• What were the reasons that pushed you to follow the profession of fitness instructor?

Well, I used to be an athlete from a very young age. I loved competing and I liked the concept of constantly pursuing the development of my physical abilities. Complementary to my swimming training, at around puberty I’ve also initiated some strength sessions to further improve my performance. Experiencing the positive impact of that additional strength sessions on my swimming performance, I felt that it could be a very interesting thing to do as a profession. Unfortunately, an injury to my right shoulder forced me to leave the sport at a period where I was very satisfied with what I was doing. This incident caused me a lot of frustration and disappointment since I could no longer perform what I was enjoying to do on a daily basis. It was that sad event that intrigued me with the desire to learn more about exercise and pushed me to do my best in order to help athletes and individuals to accomplish their goals and stay out of injuries.

• What qualifications does one needs to have in order to stand out as a fitness instructor?

Well, I used to be an athlete from a very young age. I loved competing and I liked the concept of constantly pursuing the development of my physical abilities. Complementary to my swimming training, at around puberty I’ve also initiated some strength sessions to further improve my performance. Experiencing the positive impact of that additional strength sessions on my swimming performance, I felt that it could be a very interesting thing to do as a profession. Unfortunately, an injury to my right shoulder forced me to leave the sport at a period where I was very satisfied with what I was doing. This incident caused me a lot of frustration and disappointment since I could no longer perform what I was enjoying to do on a daily basis. It was that sad event that intrigued me with the desire to learn more about exercise and pushed me to do my best in order to help athletes and individuals to accomplish their goals and stay out of injuries.

• What job opportunities are there for someone who follows this profession? Is there a prospect for advancement?

Well, I think that there are some job opportunities in this profession but I believe in the near future there will be a lot more. One might disagree with that statement or wonder where this optimistic statement comes from but I have many reasons to believe that. I strongly believe that the majority of people, especially in Cyprus still don’t comprehend fully the value of exercise on mental and physical health. By saying that I’m also referring to the people that are responsible of the country’s health system. According to strong evidence, we can prevent, slow down or even overcome a number of pathologies both physically and mentally through regular exercise. It can positively affect us from physical functionality to our mood state. If people were correctly informed about the numerous benefits of exercise on our health, I’m certain that much more people would include exercise to their daily routine.

• Describe a day at work for me. What is your daily life like as a fitness instructor?

I strongly believe that exercise prescription must and will enter our health system at some point. Even if exercise doesn’t make it to our health system (incorrectly), sooner or later people will include it in their daily life and we need capable and properly qualified people to provide these services. In addition, for those interested in the sporting world, sport science has been developed dramatically the last decade, and this development has completely changed the fitness standards in almost every sport. In the vast majority of team sports but in individual sports as well, the intensity that the game is played or the performances of the individuals had completely changed compared to 10 years ago. Thus, a lot of clubs spend significantly more money on fitness departments than what they used to, to meet the new requirements of their game. Therefore, more work opportunities will arise in this sector as well.

• All professions have their positives and difficulties. Which ones are in this profession respectively?

There are a lot of positive things doing this job. First and foremost, having the joy of contribution when helping individuals achieve their goals is of highest value. For me it is the most important part of the job. I feel that somehow, I help people gain better life quality, or increase their value in their sport if they’re professional athletes. Having even a small part at improving a health condition, or improving the physical abilities of an athlete makes me really happy and fulfilled with my job. In addition, depending on the work-setting, usually fitness trainers have flexible time schedules. For example, a fitness trainer can set their training slots and meetings according to their availability. Depending also on the practitioner’s working experience and know how, the salary of a fitness trainer or a fitness coach can enable a comfy and decent life.

Of course, as with any profession there also some downsides. If someone works at a gym or a clinic, the peak of their work will be at evening hours when people finish from their jobs. This means that the fitness trainer will end up going home late. Of course, if the floor manager of their workplace distributes the working time of the staff carefully it can make some difference.

For those working in sports, one downside is the free time of the practitioner. Depending of course on the level of the club they are working in, weekends usually will be busy due to the games. Therefore, they need to be ready to sacrifice some weekend. Referring also to this sector of the fitness industry, another downside is job security. Here in Cyprus, when things don’t go as planned, we have the bad tendency to change our staff hoping that things will get better instead of searching the root cause of the problem. This practice is wrong and needs to be stopped. In my opinion, this issue can be eliminated if the people doing the hiring had the necessary knowledge to assess the fitness coach properly and form an integrated and comprehensive opinion whether that individual is worthy staying at the team or not.   

• Do you think appearance plays an important role in this job?

Even if I don’t completely agree with the idea that a fitness coach should look like a fitness model, I do believe that having a kind of athletic-looking body is important. Usually, people want to relate to their trainers or even aim to achieve their physique. Hence, fitness trainers with better looks, may have more work opportunities. I don’t believe that looks should be high in the criteria list when selecting a fitness trainer but people do prefer their fitness trainers to be in shape. I think also, that having a good body is easier to inspire an individual to engage in exercise and adopt a healthier lifestyle in general.

• What is the relationship with other gymnasts? How is the relationship that trainers usually have with their clients, or their students?

I strongly encourage people that work in this industry to have good relationships with each other. Having someone to exchange ideas, help with difficult situations, and share your thoughts with, can help a lot. Undoubtedly, this approach will improve the level of the whole industry and people will experience higher quality services. I have good friends that are fitness trainers and I strongly believe that we’ve been benefited from this good relationship.

With clients now the approach is simple. The trainer should emphasize on helping their clients achieve their goals and reach their true potential. Therefore, always the attention should be towards their development, take consistently feedback from them, be honest about the feasibility of the goals set and be honest in general so their clients can trust and adhere to the process.

• What is the secret of success?

There is no secret to excel in this job. It’s just hard work and love what you do. But we need to clarify that good intentions and manners are not enough for this job. We’re working with peoples’ health or athletes’ careers hence we must take our profession very seriously. Some traits that are important to have or build on the way are resiliency; be able to tolerate and overcome any adversities that will show up, adaptability; be able to make it through various situations that you’ll find yourself in, and of course persistence; keep pushing through to become what you really want.

• What advice would you give to someone who wants to pursue this profession?

I would advice someone to think well before choosing to follow this occupation. You need to be determined to put in a lot of effort and have always the intention to contribute to the people. It’s no joke, your choices may have a significant impact on peoples’ health and career. This implies continuous reading and learning to catch up with the scientific progress around our industry. But is this part of the job that can give great satisfaction, when you carefully deliver a well-thought intervention and the outcome is what you wished for, then what you receive form the client is unique. 

Lastly, I would like to say to experiment yourself and try going through different sectors of the industry (e.g., general, special or athletic population etc.,). It is not a waste of time even if you don’t end up working there. Most probably it’ll help you to understand better how to manage interindividual variability in terms of training stimulus and adaptation, hence expand your knowledge and even unlock other aspects of your character.