responsible usage of fitness equipment, their
safety in functioning and their efficiency of usage. Personal fitness instructors on the other
hand, play a key role in the deliverance of person centred fitness care and hold a key
responsibility in designing a fitness plan in synchronization with the client’s personal needs
and convenience (Merali et al. 2016). Likewise, virtual fitness instructors, in addition to
possession of adequate exercise knowledge must be adept at technology and prompt
interpretation of electronic personal details and fitness results of the clients. When employed
in therapeutic and healthcare based environments, fitness instructors must not only design a
fitness plan which person-centred to the disease condition, but is also responsible for
delivering instructions in conjunction with additional health professionals (Stephen, van
Woerden and MacRury 2018). Fitness instructors employed in sports or for delivering
exercise based care to athletes, plays a key role and responsibility to ensure that the
sportsperson’s anthropometric needs, type of sport and biochemical parameters are taken into
consideration (Parviainen 2018).
Skills and Qualifications
In order to be a fitness instructor, an individual must be in possession of basic
educational qualifications like certificates and diploma degrees in health, fitness and exercise
instruction, in gym instruction and as well as in personal training. Additionally, fitness

3EMPLOYABILITY AND JOB SECTOR: FITNESS INSTRUCTOR
instructors must be well equipped with adequate knowledge on human physiological
processes and influences of exercise on the same or in response to special conditions.
Additionally, fitness instructors employed in gyms or across virtual fitness platforms or
software application must be in possession of technical skills of adequate function of
equipment, mobile based applications and virtual interpretation of client data (Levine 2019).
Communication is a key skill which must be possessed by fitness instructors of every
specialisation, especially those employed in healthcare organizations and as personal fitness
instructors. In such fields, skills of person and patient centred communication are necessary
for adhering to the personalised needs of clients and patients (Ntoumanis et al. 2017). In
healthcare organizations, due to the need of working with additional health professionals,
fitness instructors must possess additional communication skills of collaboration,
cooperation, coordination and respect for other interdisciplinary personnel. Lastly fitness
instructors employed to provide assistance to athletes or sportspersons, must be aware of
biochemical knowledge pertaining to the type of sport in question (Fontan et al. 2017).
Considering that diet and exercise go hand-in-hand, fitness instructors must possess adequate
nutritional knowledge and effect of exercise on the same (Worsfold and Sheffield 2018).

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References
Engeln, R., Shavlik, M. and Daly, C., 2018. Tone it Down: How Fitness Instructors’
Motivational Comments Shape Women’s Body Satisfaction. Journal of Clinical Sport
Psychology, 12(4), pp.508-524.
Fernández-Balboa, J.M. and González-Calvo, G., 2018. A critical narrative analysis of the
perspectives of physical trainers and fitness instructors in relation to their body image,
professional practice and the consumer culture. Sport, Education and Society, 23(9), pp.866-
878.
Fontan, L., Fraval, M., Michon, A., Déjean, S. and Welby-Gieusse, M., 2017. Vocal
problems in sports and fitness instructors: a study of prevalence, risk factors, and need for
prevention in France. Journal of voice, 31(2), pp.261-e33.
Levine, B., 2019. Designing Sport Specific Physical Fitness Programs for Students with
Developmental Variations.
Merali, S., Cameron, J.I., Barclay, R. and Salbach, N.M., 2016. Characterising community
exercise programmes delivered by fitness instructors for people with neurological conditions:
a scoping review. Health & social care in the community, 24(6), pp.e101-e116.
Modupeola, E.O., Ishak, R.S., Mayowa, A.A., Olalekan, J.O. and Sunday, A.A., 2018.
Design, Implementation and Evaluation of a Web-Based Physical Fitness Teleconsultation
System. J Inform Tech Softw Eng, 8(240), p.2.
Ntoumanis, N., Thøgersen‐Ntoumani, C., Quested, E. and Hancox, J., 2017. The effects of
training group exercise class instructors to adopt a motivationally adaptive communication
style. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports, 27(9), pp.1026-1034.

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Parviainen, J., 2018. Embodying Industrial Knowledge: An Epistemological Approach to the
Formation of Body Knowledge in the Fitness Industry. Sociology of Sport Journal, 35(4),
pp.358-366.
Richardson, E.V., Smith, B. and Papathomas, A., 2017. Crossing boundaries: The perceived
impact of disabled fitness instructors in the gym. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 29,
pp.84-92.
Stephen, K., van Woerden, H. and MacRury, S., 2018. Assessing prevalence of urinary
incontinence in Scottish fitness instructors and experience of teaching pelvic floor muscle
exercises: an online survey. Journal of Public Health.
Worsfold, K.A. and Sheffield, J.K., 2018. Eating disorder mental health literacy: What do
psychologists, naturopaths, and fitness instructors know?. Eating disorders, 26(3), pp.229-
247.
Yang, J., Kingsbury, D., Nichols, M., Grimm, K., Ding, K. and Hallam, J., 2015. Using a
qualitative approach for understanding hospital-affiliated integrated clinical and fitness
facilities: characteristics and members’ experiences. BMC public health, 15(1), p.567.

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