Career Path for Group Fitness Instructors
Why Understanding Career Risks is Critical for Fitness Professionals
Like any professional, fitness professionals face career risks, particularly risks that arise from malpractice claims. The consequences of a malpractice claim can damage your finances, reputation, and mental wellbeing. To…
IDEA Career Success Workshop: Stay Motivated and Avoid Career Burnout
Passion Meets Pressure Fitness professionals often enter the industry with passion, energy, and a deep desire to help others improve their health. These qualities create powerful connections with clients and…
IDEA Career Success Workshop: The Pursuit of Higher Education
A recent message from a group fitness instructor captured a common sentiment among professionals seeking growth: a desire to take education to the next level and explore formal academic study…
Fitness Career Reinvention in 2025
Embracing Technology as a Career Catalyst Technology is no longer a side tool in fitness careers; it is a central driver of success. Wearable devices, mobile fitness apps, and AI…
The Strategic Acquisition of CECs
The fitness industry has come a long way in terms of credibility and professionalism since the early days of aerobics classes and outdated gear. Today, industry standards are higher than…
IDEA Career Success Workshop: Staying in the Fitness Game
How do you succeed in the fitness profession? Whether you’ve just gotten certified, you’re returning to a fitness career or you’re an experienced pro who wants to develop new skills, the answer is the same: keep learning. Continuing education is a career necessity that becomes increasingly important as the fitness industry grows more sophisticated, diverse, specialized and evidence-based.
The Best Education Pathway for Success in the Fitness Industry
You may have decided on a career in fitness because you enjoy working out and helping people. While those are excellent starting points, professional success in the fitness industry requires…
Fitness Careers Over a Lifetime: Pathways, Purpose & Professional Growth
A career in fitness can be as dynamic and transformative as the lives we help change through movement. Many professionals begin their journey in client-facing roles such as personal training,…
Forge a Successful Fitness Career with Internships
Are you thinking about a career in fitness or looking to advance your position in the health and fitness industry? The outlook for personal trainers, fitness professionals and group fitness instructors is very bright indeed! Now is an excellent time to capitalize on this exciting and popular profession. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the personal fitness training industry is set to grow nearly 30% between now and 2018, making “personal trainer/fitness instructor” one of the top growing occupations in the nation.
How to Become a Corporate Fitness Professional in 2025
Corporate fitness is a well-established niche with promising growth potential for fitness professionals who enjoy working with diverse adult populations in a structured setting. While corporate and commercial fitness professionals have similar overall goals, they can have dramatically different approaches in setting targets for numbers and profits, defining program objectives and creating a fitness center culture.
Group Exercise Coordinator Salary and Compensation Guide
Group Exercise Coordinators blend programming, people management, and occasional teaching duties. In 2025, these professionals are more critical than ever—shaping group fitness culture, managing instructor teams, and sometimes delivering classes…
Specialty Instructor and Group Fitness Instructor Salary and Compensation Guide
Group Group fitness and specialty instructors remain a vital part of the fitness industry, helping participants improve their health, skills, and confidence through engaging, structured, and often music-driven classes. In…
How to Become a Group Exercise Instructor
Remember when group fitness was all about high-energy aerobics and catchy music? Fast forward to 2025, and the landscape has evolved into something far more inclusive, tech-forward, and wellness-driven. Group…
How to Become a Life Coach in 2025
If you’re like a lot of successful personal trainers, you know from years of working with clients that even the best fitness evaluations and strength, cardio and weight management programs aren’t always enough. The problem–life gets in the way. From my own experience as a personal trainer, regardless of how great my programming was, it had zero value if my clients had adherence issues. Many of the hundreds I’ve helped over the years followed a plan for a while and then went back to their old self-sabotaging ways.
The State of the Fitness Job Market in 2025
The fitness industry in 2025 is thriving, fueled by consumer demand for health, wellness, and hybrid lifestyle solutions. From boutique studios to full-scale health clubs, opportunities span traditional exercise instruction,…
Year-Long Career Success Workshop
2025 is YOUR year! IDEA is excited to bring you a year-long workshop centered on how to grow your business, whether you are employed by a club, own your own…
2023 Fitness Industry Compensation Trends Report
This compensation trends report provides data on current wages in the industry as well as benefits and hiring and promotion criteria.
Transform Your Fitness Facility
The traditional fitness facility has typically been viewed as a place to work out and play sports in order to change one’s physical appearance. However, this has shifted. Wellness—which includes physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellness—has become the buzzword of the decade, and today’s fitness facilities have begun offering a myriad of services, hoping that people will view these locations as the local wellness center. To cover the full wellness spectrum, however, you need to combine forces with other health modalities.
With Gyms Open, Are Clients Ready?
With many gyms open again—some after long closures—IDEA put three questions to five fitness pros from around the country: Are you now operating at full capacity? How are clients adapting as…
